n.s. ^Pl 30'=) Grand H^pf.:xu TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Preface - 11 Introduction 15 Chapter I The Teachers 20 Chapter II Non-Promotions and Failures in the Elementary Schools 36 Chapter III Introduction to Tests - ,.— 61 Chapter IV Reading, William S. Gray 62 Chapter V Composition, Matthew H. Willing 85 Chapter VI Tests in Arithmetic, George S. Counts 106 Chapter VII Penmanship, Frank N. Freeman 12^ Chapter VIII Music, John B. Cragun 147 Chapter IX Instruction in the Elementary Schools, John F. Bobbitt 155 Chapter ' X Introduction to High-School Report 208 Chapter XI Secondary Schools, Calvin O. Davis 212 Chapter XII Special Classes of the Public Schools of Grand Rapids, Charles S. Berry.. 306 Chapter XIII Buildings and Equipment, John F. Bobbitt 340 Chapter XIV The Cost of Public Education in Grand Rapids, Harold O. Rugg 361 Chapter XV The Business Management of the Public Schools, Harold O. Rugg 441 Chapter XVI Administrative Organization 476 Chapter XVII Summary of the Report of the Survey of the Puldic Schools of Grand Rapids 484 V^ D. of D, . ' ^ DEC 27 1917 ^ LIST OF DIAGRAMS Diagram Page I Non-promotions in each grade for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15 38 II Failures in reading for 1913-14 and 1914-15 40 III Failures in arithmetic for 1913-14 and 1914-15 41 IV Failures in geography for 1913-14 and 1914-15 42 V Failures in history for 1913-14 and 1914-15 43 VI Failures in language for 1913-14 and 1914-15 44 VII Failures in handwork for 1913-14 and" 1914-15 45 VIII Failures in physiology for 1913-14 and 1914-15 45 IX Failures in spelling for J913-14 and 1914-15 46 X Conditional promotions in each grade for 1913-14 and 1914-15 47 XI Non-promotions in the Sigsbee School 56 XII Non-promotions in the Diamond School 57 XIII Non-promotions in the Union School 58 XIV Non-promotions in the Lafayette School 59 XV Non-promotions in the Madison School 60 XVI Progress of 4066 pupils in oral reading 65 XVII Oral reading scores in Grand Rapids, Cleveland and Illinois 67 XVIII Oral reading scores in all schools and in Sigsbee and Oakdale schools 67 XIX Oral reading scores in all schools and in East Leonard and Widdicomb schools 67 XX Oral reading scores in all schools and in S. Division and Hall schools 67 XXI Silent reading rate in Grand Rapids, Cleveland and 13 other cities , l(i XXII Silent reading rate in all schools and in 3 selected schools 76 XXIII Quality of reading in Grand Rapids, Cleveland and 13 other cities 79 XXIV Quality in silent reading in all schools and in 3 se- lected schools - 79 XXV Quality in silent reading in each grade of 4 selected schools 81 XXVI Quality in silent reading in each grade of 3 selected schools 81 XXVII Scores in composition in grades 4 and 5 of 17 schools 90 XXVIII Scores in composition in grades 6 and 7 of 17 schools 91 XXIX Scores in composition in grade 8 and all grades of 17 schools - - - -— . 92 XXX Comparison of composition in 17 schools w^ith compo- sition in 8 individual schools 95, 96 XXXI Comparison of composition in 17 schools with compo- sition in 9 individual schools 97, 98, 99 XXXII Merit curves in composition — Denver and Grand Rapids 100 XXXIII Quantity curves in composition — Denver and Grand Rapids 101 XXXIV Medians for all schools in 15 arithmetic tests 109 SCHOOL SURVEY. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Diagram ' Page XXXV Comparison of scores in arithmetic tests — Cleveland and Grand Rapids 110 XXXVI Comparison of Cleveland and Grand Rapids in arith- metic test, Set A Ill XXXVII Comparison of Cleveland and Grand Rapids in arith- metic test, Set M 112 XXXVIII Comparison of Cleveland and Grand Rapids in arith- metic test. Set F 113 XXXIX Comparison of Cleveland and Grand Rapids in arith- metic test, Set L 114 XL Comparison of Cleveland and Grand Rapids in arith- metic test, Set N US XLI Comparison of Cleveland and Grand Rapids in arith- metic test, Set O '. 116 XLII Comparison of average scores made by 35 schools in arithmetic 118 XLIII Comparison of records in arithmetic at Sigsbee, Lafa- yette, and Turner schools 119 XLIV Scores in simple addition in 4th grade of 31 schools and 6th grade of 25 schools 120 XLV Scores in arithmetic — Set A — by the "middle 50%" of schools in Cleveland and Grand Rapids 121 XLVI Comparison of number of examples "attempted" and "solved" in arithmetic — Set M 122 XLVII Comparison of number of examples "attempted" and "solved" in arithmetic — Set O 123 XLVI II Comparison of scores in arithmetic of "fast", "slow" and "regular" pupils 124 XLIX Comparison of scores in arithmetic of pupils grouped according to age , 125 L Comparison of arithmetic scores of pupils failing or repeating below the 6th grade and of pupils re- peating above the 5th 126 LI Comparison in 7th grade of arithmetic scores of "regu- lars", "irregulars" and "failures" 127 LII Speed of writing in Grand Rapids and 56 cities 130 LIII Form in handwriting in Grand Rapids and 55 cities.... 132 LIV Speed in handwriting in St. Louis and 56 cities 133 LV Form in handwriting in St. Louis and 55 cities 134 LVI Rank in the formal writing test and the composition test ^... 136 LVII Speed and form in handwriting for each grade in Grand Rapids 138 LVI 1 1 Speed and form in handwriting for 6 selected schools 139, 140, 141 LIX Speed and form in handwriting at Widdicomb School and in 56 cities 143 LX Speed and form in handwriting at Pine School and in 56 cities ". 144 LXI Speed and form in handwriting at Hall School and in 56 cities 145 LXII Median scores in music for Grand Rapids and for a composite group 152 LIST OF DIAGRAMS Diagram Page LXIII Distribution of grades in junior and senior college 270 LXIV Training of high-school teachers 279 LXV Teaching experience of high-school teachers 280 LXVI Range of salaries of high-school teachers 281 LXVII Range of salaries of elementary and high-school teachers for 12 typical cities 283 LXVIII How high-school teachers have spent summer vaca- tions 285 LXIX Departmentalization of high-school work 286 LXX Range of subjects taught daily by high-school teachers 287 LXXI Time spent by high-school teachers preparing work.... 288 LXXII Range in time spent by teachers preparing work 289 LXXIII Range in time high-school teachers spend daily on duties other than class recitations 290 LXXIV Range of promotions by high-sqhool teachers 292 LXXV High-school teachers failing certain percentages of pupils 293 LXXVI Pupils "passed", "not passed" and "conditioned". Sum- mary for 4 years — Central High School 294 LXXVII Pupils "passed", "not passed" and "conditioned", by departments — Central High School 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301 LXXVIII Comparison of possible taxation with actual tax levy for general purposes 367 LXXIX Comparison of possible taxation with actual tax levy for permanent improvements 368 LXXX Expenditures per inhabitant for 19 cities ZKi LXXXI Expenditures for all school purposes per $1,000 of real wealth — 19 cities 378 LXXXII Expenditures per inhabitant for all city departments and for schools 380 LXXXIII Per cent of total cost payments to schools — 19 cities 381 LXXXIV Amount spent for current expenses and permanent im- provements, 1902-1915 384 LXXXV Increase in number of teachers and in average salary paid them, 1905-1915 : 386 LXXXVI Per cent of current expenditures for educational and business purposes 391 LXXXVII Expenditures per pupil in average daily attendance, for capital outlay 396 LXXXVIII Expenditures per pupil in average daily attendance for elementary and secondary education 404 LXXXIX Number of pupils per teacher in different school grades 407 XC Number of pupils per teacher in elementary and secondary schools 411 XCI Comparison of Board of Education and Common Council budgets for permanent improvements.... 421 XCII Total amounts of bonds issued each year, 1887-1913.... 424 XCIII Total city and school bonded indebtedness, 1890-1915 425 XCIV Distribution of general functions in the Grand Rapids school system 442 LIST OF TABLES Table Page I Distribution of that part of the population of Grand Rapids having close foreign relations 15 II Some leading industries of Grand Rapids 17 III Educational Institutions at work in Grand Rapids 18 IV • Training of high-school teachers of academic subjects 22 V Training of elementary and high-school teachers of special subjects 23 VI Training of teachers of the grades 26 VII Training of kindergarten teachers 26 VIII Experience of kindergarten teachers 27 IX Experience of H. S. teachers of ac'd subjects.^ .- 29 X Experience of elementary and high-school teachers of special subjects 30 XI Experience of teachers of the grades... 32 XII Experience of principals 34 XIII Training of principals 34 XIV Non-promotions for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15....52, 53 XV Trial promotions for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15....54, 55 XVI Scores in oral reading for Zl schools 66 XVII Rates in silent reading for Zl schools 75 XVIII Quality score in silent reading for 37 schools 78 XIX Dist. of merit scores in comp'sn in 17 schools 89 XX Quantity and merit medians and quartile deviations in merit in composition for 17 schools 94 XXI Merit rankings in composition of 17 schools 103 XXII Comparison of quantity and merit medians in com- position in the Denver and Grand Rapids schools 104 XXIII Quantity and merit medians in composition for schools tested by principals 105 XXIV Medians for each arithmetic test for all grades 108 XXV Speed and form in v^^riting in each grade of Grand Rapids schools 131 XXVI Results of speed, form-writing, and form-composition tests in each grade of Grand Rapids schools 137 XXVII Composite median scores for sight reading in music — St. Louis, Grand Rapids, Chicago 151 XXVTTI Median scores for sight reading in music, G. R 151 XXIX Comparison of music scores — Turner School, com- posite group, best Grand Rapids score 153 XXX Hours per year to history — Grand Rapids — 50 cities.... 168 XXXI Time given to man'l training and household occupa'ns 201 XXXII Enrollment in Grand Rapids schools— 1910-1915 220 XXXIII Enrollment in certain high-school classes 258 XXXIV Facts concerning enrollment of high-school students according to subject 260 XXXV Records of 17 classes at Union H. S 261 XXXVI Wages earned during summer by 9 members of man- ual training class at Union School 262 XXXVII Percentage of pupil-elimination by teachers 262 XXXVIII Percentage of total high-school enrollment in gradu- ating class — Grand Rapids and 14 cities 263 LIST OF TABLES Table XXXIX XL XLI XLII XLIII XLIV XLV XL VI XLVII XLVIII XLIX L LI LII LIII LIV LV LVI LVII LVIII LIX LX LXI LXII LXIII LXIV LXV LXVI LXVII LXVIII LXIX LXX LXXI LXXII LXXIII LXXIV LXXV LXXVI LXXVII Page Graduates entering college during four years — Grand Rapids and 9 cities 263 Record of H. S. graduates at U. of M 264 Comparison of grades given 16 students at Junior College and various senior-college institutions 269 Relative standing of students in Junior College and other colleges 269 Grades obtained in senior college in subjects not be- gun in Junior College : 270 Distribution of grades among junior-college students entering senior colleges in 1915 271 Record of academic training, experience and salaries of high-school teachers 278 Comparison of range of salaries — G. R. and U cities 282 How_ high-school teachers have spent summer vaca- tions for past six years 284 Departmentalization of work in the high schools 284 Time teachers spend daily in prepar'n of school work 287 Range of time spent daily by high-school teachers on duties other than class recitations .- 289 High-school teach's promoting stated perc'es of pupils 291 H. S. teachers failing stated percentages of pupils 291 Percentages of marks by Depts. Central H. S. 1911-15 295 Percentage of pupils passed and not passed by indi- vidual teachers — Central High School 295 Growth in enrollment in special classes during 8 years 307 Increase in percentage of pupils two years or more over age in special classes 308 Retardation in the elementary schools 308 Number of pupils retarded one year 309 Increase in size of auxiliary classes during 5 years 312 Range in chronological and mental ages of pupils in auxiliary classes 312 Results of 3 tests in auxiliary classes _ 318 Comparison of attendance truant and all other schools 32)7 Annual tax levies for school and city purposes 366 Sources and amts. of rev. of Board of Education 372 Relation of expenditures to revenue receipts Z72) Expenditures for all school purposes per inhabitant.... 375 Expend, for school purposes per $1,000 of real wealth 2,77 Expenditures per inhabitant for various city depts 379 Per cent of governmental cost payments — various city departments 379 Rank in per cent governmental cost payments — vari- ous city departments 382 Amount spent for current expenditures and perma- nent improvements, 1902-1915 2^2 Salary expenditures — teachers, janitors, administration 385 Distribution of educational and business expenditures of the Board of Education, 1911-1915 388 Total and per capita expenditures for educational and business purposes 389 Per cent of total expenditures for educational and business purposes 390 Distrib. of current expenditures for educational service 393 Per cent of current expend, for educational service 394 10 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Table Page LXXVIII Current expenditures per pupil in average daily atten- dance, 19 cities 395 LXXIX Rank of 19 cities in current expenditures per pupil in average daily attendance 395 LXXX Expenditures for capital outlay, 1910-11 to 1914-15 397 LXXXI Expenditures per pupil for various specific kinds of service, 19 cities 399 LXXXII Rank in expenditures per pupil for various specific kinds of service, 19 cities 400 LXXXIII Rank of 19 cities in number of supervisors per 1000 pupils 401 LXXXIV Minimum, maximum and average salary paid to super- visors in cities of 50,000-100,000 401 LXXXV Current expenditures for elementary and secondary schools, 17 cities 403 LXXXVI Per cent of current expenditures for elementary and secondary schools, 17 cities 405 LXXXVII Distribution of officers and teachers in different grades of schools -— 406 LXXXVIII Distribution of enrollment and pupils per teacher in various grades of schools 406 LXXXIX Pupils in average daily attendance per teacher — ele- mentary and secondary schools 410 XC Average salaries of teachers, 1915-16 412 XCI Median salary paid to elementary and_ high-school teachers and elementary-school principals 414 XCII Salary schedules for high-school and elementary- school teachers 415 XCIII Increase in salary schedules in G. R. 1907-15—..- 416 XCIV Summary of ranks of Grand Rapids among cities of its class in expenditures for school activities 417 XCV Comparison of Board of Education and Common Council budgets 420 XCVI Permanent imp's paid for out of budget, 1906-15 422 XCVII Bonds issued, rate of int. and term for which issued 423 XCVIII School and city bonded indebtedness 1890 to 1915 423 XCIX Bonds issued for different grades of schools, 1887-1913 427 C Outstanding bonds maturing each year," 1916-1930... 428 CI Cost of teaching high-school subjects — Central High School 430 CII Average size classes in Central High School, 1915-16.... 431 cm Cost of teaching per pupil in 7th and 8th grades of 5 elementary schools, 1911-1916 434 CIV Cost of instruction per pupil in the 9th grade of 4 high schools, 1912-1916 436 CV Semester costs of inst. per pupil, special classes 438, 439 CVI Costs of instruction per pupil — special schools and classes 438 CVII Cost of instruction per pupil in 7th and 8th grades in 2 intermediate schools 438 CVIII Data on janitors sals, for elementary sch'ls, 9 cities 452, 453 CIX Approximate monthly salary paid to janitors 451 CX Payroll of repair force 457 CXI Payment to outside architects and engineers, 1906-16 462 CXII Cost data for fireproof elementary-school buildings ..465 PREFACE The survey of the schools of Grand Rapids was initiated by the School Board of the city for the purpose of studying the effi- ciency of instruction. The original purpose of the survey was to take up only the strictly instructional problems. A survey staff was organized for the purpose of visiting the various classrooms and conducting such tests as seemed desirable in order to evalu- ate the work carried on in these classes. As the testing and observation went forward it became ob- vious that the results obtained in the schools were in the main of a satisfactory type. The survey staff raised at this point. the question of the costs of conducting the schools of the city. It was pointed out to the Board of Education that results of the type that were appearing in the tests and observations could hardly be expected without a cost to the city which was high as compared with costs in other cities. At the suggestion of the survey staif the Board of Education extended the scope of the survey so as to include a comparative study of the costs of the system. In the consideration of school costs and of the business organization of the central office several problems of a general administrative type appeared and in a final conference with the survey staif the Board of Education decided that it was desirable that the survey report should be extended to include the discus- sion of the general organization of the school system. This description of the progressive enlargements of the scope of the survey furnishes a favorable opportunity for com- ment on the general purpose and function of a school survey. It is not the business of such an inquiry to determine the individual efficiency of particular teachers. It is rather the duty of the survey to bring together the evidences that show in general the character of the work done by the system as a whole. It is the duty of the survey to show the points at which the system is most highly efficient and the points at which suggestions of improvement can be made. A first survey of a school system is limited in that it can not show how far the system has progressed from year to year. 12 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN There is little material at hand to furnish a background of com- parison with earlier conditions in the system. Thus, as will be shown in the later pages of this report, the various schools of this city show different degrees of efficiency in different aspects of their work. Some are better than others in penmanship or arithmetic. Comparisons between different schools can thus be made and the results can be studied. But the question whether in any particular a given school is more efficient at the present time than it was three years ago is not easy to answer because there is no comparable record of the achievements of the pupils three years ago. A periodic inventory of the school system would be very advantageous, because it would serve to show the direction in which the school system has been moving. Heretofore city school systems have devoted the major part of their energy to the routine duties of conducting classes for the pupils. The time has arrived when it is necessary in the inter- ests of efficiency that a certain portion of the system's energy be set aside for the critical scrutiny of results. It is the duty of the schools, as it is the recognized obligation of every business cor- poration, to check up its results as fully and as frequently as pos- sible for the purpose of avoiding wastage and for the purpose of securing any suggestions which can be profitably incorporated into new forms of organization. Whether this work of constantly checking up the efficiency of a system shall be carried on through an increase in the super- visory staff of the system itself or through the importation from time to time of workers outside of the city system is a problem which it is not easy to solve. In the present case the Board of Education felt that it was desirable for the purpose of the survey to import temporarily into the school system a number of stud- ents of education who were not attached in any permanent way to the city system. It is possible, on the other hand, to add to the supervisory staff an officer whose business it shall be to make an annual study of educational problems. This device is exemplified in a number of cities in the United States. They em- ploy efficiency experts connected with the office of the superin- tendent. The advantages that come from securing a group of outside educators can readily be seen in that different points of view will always be contributed through the efforts of these outsiders. On the other hand, it is to be frankly admitted that outsiders overlook many of the details of the school organization which might very profitably be made subjects of intensive study. The addition to the supervisory staff of an officer whose business it is to scrutinize the schools constantly also has certain PREFACE 13 obvious advantages. It is possible to take up in succession i)rol3- lems that require time and long comparative studies for their solution. Perhaps a combination of the two types of surveys will ultimately be w^orked out. It will be possible in many instances for the Board to secure the co-operative judgments of different persons in the solution of special problems. There should, how- ever, be a larg-er provision for studies to be carried on each year. It is recommended that in the future Grand Rapids select for study each year one or two problems. The teaching staff" would be stimulated by continuous studies of educational problems and the schools would profit by a continuous investigation of new problems. From time to time elaborate inventory may be taken of the school activities. Such a program as this suggests the possibility of combining the advantages of both types of investi- gation above discussed. The personnel of the staff which made the present survey is as follows : Professor Charles S. Berry, University of Michigan, pre- pared the report on special classes. Professor John F. Bobbitt, University of Chicago, prepared the report on the elementary school curriculum and on the school buildings. Dr. George S. Counts, Delaware University, prepared the report on arithmetic. Mr. John B. Cragun, University of Chicago, prepared the report on music. Professor Calvin O. Davis, University of Michigan, prepared the report on high schools. Superintendent John H. Francis, Los Angeles Public Schools, reported briefly as indicated in the discussion of junior high schools on the work of that part of the system. Professor Frank N. Freeman, University of Chicago, pre- pared the report on writing. Dr. Wjlliam S. Gray, University of Chicago, prepared the report on reading. Dr. Benjamin F. Pittenger, University of Texas, prepared a large part of the statistical material i.\sed in the chapters on teachers and promotions. Dr. Harold O. Rugg, University of Chicago, prepared the report on school finance. Mr. Matthew H. Willing, University of Chicago, prepared the report on composition. Professor Charles H. Judd, University of Chicago, organized 14 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN the survey staff and edited the results, contributing the portions of the report not otherwise indicated. General acknowledgment is to be made of the courtesy and co-operation of all of the officers of the Grand Rapids schools. The teachers, principals, and officers at the central offices have in every case given assistance whenever asked and have ans- wered all questions. The survey staff cannot refrain from comment on the for- tunate conditions under which this survey was inaugurated and carried out. No motive of serious tension within the system and no impending reorganization forced from without by discon- tented or doubtful patrons prompted the survey. It is the good fortune of the staff to have shared in a critical study of a school system, self-imposed and welcomed at every stage. INTRODUCTION There is no need of discussing at length the general char- acteristics of the city of Grand Rapids. For most of the pur- poses of this survey the figures for population will be taken from special reports by the Bureau of Census. The number of foreign- born inhabitants of the city can be secured in full only by referr- ing back to the census of 1910. At that time there were 111,879 white persons and 665 negros in Grand Rapids. Of the total white population 36.2 per cent or 40,777 persons were native- born and born of native parentage; 25.2 per cent or 28,335 per- sons were foreign-born ; 38.0 per cent or 42,767 were born in this country of foreign or mixed parents. The following table gives the statistics of the more numerous nationalities represented among those of immediate foreign antecedents. TABLE I Table from the Census of 1910 Showing Distribution of that Part of the Population of Grand Rapids which has Close Foreign Relations. Total Number Foreign Born, Native Born, of Foreign Born in Both Parents Born in Descent Holland 11,891 Holland 12,742 24,633 Germany 4,546 Germany 6,749 11,295 Russia 3,557 Russia 1,570 5,127 Canada (Not French) 2,997 Canada (Not French) 1,222 4,219 Ireland 871 Ireland 1,828 2,699 Austria 549 Austria 389 938 Italy 319 Italy 178 497 Canada (French) 197 Canada (French) 150 347 The Dutch population, which is seen to be the predominant foreign element in the population of Grand Rapids, supports a number of parochial schools. There are also parochial schools conducted under the control of the Catholic church. These draw a considerable population, not only from the foreign-born but also from the native-born inhabitants of the city. Detailed fig- ures are not at hand for the attendance in these schools. It is one of the important functions of the Census Bureau which has been organized by the Board of Education to make a complete showing of the children who are attending these special schools 16 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN as well as of the children who are in attendance at the public schools. The Bureau of Census of the Board of Education is organ- ized at the present time as part of the business office of the secretary of the Board of Education. A card has here been made up for each child in the city Avhich includes much valuable information and would be of very great service to the attendance department which is in the oiTice of the superintendent of schools. Comment Avill be made in a later section of this report on the desirability of bringing into closer relation the business and instructional divisions of the central office. The census is a crucial element of the whole situation. If cards could be care- fully prepared for a year or two, showing all of the children in the city and their distribution in different schools, and if these cards could be brought into close comparison with the cumula- tive records which the school system has worked out as a part of its educational machinery, the further taking of the school census would be greatly facilitated and the information which the city has about its children would be complete. Such a com- plete body of information would serve a great many public pur- poses other than that which is now served by the census. At the present time the census serves merely as a basis for 'the drawing of state funds for public schools. It is not useful at the present time as a basis for the activities of the attendance officers, and it is not as fully as it should be, an instrument for the educational improvement of the city. Wherever parochial schools exist the school problem is com- plicated. The complications which naturalh^ arise under these conditions would be in some measure alleviated if the children could be located and their station in the various schools deter- mined. It is also desirable that parochial schools be brought in- to closer contact with each other and with the public schools so far as standards of training are concerned. The whole com- munity is interested, whatever may be the desires of individual parents for special types of training for their children, in a standardized scheme of education Avhich shall offer to every child opportunities of the most complete type. A census bureau including all of the children would be a first step in the general equalization of educational opportunities. Later steps could be confidently expected if the children, being well located, were systematically studied by public off'icers in all of their education- al activities. The schools of Grand Rapids will reflect in some measure the economic character of the city. It hardly needs to be pointed out in a report of this kind that the city is famous the world INTRODUCTION 17 over for its manufacture of furniture and furniture accessories. It has other industries which are represented in the following table which is taken from the statistics compiled by the Busi- ness School Club of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in January, 1915. This table of the business activities of the city suggests very emphatically the importance of a larger recognition of the problem of industrial education. The problem of training workers in the trades has come to be more and more clearly recognized everywhere in this country. Grand Rapids is doing much in its night school, also in its development of vocational guidance and in its general educa- tional activities for the people who are at work in the factories of the city. There is still, however, an unaccepted opportunity for an extension of trade training under public auspices. The training of mechanics can no longer be provided for in this country under the apprenticeship system. The National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education has recently made two extended surveys of the industries of cities. One of these TABLE II Some Leading Industries of Grand Rapids. Number of Number of Annual Wage Plants Employes Capitalization Expenditure Furniture 54 7,250 $13,321,905 $3,902,780 Printing, Binding, etc 68 832 1,629,397 488,656 Foundries and Machine Shops 49 1,532 2,814,500 825,131 Plcnning Mills 20 594 1,434,000 342,581 Tobacco 36 458 236,350 187,801 Flour 8 118 1,152,690 71,691 surveys' was made in Richmond, Virginia, and the other in Min- neapolis, Minnesota. In both of these cases attention was called to the urgent need for adjustments within the educational system to the peculiar industrial needs of the city itself. It has not been the function of the present survey to canvass the industrial activities of the city of Grand Rapids. It would be a very useful work for the city to undertake and one in which the business men would undoubtedly be interested if the school officers would canvass in full the educational requirements which parajlel the industries of the city. The high schools with their shops and the elementary schools, especially the junior high school, with their opportunities for manual training and art work, are meeting in some measure the needs of industrial training or general training of a vocational type. This work, would be very much more definitely aimed at the needs of the city if a general canvass were made of all of the industrial^ de- mands and educational possibilities furnished by the unique industrial development of the city of Grand Rapids. 18 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN The attention of the citizens should be especially drawn to the possibilites of a part-time scheme of education which could be elaborated in a way to utilize the various factories of the city for educational ends, and at the same time apply the public- school equipment in an improvement of industries. A table prepared by Professor C. O. Davis in connection with his study of the secondary schools of the city illustrates another phase of public education which should not be omitted from any general consideration of the educational opportunities of the city of Grand Rapids. This table gives the leading public institutions that can be regarded as co-operating with the schools in the education of the people. TABLE III Institutions which Carry on Educational Work in Grand Rapids. Libraries: 5, with branches in 11 schools and also in 1 separate building. Hospitals, asylums, benevolent organizations: 32. Public parks: 40. Secret and benevolent societies: 41 orders with 127 societies. Clubs (literary, business, social, etc.) : 127. Musical societies (many of them of distinctive influence) : 8. Bands and orchestras: 17. Theaters and places of public amusement: Z2. Newspapers and periodicals: Z7, several being trade journals and several being the publications of various national groups of citizens. Churches: 22 distinct denominations with 112 edifices. Building and loan associations: 5. Colleges and schools (including musical, business, designing, corre- spondence, kindergarten, collegiate, and theological divisions) : 14. Convents and private schools: 45. Commercial organizations: 10. It will be noted especially that in this table reference is made to those agencies which provide for the use of the leisure time of the citizens of Grand Rapids. One of the educational problems of which this generation is becoming keenly aw^are is the problem of providing suitable amusement for the people. The leisure time of all classes of people has been increasing with the improvement in economic conditions. To provide for their leisure time is a large civic problem. The schools of Grand Rapids are doing much to help solve this problem especially for the young people. It is beyond the scope of this survey to take up the study of all the civic agencies which are engaged in the task. It may not be out of place, however, to suggest that an mvestigation might be carried out which would be of great INTRODUCTION 19 value first in bringing to the attention of the citizens of Grand Rapids the importance of this phase of their life and work, and second in improving conditions in the city. These general statements will serve to introduce the survey of the public schools. The schools in their present organization, the relation of the business management to the instructional management, the character of the teaching staff, the relation be- tween the various divisions of the schpol system, and the achieve- ments of the classes in typical aspects of their work, constitute the problems which will be treated in this report. CHAPTER I THE TEACHERS The Organization of a Corps of Teachers A school system depends very largely for its efficiency upon the character and training of its teaching staff. The facts on which to base comparisons of the body of teachers employed in the schools of Grand Rapids with teachers in other cities of like size are difficult to secure. It may be said in general that American teachers are characterized by a relatively short tenure of office, and by a limited technical preparation for their work. These defects in the general^ equipment of American teachers grow in part out of the rapidly changing social conditions of this country. The attractive opportunities offered by industry and business to the young people of the country have taken away from the schools the grade of young men and young women who, two generations ago, taught school. The schools are at the present time in sharp competition with the business world. For example, it is usually more profitable for a young woman with a high-school training to take a short business course and enter an office as a stenographer where she will be employed for the whole year than to go through a normal school and enter a school system where the long vacation deprives her of an opportunity of continuous employment. Furthermore, the grade of salaries, as has often been pointed out in discussions of school matters, is such that the business and professional opportunities outside of the school are more and more encroaching upon the teaching staff. The difficulty of organizing a strong and permanent teaching staff is rendered serious also by the fact that many who enter the teaching profession continue in the schools only for a short time. The vast majority of the teaching force is made up of women who ultimately leave the schools to be married. Furthermore, those who enter the profession migrate freely from school system to school system. This migration, has the advantage of transferring new ideas from one center to another, but it has, on the other hand, the serious disadvantage of break- THE TEACHERS 21 ing up the organization of the schools and interrupting the development of consecutive policies. Every business finds it costly to break in new workers. Grand Rapids has Teachers of Long Tenure and Technical Training In spite of these difficulties the teaching corps of Grand Rapids shows relatively long tenure and a relatively high grade of equipment. The great majority of the teachers of the Grand Rapids schools are experienced, thoroughly acquainted with the conditions of their work, and equipped by special- technical train- Preparation of High-School Teachers of Academic Subjects The facts with regard to the teaching stafif of Grand Rapids can be enumerated in several tables. The first of these tables deals with the training of high-school teachers in academic sub- jects. The facts are reported in full in Table IV. It will be noted that 70 of the 91 high-school teachers in the city have college degrees. Sixteen more have a normal-school education. For some years the schools of Grand Rapids have been included in the lists of the North Central Association. This Association requires that all of the teachers of academic subjects shall be col- lege graduates. The University of Michigan is also insistent that the qualifications of teachers reach at least the level of a college degree. These requirements are not made retroactive. Teachers of experience who do not have degrees are therefore retained if they are successful, but the new appointees must have degrees. The number should therefore continually increase of those holding degrees. One feature of this table which de- serves special comment is the number reported as having taken graduate work. Further comment on high-school teachers will be found in the report of Professor C. O. Davis on secondary schools. Preparation of Teachers of Special Subjects. Table V shows the training of the teachers of special sub- jects. This table does not distinguish between teachers in the high schools and the elementary schools. This table shows a fact which is very general throughout the United States, namely, the fact that teachers of special subjects are not trained by as long a period of study as are teachers of academic subjects. At the present time it is impossible for even the best school sys- 22 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN .2 0i-i"*CV)<^CSlCClo •5 Q be o o 2 ^f5 OOOoOOOo eg 0-5 >-< vo 5 w rt < < o H en u, oj bjo ^ G u -5 rt c H 2 „ H O M-H o o ^ T, .-« °^OOOiMOOOoi ^ O i-Hi-iOoqOOOro < 2 so. OOOOOOOo O 00 lo r^ 12; ^) - J ^ "5 ' ^ — o .Si g e >. g — ^ ^ '"^ "rt .2 c o rt "o ^ ^ ffi < § ^ P3 Ph H U W THE TEACHERS 23 o ni o o ;^ o O CCl CM CO O T-H O 3, o 3 m Q . J^H bo^ is £' fe Si- 1- O rH O O O O rH •^ c rt o1 en * 11^ O-l iD S «^| V) h o o a; ^P. °l OJ H * "rt S :3 W to ^ CM ■* o CVlOOOtNoqOOrO O O O o O i-i CM OOOOOOOOO rt o lU 3 H Q rC n. ^ CO fe o o "o ;2;P, u ?;« u * w qj £^ J b/} ss„^^ ffl o ^^ " <: •*"■ H f^ O \0 C3N t^ o O^ < o o M-< W O f.b - - - lO ■* 00 >+ c» t^ ro (^ U-) Ch CCl CM •* O ro re o rt d o biD C C *rt bb '-' G ^:s w "^ ^ Q O u^ <; ^ H « (U o t^ 03 rH VO VO Tl- LO O go ^.S bow u w (U 5-s, rt "fSfl c^ U ^ Ol .— < ii O n! ^ o w w ^ h '^ rt > J . < O ;z >^ H en w >;.V 13 C C3 o ^ o o °s m" H c > CJ m Ui fr^ ^ o bfl s^ >1 o o Q 13 I3J G g be > O U * THE TEACHERS 27 women who come from the private kindergarten school in the city. It is regarded by the School Officers as desirable to em- ploy for kindergarten work the young women who have been trained in the city. This policy makes it all the more important that supervision and training be in sympathy. Under these con- ditions, it would be wise for the city to take over in a much larger degree the supervision of training. The number of kinder- gartners who are added to the system each year is relatively small, but it is of crucial importance that they be trained in the right way to co-operate with the primary grades. There is no justification for a kindergarten which is an isolated part of the school system. Grand Rapids has avoided this mistake so far as the treatment of the pupils is concerned. It ought to take no risks in the training of its teachers. It is perfectly evident that the present kindergarten teachers, while they are all high-school graduates, are being taken into the system with less advanced training than other classes of teachers. Their training is special and technical in an institution that does not rank as a normal school. Very few of them have any higher training than that which is given by this institution. Experience of Kindergartners This statement with regard to the kindergarten teachers can be re-enforced by reference to Table VIII, which shows the amount of experience which these kindergarten teachers have. Especially does this table show that the local experience of the TABLE VIII Years of Experience in Grand Rapids (Local) and in both Grand Rapids and elsewhere of the Kindergarten Teachers, together with the Number having each Specified Period of Experience. Median* Total 0-2 3-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 No. of No. years years years years years years years years years Local Experience 63 16 12 17 7 5 5 1 6.2 Total Experience 63 15 12 17 7 5 5 1 1 6.5 * Median is that quantity above and below which half the cases are to be found. kindergartners is practically the same as their total experience. Furthermore, the ,great majority of them have had a relatively brief experience. Indeed, as will be seen by a comparison of this table with the tables immediately succeeding, the experience of this class of teachers is the least of any class in the city. Espec- ially should the experience of the kindergartners as presented in this table be contrasted with the experience of the primary teachers in Table XL It will then be seen that the primary teachers, whatever the limitations on their institutional training, 28 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN have had a great deal more experience than the kindergartners. The kindergarten teachers are evidently young women selected with deference to the demand that residents of Grand Rapids be employed for this division of the school. Experience of High-School Teachers of Academic Subjects The next tables deal with the experience of the various classes of teachers who have already been discussed from the point of view of their training. The impressive fact about these tables is the large amount of experience which they show on the part of many teachers. Thus Table IX, which shows the length of experience of the high-school teachers of academic subjects is very striking in its showing of long tenure of office. Only twelve teachers out of the 89 reporting in this table have had less than five years of experience in teaching. The table as a w^hole shows that the teaching staff of Grand Rapids is relatively permanent in its tenure, and it indicates that in this degree the advantages that come from a permanent organization are found in the school system of this city. The opposite type of criticism is suggested by the very long tenure which is exhibited in a few cases. The observations of the survey staff gave no ground for the presenta- tion of this criticism. The probability that a pension law will be enacted in Michigan is of importance in this connection. The city of Grand Rapids can well afford to support such a measure. It will aid in maintaining the favorable type of organization which is exhibited in the table, while guarding against the dangers of over-long tenure. One other point may be brought out in connection with this table. The local experience of these teachers as contrasted with their total experience shows that many of them have served for several years in other schools. This, when coupled with long tenure is not a disadvantage to the school system, because ser- vice in other school systems will redound to the advantage of the Grand Rapids schools by bringing to these schools many sug- gestions which come from the examples of other systems. Experience of Teachers of Special Subjects Table X shows the period of experience of teachers of spe- cial subjects. The length of experience of these teachers is in sharp contrast with the length of experience of the academic teachers. The teachers of ungraded and defective children should perhaps not be included in a table of this sort. ■ They are virtually elementary teachers who have been transferred to a special func- tion. In any case, however, the table shows that the length of THE TEACHERS 29 dJ X Ti W 'cj 'O o 1^ T^ ^ .2 3 "E rt -d P:^ •a 'o QJ c5 a CO o u c ctS •'-' a; -o biO ' • J5 '^" ^" "^' O lO t-~; t^ iri CA rj 'Pi,'-l'-''-'^l'-<'-''-''H ~ ' > ^5000000000 ^ OOCOt-iOO-^rO U-5 to '^rt'-'<^'-'«^-*^^CMO O O (M O O Tj- c^l '^ o <" f^i^fOCMi-Hf-iOOOvoio 03 tfi ^^^co^^vO^c^ioOOO •-^ >. C ;3 10 in >> OJ '^J5iOOqcrOOOOOOrH^O '~0^<000i-i000r-i0 m ^ n5 Q W '2 bJD O <3J OJ o a; -Td OJ a, G ^ ctJ ^ .ti -o rt ^ o -2 ^^ a ^ "^ X) o -^ O en ^ .S3 ^ G c CO rv C o ii d > ro fO (M '^ eg CO t^ 00 CO 1 ^^ CO VO ^ ro 00 ro od 00 O ■5 ifcc Is ^ c t^ 03 CO in -* CO t^ r^ -1-' ^? CO oq CO ^ ^ 1 ,^ a o o ro o O o O O CO CO > 0(MC<10qrH(Mi-iOsO(M r; <^ w- O .-irOrHrHrOO^CMO • — "1 O tfl rC > en lO to E CMr^iOioroOs^Oi-HO 5 C3 •- o a <- a; W i3 rt (M o CM ^ r^ lo CO ri r^ o O u ,-(^!<^'l'^l•^l■0(^^ooso^^r-l CM lO lO IT) CM lO . a; a dPn'^C^IOOOCMt^OOLnio ■^0 G ft ^1 >>>> THE TEACHERS 33 attach very definitely to this period in the school work. It is important, therefore, that the teaching staff be improved at this point. So far as length of service is an accompanying character- istic of high technical ability, there should be a change at this point. In any case, the supervisory officers of the system should give large attention to this part of the school system just be- cause its problems are difficult and the present teaching staff is less experienced than the teaching staff at other points in the schools. Experience and Training of Principals Table XII shows the experience of the principals. In gene- ral the principal of an elementary school in Grand Rapids and in other cities has secured his or her position after service as a teacher in the system. The result is that in all the school sys- tems of the United States, the principals exhibit, as they do in this table, long periods of service. This in itself is certainly not objectionable. It gives promise of mature ability to deal with school problems. Long experience, however, is a virtue only when it is accompanied by continued training. The table of the training of the elementary-school principals has been postponed to this point in order that the contrast between the principals and the teachers in the schools might be made as pointed as possible. Table XIII gives the training of the principals of all the schools. The institutional training of the elementary prin- cipals is inferior. It ought to be remarked at once that some of the prmcipals have kept up study during their term of service, but it is legitimate that the demand for such continued training be made very emphatic. The problem of supervising a school building is a very much more complex problem than the prob- lem of giving instruction to a group of children. Supervision calls for a knowledge of school organization which is very com- prehensive. It is coming to be recognized everywhere in the school systems that supervision is not merely the final stage of teaching. ,It is a distinct and more elaborate art. The compe- tent supervisor must know something about how to test the work of the children and the teachers in the grades. The supervisor must know how to keep teachers in service actively engaged in increasing their equipment for school work. All of these de- mands point very emphatically to the necessity of special techni- cal training for supervision. The principals of the Grand Rapids schools are in many cases vigorous, competent supervisors. In some cases they are in need of more training than they now have. Indeed, the point in the school system of Grand Rapids where a conscious effort to improve is most urgently needed is 34 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN §°l o .2 o 00 03 ^J3 ^0) OQ >. *n -i h4 o m 'en < H ^ O^ 03 :^l o O J CO « ^ >1 13 a „£ Ph l-l p^l lU u * bobo •o. -z: o >> 3 o o 2 S s|S 1 >^ J 1 g H s g 1— 1 §g §i * O ™ M-l fl' 2$ o CO bJ0j5 .;^ ^ ;h WW WW P4 .ft o c THE TEACHERS 35 among the elementary principals. They need to study the meth- ods of supervision which are based on scientific tests. Many of them have at the present time scant sympathy with scientific work in education. The city has a right to demand much of these principals which is not included in mere routine. Continued Study on the Part of Teachers It may be urged in general that all teachers keep up their studies. It used to be thought of as relatively unnecessary for a school system to make the requirement that teachers continue their studies. It was assumed that teachers had by nature or training such studious habits that they would, without any out- side pressure, continue to read and study new subjects. It has been discovered, however, that whatever a teacher's training, the school systems must contribute by some legitimate professional stimulus the motive for strenuous self-improvement, which, in the other professions, is supplied through competition. A doctor and a lawyer cannot long hold positions of pre-eminence in a community unless they keep up their studies and thus keep them- selves abreast of the advances in their professions. The teacher does not encounter competition in the same fashion as members of other professions. Some explicit encouragement on the part of the school system must therefore be put forth to encourage a continuation of systematic study on the part of all members of the teaching staff. CHAPTER II NON- PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS The progress of pupils through the grades has been a subject of intensive study in many of the school systems of the United States for the last few years. The general method adopted in making this study is to note the ages of the pupils in the different grades and by a comparison of these age-grade statistics to determine whether the children are getting through the schools in the normal length of time or are delayed in their progress because of failures or incidental difficulties arising from transfer or absence. Age-Grade Tables Not Repeated Such studies of age-grade statistics have drawn attention to the importance of devising in the school system some means of accelerating the movements of students through the grades. In view of the fact that the report of the superintendent of schools of Grand Rapids has for some years given attention to these age-grade statistics, no effort will be made in this report to recanvass the matter by that method. The statistics published annually show that retardation, that is the holding back of children in the grades, has been progres- sively checked. There is still opportunity to improve the con- ditions for those pupils who do better than average work and ought therefore to move more rapidly than do the average. It is highly desirable that such strong students go forward as rapidly as possible. The matter is one which touches very intimately all phases of school work and this report suggests that the ad- ministration organize a committee of teachers and principals for the study of the possibilities within the Grand Rapids system of more attention to the acceleration of pupils. Most of the find- ings of this survey could be focused on this general problem. NON-PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES 37 Elimination of Defectives In the meantime this report turns to a complete account of those cases where the school operations have, for some reason or other, failed of their normal goal, namely, the advancement of the pupils through the grades at the regular rate of one-half grade each semester. Whenever a pupil fails of promotion, there is clear evidence that the school and the pupil have not succeeded in accomplishing the task which was set for them. In some cases the failure of the child is inevitable because his natural capacity is so small that he cannot do the work of the grade. Grand Rap- ids has made provision for students who are of such limited capacity that they cannot carry on the regular work of the schools. A special report on this group of students by Professor Charles S. Berry, of the University of Michigan, is presented in a later chapter. The elimination from the regular classes of children who are of abnormally low ability is a distinct advantage to the school system. It removes from the classes the difficulties that arise through the presence of children unable to carry the course of study, and it provides for the defective children a type of training better suited to their needs. Reasons for Non-promotion The remaining children in the school system presumably have a natural capacity which ought to make it possible for them to go through the course of study administered in the grade with- out serious delay. There are, to be sure, legitimate reasons why delay must be suffered in individual cases even when the child's ability is normal. A child who is sick during half of the year, for example, ought, in some cases, to spend some time during the next following year making up the loss. Some children do not work and should be penalized. When one has considered all of the legitimate reasons for non-promotion of children in the grades, there remains a very considerable margin of failure for which the school itself must assume responsibility. If the course of study is not appropriate to the needs of children, failure will result. This failure, while it expresses itself in the form of a lack of interest on the part of the child in the work which he is doing, is traceable in reality not to any defect in the child but to a failure on the part of the school to meet his legitimate requirements and his natural interests. Formerly the school took the attitude that every failure was chargeable to the child. It was assumed that the course of study gave infallibly the best training in every case. Students of education are coming to realize more and more that an inflex- 38 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ible course of study is not legitimate in a public educational system which requires the attendance of all children. If the law requires a boy to go to the fourth grade, there ought to be some effort in that grade to see that he gets a type of training that will be useful to him. To be sure, there must be a certain degree of insistence that he conform to the general requirements DIAGRAM I — Percentage of Non-promotions in each grade of the Grand Rapids Schools for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15. NON-PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES 39 which have been set up for children of his age, but this insistence must not be enforced without due regard to his personality and his future. It is such considerations as these that have led superintend- ents and teachers in recent years to canvass again and again the course of study and to look for possible modifications which will relieve the course of undesirable material or bring in new mater- ial which will make the course more productive for the later life of the pupils. A full consideration of the course of study will appear in a later section of this report by Professor J. F. Bobbitt. The purpose of the present chapter is to prepare the way for the subsequent studies of the subjects of instruction by making it as clear as possible that the school must face as one of its grave problems every case of failure. Percentages of Non-promotions in the Various Grades Diagram P shows the percentages of non-promotions in each of the grades. The diagram should be interpreted as follows : In two successive years the percentages of non-promotion in the 1-1 grade were 20 and 19 respectively. This large failure in the primary grade is to be explained by the fact that many children enter school at an age when they are too immature to succeed in the work of the school. Some of them come from homes where they do not have the preliminary training which makes it pos- sible for them to take up school work with success. Further- more, during the earlier grades the defective children are in the process of separation from the classes. After the first half year, the situation improves very rap- idly for we find that in the 1-2 grade the percentage of failures has decreased to 14 and 13. In the first half of the second grade failures are at about the same level as failures in the last half of the first grade. In the later grades there is still further im- provement with some irregularities. The irregularities show maladjustment of some kind. Es- pecially noticeable is the difference between the two years in the treatment of the sixth grades. The striking difference between the records of the two successive years calls for close study as does also the difference between the two years in the III-l grade and the V-I grade. The diagram as a whole shows a relatively low rate of mor- tality. The evidence here and throughout the various studies of particular subjects all goes to show that the schools are compar- atively successful with their pupils. There remains, however, *Full details in these matters are given in Tables XIV and XV. 40 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN a large opportunity for special study of particular subjects, as will be shown by the later diagrams in this chapter. Further- more, whatever the present condition, improvement is desirable. Failures in Reading and Arithmetic The significance of the plea for improvement comes out very clearly if the records of failures in reading and arithmetic are contrasted with each other. In order to secure the material for these two diagrams, the school records were canvassed for all of the reports of failures in the particular subjects. If a child fails in one subject in a given grade, he is not necessarily held back from promotion because of that single failure. There ap- i Grade 1-1 1-2 2-1 2-2 3-1 3-2 4-1 4-2 5-1 5-2 6-1 6-2 7-1 7-2 8-1 8-2 1914-15 1913-14 DIAGRAM II — Percentage of Failures in Reading in each grade of the Grand Rapids Schools for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15. NON-PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES 41 DIAGRAM III— Percentage of Failures in Arithmetic in each grade of the Grand Rapids Schools for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15. 42 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN pear, therefore, in the records to which we now turn more fail- ures'in particular subjects than non-promotions in general in the various grades. These failures in particular subjects are, how- 1913-14 DIAGRAM IV-Percentage of Failures in Geography in Each Grade of the Grand Rapids Schools for the Years 1913-14 and 1914-15. NON-PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES 43 ever, of great importance in determining the success of the course of study. Diagrams II and III show the percentage of failures in read- ing and arithmetic respectively. The reading curve shows a steady falling off in the number of failures in this subject after the II-l grade. This steady falling off in failures is what we should expect in any subject which is carried through the grades and is uniformly successful in its training of the pupils. Arith- metic, on the other hand, shows a very serious and continuous succession of high percentages of failure from the II-l grade to the VIII-1 grade. Indeed, there can be no question that arith- metic is the greatest single source of failures in the grades of the Grand Rapids schools. ; ;■; i ■■ ■' - ■- VK ^^' 1 1 ■ '■ ■ /I ! i 1 M ' ! 1 ! . / 1 ' + i "^ 1 M 1" 1 " r ' ' i Ti 1 r 1 p .----.. - I .... t..-^... ._ Jl 5- - - - -1- -- -- - -- -.- -X-- -_ ^ ± — - - -- --v- ; - - ±- ±: : : ± ip :::::: : :::±:: : ;: ± : in ± " ~r _ _ " z: ■ ■ 3 1 1 1 1 1 ' 11 1 I 1 M { 1 1 1 II 11 . 1 . .- . 1 w \ 1 1 . 1 I/Ml Ml ' - 111 L 1 1 ! 1 ' 1 ' I I 1 1 1 1 1 , 1 ' ' 1 i i 1 1 [ i 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1 i 1 i 1 1 1 - - ' 1 ,■ 1 { I 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 M M 1 ; j 1 1 j i 1 If 'I 1 ! 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 M 1 ! 1 ! 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1 1 hill V \ 1 ■ M 1 j j 1 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 ! ■ i ' ' ^ 11 1 • i j i 1 ; 1 1 1 1 i i 1 ! i 1 1 1 i + H""r +1 1 ; ;■ i 1 1 Jl i M ! I 1 1 i M i Mil U - . - ' 1 t -i i i 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 ! 1 M \[ \ r 1 1 1 ! ■ i 1 i 1 1 i i 1 'i i ■ ■ - _ Ur ■ - ■ 1 M '1 1 1 1 i- 1 i ' ' 1 i i ' :, i 1 i . - - - . Ill 1 1 ' ! 1 1 : 1 1 1, 1 1 1 1 1 i : ^ : : : ' , 1 1 ' 1 1 1 ' - 1 1 ■ 1 1 ! 1 1 1 ^ \ , ' ■ • '. ' ^ i i II 1 I 1 ! i 1 i ; 1 ; 1 1 - \-^ \ ■ X^V^' rXi '1 ]■ 1 >i [ ^ tH M ' ki yi \ Ml / ^ tX M ' /■ / ■ ■ "\i 1 M 1 1 ''I y ^ \ '^ ' ' ' ic :5::::t:ffi±:::2::±I:::zt::::iz^::::::::===:=:::I:i::==:i = :::::=:=: Grade 1-1 1-2 2-1 2-2 3-1 3-2 4-1 4-2 5-1 5-2 6-1 6-2 7-1 7-2 8-1 8-2 1914-15 1913-14 DIAGRAM V — Percentage of Failures in History in Each Grade of the Grand Rapids Schools for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15. 44 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN When a course of study produces the percentage of failures here reported for arithmetic, the warning to school officers is loud and clear, whatever may be the satisfactory showing of the pupils in tests. The percentages of failure in arithmetic show that there should be a careful study of possibilities of revision with a view to bringing the subject nearer to the comprehension it ^=x ttia St Grade 1-1 1-2 2-1 2-2 3-1 3-2 4-1 4-2 5-1 5-2 6-1 6-2 7-1 7-2 8-1 8-2 1914-15 1913-1-4 DIAGRAM VI — Percentage of Failures in Language in each grade of the Grand Rapids Schools for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15. NON-PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES 45 of the children in the various grades or to making it enough more interesting so that the children will devote to it the kind of intellectual effort that will insure success. When a course is carried on at a level where children fail to the extent of 18 to 20 per cent year after year, there must be something wrong in the relation between the children and the school system. Failures in Other Subjects The curves for the other subjects may be commented on briefly. Geography is evidently a serious obstacle to the pro- Grade 1-1 1-2 2-1 2-2 3-1 3-2 4-1 4-2 5-1 S-2 6-1 6-2 7-1 7-2 8-1 8-2 1914-15 : 1913-14 DIAGRAM VII — Percentage of Failures in Handwork in each grade of the Grand Rapids Schools for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15. Grade 1-1 1-2 2-1 2-2 3-1 3-2 4-1 4-2 5-1 5-2 6-1 6-2 7-1 7-2 8-1 8-2 1914-15 1913-14 DIAGRAM VIII — Percentage of Failures in Physiology in each grade of the Grand Rapids Schools for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15. 46 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN gress of children between the IV-2 grade and the VII-1 grade. In a later part of this report it will be pointed out that the read- ing taught in the Grand Rapids schools does not train the child- ren in the use of the printed page as fully as it should. The fail- ures in geography are doubtless to be traced in many cases to difficulties in reading. Many children do not know how to get their lessons because their training in reading has been too form- al. In some measure this same statement applies also to the difficulties encountered in arithmetic. Difficulties in arithmetic are frequently due to the fact that children do not know how to interpret the problems that are set down in the book. The fail- ures in arithmetic, and still more, those in geography, make it clear that there are unsolved problems in the course of study in the grades. 5 j::::::: — :::: ::::_:::x::::: ::::: :: ::: :: : ::::: ::: : ::-^^z^ ::__:: J^ J x""i 4 ::::::::" — ' " "y i" — - " "3: " " '" ' " ' " " ^ / \--T- ± ^ ^ *" 2 : ;:_;: ... - - - . _ - — . — :::::::::::::::^s-::::J^h=:::::::^:::::i::::::::::;2' six:::::::::::::: ::::; , :::::::::_:.:: ±:.sa: ::_: .ii_:_::::::: ::::_:::z.::: ::.s::_ ::::_::: _::::.: .._. . . .^. ^v__^ ±.^ O 1— l^ J- - ^TT-i 1 rr ^n ' '— ' :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::i::::::d::::::::::^!:-::S-:p ::::_::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::-- XT- w ', --J-^----^5 9 -.:. ._ - - \f \ - - J - ^-- ''^- ^ » ^:::: :+::::::::::::::::::::::::: + ::::: ::::::::::^:4:::::^: :_::!: -:::-::::::::: ^.__q:__ii: r_ v / x ^.x ^±--J i i-l---E ---$ ::::: ::: ::: ::: :; : : ■ :::- : - ::: :"":::: y. ::"" ::::: fi":::::: 1 ^1 A-i L :::::::::::::::x:::::::x:::::::::::::x:::^ ::::::: :x::: J ::t ±_i_i:._:r± ± '4-^-- ^ ^_^ .^ :::::::::::::::xx:::::::::::::::::x::x:::x:x:x:::::::::::::::x #■:::: Hi 1 1 II mm ^ 1 ^ ^^^ — ~^A^-- U LM III. , ; , ^^Al _ _-__ _ _L -n— +T'^^ ■■'' ' ^" " H-| H' r ' '''^^ !i Ni i jM i: '^m _ L-^^^-xlLxii^di i :jLi|_ T_,_L^ 1 \ 1 J_M — 1 II — I-H--H K- 1 1 ' 1 1 l^fH^I'l h 'MM im ^ _- + .-_ ^ \ _^^^_X-^-j_-j-J L-L J^ ^_-|_-^^-__ * ::::::::::xi \ }- M 1 ' H ^- r^^i H i L_^_^^^^-^- . -^-\ ^^ -rh------ ^---^^H^-^ M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 MM Ml MM Ml 1 ij ii ii M 1 M . ll\^^l^\^^4ll^ll^4^\l\lllll^^^S^^[^^^i4ll:ll]] Grade 1-1 1-2 2-1 2-2 3-1 3-2 4-1 4-2 5-1 5-2 6-1 6-2 7-1 7-2 8-1 8-2 1914-15 1913-14 DIAGRAM IX — Percentage of Failures in Spelling in each grade of the Grand Rapids Schools for the years 1913-14 and 1914-15. NON-PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES 47 History shows a sudden rise of failures in the seventh grade and in one of the years in the VIII-1 grade. In langauge we have a record which is in some respects the complement of the record in reading. ^ This would seem to indicate the necessity of a very careful scrutiny of the work which is progressively required of the grades in language. Handwork and physiology appear to be in a class entirely by themselves. They are probably not treated as very serious requirements for promotion. In handwork the large amount of supervision which is given to the work of each child may help to remove the dangers of failure in the course. The record in spelling is interesting. The- difficulties here Grade 1-1 1-2 2-1 2-2 3-1 3-2 4-1 4-2 5-1 5-2 6-1 6-2 7-1 7-2 8-1 8-2 1914-15 1913-14 DIAGRAM X — Percentage of Conditional Promotions in Each Grade of the Grand Rapids Schools for the year 1913-1914 and 1914-15. 48 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN do not seem to be as great as in arithmetic but they continue throughout the school course without much relief from grade to grade. There are also some impressive irregularities in this record from year to year which would seem to indicate that the spelling course needs attention. Percentages of Conditional Promotion One important reason why these failures in particular sub- jects do not result in more non-promotions is to be found in the system adopted in Grand Rapids of promoting children on trial. The technical formula is "promoted without recommendation." Diagram X* shows the extent to which promotions of this type are made in the various grades. This diagram shows that all through the schools about one child in eight, in addition to those who fail to be promoted, is in trouble with the course of study either because his own work is deficient or else because the course is not adapted to his needs. A study of these cases of children who are promoted on trial show that the great majority of them ultimately succeed in doing the work of the grade into which they are advanced. In the first semester of 1913-14 out of 600 children only 96 or 16 per cent failed of promotion at the end of the semester. Forty-seven per cent or 284 were promoted at the end of the semester without condition. One hundred ninety-five of them continued on con- dition but were advanced at the end of the semester. Twenty- five of them were not reported upon fully because they left the city or were lost sight of in transfer. In the second semester of the same year there were 584 children promoted on trial. One hundred or 17 per cent failed of promotion at the end of the semester. Forty-nine per cent were promoted ; 30 per cent were continued on condition and 4 per cent were lost in the calcula- tion. Evidently this system of promotion on trial serves to cor- rect some of the serious difficulties which arise in the adminis- tration of the course of study. Children are not held back in many cases where there is evidently reasonable probability of their meeting the requirements of the course. Attitude of Teachers on Conditional Promotions The attitude of different teachers in regard to these trial promotions can be discussed on the basis of a questionnaire which was sent out to all of them asking for a statement of the grounds on which they promoted students without recommenda- *Also Table XV. NON-PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES 49 tion. They were asked to indicate the considerations which in their minds were of first importance and those which were of secondary importance. Three hundred and seventeen teachers repHed to the inquiry. One hundred and forty indicated that the age of the pupils is a major consideration in promotion without recommendation. Two hundred and ten indicated that the length of time which the pupil has been in a grade is a major consider-" ation. On the other hand, only three teachers regard deportment as a major consideration, and only seventy-seven regard the length of time that a pupil expects to remain in school as of im- portance. One hundred and thirty-six indicate that general scholarship is one of the important considerations even though failure appears in special lines. Judging from these figures we may say that the child's age and the length of time he has been in school weigh with teachers as direct reasons for advancing pupils. This means that when the question arises whether a child shall stay in a grade for an- other year or go on, the non-scholastic consideration of the desirability of his going forward with his companions weighs heavily. If the judgment of the teachers is correct in these cases and if scholarship ought to be relegated to a secondary position in the discussion, then there is all the more reason for empha- sizing the necessity of a careful consideration of the course of study. The promotion of a child because he has been in a grade for some time can be justified only if we assume that he ought to be allowed to go on and get a new type of work after he has done the best that he can. Some teachers frankly take this posi- tion and some school systems have modified the course of study administered to a given child on the explicit ground that pro- motion is a matter of age rather than a matter of scholastic achievement. Probably a compromise between the two extreme positions represents the legitimate solution of the problem. A child who is growing old in one of the lower grades is certainly embar- rassed by the difiference between his size and maturity and the size and maturity of the other members of the grade. If the course of study continues to hold him back in spite of his gene- ral normal intelligence, probably the course of study ought to be modified. It is much more legitimate to attempt a modification of the course of study than merely to send the pupil on without undertaking any changes in the course of study which will adapt the work to his needs, or to make him go over again under un- favorable conditions work in which he has once failed. There are a number of incidental comments made by the teachers in reporting^ on the reasons for promotion without 50 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN recommendation which it may be of interest to reproduce in this report, indicating at once the complexity of the problem of pro- motion and the desirability of standardizing the judgments of teachers throughout the system. Several teachers report that the pupil's attitude and effort at application should be taken into account whatever the outcome of his work. Some call attention to the importance of giving children of foreign nationalities an opportunity to go on even if they do not succeed in their work because of their lack of command of English. In many cases health considerations are mentioned. Several teachers indicate that they believe in giving the pupils a fresh start by promoting them in spite of failure. A number of teachers take the position quite explicitly that conditional promotion is not desirable and that there ought to be unconditional promotion or no promotion at all. Need of Principles to Govern Non-promotions These statements serve to illustrate the necessity of a clearer definition of the grounds of promotion or failure in all of the schools. Furthermore, if we scrutinize the detailed records of particular grades or even of whole school buildings, we shall find that there are marked differences in the non-promotions in differ- ent parts of the city. Some of these differences are undoubtedly to be explained by the fact that the children themselves repre- sent different social and intellectual conditions. Many of the non-promotions, however, cannot be explained on this ground and call for a careful consideration on the part of all of the schools of the fundamental principles that underlie non-promo- tion. Investigation of Non-promotion by Bureau of Census The Bureau of Census and Statistics of the Grand Rapids schools made an investigation last year of the causes of non- promotion throughout the schools. The following statement from the officer in charge of that Bureau shows the different kinds of causes which were pointed out by the teachers. "Herewith I am submitting to you results of the first study of causes leading to non-promotion. The study includes all regular public classes from I-l to VIII-2 inclusive; and excludes all non-promotions occurring in ungraded or special classes of any nature whatever. "The total number of non-promotions reported was 1,222. This is 11.23 per cent of the actual number (10,882) on the rolls at the end of the semester. "Of the 1,222 non-promotions reported on the class records, 1,171 NON-PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES 51 explanations (96%) were available and these are classified for causes as follows: "32.80 Ordinary Dullness 16.70 Lack of Application 12.40 Sickness 9.13 Immaturity 4.50 Kept at Home 4.27 Change of School 4.10 Specific Ailment (111 Health in School) 2.80 Foreign to English 2.30 General 111 Health 2.30 Unwise promotion 2.13 Home Conditions Discourage Study 1.53 Late Start 1.53 Wrong Sort of Class, Course, or School 1.20 Wrong Attitude .90 Timidity .68 Overcrowded class .34 Incorrigibility .30 Employment .09 Discouragement." It is interesting to note that most of the reasons here set down for non-promotion hold the child responsible for the fail- ure. The assumption which is implicit in this statement that the course of study is certainly all right and is adapted to the needs of the children is an assumption which must be criticised as beyond question over-optimistic. It has been the purpose of this chapter to show this by a comparison of the different sub- jects. This chapter ought to suggest to every teacher in the system such questions as this : if "ordinary dullness" is the reason for most of the non-promotions, why does ordinary dull- ness not exhibit itself in reading as frequently as it does in arith- metic. Ordinary dullness has curious ways of cropping out in spots. It would appear from the details presented in this chapter that ordinary dullness is probably a general category used by teachers who have not studied carefully the real causes of fail- ure on the part of the pupils in the grades. Divergencies in Practices of Schools Close attention should be given in each of the schools to the practice of the school itself as compared with the general practice of the whole system. Tables XIV and XV show the percentages of non-promotions and promotions on trial for each of the schools in the city system. Several typical cases have been selected and are represented in diagrams XI-XV. These diagrams show dif- ferent levels of non-promotion in different schools and different types of treatment of the different grades. The diagrams will doubtless be intelligible to any reader who has examined the 52 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN o\ OO'^'^^t^OO Ir^iOCMVO ; T-KMi-H ;(M ; t^ t^ On ro 00 ro oq O IT) (M ^ CM , rt'-^ NON-PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES 53 <^ '-H eg oq ,-1 Ti m ri T-i " ^d\0\00OV0ir-i0ClOu-)r0OOO ;rOcoOcgrDT-iOT CM cci o ■* 00 ■<4- 00 ;o\oovo>-i ;oo ;o'*t^oo-l rt_S 'Xi o g 54 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN xn <; ^ :vo :cNi : ; '-'loo ;^ ;o ; ; ;rt-Tt- : itj-osooo 00 ;for^ ; irfcMoo ;o(N ; :ooooo w • • i .. til H (LI g i....iiilii|illiiliiii|illHili NON-PROMOTIONS AND FAILURES 55 ;i-<0"^<^0\000\(NVO««THVO-*Oi-fOOOOM ;ij-)00o\OooO'*THir)oco"^oocsiPooooTt 1i1^ 1" rj 03.^2- r! rt ' : :::::::: :: : : i:ii i|i|i|iiiHi|i II ill #|lii ilii^ VA^.-.-t.-'Hr'-^-^ -^^^7rl+^-H+^-/^^4- ^—^- — ^y-X---- ni^i^: vj::::3::::±/^::^-^- 1 j ui; j j ; { -/U^^U ^+- i-i-V ?-r- i M f^^- -^-^^^— -^-^+-+-^+-^f+r--K-- m' .w^W ^- ±t::^::..__42^___:^ ^^^^^Li_^_ ; ;_/2^±L|h_4_ :i: ± 1 Qra.\^tifajtz\~ J^±i— — -^rr^ i _l,^± iimir zfei 22^N:i= ; = = ^ -t- - - /^ ■ i 1 rn^r'^ i t i ' i i i i i { t i(' i l =j-k44y-i- J- mi I ^> eK^^o-^d!. _L_LlJ_Lj_ii_J|! 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'1 '\\'\ 1 ' il / 'r M r/n 1 i i i n i ! tw W / . 1 1 l/l' 1 1 ; 1 1 - , 1 1 ' » 1 1// 1' 1 M ' 1 : ' 1 / j: 1 ' 1 // r II , - 1 . r / / / / , l/l i 1 1 i i : i /L, . 1 r ■ ■ ir ? 1 I//I/ 1 ' f 1 : . , /^i 1 1 i J - M 1 7 ^'^ ■ ' * ' ' 1 ' ' ■ ■ . ■ ^ M /I / ) 1 1 1 ! r ''1 - 1 ■ 1 ' ! ! ■ ^n ■ : 1 M 1 j ,1.1 1 1 ' ''■ ''l-,\ i 1 i 1 1 i 1 1 . i 1 1 1 1 , / 1 / 1 : i ; 1 i ; : ./T,' , ^ •• \ 1 / 1 1 i i 1 ■ ,■ ■ ■ : ! M . 1 : i • ' ' ■ , ' ■ , ■ • 1 1 . i ,1 , 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1 ' i 1 1 1 ill 1 i X--- --MX— -/ .41-l_j^_^^+i_^_-.-_L ^A /__i. ___.!_/!-___.. .__liL___^J___J ./__/4+L---^4^-^4-^-p-^----ffl .,'?.. ■ r ■ 1 ,. 1 ... _ 1 ^?/ 111 : II 1 i 11 .11 DIAGRAM XIX — Average oral reading scores in each grade in all schools and in two selected schools. DIAGRAM XX — Average oral reading scores in each grade in all schools and in two selected schools. 68 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 70. The dotted line near the middle of the figure represents the average score in oral reading of all the schools in Grand Rapids which were tested. Achievement in Grand Rapids as Compared with Cleveland, Ohio In Diagram XVII the average achievement in Grand Rapids is compared with the average scores of the largest single school system thus far tested, namely, the city of Cleveland. The diagram shows that in all grades excepting the sixth the average scores of Grand Rapids are superior to the corresponding scores of Cleveland. This comparison becomes very significant by making a further comparison with the average scores of six grades of twenty-three schools in Illinois which were tested be- fore Cleveland. The contrast in favor of Grand Rapids is even stronger than in the case of Cleveland. Furthermore, the tests were given in Grand Rapids three months earlier in the school year than they were given in Cleveland or in the Illinois schools. These facts indicate very clearly that the efficiency of instruction in oral reading in Grand Rapids is very high indeed. Variations in Schools More significant for the improvement of instruction, how- ever, is the comparison of the achievement of a number of schools with the general average for Grand Rapids itself. Such internal comparisons within the system might advantageously become a part of the regular routine of supervision. In Diagram XVIII the achievements of Sigsbee School and Oakdale School are compared with the general average of Grand Rapids. The diagram shows that Sigsbee School does very well in all grades. The achievement in the first grade is distinctly above the aver- age and this superiority is maintained in general throughout the grades. Oakdale School, on the other hand, makes a poor start in the first grade and fails to rise to the general average of achievement at any point. In Diagram XIX the achievement of East Leonard School and Widdicomb School is compared with the general average. The point of significance in connection with this diagram is the fact that progress from grade to grade in each school is irregular. The type of progress which is here represented is characteristic of a large number of schools, as revealed by the scores in Table XVI. This situation suggests that there is need of a clearer definition of the results which should be secured. Such clearer READING 69 definitions are required in all subjects. They can be worked out only when teachers and supervisors come to a full recogni- tion of the fact that a school system is properly organized only when its different units are working together for well-recognized ends. Diagram XX shows similar results for Hall School and for South Division School. Hall School makes a very fair start in the first and second grades, but for some reason follows an ir- regular course below the average from the third grade on. South Division, on the other hand, makes a poor start during the first three grades and then maintains a level above the average from the fourth grade on. These results suggest that the work in the primary grades at South Division School and in the inter- mediate and upper grades at Hall School should be carefully examined with a view to finding out the causes of the difficulties in these grades.^ These typical diagrams can be paralleled by a number of schools included in the table. Furthermore, the schools and grades of the system should be encouraged to work out periodi- cally similar statements of their progress so that they may check up their results and secure uniformly high results where now there is irregularity and at certain points low achievement. Interpretation. The tests which were given to the pupils of Grand Rapids have shown that the results secured by the city as a whole are very satisfactory. Therefore, whatever criticism is offered be- cause of failure to secure results must be directed at individual schools rather than at the system as a whole. In order to deter- mine the causes of the wide variations in the achievement of various classes, seventy-four recitations in reading were ob- served, and some of the typical observations are here recorded. One outstanding difference between the instruction of prim- ary classes relates to the relative emphasis which is given to the thought of the selection arid to the mechanics of reading by the teacher. It is commonly agreed that the problem of first-grade reading is to gain a mastery of the fundamentals. This may be done by .concentrating attention upon the mechanics of reading or by making the mechanics of reading incidental to the mastery of the thought. Most of the teachers of Grand Rapids hold the view that it is the better plan to begin by making reading a thought-getting exercise, inasmuch as pupils should associate reading with thought-getting. The teachers concentrate atten- tion on the thought side, however, with varying degrees of sue- 70 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN cess. The following observations illustrate this point. In one school the teacher began the lesson with the following questions : "What were the little people doing in yesterday's lesson? To what kind of place were they going? What do we want when we go to a picnic besides a good place to play? This mother had planned a surprise for her children. Study the first page to yourself to find out what she did. If you find any hard words, tell me what they are and I shall write them on the board for our study." Such directions and questions gave purpose to the reading, stimulated interest and enjoyment, and resulted in thoughtful participation in the study of the lesson. The opposite kind of results may be illustrated as follows: The lesson was introduced by asking the pupils to look at the title and tell what the story was about; the new words were sounded; each word was worked out analytically. While this method may have resulted in the development of some power to analyze words, it detracted attention from the thought of the story, with the result that the pupils were not interested and they were inattentive. The reading which followed was lifeless and very poor, indicating that reading was a mechanical, un-inter- esting procedure with the class. The type of drill which was given in this class should be relegated to some special drill period in which word study is made the fundamental problem\ Teachers should guard against destroying the pupils' interest in reading by conducting the necessary drill exercises during periods in which little, if any, reading is done. Second and Third Grade Reading The high average scores attained by the pupils of the second and third grades may be explained by the fact that the pupils of these grades have abundant opportunity to read orally. A large number of pages are read during each recitation. The vigor with which the pupils read and the readiness with which they attack new selections indicate that the fundamental phases of oral reading have been pretty well mastered by the end of the third grade. The variations in the achievement of the classes of these grades are accompanied by variations in the spirit and methods of the classroom. Fountain School, which ranks very high in oral reading achievement, has organized its work with great care. The work of the morning is known as literary reading, at which time considerable attention is given to mat- ters of pronunciation, enunciation, expression, meaning, etc. In the afternoon the pupils read primarily for information. This reading is done at sight in connection with some problem in which the class is interested. At the time that the class was READING 71 visited they were working on the problem of how cotton is grown and harvested. The pupils not only read the story, but contribute interesting facts which they have discovered outside of the classroom and bring in interesting objective materials which relate to the problem at hand. At the end of the day the pupils write significant sentences based on the work of the hour and at the end of the week the pupils write stories based on the readings of the past few days. By these devices the information to be secured is kept foremost in mind. Whenever it is needed the teacher gives effective help on difficult words, but she does this in a quiet way so that interest and attention are not taken from the main thread of the story. A list is kept of the words upon which help is needed and at the close of the exercise or in some special drill period these words are emphasized. This type of oral reading procedure should be introduced more widely in the second and third grades of Grand Rapids. In contrast with the illustration just given, the reading reci- tations of some of the classes which rank low in the oral reading test were lifeless and monotonous. The work of one day did not carry over to the next. Attention was centered primarily on the pronunciation of words. The recitation was constantly inter- rupted to correct minor errors. The pupils read with little in- terest and vigor. Principals who find this type of teaching car- ried on by teachers under their supervision should begin remed- ial measures at once. The teachers should be called together to discuss the problems of teaching reading. Demonstration les- sons might be taught to illustrate certain points. Plans for teaching a given lesson might be outlined and discussed. Inas- much as the teachers in a number of the schools are in need of help, it is recommended that a series of conferences be carried on by teachers of the entire city. These conferences should form a clearing house in which the most effective methods of securing results in reading will be demonstrated and discussed. Further- more, a list of the most successful teachers of reading should be made available so that principals could send their teachers who are in need of help to visit recitations in reading in schools where the work is admittedly good. The work in oral reading continues throughout the inter- mediate and upper grades. In connection with the discussion of silent reading it will be shown that a part of the time now given to oral reading in these grades should be devoted to silent reading. It is our purpose at present to point out two reasons for variations in oral reading achievement in the intermediate grades. 72 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Grade Reading In many of the classes which rank low there was clear evi- dence that the teacher had made no specific preparation for teaching that particular lesson, depending in a vague general way for the day's work on her own ability to read and on her previous contact with the selection. The purpose of the recita- tion was in these cases general and hence vague. Errors were indeed corrected and a few suggestions were offered concerning the thought of the selection. Whatever comments were made by the teacher came to her mind apparently at the moment they were offered. These suggestions dealt with details and failed to bring into prominence the larger and more significant points of the lesson. Recitations conducted in this way do not give enough positive instruction. To be guided primarily by the demand that errors be corrected is in reality to be dominated by a negative aim. Teachers who worked with a vague purpose failed to realize that some selections should be read quickly to enjoy the story, while other selections should be read w4th a greater amount of care to determine the major points and the supporting details, to weigh the relative value of the various points of the lesson, to get the finer meanings of certain pas- sages, or to appreciate certain descriptions and allusions. Un- less a teacher makes definite preparation before the reading exercise, it is almost certain that she will not appreciate the most significant points of the lesson and she will not be able to direct the thought of the pupils along the most profitable lines. A comparison of the scores which were received by various classes with the notes which were made while visiting recitations in reading reveals the fact that there is close correlation between low scores on the one hand and poor preparation and lack of pur- pose by the teacher on the other. Another noticeable difference between the work of schools which ranked high and schools which ranked low relates to the motive or purpose which stimulated the pupils. In two of the better schools effective results in oral reading were secured as follows : One fifth-grade class secures good oral reading in connection with. its civic club. Thirty minutes are spent each week in a meeting of the club. Members are expected to choose selections which are appropriate for the program of the day and' to read them before the group. Each pupil has a real purpose for reading and the audience situation which confronts him calls forth his best efforts. Although far less time is devoted to oral reading in this school than in many other schools, the results are superior throughout. It seems reasonable to assume that the pupil who puts forth his best efforts in a thorough preparation READING 1Z of one selection which he will read with a real purpose will make more progress than the pupil who reads several selections in a half-hearted way. In a second school the pupils read several pages to determine the answer to a problem which has been held over from the preceding lesson. At the conclusion of the study period the pupils participated in a lively discussion of the question at issue. Pupils differed frequently during the discus- sion. They had been trained to refer to the text under such con- ditions and to read to the class the statements which supported their point of view. Several parts of the selection were read a number of times, but each time the pupil who read had a definite purpose and he read effectively. In contrast with the vigorous reading exercises just de- scribed a number of uninteresting, lifeless recitations were ob- served. In one class the pupils were reading the story of Ulysses. After each paragraph had been read, several questions were asked to determine whether or not the pupil had understood the pas- sage. Two or three pupils were then asked to re-read the same passage. The teacher gave her chief attention to the correction of such errors as "peaceful" for "peacable." After ten minutes of this type of exercise the class had read only three paragraphs and it is needless to say the pupils had lost all interest in the recitation. Oral reading of the type just described accomplishes very little for pupils of the intermediate grades. Seventh and Eighth Grade Reading The conception of reading as an oral exercise is largely ac- cepted in the seventh and eighth grades. This view will be criti- cized in connection with the discussion of silent reading. It is to be said here that the oral exercises are usually taken up as follows. The selections are first studied silently. Questions are then asked about the words. Later the selections are read and discussed. Some of these exercises proved to be very effective. They were characterized by interest, and earnest endeavor was apparent on the part of the pupils. In many instances, however, the discussions became too detailed and analytic. In one class which was reading about Washington the following questions were asked: "Who was Washington? Who wrote this story? Who was Jefferson?" Several words which had been listed on the board were pronounced at this point. Eight or ten lines were then read silently, followed by these questions : "Name three things which were told about Washington. (The final answer secured was, 'He had a good mind, great power of pene- tration, and good judgment.') What is the difference between mind and judgment? What is the connection between judicious- 74 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Aj and judgment? What part of speech is judiciously?'* After eight minutes spent in this way the teacher was forced to turn to another lesson because the pupils were entirely lost. Tests in Silent Reading At the same time that the pupils were tested in oral reading, they were also tested in silent reading. The silent reading test was omitted in the case of first-grade pupils. After the oral reading test had been completed by a pupil, new passages were used for the silent reading tests. The tester recorded in this case the rate of reading. By means of written reproductions of what was read and by answers to questions concerning the subject-matter of the test, the pupil gave evidence as to his com- prehension of v/hat he had read. Three selections were used in the silent reading test in order to suit the subject-matter to the maturity of the pupils of the different grades. The easiest selection, entitled "Tiny Tad", was read by pupils of the second and third grades. The second selection, entitled "The Grass- hoppers", was read by pupils of the fourth, fifth and sixth grades, and the hardest selection, entitled "Ancient Ships", was read by the pupils of the seventh and eighth grades. The relative difficulty of these selections had been previously determined by tests given to 2654 pupils in thirteen cities. The Rate of Silent Reading The average rate at which a class reads silently was deter- mined by finding the average number of seconds required by a class to read one hundred words. This result was then expressed in terms of the number of words read per second. The average rate at which each class that was tested read is shown in Table XVII. The median and average rates for each grade are indi- cated at the foot of the table. The average rate by grades was found by determining the average number of seconds required by all pupils of a given grade to read one hundred words. This result was then expressed in terms of the number of words read per second. The rate at which pupils of Grand Rapids read is compared with the rate at which pupils of other cities read in Diagram XXI. Since three selections were used in the silent reading test, a readjustment has been necessary in the diagram. The points of this readjustment are between the third and fourth grades, and between the sixth and seventh grades. In Diagram XXI, dotted, vertical lines are drawn at each of these points. READING 75 TABLE XVII AVERAGE RATES IN SILENT READING FOR Z1 SCHOOLS OF GRAND RAPIDS Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eighth SCHOOLS Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Tunior — 2.86 2.81 2.78 3.03 South 2.94 1.02 1.75 1.85 2.63 2.44 2.56 2.50 Alexander — . L54 1.09 2.50 2.13 2.27 1.82 2.13 2.04 2.70 2.18 2.27 2.33 Coit — - 1.25 1.64 2.44 2.13 Coldbrook 1.72 1.96 2.94 3.33 3.33 3.33 2.70 Congress 1.66 2.70 2.80 2.77 1.67 1.69 2.38 2.33 2.70 1.96 2.63 East Leonard 1.35 2.78 2.56 4.00 ■ 3.70 2.18 2.78 Evangeline .41 1.85 3.12 3.45 3.85 Finney Fountain 3.45 2.17 2.56 4.16 Franklin 1.25 2.58 2.30 2.94 2.77 2.22 2.63 Hall 1.43 2.00 2.38 2.22 2.56 1.92 2.44 Henry 2.22 2.50 2.38 2.86 Ionia 1.82 2.33 .... Jefferson . 1.75 1.58 2.08 2.27 1.92 2.43 1.79 3.33 3.03 3.84 1.82 2.85 Lafayette 1.75 Lexington 1.78 2.64 2.09 2.68 3.21 3.49 3.37 Madison 2.22 2.77 2.43 2.77 2.85 Michigan -— 1.96 2.63 2.44 2.13 2.70 North Division 1.89 1.79 2.13 Oakdale .76 1.28 1.87 1.92 2.13 Palmer 1.49 2.00 2.63 2.33 3.12 2.77 2.85 2.85 Pine 1.20 1.87 2.15 2.86 2.22 2.63 Plainfield 1.56 2.38 2.04 2.08 2.22 1.39 Sheldon 1.35 1.82 2.17 2.56 2.17 Sibley 1.32 2.33 2.33 2.86 2.86 . Sigsbee 1.59 2.44 1.85 2.56 3.33 2.94 3.03 South Division 1.35 1.52 2.04 2.63 2.94 2.78 2.04 Stocking 1.60 2.17 1.79 Straight 1.88 2.63 1.85 2.37 3.57 2.27 2.86 2.85 Turner 1.67 2.78 2.04 2.63 2.86 Walker 1.16 West Leonard 1.61 1.61 2.50 Widdicomb 1.92 1.92 2.78 2.50 3.70 .— Median 1.59 2.17 2.28 2.63 2.86 2.78 2.74 Average (All Cases) 1.58 2.20 2.30 2.63 2.85 2.72 2.78 The numbers at the left of the diagram indicate the number of words read per second in the easy selection. The numbers^ on the line between the third and fourth grades indicate the equiva- lent number of words read per second when the second more difficult passage was used, and the numbers on the line between the sixth and seventh grades indicate the equivalent rates for the most difficult selection. The diagram shows that the rate at which the pupils of Grand Rapids read silently is very similar to the rate at which the pupils of thirteen cities read, but is somewhat lower than the average Cleveland rate. Inasmuch as the record for Grand Rapids compares so favorably with the record for thirteen cities, it would seem that this phase of reading achievement has been fairly well provided for in the instruction which Grand Rapids DIAGRAM XXI — Average Rates in Silent Reading among 3399 pupils in Grand Rapids, among 1831 pupils in Cleveland and among 2654 pupils in thirteen other cities. DIAGRAM XXII — Average Rates in Silent Reading in each grade in all schools and in each grade in three selected schools. READING -j^ gives to its pupils. On the other hand, very little attention has been given ni classroom instruction to the problem of rate in silent reading. As better methods are worked out for securing more effective results in this phase of reading achievement k may be found that our standards are far too low at present The fact that Cleveland secured results which are distinctly superior to the scores for Grand Rapids leads to the conclusion that Grand Rapids should by no means feel self-satisfied with its average results. Diagram XXII presents some of the variations which are found m particular schools in Grand Rapids. Oakdale School ranks very low in rate of silent reading. Coldbrook School and Lexington School, on the other hand, although making records which are slightly below the average in certain grades, make records which are distinctly above the average in most grades A careful study of Diagram XXII and of Table XVII shows that there are a number of schools which should give considerable attention to the problem of rate in silent reading. In some schools this need is apparent throughout the grades; in other schools this need is most apparent in connection with certain grades. The fact that some schools attain very high rates throughout the grades indicates the possibiUty that the general average for the city as a whole might be made much higher if the proper amount of attention were directed to this problem. Quality of Silent Reading ^ The scores for quality of silent reading are based on the ability of the pupil to reproduce what was read and to answer questions concerning the subject-matter of the test. The aver- age quaUty score for each class tested is given in Table XVIII The median and average scores for each grade appear at the foot of the table. The average scores for all the pupils of each grade have been adopted for use in making comparisons. The average quality scores for Grand Rapids, Cleveland and thirteen other cities are compared in Diagram XXIII The same readjustments appear in this diagram which were described m connection with the diagrams for rate of silent reading The diagram shows that above the third grade the records made by the pupils in Grand Rapids follow closely and are slightly above the records made by Cleveland pupils. On the other hand the records for Grand Rapids are distinctly lower than the records made by thirteen other cities with the exception of the seventh grade records. The unusually high scores made by the pupils of the second and third grades can be easily accounted for as 78 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN TABLE XVIII AVERAGE QUALITY SCORE IN SILENT READING FOR Z1 SCHOOLS IN GRAND RAPIDS Second SCHOOLS Grade Union South Junior 17 Alexander 28 Buchanan 28 Coit 41 Coldbrook 31 Congress 33 Diamond 23 East Leonard 36 Evangeline 25 Finney Fountain 32 Franklin 31 Hall 35 Henry 39 Ionia ,. 27 Jefferson 28 Lafayette 39 Lexington 47 Madison 35 Michigan 35 North Division 33 Oakdale 34 Palmer 32 Pine 34 Plainfield 39 Sheldon 24 Sibley 33 Sigsbee 47 South Division 28 Stocking 23 Straight 34 Turner 40 Walker 56 West Leonard 35 Widdicomb 45 Median 33 Average (All Cases) 32 Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eight Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade Grad. 28 24 20 26 25 40 'is 33 31 28 27 40 15 17 35 26 40 17 31 26 22 43 12 24 40 17 25 28 19 26 39 32 24 31 19 25 31 19 24 50 28 27 22 32 34 27 28 29 32 49 34 44 43 15 25 35 24 42 49 26 36 35 28 23 44 18 24 48 36 14 20 29 20 43 20 33 30 33 46 49 24 32 31 20 23 43 26 30 39 41 33 24 28 .... 35 15 .... 39 18 17 26 44 16 21 26 18 26 39 41 15 27 30 31 39 23 29 36 34 .... 41 17 30 34 36 15 25 23 55 21 33 41 21 22 34 21 37 31 19 24 30 13 29 12 20 23 23 21 36 17 24 36 25 34 13 .— '..'. 42 8 21 "34 40 17 25 30 24 26 40 19 25 31 24 27 follows. The teachers giving the tests wrote the reproduction and answers to questions for the pupils of the second and third grades. The pupils in grades above the third wrote their own reproductions. The written reproductions received from a num- ber of second and third-grade classes show clearly the influence of the teacher who gave the test. The English in these repro- ductions is superior to the English used by pupils of these grades. The thought is reproduced more fully than has been found to be the case with most pupils of these grades. The questions are answered with a degree of precision which excels the written work of pupils in more advanced grades. It is to be regretted that this error has crept into the results as it makes any comparison among second and third-grade classes invalid. It should be added, however, that many of the second and third READING 79 DIAGRAM XXIII — Average quality scores among 3399 pupils in Grand Rapids, among 1831 pupils in Cleveland and among 2654 pupils in thirteen other cities. DIAGRAM XXIV — ^Average quality scores in silent reading in each grade in all schools and in each grade in three selected schools. 80 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND-RAPIDS, MICHIGAN grade reproductions were copied with a high degree of accuracy as shown by the fact that the sentences copied were characteristic of pupils of- these grades. A careful study of the quality scores for Grand Rapids re- veals the fact that the record for the city as a whole is not only relatively low, but that the growth in individual schools is er- ratic and fails to show steady progress. In Diagram XXIV an unusual drop between the fourth and fifth grades is represented in the curve for Michigan School. A similar drop is represented between the fifth and sixth grades in the curve for South Divi- sion School. When one contrasts such progress with the steady growth revealed by the record for Diamond School, one is forced to question the consistency of the instruction which these pupils receive from grade to grade. In Diagram XXV, fairly constant progress in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades is shown in the records for Turner, Sigsbee, and Straight Schools. In Diagram XXVI, on the other hand, an entirely different type of progress is shown for these same grades. Such records indicate that there is urgent need that the problem of securing effective results in the silent interpretation of printed material be giv^n immediate attention. The conclusions which have been reached as a result of -the objective study of silent reading achievement may be summar- ized as follows. The progress in rate of silent reading for the city as a whole is to be compared favorably with that shown in other cities. In individual schools and classes there is need for greater emphasis and more consistent effort on this phase of silent reading. In general, there is a possibility of improvement in rate of silent reading which has not been fully realized any-, where. The record in quality of silent reading is relatively low for the city as a whole, particularly in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. The erratic character of the progress throughout these grades indicates that the methods of securing results in this phase af reading achievement are less well worked out than is true in the case of oral reading achievement or rate of silent reading. When one compares the very satisfactory results se- cured in oral reading with the inferior and erratic results secured in silent reading, it stands out with perfect clearness that there is need of changing the relative emphasis given to oral reading and to silent reading by the teachers of Grand Rapids. Interpretation The distinction between oral reading and silent reading has purposely received considerable emphasis in this report. Al- though this distinction has not been kept prominently before DIAGRAM XXV — Average Quality Scores in Silent Reading in each grade in fotir selected schools. I^^ ^ iny .r. -'7^ ±J: ^C. ^->' 7=^ -A M MM r^il ±t t± s m a SE ?^ ffir Lzsx tVc^ llm i[]l ^^[ 1^5 i^^ :^^ N ;5s w m m ,^1 f^2 ^f: ]^a: ^L t^ EisE tiEfenjag^ md ^vij;^' J4J r "" T"^ — DIAGRAM XXVI — Average Quality Scores in Silent Reading in each grade in three selected schools. 82 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN the minds of teachers in the past, the increasing recognition of the value of silent reading makes it necessary that teachers give this problem constant consideration. It was shown in the earlier part of this report that Grand Rapids secures effective results in teaching oral reading. The fact that silent reading habits are less effectively established leads to the conclusion that a portion of the time and effort now given to oral reading should be di- rected to silent reading. In order to determine at just what points in the grades this change of emphasis should take place, it is necessary to bear in mind certain well-established facts. When second and third-grade pupils have acquired as much mastery of the mechanics of reading as have the pupils of Grand Rapids, they are able to pronounce words which are quite be- yond their comprehension. Whenever pupils have reached this stage in their development, additional mastery of word pronunci- ation is less important than increased mastery of meanings. These meanings are best secured by coming in contact with words and sentences time after time, until a body of meaning is built up in regard to these words. The large amount of atten- tion which the teachers of many second and third-grade classes of Grand Rapids give to quantitative reading with emphasis upon the thought side, is a long step in the right direction. Furthermore, a pupil in the first grade is able to pronounce words more rapidly than he is able to recognize them, but dur- ing the second and third-grade his rate of word recognition reaches or surpasses his rate of word pronunciation. By the time the pupil reaches the fourth grade he has mastered the art of oral reading well enough to use it intelligently. The result is that he begins to read much more rapidly than during the prim- ary grades. He becomes interested in the subject-matter and because his vocal chords react slowly, he lets his eyes run along the lines without supervising the vocal chord reactions fully. Speed in recognition of words at this time becomes an enemy of excellence in oral reading. These facts justify the contention that it would be more in harmony with the child's needs to lay less emphasis on oral reading during the intermediate grades and, on the other hand, to give greater opportunity for the de- velopment of effective habits of silent reading. Again, the curve of progress in rate of silent reading for the pupils of Grand Rapids shows that the most rapid progress is made by the pupils of the second, third, and fourth grades. By the time pupils reach the sixth grade their habits of careful silent reading have been well established. It will be noted that under our present system of instruction little progress or advance is made beyond this grade in rate of silent reading. As Diagram XXIII shows, this was true not only in the case of Grand Rapids READING 83 but in the case of Cleveland and the other cities which were represented in Diagram XXIII. As pointed out above, this is a general defect in all elementary-school teaching. Silent reading can develop much beyond the point shown in these diagrams. It would be a great advantage to all pupils if they could attain the highest possible fluency in silent reading. Schools should take an entirely new attitude in regard to these various phases of reading achievement. Furthermore, during the third and fourth grades, when pupils are just beginning to develop the power, of rapid and in- telligent silent reading, they also become interested in reading to find out facts. Reading for information, therefore, should con- stitute the essential purpose of reading exercises. The reading committee of Grand Rapids has made provision in its course of study for this type of reading. The course of study says at the beginning of the fourth grade "This is chiefly silent reading to get information for the work in history, geography, natural science, and physiology. The recitation or class discussion be- comes the test of the pupil's ability to get thought from the printed page. It is of great importance that boys and girls ac- quire this ability and until they can do silent reading intelli- gently, it is advisable to use class time in which the work may go on under the teacher's help and guidance." As one visits the schools, he finds that the spirit of these directions has not been carried out in practice to any great extent. The facts presented in the preceding paragraphs should justify the conclusion that the pupils of Grand Rapids may very well begin to devote considerable attention to silent reading in the third grade. During two or three periods a week, silent study might well be substituted for sight reading. The pupils should read with a definite purpose or problem in mind and the reading should be followed by a brief, lively discussion to enable the teacher to determine the extent to which the class as a whole appreciated the thought of the selection and. to determine the extent to which individual help on the part of certain members of the class is needed. Frequently, pupils should be given a relatively easy selection and should be urged to proceed rapidly with their reading. By all means pupils should never be told to pronounce the words to themselves while reading silently. That principal of Grand Rapids who urges the pupils under her supe/vision to read so that she can see their lips move, and who encourages this habit throughout the grades, is developing habits on the part of pupils which will defeat the attempt to develop effective silent readers. In endeavoring to secure speed and quality in silent read- 84 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ing, the teacher should adapt her method to the selection in hand or should choose selections which are adapted to a given purpose. Many selections may be read quickly for the story. Several pages of Black Beauty may be read rapidly to find out the num- ber of things that Black Beauty had to become accustomed to in order to become a well-trained horse. Speed can be encour- aged in such an exercise by limiting the amount of time given to the reading. On the other hand, many selections should be read with more care in order to determine what the essential points are in the selection, or to weigh the relative imiportance of the facts, or to associate the facts of the selection with things which the child already knows. It is the phase of reading just described of which the pupils of Grand Rapids stand most clear- ly in need. Throughout the intermediate grades selection after selection should be assigned and the pupil trained to read that selection silently under the guidance of specific purposes. Such a lesson cannot be conducted without careful thought and prepar- ation. At frequent intervals careful tests of speed and quality of silent reading should be made in order to determine the most urgent need of the pupils. The results of these tests should direct the teacher in her choice of further assignments. Wider training in habits of effective silent reading is recam- mended for the pupils of the seventh and eighth grades as well as for the pupils of the intermediate grades. Part of the time now given to oral reading should be utilized in teaching pupils how to read more effectively. The criticism now often made by high-school teachers that the elementary school fails to teach its pupils to read effectively is doubtless justified in large measure so far as the power of silent reading and interpretation are con- cerned. Evidence of this fact is found in the wide variation which prevails in the achievement of eighth-grade pupils. The teachers of reading in the upper grades should see to it that the boys and girls who go from the elementary school, either into the high school or out into the practical world of affairs, have been trained in the art of silent, individual mastery of the printed page. Less emphasis on formal oral reading in the intermediate and upper grades and more emphasis upon effective habits of silent reading is the outstanding recommendation which issues from this study of the instructional needs in reading of the pupils of Grand Rapids. CHAPTER V COMPOSITION Matthew H. Willing The achievement of the elementary-school pupils of Grand Rapids in written English composition was investigated by means of the following test: The pupils in grades 4-2, 5-2, 6-2, 7-2, and 8-2 were asked to write original stories on the subject, *'An Exciting Experience." They were directed to write about something that had happened to them or to people whom they knew. They were warned against reproducing stories they had read or had seen at moving picture shows. The following sug- gestions were written on the board to help them in making selec- tions : A Storm, A Runaway, An Errand at Night, A Wonderful Journey, In the Woods, On the Water, On the Ice, On the Mountains, An Unexpected Meeting. They were not required to use, any of these, if they preferred others. The whole aim in devising and giving the test was to secure as natural an expres- sion as possible on subjects of personal interest to the children. The requirement that they use this kind of a subject insured a certain uniformity which made it easier to evaluate results. The test period covered thirty minutes — five for preliminary explanation and suggestion, twenty for uninterrupted writing, and five for concluding, making corrections and counting the words written. In seventeen representative schools the tests were administered by the writer, while in the other buildings the principals managed the work. A conference was held with the principals before the beginning of the tests relative to their pur- pose and method. The interpretation of results here made is on the basis of the seventeen schools, though the data from the others are also set forth in a concluding table. These seventeen schools provided a total of 2075 papers, divided as follows among the four grades : 4-2, 456 ; 5-2, 445 ; 6-2, 490; 7-2, 367; 8-2, 317. For the purpose of grading, a random selection of ten papers 86 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN was made from each grade in each school with the exception of three unusually large classes from which a third of the papers was drawn. The selection in each case was ample to afford a correct respresentation of the whole group, since the ten papers rarely constituted less than a third of the whole number. The papers thus selected numbered 805, divided as follows: 4-2, 170; 5-2, 175 ; 6-2, 180; 7-2, 165 ; 8-2, 115. These 805 papers were graded by the use of a composition scale derived from the material of an exactly similar test given in Denver, Colo., the preceding December. This scale consists of eight samples ranging by approximately equal steps from poorest to best, and covering the range of accomplishment of pupils in grades 4 to 8 inclusive. It is reproduced immediately below. Composition Scale A-90 The most exciting experience of my life happened when I was but five years of age. I was riding my tricycle on the top of our high ter- race. Beside the curbing below, stood a vegetable wagon and a horse. Suddenly I got too near the top of the terrace. The front wheel of my tricycle slipped over and down I went, lickety-split, under the horse standing by the curbing. I had quite a high tricycle and the handle-bars scraped the horse's stomach, making him kick and plunge in a very alarming manner. I was directly under him during this, but finally I rolled over out of his way and scrambled up. I looked at my hands! Most of the first finger and part of the thumb of my left hand were missing. The horse had stepped on them. I had endured no sensation of pain before this, but now my mangled hand began to hurt terribly. I was hurried to the hospital and operated on, and now you would hardly notice one of my fingers is missing. I certainly have good cause to congratulate myself on my good fortune in escaping with as little injury to myself as I did, for I might have been terribly mangled in my head or body. No. of mistakes in spelling, punctuation and syntax per hundred words — 0. B-80 Near our ranch in Fort Logan there was a chicken ranch. On day my sister and I went up to the chicken ranch on our horses. Coming back there was a road leading from our house to the main road and along this roadwere half rotted stumps. On every one of these stumps what do you think we saw. We saw snakes! snakes! snakes! I suppose these snakes were shedding their skins they were of every color, shape and size. But when sister and I saw these snakes we whipped our horses into a gallop and away we went just as hard as we could go. When we got to the house we went in and mamma couldn't get us out the house that day. I was so scared that I believe I dreamed about snakes for a month. Number of mistakes in spelling, punctuation and syntax per hundred words — 5. C-70 When I was in Michegan I had an exciting thing happen or rather COMPOSITION 87 saw it, it was when the big steamship plying between Chicago and Muskegon was sunk about 7 o'clock in the evening. It caught on fire with a load of cattle and products for the market on board, one of the lifeboats carrying some of the few people who were on board landed at our pier. The "whaleback", steamer which goes between Chicago and Muskegon was two hours later in coming than the freighter and was stopped to clear up the wreckage, all of the cattle and products and an immense cargo of coal were lost, but there were only two people lost, the ship tried hard to get to port with her cargoe but, could not reach it. The next morning we found planks, and parts of the wreck on the beach. Our cottage was at the top of a cliff and it was just one hundred feet to the lake from our cottage, we had a beautiful view, and the sight of the fire on the horizon was a beautiful sight (though it was pitiful,). Number of mistakes in spelling, punctuation and .syntax per hundred words — 8. D-60 One time when mother, some girl friends and myself were staying in the mountains. An awful storm came up. At the we were way up the mountain. The lighting flashed and the thunder roared. We were very frighted for the cabin we were staying at was at the foot of the mountain. We didn't have our coats with us for it was very warm when we started. There were a few pine trees near us so we ran under them. They didn't do much for good for the rain came down in torents. The rain came down so hard that it uprooted one of the trees. Finely it began to slack a little. So we thought we would try and go back. About half was down the mountain was a little hut. We started and when got about halfway down it began to rain all the harder. We didn't know what to do for this time there wasn't any trees to get under. We de- sided to go on for the nearest shelter was the hut. Finely we got there cold and wet to the skin. Number of mistakes in spelling, punctuation and syntax per hundred words — 11. E-50 One time mother and father were going to take sister and I for a long ride thanksgiving. We had to go 60 miles to get there. When sister and I herd about it we were very glad. It was a very cold trip. We four all went in a one-seated automoble. Dady drove and mother held me and sister sat on the top the top was down. Mother could not hold sister for she was two heavy. When we got there they had a hot fire ready for us and a goose dinner. We were there over night. In the morning it was hot out. This was on a farm. Sister and I got to go horse-back riding. It was lots of fune. They had children. The children were very nice. Our trip home was very cold. When we got home it had snod. Number of mistakes in spelling, punctuation and syntax per hundred words — 14. F-40 My antie had her barn trown down last week and had all her chickens killed from the storm. Witch happened at twelve oclock at night. She had 30 chickens and one horse the horse was saved he ran oyer to our house and claped on the door whit his foot. When we saw him my father took him in barn where he slepped the night with our horse. When our antie told us about the accident we were very sorry the next night all my anties things were frozen. The storm blew 88 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN terrible the next morning and I could not go to school so I had to stay home the whole week. Number of mistakes in spelling, punctuation and syntax per hundred words — 17. G-30 The other day when I was rideing on our horse the engien was comeing and he got frightened so he through me down and I broke my hand. And the next thing I done was I went to the docter and he put some bandage on it and he told me to come the next day so I came the next day and he toke the bandage off and he looked at it and then it was better. Mistakes in spelling, punctuation and syntax per hun- dred words — 23. H-20 Deron the summer I got kicked and sprain my arm. And I was in bed of wkeeks. And it happing up to Washtion Park I was going_ to catch some fish. And I was so happy when I got the banged of I will nevery try that stunt againg. Number of mistakes in spelling, punctuation and syntax per hundred words — 30. The papers from the seventeen Grand Rapids schools were graded by the writer subsequent to his use of the scale in grad- ing the papers of the Denver test mentioned above. The following table gives the distribution of marks by- grades. The first or left half of the table gives grades that are subdivided more minutely than the scale itself. Thus when a composition is between B and C in the scale, it is graded 75. In the right half of the table the grades are reduced to correspon- dence with the scale. From the table and diagrams it will be seen that the pupils in 4-2 and 5-2 grades are nearer together in their ability in this test than are pupils of the higher grades. A mathematical index of this homogeneity is the quartile deviation (Q) given in the above table for each grade. This quartile deviation represents half the distance on the scale between the mid-points of the upper and lower halves of a distribution. In the diagrams it is one-half the distance between the two outer broken lines run- ning through vertically. The nearer these two lines are to- gether, the smaller the quartile deviation and the greater the homogeneity of the group in question. The quartile deviations from the five grades as given in the table are: Grade 4-2 5-2 6-2 7-2 8-2 Q 6.1 6.2 6.8 7.8 8 This is as much as to say, that the longer pupils remain in school, the farther apart they grow within their respective grades in the particular abilitv here tested. Or, to put it another way, COMPOSITION 89 PQ O o 00 ? CO 0\ m CM VO ^ o 805 52.4 8.9 00 in CO CO t^ int>. o -IS ~ 00 o § ? VO ISS 00 ,, M 'ICil * i ■:>' 1 , ' 1 1 1 I 1 t 1 i , i , j 1 )0 II ! 1 1 N ! !| M M ' 1 1 , , . . 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i i ' , ' : 1 1 : 1 1 i n ill 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 II ill 1 M 1 i 1 ^ ' M i 1 M I I 1 1 ill 4Z^ 1 ! M U LlTTT lL fC In Mil 111 -4+—^ ill: III; 4-l4r-^-+ ill 111' \ ! : ' ■ 1 1 1 •■ I'll 1 r I "^J^+4f4^H-^-H--^- --^'1 li— : ^-^7-^^^. ^-^=l=f 1 ill) . : ■ ■ ! • . • . ■ 1 1 1 II 1 J ' i 1 1 1 i ll 1 I 'III 1 i 1 , __ ' 7-) : - . ■' : , ; -^-H-H- ^+r-^^i^-^ T-f^ 1 1 i 1 1 i i M 1 llO /ajLers 1 1 i -- \^o\ +^^^^-'^1+-^'^ U 1^_! ^^ __| ^ ^ 1 I \ \ • 1 1 < 1 ' 1 : 1- 1 1 1 ' 1 1 i - 1 r . ' 1 , . 1 : : li 1 III — 4— p 1 1 1 1 ■ ' M ) 1 1 i i 1 I'll ; 1 1 1 J- -L LJl 4- Li ' 1 Ml 1 I ' : I 1 j 1 Mil III .Ln till 1 1 Ml I'M 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 III 1 tf-0 1 i 1 i 1 ^ 1 i 1 1 , ' 1 ' ■ 1 ■ , ■ ; . ' ■ M M 1 • III Ml'' 1 I M ■ ' M ■ 1 ' I • ■ : III ! 1 ! 1 1 I ! 1 II \ 1 i 1 ! i ill M 1 M ' II'' MM Mil 'Ml 1 \3l>, 1 II T III 1 III 1 1 M 1 M 1 1 M 1 Mil ' ' M 1 1 - 1 M 1 i ' I ll i ! 1 1 M 1 MM MM ' 1 M Mil 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II MM MM 1 II 1 MM 1 :-::;:: : ^-cn:^--iT;- -- - 1 1 1 1 Mil 'Ih i ' 1 ! - — -?£-— --^ -+rhHl^- ' r|-rrH-H-!--H^+4f^^ 1 1 ' 1 ! 1 M { 1 M 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' ; ' 1 1 1 ! '1 1 ll /J i M i 1 1 r 1 i 1 i ■ III ^1 1 II M j -* 1 I 1 1 1 j / C 1 1 1 ' - - 1 ■ 1 : M ; ' 1 I 1 1 ' ' i ■ , 1 M !■ . 1 1 1 III' MM I 1 M 1 ' 1 ' '1 Mil 1 1 1 { 1 1 1 1 j 1 1 1 1 1 ll 1 /^ 1 1 1 ' 1 ' 1 1 'i ' 1 II 1 Mil Mi' M ' 'ill j Q \ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ll 1 - + ^^QV-^i^-^-^tt^ - - ^ T- T^ - j^ krr ^^trr -tS-^c jfe-^ ^ - 1 /1;2- =i^ M 1 1 {^9-^5 1 i 1 1 1 I M 1 , ; ; M II 1 r ll ; 1 i III i 1 1 1 1 M M ' ' '1 "T~ -1- -L 1 . 1 i ■ 1 1 li I i 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 . ■ > 1 i 11 1 i. 1 ^ ^ 1 hi ..ffiLi^^ziSi L -r-#K-S-^ f_ ! ____ 1 .AL. 1 Ml 1 _. .J_ ^ \ __^i^_^^ ^-n r ^ ^^^T^ ^- : :: ± l 3 t : T ■ xx^-^ : ^ II [2 L " J 1 1 - _L 1 U -L LL UjIIj r ! 1 ^ . T" 1 1 z -u D-J3 '1 : ^5 1 W 1 1 1 1 ll 1 1 II 1 1 I T ' " 1 1 11 r III [ - n — ^ 1 -r - ' . f\' ■ ■ 1 T 1 1 1 ' /Q. 1 J < - 3 1 ? Ci" T ' " ■ 1 ll 1 ■ ll ill (jrhLiQ i it ' ; "" iL -hn 3 1 M 1 / T ^ JP !• ____j ^J 1 j! _ ^14: :: : "iHziizhiiii : : 11^ 1 II III 'LUJLJ-f^ i___^__M \^W : ' r 3 1 I 11 1 - A - " : 3 1 1 ^ / « . '^^ z: " [ 3 [ + - ' ' - " i 3 I] c X 1 a« ± : 3 [ ""^ "' ^I ^3r 1 T 1 1 ll 1 M 1 M ' 1 i 1 1 1 i 1 '- -;,i - - i ^ ^ - 1 ' 1 M Mil 1 Kn 1 III 1 1 II 1 1 1 r ll M M 1 ■■■ 1 M 1 MM ' ii j 1 ' ' 1 ; '-Lj-h-T-] — • '-'i -^ — 1 r' — ''■""' L - M- ^ ^ 1 ^^4-4 ^-A- 1 M : v^T-in xi- : \_ i 1 M 1 1 M 1 1 (-^ - ^ , Mi i 1 M ll 11 --^- it: 3 1 ' M 1 M M 1 1 : : _ : : : 3 r ■ i M M 1 1 1 M M 1 ::4::: : ::::::_:..:::[:_. i:: T +- M ! ' ' ' : — -MM^-^-4 ?r(r :: tr * c tt>- "fe 1 ' Ic 80^ \ rj :}c-^^ Vr\- M-A- J -L-i- ; 1 ^- i i ! ^ H ' ' yQ^ A> 't^P-H^ _. .;..:. p?...'^ .:..'...'. .1 .I..J .1 1. , 1 ' \ 1 It' i- J ! __j LJ \jmiae b A ' ! -LL 1 I'M 1 M II 1 ■ i 1 ■ i 11 l"h MM MM M : .A . rj 1 1 i M ! 1 1 ! 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 , 1 Ml ij ;mi imhILpersI -\-^^6r—M^-A—^MM--W ^-(^ ^! ^^ ; 1 1 1 ! M ! : M-i ^- . i T 1 i 1 i 1 1 i MM 1 M ! ' ' ' M : ' ill' ' X-L ± 1 M 1 M MM M i r 1 II 1 1 ■ I-lt i ^ II - II Jl^ II 1 ' i ' \ ' Mm I M 1 ' 1 1 1 1 T^e MM 1 '■ i ' \ \ ' 'MM Mil : M 1 ■| i ! 1 ■' " ■■■'■ -^ i i 1 '1 1 1 ill: 1 1 1 1 1 a ^ "t "' "t" i ( 1 1 1 " 1 M I i T OC i ^ t.J.j,. i 1 1 ! Mm : 1 m \ i 1 - r M 1 Ml 1 1 ll III 1 1 M "■ M 1 M 1 1 M 1 ■^'^ Xi 1 X " CC 1 j 1 i 1 ! r--±l:--Xr^X-4rrr-l+-x-+--- -A- J f ! i M 1 ill 1 1 ! 1 ■ M 1 1/3 n^ ll M ' 1 M Mm M 1 1 i 1 _j_ _4- 1 1 1 1 M MM ^ M i M i 1 ■ 1 '1 £} 1 ■ .ill 1 i T 1 1 ! , . ■ I ■ ! M 1 1 1 1 1 1 \Z)\ .'i'\ he i ^* \76 \9c i%f iSco. A \ 1 ' AA »ir 1 Ml 1 M 1 M 1^ (lS-*Ji -i- 1 1 III 1 1 1 1 1 III 1 11 1 1 11 i i i 1 1 1 .._ -- -J- -|- 4- -L _J_ ■ _1_ _i--L "^ ' T it " 1 x± X : 1 J X±± 1 >L XX I~ ^c.^lDgTSI 1 jl 1 1 M ' 1 1 1 1 Mill 1 i 1 1 ■ ' ■ III 1 III 1 1 III MM 1 11 1 1 ■ ! 1 1 1 1 M \\ r; -^^ III 1 II M JtlZ 1 j M 1 { ' 1 M 1 MM MM ijZ 1 1 MM M 1 ' \ \ > 1 M 1 MM i 1 c 1 J ii,.M M 1 i M 1 i 1 i^ I SI** yail 1 1 1 1 ! 1 i ! I -- ^. : m J '1 1 '< ^ 1 1 I i 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 .- l5 It 1 M«l NSl 1 1 M 1 MM Mil M 1 1 1 l| 1 I'll 1 ' Mm' 1 1 1 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 c .. ill JJ -7 ^ ^c _ _ _ _ 1 1 1 1 (Utt"q 6y - - :__ IS- -^ -l -l- - il I C " ' I I n X" / - : - -?- :.__ T T 4r+ - + 4- t: X T^T 1 1 1 I it c~r X X' i I " :x 41 ' " ,7 3 1 M^ "T" I I 'C 1 X 1 _ L_^_^^ 1 1 11; w, ^-t -L ' :5h H^ - T T r i ~^' • ~r 1 n Ml 1 1 M 1 M 1 1 1 1 \ ' \ ' MM 1 I i / >. 1 1 1 ll Ml 1 M 1 I 1 - it^4^ ' - : '1 1 '1 1 i M 1 11 1 1 I -_|_ _L ' 1 1 < M 1 1 1 [t — T-i-r-^--i ^i 4 11---+— i-T l___i_^l _L J_^_ M^^_.^ / . - '- 1 ! f xj [ ,/>i,i OilM ! f T "^^dl ^ T!^ «^*" ^JJ /C \ 10 \ "0'\ c? :jd/i ■ 4= J5 X X 1 MT xixi_S!;$:4:x::jiixx_ -t-4i--J--444— t-X 91 DIAGRAM XXVIII— Distribution of 17 merit scores in composition in grades 6-2 and 7-2 and Rapids schools, 92 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ■\A iji'l T ~ Tfe.fi.f:i7*i - 1 - 3^ ^ ii -^ \5 ^i : ^ic : ^"s 2!D ' t's _i 1 ,1 A . : -^ , /;! r ,L^. TO I I I t^z'^'^ «J^j2-:IL =i=r T ^4- ~ Xf I 1 : J'f '^/f)(;''jS _ li 1 _ Pn ' J^iL^ — 1-_^ — ^ — 1 ^ — r"^~" , 1 1 1 1 : l5 it ■ -, j-i- 1 1 i 1 i 1 ' " " ' — 7f h;;^^3^=-H W- -flL_-i-_J \ __:iz=: J. t" i^ fTi ■" J Z^ll Z^r- -*hr- ^nr - ( y |2 l2 it*" ZiUL^s IS^Z^ " " "" 1 1 1 1 ' ■ 1 -^^ -^ - tty-^C^2.^^i. _ -i^ 'b •v. 1 - a-- i ^"^ 52S 3 ^^ 'S -t- 1 1 I J -t^fi Jl_l 1 .i Lc^\\\j..\ -S- ± 3T=n=±- 1 1 tsI ^ I Jl. (J^FJ-ilL md. f Q e Jj- '' 1 1 ■" " T s q^ 11" 1 ^76 fcp^T^ 'Y ~ " ' : iti " " — " : 1^1 z : : i j : I : 3i : :_ :^ i^ : I ± \ fl ' r 1 Jill 12? "^^ jnr -1 • ^ u\^ it iXr J25i?5 :+=^^-S_$. i::iii::ii::: :::i:::t= :=::=: :::: DIAGRAM XXIX- -Distribution of merit scores in composition in the 8-2 grades and in all grades of 17 Grand Rapids schools. COMPOSITION 93 grade standards in written composition, if there are any, become less and less defined as one approaches high school. One other significant point indicated by the above table and diagrams is the great amount of overlapping in ability from grade to grade. . The upper quartile (mid-point of upper half) of one grade is almost the median (mid-point) of the next higher. That is, the upper quarter of any grade is better than the lower half of the succeeding grade, or the lower quarter of the second grade following. This overlapping is much more exaggerated in the case of the 7-2 and 8-2 grades. There is, in fact, little difference between the two. A more concrete "illustration of what is here meant is afforded by noting the percentage of pupils in each grade making a given score, say 50. Grade 4-2 5-2 6-2 7-2 8-2 Per cent marked 50 28% ^ 45% 40% 24% 15% All this simply means that grade lines do not indicate very much so far as accomplishment in written composition is con- cerned — at least when general merit is under consideration. The following table gives the quantity medians (words written), the merit medians and the quartile deviations in merit for each grade in each of the seventeen schools. The merit curves of these schools in comparison with that of the group are shown in Diagrams XXX and XXXI. The merit curve of the group, or of the system as we may call it, shows a consistent rise from 4-2 to 7-2 but a distinct slowing up in 8-2. The successive gains, 4-2 to 5-2, 5-2 to 6-2, etc., are 6.1, 5.7, 8.5 and 3.5. The greatest gain over a preceding grade is made by the 7-2 grade, while the lowest gain comes in the 8-2 grade. The individual schools, as may be seen in the diagrams, follow this same curve more or less closely. The 8-2 grade almost universally shows little or no improvement over the 7-2 ; while the 7-2 is almost always much above the 6-2. On fhe basis of this investigation it is not possible to tell why these peculiarities exist. They present problems for local supervisory study. It is interesting in this connection to note that the merit curve for Denver runs very closely parallel to this of Grand Rapids. (Diagram XXXII.) The quantity curves for the two systems are compared in Diagram XXXIII. ■t o ro O CM VO o ro <-( ro ■* 00 »o 00 «>. O ro j u tn VO J>I to VO VO vd in vd vd in in ro vd ■* vd vd •<* I •^ Jw .> m < d-"" .2 rtTS 00 C<1 O f^ CO m VO 00 ^ 03 ^ 0\ 00 in 1 3*^ CM 00 ON r^ VO VO ON r^ r^ •^ -^ t^ t^ en ^ •^ (N *"* "^ eg '"' ■-s 'a ^ 6 rt 'H^, .' o a . d""' ^ rt-d O ro ro m S ro O O o u- VO in 1-1 as ON ^ ^ VO VO Il>lTrvdLn-^int>^invd; LO r>! oi vd ON o vO'^ininin-^-^in as 53 C! VO CO in in '^ O CO xt- l-H CCI CM T-H in CM in VO I-^ CO VO ON CO ^ o o o eg o 00 00 o t>^ Tj- in in O CO CO t^ O ON ■* 0\ Ti- in ^ ON CO oa o Cvl 00 00 in ^ VO 00 m Tl- Tl- in CO t^ VO VO 'sf in CM ^ 'st- r-l t^ '^ CO ■* •7\'^ ooinONincMOOOi-icoLnininoooincgo co ivdLoooNvdvdcDodoor^i-iin t>; u^ Tj-inTt-'^-^Tj-in-^-^-^ininLnin-^Tf'^ tJ- CM t-l CM 3 CJ -d 0!g a rt l:S a^ ^ s .s-s Q ^ a-^ J3t3 OinOLnoot^Oinr^LninOLninino m .S +j rjd; CM-^^C0OC0CM00'<4-C0t-vr^v0CM>-iCClCM Tl- bff-< ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ •J^,- 00 -'Td a^ Ha COMPOSITION 95 El :bs2 i'jUihtiuU: n p^as M U. i%- iv ^'-¥^ is: t '^. 5b t' m i i 4(3 35 tl.TiQ.C^rll ^L4^ iri^ ,9i^ Hit ui It m mi'ditm ILl. ie- ^ 6't' tnr m ig: ^'<» School Median DIAGRAM XXX (A)— Comparison of Grand Rapids with the System Median merit curve in composition of 17 Schools curves of Individual Schools. of 96 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN B "^momt S^mm^i ^S: £5- ii± M. 'A 7z ^J ■w ^n i^a ± ;z:? n fy 'aiie: iLr^ ■m. U Z: Vil SS 56 "^lli w -w System Median School Median DIAGRAM XXX (B) — Comparison of merit curve in composition of 17 Schools of Grand Rapids with the curves of Individual Schools. COMPOSITION 97 ^ffi Ui. ^im^ irJr 76' :5EES m M m is t 96 U % H m 30 i^^-^ xri^ m t-it -i^ ■^9 ix2T llk^^J ti ig[ T2n^^: ^7}^^ ^6' ^: ^ So H6 ^^y System Median DIAGRAM XXXI (A)— Comparison of Grand Rapids with the School Medians merit curve in composition of 17 schools curves of individual schools. of 98 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN • = ::T- :x~:::":":::":: ::" :::::::: :::::": c : 73 . _ _ -_ J ^„ _j „ Li„ 4>

-i^lpr?. ^''^[i -^i» ^ c + c- .».^-:>-,- • \1^^^ i-CafiL ^!i i.^Z:2-^/ ^i/ > 1 ?r22( / < «5 ____^ ___^ 2^ -^ 25^ ^^ it t \^ ' ^< J > S. / ^' > /^/ - ^^ \ - ^^ ^^ fe^ _ Li^ ^^ _ 2 ^ 5_ _ 7 ^ ^ it : ^'^v X If- It ? ^ .2 <=<- V " ~ ^. 5 e ^ ,7 "- " " ~ ~~ t^ ~ ± 6 : X j^ -^ 6^' ^/ -^^"^ = " ^- ^5- ^ ^ ^ t '^ / ^ V .t ^^ : :: t ^ • ^ ' ' z ^^- ^^- : _^/- __ _ _,7 />' ^ - = ,^^ ^/ ? = - ^ 7* r '^ System Median DIAGRAM XXXI (B)— Comparison of Grand Rapids with the School Medians merit curve in composition of 17 schools of curves of individual schools. COMPOSITION 99 - --, — -- - q^- - T - i - t'lt J?"?!: ^z. ^^z. ^l:;^ "C^ 7 it Cf ^ i^lJlLfll ~^ Lc ^^ ~X- - 2^ ~ 7 _ _ . cc 77 L . . Ca f- 77 -- ^ -^ V ^Z ^^^ £iZ' f- Z Z* I Z - - -- j-?'- ' j: /^^ ' - ^< 5'' 1^<^ Fn System Median School Medians DIAGRAM XXXI (C) — Comparison of merit curve in composition of 17 schools of Grand Rapids with the ctirves of individual schools. 100 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN -^±'1 iziiiii:::-:: 1 .. _ . - ^mii^i Zj:* " Jt'' J 7^>- tt^ 1 <-A' - ^'t- - -f- y jt. . ^' ^^ <- /!(- ^ y" i^C^ ^ ^^ 11 ± t ^2 c c 22 _ -~^t If i - ^z "/ c*. ^ ^ - 2^ - - A / ^^ ^ - ^ z - ^/^' -^ ^ . tt ^ V -? -r - /- i " ^ t ^;^^ ^ - i^ A ,^ ^ r "Xc -V ^2 _ ^ _ _ : 7 3- A 2? o<' tv 'X A to J.L *%- C ^ >. C -"^iz y-'it > ■<^ ?i^ l^x ^ncA'L^ Z^ ^ Ll- ^^ qi j___i[: 1 piAGRAM XXXII — Comparison of merit curves in composition of Denver and Grand Rapids. ;=0SL g35 gg^ if6 hi tU: tltl: tu. tit. tit tm. tl2 tin It ze? -^t3 U t zg; DIAGRAM XXXIII — Comparison of quantity curves in composition of Denver and Grand Rapids, 102 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN These diagrams will be referred to later in comparing the results of the test in the two systems. Table XXI that follows gives the ranking of the schools in the case of each grade with respect to merit. When schools have the same medians in particular grades they are arranged alphabetically. This is most noticeable in grade 7-2. It will be seen at once that schools do not rank at all con- sistently throughout their grades. For example, Lexington ranks first in 4-2, eleventh in 5-2, third in 6-2, fifth in 7-2 and fourth in 8-2 and it is one of the most consistent. This lack of consistency from grade to grade makes it really impossible to rank the schools as units with much validity. Another and more significant point to note in Table XXI is the range in medians from the lowest schools to the highest. For the successive grades these ranges are 16.1, 12.7, 15, 14.6 and 15.9. That is, the best class in any grade is a step and a half on the scale above the poorest. This is almost the equivalent of a three-year range in the system medians. On the basis of the system medians, the best classes in a grade are at least two years ahead of the poorest classes. This, of course, may be inevitable and justifiable but the supervisors of these schools should recognize the fact that in composition the conditions described exist and call for some kind of treatment. Grand Rapids does not face, as do some other cities, difficulties growing out of the extensive use of foreign languages in the homes from which the children come. Nor are social condition strikingly heterogeneous. Furthermore, where conditions in the home are unfavorable they do not al- ways parallel the poor compositions. Some of the lowest classes are made up of American children from professional and busi- ness classes ; while some of the highest classes are made up of children practically all of foreign parentage and from the poorer orders. It is easy to ascribe too great importance to these two factors in explaining situations like the above — especially in the upper grades. The matter of the amount written has not been touched upon outside Table XX, and needs very little consideration. It appears to have little to do with the merit of the compositions. One possible exception to this is the 4-2 grade where the correla- tion is rather high. There are great differences between classes in this particular which suggest interesting subjects for local study. In general the written composition of the Grand Rapids pupils impressed the writer favorably. It surpassed that of the COMPOSITION 103 W r^O\VOm--H>-iCMCI vo •^ r^' (M* o" ON w C 9 c = 3 2 -^ -g -a O fnHy3HjQUpPLiKc/3 O t/3 *^m oou->oooooo3ooi^ONOOOo>-;oq od "^ lo irj ■^ i-l lO lO lO lO lO lO P^ < O 2^ -M bi"> O-S^hOG^WC bfl ;x| 03 uPsfeffii-lwDh^t-lfLiWPc/^aiW W ^ ^ ^+^JMOmiOiOioOOOOioOOOi-ii-ltr}iOOO l_l ^ tn ir)LOOO"lOOi-iioiOCSlCMO\OOOiOC^OO w -o .tij" V0u-)voi0i0i0000000i000t>.i00i-li0 i-< (Ni CO -^ ui vd t>I 00 ON o «-H oa f^ -^ lo \d tv." 104 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Denver pupils both in quantity and merit. The medians of the two are compared in this table : TABLE XXII Comparison of Medians of Quantity and of Merit in Composition between the Denver and Grand Rapids Schools. 4-2 5-2 6-2 7-2 8-2 Quan. Merit \Quan. Merit Quan. Merit Quan. Merit Quan. Merit Grand Rapids 128 41.2 145 47.3 174 53.0 205 61.5 220 65.0 Denver 88 32.2 118 44.7 142 50.9 158 60.0 193 63.5 So far as the fourth grade is concerned, the difference be- tween the two systems is probably due mainly to handwriting. The Denver pupils in this grade have not developed the facility or the legibility that the Grand Rapids pupils of the same grade display. The difficulty which the Denver pupils experience in mechanical execution doubtless accounts in large measure for the poor product in composition. It will be noted that Grand Rapids is not able to maintain this initial lead, although never actually overtaken. The stories of the Denver pupils were more exciting, more economically expressed, more to the point. The stories of the Grand Rapids pupils tended to be diffuse, to include much irrele- vant matter and to lack interest and point. On the other hand, the Denver papers were weak on the side of spelling, punctua- tion, and grammatical expression, in all of which the Grand Rapids papers excelled. The schools tested by the principals have not been included in the above discussion, lest the validity of the results or the comparisons be questioned. It is inevitable, of course, that the procedure under different examiners with little opportunity for training should vary in some particulars. There are indications that such was the case. On the whole, however, the results in these other schools, as given in the table below, are so much like those collected by the writer that they confirm the general judgments expressed above. The merit medians of these schools where the principals gave the tests run somewhat higher than those of the group tested by the writer. This is particularly noticeable in the 8-2 grade where a median of 72.5 is 7.5 higher than the median of the same grade in the other groups. This speaks well for the concentration of eighth grades in the Junior High School and the South High School from which most of these papers came. The eighth grade papers in the other group, except those from Union High, all came from elementary schools. COMPOSITION 105 (u 5 J3 (U 3 to : : : t^ : : : 00 : ' lO i m ', ; : : ! ! vo : : : lo : i o 1 00 1 : ! ! : ! .-H : : : r-i ! : ! o iH oi ' rt m tn m csi ^'^ ro .-J in in 00 il , lU 00 On t>I csi O ^M -^ -* ■* \£) m w ^ Q P^ 'T3rt"^<50<^000 ^5- -^ oa ^ CM in in 00 o CNi t>; in o Tj- ■^ rj- vn § s ^ o O bo O C in t^ t^ lo ; m in o in m m ! 00 00 1-1 ^4^-4 i oi oi in vo t>; oq • t Tf n- Tt CO ■* i O in o^ • ■) (> (jtOj. 7 OS.?J' ^ ^0.7jn 3 0.0) n 5(L4.3)n 7 Q^T). ^Hil.0), 3 (0.0) ^ ^ {5.4J, 7 (7.^;. 5 lo.o) 4 (^-0. 7 C9.^J, 3 (p.O) 3 (0.0) 4 (5. 3;——. 4 (o.g ^ 5 e?.^ N 5 cc-g;- 7 C^./^ 7 (/.^ — DIAGRAM XXXIV— Median records for all schools in the 15 arithmetic tests. 3 (OJO) 4 (o^J H S L3 , (o ^.r, 7 7^. ^ ^,^, 3 m 4 (p.V T 5 {14). 6 i^.o) , •^ (^JJ % {^.7). 3 (po) 4 (^.^)' J S (3.7J , 6 {4£) 7 (f,^ > ^ (S.i)* 3 (pfij 4 (f>q) K 5 (4f.3) , ^ (^.^. r ag;, s^^^, 3 (^0.0) 4 U S (^.9). £> M. 7 (^.5). « mj* 3 (^oo) ^ c?^;. /v/f (?.6;, ^ ^,5>/. 7 (f.Oj* ^ (f.7j^ 3 COjO) 4 (p.O) p i- Coo; ^ i^Q^ r ^.^^. ? 6^.?;, 110 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPTDS, MICHIGAN pupil is sufficiently mature to receive thorough instruction in this complex type of operation? In Diagram XXXIV the facts set forth in Table XXIV are graphically presented with the qualification, however, that the scores for the younger section of each grade, i. e. 3-1, 4-1, etc., are omitted. Comparison With Cleveland Since the arithmetic test used in Grand Rapids was, with a few minor modifications, the test used in the survey of the Cleveland schools, it is possible to make some very interesting comparisons between the two school systems in the matter of arithmetical attainment. Through a process of weighting it was possible to convert the score made in each set into the terms of a basic unit. By adding together "units" or "points" thus made in all the sets by ITT "^""IL'-Z /.r/fi/z'^rt/'C ■■ — — r ♦ J ^ • / IZ50 Ltanc^ r c^ion*-^ ^^^"^ -\ y y ^'^^^ 1000 ~i. --__,---- ^^^- ^ y. -r 1 ^ r» A^ * •«» J" ri^ 750 ». y |:L — ;27 ^Z^ ^ * y -"^z 1. soo . ^j^IZ - - ^ 4 :^ iz ^ y ^ / -^ / it ^ 250 JL._/'±. _ .j ^---^ ^ ^ ^ y ^ y ot '■ ^' _jL _ _ar:^^es _i DIAGRAM XXXV — A comparison of median total scores made in the 15 sets of the arithmetic test by 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades in Cleveland and Grand Rapids. TESTS IN ARITHMETIC 111 a particular pupil, grade, or school, a total score was obtained which would singly represent the scores made in all of the sets by that particular pupil, grade or school. Following this system of weighting, the median records for each of the grades in both Cleveland and Grand Rapids were thrown into a total score. A comparison of these total scores made by the several grades in the two cities appears in Diagram XXXV. The solid line represents the progress made in arith- metic from grade to grade by the pupils in the Grand Rapids schools as evidenced by the records made in the "fundamentals" ; the broken line represents Cleveland. The diagram shows Cleve- land to be distinctly superior in the three lower grades, but Grand Rapids forges ahead in the sixth grade and maintains the lead through the seventh and eighth grades. This comparison is favorable to the Grand Rapids schools because the final attainment in the upper grades is the desirable thing. Cleveland spends more time on arithmetic in the lower 30 fT' ""'■' L# Ai^K< h / .^ ni , _j _^^. - • ' •" 2^ ,, -1 a 0, "i "* n ^^^ ~t ^<^ V 7' 2C ^ ^ / < / ^ ^"r /5 -*,^- > z^ ^ p^ t ^ >l IQ n 1 ^ S. ^ Q _ r d '. •" J' ^ r _ aca^es. DIAGRAM XXXVI — A comparison of the median number of examples solved correctly in Set "A" by grades 3 to 8 inclusive in Cleveland and Grand Rapids. 112 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN grades than does Grand Rapids, but this extra expenditure of time seems to be of no avail in the long run. However, since the scores represented in this diagram are composite scores, it is necessary to make a further analysis of the records made by the two city systems to find out whether or not Grand Rapids is uniformly superior in all types of the arithmetical processes occurring in the test. We turn, therefore, to Diagram XXXVI, in which the two cities are compared as to attainment in Set A, the simplest set of examples in addition. In general, the relations between the two curves here are similar to those shown in the previous dia- gram. The differences, however, while of the same sort, are not so marked here as in the comparison of total scores. This same statement holds true if applied to any one of the first four sets of the test which are the very simple sets in addition, subtrac- tion, multiplication, and division. Indeed, in Set B, substraction, the Cleveland scores are consistently higher than the Grand Rapids scores throughout the grades. It may be said, therefore, 'nzTrz"!"" t: "' tl&TEajoj:^ _ - y"^ .z:.zz -^- = = = =-----^—7^- ^ ,' - ^'"'^ ^^ ^^ - ^ - -.- ^ .^^ ^.' __ ^■^ ^ 2 ^ -^ ^ z ^^ -i5_2__ « _ /:*!-- 3C /< : ^ - u^ ^ A^ '- -^ Z-- ^tt - ? Al Z A ^ i ^ z 4 : t > £-.-J- - - 2^ / t -7 - ^ Qi ^. -^ ' 4_ ^ • -^ -P--- --,, r / L Jl G. CiS^ffS DIAGRAM XXXVII — A comparison of the median number of examples solved correctly in Set "M" by grades 3 to 8 inclusive in Cleveland and Grand Rapids. TESTS IN ARITHMETIC 113 that the general superiority of the latter over the former is not due to superiority in the very simple combinations. Let us pass, therefore, to the next diagram. Diagram XXXVII, and compare the two cities in Set M, the addition of four columns of five figures each. Here a large initial advantage on the side of Cleveland is overcome between the fourth and fifth grades, and from that point on Grand Rapids shows decided superiority. An interesting and significant contrast may be drawn between Diagrams XXXVI and XXXVII if it will be remembered that they represent respectively a simple and a complex type of addition. There is little difference between the two systems in the mastery of the former process, while in the latter and more important process the difference becomes marked. The attainment of the two systems in Set F, the more diffi- cult to the two sets in subtraction, which is the subtraction of three-place from three and four-place numbers, is shown in Dia- lllllll Aini-C — 7 jtM^ajiu^ _!. ^-i » _ — , > «L_ ^-*-3 -V - L_ ^'^ t= = ==^ ^i:--^- ^ -* ^^ ^^ y^ -,^'" s + ^ "^ «_^ -^ ^tj' wi ^^"^ s! ^^ ^6 _ __-S^_„ \t --rr--^ ^Z^ ^ ' -/ ^ - ^^ ^^ t ^^^ 4t 1^ ,^ ^^ .' it ^^^ ""^ 1 ^ — "* ^ t"' " ^ 7 ^:^ 2 - _^' t - I ^" , U ^ -J^ i - ^ ^ J^ ^ 7 - /-_ ^ - c _^ i z 7 : j_ _ -i t at L : 1 -* • 1 ■ r' w i: " t_ _ :: : :± riafles DIAGRAM XXXIX — A comparison of the median ni:mber of examples solved correctly in Set "L" by grades 3 to 8 inclusive in Cleveland and Grand Rapids. TESTS IN ARITHMETIC 115 numbers by two-place numbers in which there is much carrying to be done and a "trial divisor" is necessary. In Set K, a simpler set in long division, Grand Rapids is also inferior to Cleveland; in Set I, a set in short division, the two cities show about equal attainment. It seems, therefore, that Grand Rapids is weak in division and especially weak in that type of long division represented by Set N. The weakness at this point is very likely due to the fact that the type of example found in Set N does not appear in the Courtis exercises. Through the Courtis exercises the pupils had become familiar with most of the arithmetical operations presented to them in this test but here the pupils encountered something for which they had not been definitely prepared, as is shown in Diagram XL. In the application of the four fundamentals to fractions the two systems show approximately equal attainment. This is shown graphically in Diagram XLI which represents the scores made in Set O. An examination of the facts regarding Set H, r', U / ^ ^ Ch-^'^U^rJ i: / ^ / ^ ^ >^ _ za^ - _ ,/-/:^-- . ^^ ^ ^ ^^ ^ ^ « ^^ ^iii ^ 1 _^^. Tg ^ ^^ "*^ y z c ^7 -Z -5 ^^ z -tia - -^!^- -. Z _.; . "5 7"^ 2 it / _,Z § 2 7 _. > :. fi-.:-^^ ^1 - 2 2^- /_ A ' A -/ -.^ . Q.t 1 : X s ^r- — :l '": — V : X- f _::±: ::: iiiiS^ ad^s DIAGRAM XL Set "N' -A ' by comparison of the median number of examples so grades 3 to 8 inclusive in Cleveland and Grand ved correctly in Rapids. 116 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN the other set of fractions, shows about the same conditions. From the comparisons thus made between Grand Rapids and Cleveland it is seen that there is little superiority one way or the other in the simple combinations; that in the more com- plex types of addition, substraction, and multiplication. Grand Rapids is distinctly superior ; that in long division Grand Rapids shows a decided weakness; and that in fractions the two cities are on a par. Variations Among the Schools The method of comparison which has been employed up to this point in bringing out the characteristics of the Grand Rap- ids school system can be extended to a study of individual schools. Indeed, the comparison of individual schools within the system is in many ways more productive than an external —— jjj- — ::::4 ulr^-iilaa^ 1 r 7" : /* — -== = = == f- - ^ ■ j7 - r^T. : :_«i : ^ j: "•^ ^^ / - 'i^^ li.s : 7- : . J "6 -J s^ tt _j: - t - t - 4^ ::b 2 ,1l ^ ^- -Si n -^ /_ :^ 2 _t L^ « z : + 1 - 1 _ -fl ----L- , -^-----Jrt- -^- ir -[ r^^ds DIAGRAM XLI — A comparison of the median number of examples solved correctly in Set "D" by grades 3 to 8 inclusive in Cleveland and Grand Rapids. TESTS IN ARITHMETIC ll!7 comparison because such internal comparison can be repeated from time to time by the officers of the system itself as a means of determining improvement within the system. In every school system there is variation from school to school as there is variation from class to class in a school and from individual to individual in a class. It should be noted, however, that variation from individual to individual and vari- ation from class to class in the same grade or from school to school in the same system are not equally justifiable. Variations among individuals, in so far as they are due to native endow- ment, are matters over which we have no control, and no attempt should be made to abolish them. In the case of variations be- tween schools the matter is entirely different. In so far as the populations of two schools are different in mental equipment, which is ordinarily very slight, different records made by those two schools are justifiable. More striking differences in results are due to differences in methods of teaching, differences in aim, differences in standards, etc., and should be eliminated. The elimination of these differences from school to school and from class to class is the task of the supervisory staff. This staff should have a standard of arithmetical attainment for each grade and should know whether or not a particular class in a particular school is approaching the standard. If the class in question is found not to be approaching the standard adopted, the supervisor should determine the reason. That is the distinct function of the supervisor if he is to function at all. We are justified, therefore, in the conclusion that the variations found in arithmetical ability from school to school and from class to class in the same school indicate lack of supervision, while uni- formity indicates strong supervision. In Diagram XLII we find a graphical representation of the facts which bear on this question. A comparison of the average scores made by thirty-five schools is here exhibited. As ex- plained in the diagram, an average score for each school was obtained by averaging the median scores made by grades 3-1 to 8-2 inclusive. The diagram shows marked uniformity from school to school. As a basis for improvement in supervision this dia- gram presents encouragement because of the high degree of uni- formity already obtained and a clear indication of the problems of the system. The better schools and those at the bottom of the diagram should be studied intensively by their principals and by the central officers of the system. For the purpose of indicating supervision or lack of it in a particular grade Diagram XLIII has been devised. In this dia- *In these schools the testing was done quite largely by a member of the svirvey staff. DIAGRAM XLII — A comparison of the average scores made by 35 schools. An average score for each school was obtained by averaging the median scores made by .grades 3-1 to 8-2 inclusive. TESTS IN ARITHMETIC 119 gram a comparison of the records made in the four sets in addi- tion, Sets A, E, J, and M, by the 6-2 grades in three schools, Sigsbee, Lafayette, and Turner, is made. The figures at the points of intersection of the lines represent the median scores made by the indicated grades in the indicated sets in all the schools. The vertical lines are so drawn as to represent the standards of attainment for the several grades in the four sets as determined by the median attainment of Grand Rapids children, the heavy vertical line representing the standard for the sixth grade. An examination of this diagram reveals some interesting facts. The record of grade 6-2 in Sigsbee indicates a desirable condition. The pupils in this class show uniformly high attain- - -- -- T^ j- P1 ^ n r s — [71 r rJi T~ n y^ J, "— n [— r ^ li? r 7r I« p r ^ at te c r? F J /I 1 If m T s } il ? ■? 'r ^z s- z i r.z 7 z ^--2 GraaG 4Z^ Bi^stee. .— • La/ayaHe " " YUrne.r - : '- DIAGRAM XLIII — A comparison of records made in the four sets in addition (A, E. J, M) by the 6-2 grades in three schools, Sigsbee, Lafayette and Tvirner. The figures at the points of intersection of the hnes represent the median scores made by the indicated grades in the indicated sets in Grand Rapids. ment in all four sets. This means proper emphasis on the differ- ent types of addition and consequently a well-supervised class. A glance at the record made by the same grade in the Lafayette School shows a different state of affairs. For some reason or other the class is weak in Set E, i. e., in the short-column addi- tion, while in Set M this sixth-grade class exhibits eighth-grade ability. This shows disproportionate emphasis on certain arith- metical process and perhaps disproportionate emphasis on arith- metic at the expense of other subjects. Of course, this last 120 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN statement is only a surmise and is thrown out merely as a word of caution. Turning to the diagram again, our record shows the sixth grade in the Turner School to be uniformly low in all four sets. The uniformity and the position of the class call for care- ful study and explanation. Thus, we see that, so far as this analysis goes, the Sigsbee class is a well-organized class, doing a high grade of work; the Lafayette class is doing generally a high grade of work but lacks standards which means loose supervision; the Turner class is a uniformly organized class doing a low grade of work. To further indicate variations among the schools Diagram XLIV is presented. In this diagram the median scores made by the 4-2 grades in 31 schools and by the 6-2 grades in 25 schools 11 15 IS i6 13 14 IS /6 n /8 21 22 13 14 15 /6 n /8 19 Zf 22 ii 14 IS 16 n 18 19 20 21 22 M. Z2 n Jira-Je -^^ 23 %3 23 24 14 14 24 24 15 15 IS li Z<> 15U U 11 m 1% 2S GroLcle 6 -Si M OE DIAGRAM XLIV — Median scores of 4-2 grades in 31 schools and of 6-2 grades in 25 schools in Set "A", simple addition. in Set A, simple addition, are shown graphically. Each of the squares represents a school, and the number in the square is the median score made by the grade in the school represented. The diagram shows some overlapping between the two grades. Six of the sixth grades do no better in the test than some of the fourth grades. If we may now return to the Cleveland records, an interest- ing comparison may be drawn in this matter of overlapping. This comparison is made in Diagram XLV in which is graphi- cally presented the range of the median scores made in Set A by the "middle fifty per cent" of the schools in Cleveland and Grand Rapids for each grade. In order to get the first line in the diagram for the third grade in Grand Rapids, for example, the 32 schools having third grades were arranged in order from TESTS IN ARITHMETIC 121 the highest to the lowest on the basis of the scores made in Set A. Since there were 32 schools the eighth and the twenty-fourth schools approximately enclosed the middle fifty per cent. The scores of these two schools were 12.2 and 14.8 respectively. Their difference is 2.6, which is thus taken to represent the range of the middle fifty per cent. Now, returning to the diagram, we note that for each grade the range thus determined is less for Grand Rapids than it is for CUy. a.-R. CUv. ^. K Clev. Clav. G.n a lev. -Range he scho( ' <^ - 3 4.^ .^ 4 ^.9 ^. ^ ^ - »-. 3S ^^ « ■'^^ ——.....Mi.... 4-9 ^^^^ ^9 ,„, 7 -?./--- 8 3'.-a..«« DIAGRAM XLV- cent" of t of median scores made in Set "A" by the "middle fifty per dIs in Cleveland and Grand Rapids for each grade. Cleveland. This means that, so far as the records made in Set A are concerned, there is less variation among the schools of Grand Rapids than there is among the Cleveland schools. Accuracy A few words should be said concerning accuracy. Up to this point only the examples correctly solved have been counted. In all of the grades pupils "attempted" problems which they did not solve. We shall, therefore, distinguish from this point on "attempts" from "rights". In general, accuracy increases with the grades and is lower in the more complex than in the simpler operations. In Diagram XLVI we find a comparison of 122 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN the median number of examples attempted and the median number of examples solved correctly in Set M by the several grades. Set M was chosen because it shows the typical relation between the "rights" and "attempts" which exists in the four fundamentals, which include all sets except Sets H and O. The one fact to be brought out is the uniform progress in both "attempts" and "rights". In Diagram XLVII we find an entirely different sort of relation existing between the two curves which represent the " - ■ ... ■ ~ ' / V «^ ^ _ _. h '/ <^ __ ' n . I 4; v „ - . 1^ , ( ^ — ■^ 5: -* - ' n ^ -' ^ -• " — 1 "~ " " »' ^ ..-■ •* H, 4 , -* r^ c ^ rf-- i -- - — / y ^ fO' f f ^ ^ C 2 / y / / ■ , / / V ' i r^ ' )■ ? ^ 1 ^ l ^ \? 1 ? ? n ' L n. a o J_ i_ -._ DIAGRAM XLVI — A comparison of the median number of examples attempted and the median number of examples solved correctly in Set "M" by the grades indicated. median number of examples attempted and the median number of examples solved correctly in Set O by the grades indicated. The uniform progress in both "attempts" and "rights" char- acteristic of the fundamentals is here utterly lacking. Up to grade 7-1 the number of examples attempted increases more rapidly than does the number solved correctly, but from that TESTS IN ARITHMETIC •1 1 [ \ ] f 1 f 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 "^ "■ 1: -f- -+- \4U.\ — ^JiJ I -V .- 2— x -.«.^! V i ^ ^ ^1 ^ ^ i; -S__ __i ^ -"r ^ J. [_ ^^ 2_. *:!__ i _j^ ^£_2 > ^ .=5 C J ■4^ J £._ ^ „ ;'i::i:::: ::: --.-====- ■^ /"" ■^ i-- -. ^ A ^ i - - ^==.-^ - t ,: 7!!' ::::: -- -- — - .S 2-««6 " ^ A- -t ^ -T 3 ? 1 2 L it 2 7 " 1 f L _^ (2 ^r 6L 2z jX- z zt i" Bz : . IdLUit^S- 123 DIAGRAM XLVII — A comparison of the median number of examples attempted and the median number of examples solved correctly in Set O by the grades indicated. point on the number of "attempts" increases less rapidly, and in both eighth grades there is an actual decrease of "attempts" accompanied in 8-1 by an increase of "rights". All of this goes 124 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN to reinforce what was said earlier in the report concerning the need of approaching the teaching of fractions in a manner quite different from that used in teaching the four fundamentals. Furthermore, the studies set forth in the foregoing para- graphs indicate the way in which a school system ought to ana- lyze its results so as to check its methods. Only by a care- ful analysis of those lines in which the school is working can methods of teaching be refined. Some Facts About Age and Promotion In connection with the arithmetic tests a large number of facts was secured regarding the promotion and non-promotion of pupils taking the tests. In Diagram XLVIII there is a com- parison of the records made by three groups of 50 pupils each in - -- -- t,-r - 1 1 I [ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - \ /v ; /f .a a ° J-lX^C " »- - T"^ '^ c; , 7,T ?p^ r1~i ill TV' llllllll 1 ~l" J !■ W ■■ ■■■ rj- -?v.t-.~ JT ~7 ~,' , f — ■ 111 II »___- . H^n m TTT 1 III IL z -J t «/ ^ ^ 7f7 M 1 1 ir T" 1 1 1 L _ __ 1 , , r riira^ - ^W^^^-, +" . J — 1 Lmm I Iji -i_j_ J: J^:;^s 1^ (l2i_ 1 ¥■■ 1 1 1 ^L -. - r 1 ^■1 "* ^MlZ- if Li ^M ^^^1 ^^^1 ^T 1 1 lUi 11 ^1 ^1 1 • 52 U^ 2 i^b-l III! y . j_. J, - f'/' l^Ju^- L ~ , w<— _^ . H urn lllllll"- ,?/Zl^_ K-M 1 ■■ 1 1 1 1 "'-t- . _ 1^ 1 mml ^ iiLi .1 -J^ fJ-J.JL, _ Ji : — JLu. ■ III ffl . f "T _^ f — ■ . .L . k^ 1 ^^1 ^^J^ - ^ --■ 1 III liVP ^r CX'J.^ CM 2a - ^'£^ii2T "" i ' F.- ~T— r- ^ r n __ — — ■ Ill I ■■■■■■ r ^2_| III! !■ 1 ^^Pl 'l--j } t-r^ '/- y/ 7 1 J " - / TT "l^i ■ ■■H 1 J? 2-1 T "''^ ] ?Z li^Xi -7 m Xl ill ill ±-~- DIAGRAM XLVIII — A comparison of the records made by three groups of pupils in grade 8-2. The "fast" pupils are those who have skipped one or more grades ; the "slow" pupils are those who have repeated one or more grades; and the "regular" pupils are those who have neither skipped nor repeated. Data from SO pupils in each group. TESTS IN ARITHMETIC 125 grade 8-2, a "fast" group, a "slow" group, and a "regular" group. The "fast" pupils are those who have skipped one or more grades ; the "slow" pupils are those who have repeated one or more grades ; and the "regular" pupils are those who have neither skipped nor repeated. In securing the 50 pupils for each group, tlie same nurnber for each group was taken from each school. Thus, if three "fast" pupils were taken from the Union School, there were also three "slow" and three "regular" pupils taken from that school. The number was limited because of the mechanical difficulty of handling the material. -The cases used for the comparison are numerous enough to assure a fair samp- ling of the whole system. The diagram shows that in accuracy and in speed the pupils who have skipped one or more grades are superior to those who ,_ :::-±:::: iizhc^d^j^'Z it Tii iii! :i; '^ ± ^'4^ J' "^^''"^^ 77; ~ :z; 77 — i~ IIIIIHIII Z ^ /i " IIIIP 1 1 / rr / /; /:Jy - / 1 - / ,?!/' i^Q , 1 1 1 1 III II ! 12 inai r Avecuu 52s.- 3^2 2T \^vuu^ -u,i.L^ II 4 'l na'l L - II III! T^, n^ 6£.c^'d. -uux - Q.^1l11 1 ^ \^ChliT-J. t'MaUi- 1 ' ■ ■ H bL hLL ■QXL ■ III ■ ^ llllllllll IT, ,^ 1 1 iir "^ '^ 1 M^T ^111 1 1 1 1 1 1 1. 1 1 1 1 1 DIAGRAM XLIX — A comparison of the records made by three groups of pupils in grade 8-2. The 150 pupils whose records furnish the data for diagram XLVIII were redistributed into three groups on the basis of age, the 50 youngest being put in one group, the SO oldest in a second group, and the remaining 50 in a third group, desig- nated in the diagram as "normal," 126 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN have- made just normal progress, and the latter are in turn super- ior to those who have repeated. These differences appear to be more pronounced in Set O than for the test as a whole, and this is especially significant because Set O demands a higher type of mental activity than do the other arithmetical operations. These 150 pupils were redistributed into three groups on the basis of age, the 50 youngest being put in one group, the 50 oldest in a second group, and the remaining 50 in a. third group designated as "normal". The records made by these three groups are compared in Diagram XLIX. The surprising fact brought out here is that the differences between the two extreme groups were not only not diminished by this redistribution but were actually increased ; that is, the ''young" pupils are more ' " ^ 11 ^ (7? !• r ^ — "~ r ~ r ~ ■~ ''V « n id h f 7 -T ._ "— _ _ 7" _ m ■ J ■ 1 ■ ■ ■ ■ - , ■ ■ L ■ ■ ^ _ _ _ _ _ _ If Si ^ h A - u. li 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 I I 1 1 ■ ■ 1 II 1 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 ■ ■ 1 1 ■ 1 - - - U - - __ _ _ _ _ ^ _ ^ ^ _ _ _ •- -- - Ji L IIL £_ il ki ~ -L !i ■ ■ 1 ■ 1 ■ I ■ 1 1 1 ■ ■ 1 ■ I ■ 1 1 ■ I ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ L - - - k - ^ c 'H r K V _. f\ // Ff / 'H ^ ~ ~ .. _ h 7 _ M ■ II H ■ ■ ■ ^ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■4 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ r -^ _ -- -^ - h^ n a. '^ 1 k ^ 'ii ix la ■ 1 I 1 ■ 1 ■ 1 1 1 ■ ■ 1 ■ ■ 1 1 ■ ■ ■ I ■ ■ ■ ■ 1 ■ ■ ■ ■ 1 ■ 1 - - ', ^ / ^i ,^ -,^ 7 u - _ _ J ^ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .. 1 IM &i \h ^ ki ih u L !_ l£ 1 1 ■ 1 1 ■ 1 V 1 1 I I 1 1 ■ I 1 1 I I 1 - - -^ - -J - ^ -^ ^ _ _ ■' -- - - IX £- R b Z_ 1 1 1 1 1 ■ I ■ 1 1 I I ■ ■ I I I c - - - - - - - - - - - - - - / ■ / -_ _ h- -P _ _ _ _ ■ _ _ _ _ _ _. - .1 .^ Udi li ^ h \k (J lii £ 1 tA ij. U ■ ■ ■ 1 ■ ■ ■ ■ 1 1 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ V ■ ■ ■ 1 1 ■ ■ - ^ - - - - -^ - - - _^ _ _ _ J ■ ■ ■ ■ ■1 ■ ■[ ■ ■ ■ ■1 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ r- _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ■- -- - - ^ !k m M ki -^ U ^ 0- ■ ■ I 1 I ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ V ■ ■ ■ ■ I ■ L - - - - - - - - - - - DIAGRAM L — A comparison of the records made by two grovips of pvipils in grade 8-2, the one group containing those pupils who had failed or repeated a grade below the 6th grade, the other those who had failed or repeated in the 6th grade or above. TESTS IN ARITHMETIC 127 superior to the "old" pupils than the "fast" pupils are to the "slow" pupils. The important consideration in this connection is that under our present system pupils are often held back on account of their youth. This is certainly not desirable. Special provision should be made for the bright pupil so that he may make the most rapid progress consistent with his physical welfare. In Diagram L another comparison is presented between the 'records made by two other groups of pupils in grade 8-2. Those pupils who had ever repeated a grade were divided into two divisions, the one containing those who had repeated a grade below the sixth, the other containing those who had repeated a grade above the fifth. The diagram shows a slight difference in favor of the group repeating below the sixth ^' ~ ^ ~ " n — "f ^ -/^ » t: 1? ~ ~ ~1" -- ~ ~ r- ~ "~ ~ "" r / / yAt - - ,-- --1 _ _ ^ ^' 1 ■ m ^ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ _ ' ._ ■ 1 L |H _ _ _ _ - ^t .,^6 fl J ■J. L yia r^ I, f / - 1 t w T ■ ■ '* 1 ■ ■ ■ I ■ ■ " ■ I ' I-, - - - — _ . _ _ L ^L ^ ■ ■ ^ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ _ ._ ■ _ _- __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ u tLil ^^- [ li -- -- - u J. I -' II W T ■ ■ ' ' 1 ■ ■ I ■ ^ ' " ■ - -- - — -' — - 1 — -- iV ■=- - _ U rr Y ~ ■ ^1 1 m ■ 1 ■ ■I ■1 ■ ■ ■ ■ _ _ _. __ _ _ _ _ _ _ c : ju,. lL'. iL is - J L 2. LI III iii i ■ I II ■ ■ ■ ■ 1^ 1 - -■ -- - 1 - / ( r 1 fii ,/ h ^ _ _ r , ■f ■ ^ , ■ I ■ ■ ■ 1^ ■ ■ ■ m _ i ~^ul it Zk ^u. ^ J. r Jl, ^1 "P II 1 ■ II II 1^ 1 1 1 ■ 1 II I 1 7 f ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ I- — _ M _ J- 1 M ■ ■ ■■ ■ ■ ■ M ■ ■ ■ ■ i i , ■ , , , , _ tt^ .^L }u ^ H ro-l W II i ■ ■ 1 m 1 ■ 1 ■ 1 I 1 ■ ■ ■1 II 1 F 1 1 1 1 - — J m-r 77" _ _ _ — 1 ^ ■ ■ ■ 1 ■■ ■ ■ 1 ■ ■ ■ ■ _ ._ ■ m ■ ■ _ _ — J — 1 ^' ' ' ■ ■ ■ 1 II ■ ■ I ' " - — . ,/ j» (> It i . - - "~7" P=J- r ^ — 1 M' ri m ■■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ _ __ _ - _ h _ ^ lu.^ f± P -1 '^ V ' ' t ~ - -- -- - H - - , . _ 1 -, 1 ■ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ 'lYt -9' . M t - ^ 1 - -I 1^ 1 1 ■1 11 1 1 1 ■ 1 L - -- -- - - - ^ ._- , __ _ _ -n _ ■— ^ ■1 ■ ■ ■ _ _ _ __ _ U _ _ - LjA - ^ III i 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ - - - -- -- - - - A Cf ■ ^ V _ i ^ — , jr r T f- H _L ^ ■ m ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ _ ,r f— _ _ _ - -":> f'j.1 ^L r T ^ 1 m i 1 ■ 1 II 1 1 ■ II I ■ 1 1 IL r - -^ - - 1 rvT' lUA / r 1 I El ft m 'fA - — 'T - — __ _ r- - 11 1 1 ■ I 1 ■ ■ ■ ■ _ 1 I ■ 1 1 ,. ■ 1 l -J _ _ . -_ _ -^ _ _ ±^ i^ 4- H r- h ^ W W m ■ ff p !■ pi ^ P ff fij fi fl B m F W W^ M I— 1 1— i- -H H |— 1 1— 1 -d DIAGRAM LI — A comparison of the records made by three groups of pupils in grade 7-2. The "regular" pupils are those who have made normal progress, neither repeating nor skipping a grade ; the "irregular" pupils are those who have repeated because of transfer from one school to another, sickness, etc. ; and the "failures" are pupils who have repeated because of failure. Data from 54 pupils in each group. 128 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN grade. This may be due to recovery from the cause of failure, or it may be due to a difference in the causes of failure in the lower and upper grades. This latter interpretation may be inferred from a statement made by a pupil when he wrote as an explan- ation of non-promotion that he "did not realize what it meant." In order to see the relation between causes of repeating and records made in the test we now turn to Diagram LI. Here we find a comparison of the records made by three groups of pupils in grade 7-2, the "regular" pupils, the "irregular" pupils, and the "failures". The "regular" pupils are those who have made normal progress, neither skipping nor repeating a grade ; the "irregular" pupils are those who have repeated because of transfer from one school to another, sickness, etc. ; and the "failures" are pupils who have repeated because of failure. An examination of the diagram shows the "regular" pupils to have made better records than the "irregular" pupils, and the latter to have made better records than the "failures". The really significant feature of the diagram is the difference which is shown to exist between the first two groups. Why did the "regular" pupils do better than the "irregular" pupils? It would seem that, since the pupils in the latter group repeated because of transfer, sickness, of some similar cause, "repeating" itself may be largely responsible for the differences. The repeating of a grade, whatever the cause, cannot fail to react upon the child. It is therefore seen to be highly desirable in the light of the facts here presented to study carefully the whole system of promotion. CHAPTER VII PENMANSHIP Frank 5. Freeman Grand Rapids adopted about five years ago a new system of penmanship. Up to that time the writing was not regarded as satisfactory. A part of the difificulty was thought to be due to the inability of the teachers themselves to write well enough to furnish a good example to the pupils. Accordingly, by action of the Board of Education, all teachers in the elementary schools were required, as a condition of promotion, to secure a Palmer certificate. This rule has been recently enforced with strictness and the writing in the schools is reported to be greatly improved. The supervision of the handwriting under the system now in force is conducted by an agency outside the school organization. The compensation for this supervision is obtained through the sale of writing manuals to the pupils and, to a less degree, through the receipt of fees from the teachers in return for certi- ficate of attainment in penmanship. The school system is relieved by the present plan of some expense in the matter of supervision, but the cost of the writing books and the fee exacted from the teachers is, of course, an offset to this apparent economy. The community as a whole pays for supervision in this case but there is danger that certain important problems will not be fully understood by the teachers and principals, or be solved, because of the absence of vigorous study of methods within the system. In order to study the handwriting in the schools, specimens were collected from approximately all of the children in the elementary schools. Two types of specimens were collected, one of which was obtained through the formal test and the other through a composition test. - In preparation for the formal test, the pupils were required to memorize selections suited to their grade, the selections being uniform for the same grade throughout the city. At the time 130 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN of the test, the pupils wrote for two minutes continuously. It is possible to determine the speed by the amount written in this definite time. The quality was determined by comparison with the Ayres Handwriting Scale. In the composition test, nothing was said to the pupils about their writing and they did not know that this was to be tested. The speed, of course, could not be measured in this test. The method of making the test was thoroughly explained to the principals in conference. The tests were made by the writer in nine of the thirty-six buildings, and the principals made the tests themselves in the other buildings. The results from Ho ' ^0 ^^- 7o ^ / / (oO So 'fo 30 Qcta.le. t GrauA T?aplds _ O-VeTo-cje d^ apper \ttX\ W St, cvtles G.\/eT > c ^ _:bC _ __ - __ _ lt2-- - - >^ ^^ 2^ i: e? ^ / ^ ' ; JA _ ^f " ■ ~ Xt." " " " ■ '": z^ J/. Sc t ^ — jr-- — - - — - --- / -.Xl f ut : rrt _ rf 1" ■■ "■" ~ " ■" z t : r -,S4« ^ t J-^ ^ J^ — 4-J ^ 1 -^ tr ' -. . __ _:Si _ z __ z _ »»i y^ . _ > y? - _ -- y^ ^ ( • Xi C^D 'L ^ ^ J.L -iT- ^ ' 't- i ' 7. x*- iz iy ]' J I : "iTy ^~r R7^:i"i T'yn^^^""-::-- ii-:;--" n^ . P .rr-. •i'- _4L^Lu^s.> lf:ii]B|s.=...=. DIAGRAM LIII — Comparison of the form in handwriting in Grand Rapids and in 55 cities. primary teachers in Grand Rapids and in other systems that the practice represented in Grand Rapids is not so well adapted to the primary grades as is the contrasted practice, in which the child is allowed to write more slowly, and with greater attention to form. This report will not pass judgment on this issue, but does suggest that it would be well to permit controlled experi- mentation along the line which is represented in other systems for the purpose of testing the alternative policy with reference to the lower grades. That the system of alien supervision does PENMANSHIP 133 not readily permit such trial of alternative methods constitutes a difficulty in such supervision. As has been said, this practice of permitting rather poor -^n - .-Kn ■ - 7- ^' -J^i _ _ _ iL .. . > J s "^ '=:. IT ±: -Z^it^^s: /? X v^ -_2^ > ± ^' i" _ L^-_ - - + - ^_^^ ^ __ _ i: : z z^ ? ^ ^ ^ ^_ - Ce,' 4^^- c : . ^5__ _ _ _ __ __ ^ .^'^_ _ -t. _ _ :_ : : : . . jZz _, _,, : . J - c^ -J .jlC__ _ _ _ _ 1 / ,' J ! _ t^ i c ^ • :_ iC __ j__ ^ : — - -- ^-- — -^ - ^ _. _ 7 "c^^ ^ ^ ■ ._^C- i - _J- 7 ~ : ^ ^ r/ / - . - & - _ J -^ 1 - - t A 1 : ^"^ M, '^ J -1^2- -- -t-j-- [ . ^ a c -, t : zz J _ _ __ _ I y - Xa jiO ' - ^ c zAt : : -i^ ^l IL _i" -4 't -li^ : T- *y J i a: ^ J . :::::::::i::iiiii::ii::c^^i --^-::-::::::::---------. . j_ VLix i; - /I > C ^E£ iT^i^ i Wt ^Ejjrr- -. -. — : T nil DIAGRAM LIV — Comparison of speed in handwriting in St. Louis and in 56 cities. 134 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN form in the primary grades represents a policy which is typical of some systems of teaching, while other systems get better form in the primary grades, and obtain equally good form in the upper grades. The speed in Grand Rapids is superior to the average throughout, but not rnore so in the lower than the up- per grades. \7^ M 1 i 1 1 1 ; ' 1 1 : 1 M ' 1 ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 73 1 ' \ ' ' 1 " in lu i^ i^ i ' m '^i / .^^^ ^ -t d ±1 X c > ai at it -jit ^' / L' it J it i < / 1^ -T i^ it i^ // j'f ^^ ^¥^ e £' T^ It A^J 1 / /I 4^ C V A zt ^^ : T^ ■y f ■ ■■ -■ A i ■^ in ^ t ifi ^ ^fi > i f ^/ , 1. n t u^ ^ f ■ ■- 1 jt^ f. t i r > 4 1 - t A^XC. ' / IL^a ^ ^'^ 1 1 y ' y*^ "Ke ^^ "^ Ki2^ _ 1 1 1 '1 1 1 1 i i D ^• XX^ i^ ^ J ± jj * ^i- 4.L iT i' 1 ! '7 i*' ^' >^ ^ i) <» 1 ' 1 -+- ■ 1 -^y^? r 1 - 1 1 1 1 1 1 L_ 1— Ssllj-lr^L 1 1 1 1 /tlis.?: 3 ^^y-^;^¥— -f y=-=--n — DIAGRAM LV — Comparison of form in handwriting in St. Louis and in 55 Cities. PENMANSHIP 135 A more extreme example of the same condition is found in a survey of the writing in St. Louis as shown in Diagrams LIV and LV. In that city the speed in the third and fourth grades is relatively very high and the form correspondingly low. The supervisor and the principals in St. Louis regard the method which has been used in the past in the primary grades as defect- ive, and are at work upon a modification of the methods of teach- ing for these grades. Li particular they recognize finger move- ment as the type of movement which is adapted to the primary child, and are attempting to develop the proper use of this move- ment instead of allowing the child to use it in an unsupervised manner, which he will otherwise do. This modification has been made as high as the third grade and its extension to the fourth grade is contemplated. This modification is in process of being made and is apparently too recent to affect the children's writing habits very greatly. To repeat, the condition which is repre- sented by the results in these two systems is contrasted with the general practice, and is strongly in contrast with the practice in some systems, in which the form in the lower grades is as much above the average as it is below in these cities. Such a divergence as this constitutes a strong demand for comparative experiments under the control of supervisory tests, in order to determine which practice is the more advantageous, both for the primary grades themselves and for the school as a whole. The method of teaching writing now followed in Grand Rapids accomplishes good results, as pointed out above, by the time the pupils reach the upper grades. The suggestions made in the last paragraph could, if desired, be incorporated into the work of the schools without sacrificing any of the virtues of the present system. In order to bring about these changes in the most effective way, however, the problem would have to be taken up in Grand Rapids itself and will have to be dealt with through careful study of the best methods of treating the child- ren in the schools. This is one reason for urging that super- vision in penmanship be not given over entirely to a system that is independent of the schools. A comparison of the results from the composition test and the formal writing test shown in Diagram LVI, indicates that the pupils write as well when they are not engaged in writing drill as when they are. This may be due to the fact that they wrote more slowly in the composition test; but at any rate, it indicates that the quality of writing obtained in the writing period is not an artificial and abstract product. This is a situa- tion which is to be commended. Table XXVI presents the results of the tests in the indi- 136 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Groae 2/X Wrd'ir\<^ test . CovMposltioY»."te5t DIAGRAM LVI — Comparison of the rank in the formal writing test and the composition test. vidual schools. This table should be read as follows: In the Alexander School, the second grade wrote in the formal test with a median speed of 26. In the formal test, the form was graded 34. In the composition test, the form was graded 27. In the third grade, there was a great increase in speed, deterioration in the form in the formal writing test, and slight improvement in the form in the composition test. If the columns are read PENMANSHIP 137 Ww u t U^ xn >Pi| WO qW HO Mm go So Oa to «*5 CMCM <^ CM rt iri O] re !7\ lO t~Ni ce ro ro (N CM •* CM CM fO ;>;>i-->wt3 .138 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN vertically, various schools can be compared with each other. This table is the basis of selected Diagrams in plate LVIII. Of equal value with the comparison of the Grand Rapids schools with other school systems is the internal comparisons of schools within the system. To faciUtate such comparisons, Dia- gram LVII has been prepared. This represents by a single graph the improvement from grade to grade in both speed and Torrn Qn - __'"_- oc/ 7av ^ _ __: : X -C' /^ \i — : : . __ _g-. z_ -L/ /a [!____ _- 60 " "" 1r?*-- - - ^ _ ^:^^ i yt7 5"^ : -^ • ^o - . tl y 4^^ lL^ - _ _ _ 4. ifO - . s y - 5* *'" - 4- 3 i.-^' ^i^ ■^--'^ 00 ^^.. . .. t 9 f\ ' ' ^^ tj - ' m -^ - 1 ■ to LL^-y-^ L__ in ^pe4-/o Zo 30 H-0 5-0 Go 7o ^0 DIAGRAM Lyil — Median speed and form in handwriting for each grade of the Grand Rapids Schools. Form on vertical scale speed on horizontal scale. form. The position of a point, representing a grade, indicates by its horizontal position the speed, and by its vertical position the form of writing in that grade. The general direction of the line which connects gradepoint with gradepoint is forward in both dimensions for every grade. It .will be noted, however, that the progress between the PENMANSHIP 139 So 70 i.0 50 fo 30 i? I? m t it 30 ifo so (,0 70 So ■ i . ■ n T" U^ ' I f-- " fn i n -r-- lo L] ! i :3 t, i _l_ "^ . ! Ii.'^.r^r ^- . . i ; ! 1 1 • fl' : '~L : ^♦ir 7 (>0 1 ! ! : z ' ' i 1 > 1 ^ ^ _i 1 ! ! T - ^^ 5-0 , 1 I ! z i i ' ' ^' .^ :-i ' '-^ -i- ■ _u" : : J <' 1 ; ! . 1 \ ' 1 ^^ 1 fo ill III : • 9 i i ! i III , 1 ! M 1 ' 1 1 , fc ± 'II ■■■ -L-U- it in 1 M "T^ 3o i 1^ I ~L ^^^ ^• ! « 1 ! .... J., ^"^ 7^ ^ Ill L ■cr\ 1 n ' • ~r - ' ' M III 30 4^0 ^d? 6^ 7c? ^^ DIAGRAM LVIII-A — Median speed and form in handwriting for each grade of 6 selected schools. Form on vertical scale, speed on horizontal scale. 140 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN "T" 1 ' 1 M ■ I 1 i III 1 ' 1 1 1 1 I'i 1 1 M ' 1 1 4J 1 i i 1 1 ! : i i ' 1 1 C»j» J V _, ' ! , IPI M 1 1 ' ! 1 EO JTCLit 1 ^'01 1 1 1 i 1 : 1 1 1 J L ^y ' i 1 i 1 ' 1 1 1 1 X 1 7 > ' Ml iti i T -^^ 1 1 i i 1 1 1 1 7/1 It it 1 ■ } 1 1 i ' 1 M 70 III ^^ 1 1 1 Mm 1 i ' M 1 1 1 \ 1 1 1 "'■■""■ 1 M / ^ ' 1 • o 6^ Ml 1 ! i M 1 1 1 - 5214- li 1 1 1 M /*zz 1 A^^ i ± it 1 r-n \\ "■± ± ± n 50 \ 1 1 ! it it -: M 1 ~- i iit 1 u^ - 4-UU i 1 W it 1 1 1 i i =--^pii -fft +ri-t-H— H-1++^-h 1 Cli^ , . "■" '*" i M JO t 1 1 1 M M 1 ? 1 i 111 1 III 1 1 1 ! 1 30 ^0 So Go 70 go 7i?r&SB\ 1 'II 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 /.. X 1 1 fo^ t^ n- i-^ -M H II 1 xd" " i I tr^ . 5^ - 1 rj- -1 M ^-^ X MM 1 Ml \^\ i Ml ill ^ \ \ \ \ i < M-^ 1 z//^ M \ y *^ T ' tO \ 1 i I ^ t 1 1 ' 1 1^4--^ i 1 1 4I _2 ^^X 4- ^ 1 1 tri i 1 5a 1 ' ' .-- 1 M 1 1 1 ^0 g |i5 1 n;,^-' -t XX i •-• — =i»-_ —TT i i 1 M M 1 1 ,-_^.l.^ J 30 lio So 60 70 Ko 90 /oo no DIAGRAM LVIII-B — Median speed and form in handwriting for each grade of 6 selected schools. Form on vertical scale, speed on horizontal scale. PENMANSHIP 141 1 1 ' ■ ■ ■ ri ■- ^,J_. ■ — ± \z: 1 10 !■ 1 / • -«- - - - - 1 ' 1 Li>:: -i}i?ic y[ f ' M ' C, g 1,11 t> ^ . . . h- ' X '^^^ Lo n^ ' 7 ^^^ ^ 1 J ^^^ s ' ; /^ - -^^y ^-P A- ^ 1 / ' 5b 1 ,. 4 1 1 r- 1 1 1 H 1 I'^v i 1 ^^. ^0 s II 1 i 1 1 ^^ 1 1 :ji 1 -A. 1 1 . A * ' 1 ■■ p .y^ 30 i i f:^^ ' ■ "'"■ ' 11 Ml III 1 Ml M ' ~ ■" "■ 1 1 1 -.-.-.. 'Li „ . 30 ifo ^0 (,0 70 go sij[i[ t^ -U- Jl 30 'io 5^0 (^0 70 Zo ^o loo ifo DIAGRAM LVIII-C — Median speed and form in handwriting for each grade of 6 selected schools. Form on vertical scale, speed on horizontal scale. 142 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN second and third grades is more pronounced in the direction of speed than in the direction of form. Diagrams for individual schools can be constructed on the same plan and make it possible for principals in their buildings to study the progress exhibited from grade to grade. Such pro- gress is shown for several schools in Diagram LVIII. A few cases illustrating types of progress may be discussed briefly. Congress and Sigsbee show great emphasis on speed. Indeed Sigsbee gets tangled up in the upper grades because of such great emphasis on speed in the sixth grade, and low em- phasis upon form in the seventh. Coit and Hall emphasize form, the latter somewhat irregularly. Palmer shows a radical change in emphasis in the upper grades. Lexington shows striking irregularities. Other schools can readily construct diagrams on this^ pat- tern, from Table XXVI, which gives the figures for all schools. The school diagrams can also be brought into direct comparison with the standards determined in 56 cities. Diagrams LIX aild LX show how this comparison can be made for the Widdicomb School which is high in speed and low in form, and the Pine School which is better than the average in speed, low in form in the second and third grades, but very high in the grades above the third. Special comment may be made on the comparison between the Hall School, represented in Diagram LXI, and the Widdi- comb School in Diagram LIX. In the Hall School, the problem of supervision is met in a special manner throughout the depart- mentalizing of writing in connection with music. These two subjects are taught by one person throughout the school. In the Widdicomb School there appears to be a minimum of super- vision due to the fact that the principal foUov/s the policy of allowing the individual teachers large latitude. The contrast betweon the results in the two schools is striking and is a re- flection of the policies of much and little supervision. In the Hall School there is a fair balance between speed and form, with the exception of the somewhat excessive development of form in the upper grades. In the Widdicomb School form is sacrificed to speed. In the Hall School the progress is consistent with only slight exceptions. In the Widdicomb School the speed decreases steadily from the fourth to the seventh grades and the form is highly erratic at the sixth grade. PENMANSHIP 143 S^eeJl K. A^^ 65r ss Form —Composition Isst-l^i'dJt'comb Sahool — <* — « — Form - Wrih'Tio Test- Wi'dJicomb School Forjri — ff^ Cctces Opeed- l/Vi'dJlcoTnb Sc/fooL Speed- S(> Cc^c'es — — — — DIAGRAM LIX — Comparison of speed and form in handwriting at Widdicomb School with speed and form in 56 cities. 144 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, AlICHIGAN Gra,de 2 . ^ Test'- //'tjs School — 9 — o Form- y\/rih'r>a Test -Pine SchooL Lorm^ 65 Cities Opeeei - 7t'n& School Speed' S4. Citces. DIAGRAM LX — Comparison of speed and form in handwriting at Pine School with speed and form in 56 cities. PENMANSHIP G-reiJe Z I / ¥ ' 5- 6 7 8 j~orin — Cowposti'i'o'ri '7es't—)-/a.// School - Form- Wr'tt>7i^T^st- )-/clJ/ School — For TV- ^S Cih'es _ , 3pe9ci — ///?,// School SpcQii - 5"^ Cf'f/ e's — — -- — — — DIAGRAM LXI — Comparison of speed and form in handwriting at Hall School with speed and form in 56 cities. 146 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN The lack of uniformity in practice represented by the results shown in the foregoing diagrams indicates that there is need for improvement in, the supervision of the writing of the schools. The supervisory agency should be the instrument to help the individual schools and grades study their records in comparison with those of the other schools in the system through some such tests as those which were used in this survey. It is not the in- tention of this report to insist that this can be done only through a change in the present method of supervision. The results of the present system are in the main excellent. But the defects which have been pointed out are real and important, and they are defects which are particularly apt to occur when the supervisory agency is not in close touch with the system. The results from the three junior high schools are signifi- cant. The teaching of writing in these schools is somewhat in- terfered with by the fact that the pupils are given here a more varied type of work than those in the elementary schools. In the case of the South High School, this has, up to the present time, interfered with any systematic writing drills, and this condition has the very obvious effect of lowering the efficiency of the writing in respect to form. In the Junior High School, writing lessons are given and the results are as good as in the system as a whole. The same thing is true of the work in the Union High School. It appears from these facts that the pupils have not had sufficient training in the first six grades to make it advisable to omit drill in handwriting when they enter the junior high school. In many of the rooms in which the writing was observed, the desks were not adapted in height to the size of the pupils as well as they should have been. In a system in which adjustable desks are not used, this can be accomplished by having enough desks of different sizes in the same room to accommodate prac- tically all the pupils in the room. The lighting in some of the older buildings cannot be made as good as it should be without radical change in the buildings. In a number of the rooms observed, however, the lighting is un- necessarily bad because the desks face in such a direction that the windows are to the right of the children. This bad condition should be remedied by placing the teacher's desk at the opposite end of the room and reversing the children's desks. This defect was observed for example in the following rooms : Hall School, grades 7-2, 7-1, and grades 5-2, 5-1 ; Widdicomb School, grades 3 and 6-1. CHAPTER VIII MUSIC J. Beach Cragun Inasmuch as the surveys of music in St. Louis, Mo., and Grand Rapids, Mich., are the first to be made, no well-grounded scales of measurement have been developed. These two sur- veys, then, and the results of a survey of a single Chicago school are the only three in which the same scales have been tried out. Comparison of these with other systems, then, is not possible, except through personal estimate. The formal side of any instruction is the only one which lends itself to the process of measurement. The formal aspect of music is represented in sight reading, and ability to read at sight may be subdivided into ability to comprehend and repro- duce rhythms and the various diatonic and chromatic intervals. This formal phase of music instruction — sight reading — is accurately estimated. Other phases are estimated in terms of personal observation and opinion. Recreational Aspect One of the chief values of instruction in music is here repre- sented. The music teacher, as no other, must secure and hold the willing and hearty co-operation of the pupils. He may more and more organize his work in the recreational direction for the pur- pose of securing this co-operation, or he may organize too far in the other direction for the purpose of raising the standards expressed in his course of study. Neglect of either is but Httle less disastrous than an ill-balanced recognition of both. The elementary schools of Grand Rapids exhibit a most excellent balance between the recreational and the educational. Practically every child sings, and the enjoyment of their singing was evident, sincere, and very nearly universal. I believe this to be due, largely, to the exceptional success of the system in the early elimination of monotones. It is surely evident that the 148 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN small amount of class time given over individually to the back- ward children is well spent. It not only secures the elimination of nearly all monotones, but also, in the Grand Rapids system, does this very early in the grades. Then, too, with the early development of ability in the handling of the voice on the part of all members, the class as a whole springs forward in a develop- ment otherwise impossible. All this is very evident in these schools. The Grand Rapids system develops the musical ability of each child with remarkable uniformity. And this is the thing in which we are most interested. So many music systems do little for the less musical child. Show me the results of the poorest third of a music class and I can esti- mate the upper groups, as well as the care with which the v/ork of the preceding years was done. The result of this procedure in Grand Rapids is that the amount of individual variation within a given group is reduced. One of the strongest proofs of the fact that music and its pre- sentation are not organized as are many other subjects is to be found in the customary and significant, tremendous individual variations within given groups. Hence the comparative uni- formity of development in musical ability exhibited in Grand Rapids is all the more noteworthy. The Grand Rapids high schools do not require music, and their choral and other musical organizations are all on a volun- tary membership basis. They are not, then, to be judged as compared with work required of all pupils, but will be taken up under a later heading. In summary, the work observed in Grand Rapids certainly meets the requirements of good work in music so far as the recreational element is concerned. And this is due in no small degree to the noteworthy success of the system in its early elimi- nation of monotones — in its early reduction of the extent of individual differences. Practically all the children sing and en- joy their singing — and this is of first importance. The Educational Aspect The educational aspect of any instruction may be pointed out in the development of certain habits, or abilities. Music classes — as all others — -should develop individual attention. A cultural type of enjoyment, a refined "leisure-time occupation", is also to be created through pleasant experience with the best of carefully selected music. AFl these, and also the development of the appreciation of the rendition of other musicians, are pe- cuHarly fostered through the development of habits of good tone quality and interpretation in singing. Children trained along MUSIC 149 the lines above mentioned are well equipped but they need one thing more — the abiUty readily to take up new and more ad- vanced material after leaving the school which has developed in them the desire so to do. Hence the necessity, from but one standpoint, for thorough training in sight reading. The problem of individual concentration, in so far as it is peculiar to the music class, does not frequently present itself below the eighth grade. A single exception was met (in one of the seventh grades) in which it existed in any widespread form. Otherwise it was found only here and there, and then in the case of pupils musically unable, not representative of the system. For instance, I examined eight-one pupils in the first half of the eighth grade and seventy-two in the second half at the Union School, Of these, eleven pupils did not comprehend a single one of the thirty-seven rhythms given. After seeing the work of the lower grades in Grand Rapids I can not believe that theseeleven children grew up in the system. Nearly all the work in music, in summary, exhibited that personal concentration from each members of the class without which no musical organization will do its best work, or will make its most rapid progress. Nor is this the individual appli- cation of members of a class in mathematics, or literature, or history: — it is a concentration which is individual yet social, with initiative subject to the will of another, a concentration coupled with recognition of the individual as but a part of a larger whole. From its very nature a high type of group work in music would seem to demand a greater amount of concentration, if anything, than some of the other subjects. And on the whole this demand is met in this system. The second phase of the educational aspect was expressed above in these words : "A cultural type of enjoyment, a refined 'leisure-time occupation' is to be created through pleasant ex- perience with the best carefully selected music." This oppor- tunity is afforded the children of Grand Rapids for they have not only vocal, but also instrumental training. Reading as well as they do, I believe they could be given a great deal more material to advantage, but this will be taken up under the discussion of sight reading. The instrumental work will be brought out un- der the heading of special organizations. So far, we have had in mind that "best of carefully selected music" which the children themselves produce. Yet that vocal or instrumental music which is usable in the school is but a portion of the whole field of vocal or instrumental literature, nor do these two exhaust the library of the musical compositions that are of essential worth. All branches of the musical art should be brought before the children in the public schools. 150 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Perhaps this could not be done, even in an elementary fashion in the grades alone. Let the work be continued in the high schools or junior high schools, for if the cultural and other benefits of music study are as universal as commonly believed why not continue systematic music instruction into the upper school? The use of victrolas, player pianos, etc., has by no means come to its own. They might well be systematically used to the end of rounding out, of completing, the acquaintance of the child with some of the best in all branches or at least the chief branches of the musical art. The third phase of the educational aspect goes behind this consideration of the materials used and considers the way in which they are used. In this I mean to refer especially to tone quality and interpretation. The tone quality is good, in several schools superior, and of remarkably even character throughout. But a single group doing decidedly inferior tone work was found and this may have been shown at a disadvantage. Mr. Beattie is fortunate in hav- ing a system not so large as to render it impossible to keep in intimate touch with the various units. And in the above-men- tioned and remarkably uniform good tone quality is evidenced this characteristic outcome of careful and competent super- vision. The matter of good interpretation, too, is carefully handled though the results are not so exceptionally noteworthy as those in the matter of tone quality mentioned above. Artistic inter- pretation of children's songs is a matter. in which the ordinary teacher and usually the average supervisor needs capable assist- ance. The interpretative work visited was good and more than meets the general requirements of the work. It is only to be hoped that Mr. Beattie will be able to bring this to the level of the superior type of result mentioned elsewhere. The fourth and last phase of the educational aspect takes up the matter of sight reading. While the value of this ability is self-apparent it is not a matter of first importance, nor is it made so in these schools. Sight reading rests on the ability of the child to interpret or duplicate various grades of rhythms and intervals. Scales were made out in each of these and tests given the children in such a way that each child in each test — and very few took both — could make a possible one hundred points. Three thousand seven hundred and twelve children in St. Louis, Grand Rapids, and the University Elementary and High Schools of the University of Chicago were given the tests. A tabulation of these results established certain medians, or representative MUSIC 151 scores. These together with the records made by the 1587 Grand Rapids children given the tests appear below : TABLE XXVII Median scores for Sight Reading in Music in Grades 5-1 to 8-2 In- clusive for 3712 Children in St. Louis, Grand Rapids, and the University Elementary and High Schools of the University of Chicago. Grade V-1 V-2 VI-1 VI-2 VII-1 VII-2 VIII-1 VIII-2 INTERVALS Lowest Score 00000000 M-«^i-a« 1 {5 9 8 10 11 . 9 9 14 ^nnrlfSCro of group ^9 16 16 18 17 20" 18 22 ^^^^^ ' (15 27 24 28 27 31 30 32 Highest Score 34 82 93 69 54 96 88 66 RHYTHM Lowest Score 10000000 ivr^^- „, ( 5 10 10 10 8 6 10 10 q;^T-« f 50% of group ^11 17 16 17 17 13 17 19 ^^°^^ ' (16 26 24 27 27 24 26 27 Highest Score 25 67 41 67 78 61 57 44 TABLE XXVIII Median Scores for Sight Reading in Music in Grades 5-1 to 8-2 in- clusive for 1,587 children in the Grand Rapids Schools. Grade V-1 V-2 VI-1 VI-2 VII-1 VII-2 VIII-1 VIII-2 INTERVALS Lowest Score 00000000 c . ( 4 9 7 12 12 9 8 11 ^^.ifa„ f50% of group ^11 16 14 19 17 18 19 21 Median ( (iS 29 25 30 27 31 29 26 Highest Score 28 82 64 69 50 96 48 54 RHYTHM Lowest Score 10000000 ,, ,. , ( 5 10 6 8 6 5 10 7 ^ledian (5Q^^ Qf -?11 15 13 13 11 12 17 18 Score J (16 22 17 21 18 20 24 28 Highest Score 25 42 33 40 46 45 46 47 The grades are grouped by semesters, or half years, and the number given is the median or most representative record made in a given group. A comparison of the two tables will show that the pupils examined are normal in their ability in intervals but below normal in their ability in rhythm. The following diagram based on the figures given above makes clear the situation. An analysis of the Grand Rapids results shows that while the rhythm curve is below average the interval curve would be 152 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN DIAGRAM LXII — Median scores for sight reading in music for 1587 children Grand Rapids and for 3712 children in St. Louis, Grand Rapids and the School of Education, Chicago. MUSIC 153 considerably above average were it not for the results coming from Turner School. This is shown in the following table of medians. TABLE XXIX Comparison of median scores in intervals for the Turner School of Grand Rapids, the composite group of schools and the best score in Grand Rapids. Grade V-1 V-2 VI-1 VI-2 VII-1 VII-2 VIII-1 VIII-2 Turner Score 4 9 .... 17 14 9 Composite Score ( (St. Louis, Chicago -^9 16 16 18 17 - 20 18 22 and Grand Rapids).... ( Best Grand Rapids Score 15* 25** 17* 30* 18* 27* 25* 22* * Sigsbee School. ** Lafayette School. No other school turned in results so consistently below average as did the Turner School. Its cause I cannot point out but it is surely evident that here is a weak spot which needs strengthening. The sight reading, then, seems for the most part to be made up of a little above the average strength in intervals, coupled with weakness in the handling of rhythms. Yet I saw certain classes do rather remarkable work in sight reading from their books, though very few classes were tried out in this manner. The contradiction of figures and observation may in part be ex- plained as follows. The children do not sing a great many songs, but they sing all these well. I had constantly the impression that I could call on a class for any song they had had all year, and find them able to sing it from memory. There is great value in redoing what has been previously done in careful manner. But the develop- ment of ability to read music calls for two steps: (1) slow careful preliminary steps, followed or interspersed between (2) practice in actual rapid reading in which there is not much stop or drill on hard places or mistakes. I believe Mr. Beattie could give his schools throughout more material, to be used in the latter fashion, and to great advantage. I believe its absence to be the cause of the marks made by the children in the tests. Special Organizations The schools have rather more and larger special organiza- tions than the average. This is due to the vigor with which in- strumental work is pushed and to the absence of required music in high school. All are doing good work apparently but of es- 154 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN pedal worth is the orchestra at Central High School. Few high schools have better. Conclusion The music work in the schools of Grand Rapids meets many if not all the requirements of good work. Much of the work is done in distinctly superior manner. The granting of high-school credits for outside music work has been in operation for some time, and has proved very successful. Mr. Beattie would do well to organize in writing his methods of granting credit for the benefit of the many other cities about to grant similar credit. And this is no light task, for it involves the making out of approved courses of study, as well as the writing out of the various details of the operation of the scheme. Such contributions, based on the experience of successful operation, are necessary to the raising of the cause of public-school music to a science. CHAPTER IX INSTRUCTION IN THE ELE MENTARY SCHOOLS John F. Bobbitt An aggregate of about two weeks was spent by the writer in observation of the work of the elmentary grades and in con- ferences with teachers, principals, and supervisors, concerning the work of those grades. For this purpose about twenty of the larger schools were visited. The time was insufficient for an exhaustive examination into the work of any single building. The city uses, however, a uniform course of study, uniform series of textbooks in most subjects, and the work of the various build- ings is well supervised from the central administrative offices. The result is a very considerable uniformity of practice in the majority of the subjects, the work differing from room to room more in quality of the teaching than in course of study or intent of the work. It is felt, therefore, that the observations of por- tions of the work in all the grades in many buildings has resulted in a fair conception of what the city is attempting to do, what it is actually doing, and here and there as to certain things that might be done by way of improving the programs or' the prac- tices in the work. In general, however, it must first be said that the profes- sional school people of the city are fully alive to the nature of current educational problems; that they have been and are in- dustriously and conscientiously grappling with the problems ; and that, like progressive professional people throughout the country, as they adapt and adjust the work year after year, are solving the various problems. The best ideas already to be found in the work of the city in connection with the teaching of each of the subjects cover about everything that we can here propose. Our primary duty turns out to be largely the agreeable one of choosing ideas and proposals already advanced by the 156 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN most thoughtful and progressive teachers and supervisors of the city, and of reenforcing some of the most important of these with recommendations here and there. Occasionally we shall criticize. And we shall do this with the greater good-will because of the fact that on the whole the work observed was of commendable character. In many respects it falls far short of the character of the work that will in all prob- ability be found in Grand Rapids twenty years hence. But, on the other hand, it is now far in advance of the character of work found in the city twenty years ago. As we point out short- comings, therefore, it is not in any spirit of adverse fault-finding criticism. We are simply pointing to possibilities of further improvement. We are simply attempting to reenforce the argu- ments and efforts of those now working within the system who are attempting to secure these very same improvements, and who will secure them within the next few years because their efforts are rightly directed. I. READING AND LITERATURE Excepting only the personal association, reading is certainly the most important educational exercise in our public schools. We are thinking here, in this discussion, not so much of training in the art of reading itself as of the humanistic and other training that results from the use of the art of reading. We wish in no degree to minimize the importance of training in the art itself, since this is a primordial prerequisite to the use of the art of reading for education on all of its later and higher levels. We wish to give due emphasis to both reading for the sake of the mastery of the art, and reading for the sake of education, intel- lectual, social, moral, occupational, political, humanitarian. It happens, however, that there has been a rather unbal- anced emphasis in the field. We have given large attention to the elaboration of methods of teaching the simple art of reading. We have placed insufficient emphasis and have given insufficient time and thought to the use of reading for the purpose of develop- ing and expanding the personality in all the desirable ways in which reading may be made to serve as a means. We have not over emphasized the mechanics of reading; we have underem- phasized the educational results that might accrue from a well- studied use of available reading. We have not elaborated our methods of teaching the mechanics of reading too greatly ; but in elaborating them in partial isolation from the training needed for later and higher purposes the methods have tended to be artificial and beyond the primary grades relatively inefficient even for the purpose of teaching the mechanics of reading. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 157 Neither purpose is well taken care of unless a proper emphasis is given to the other; and unless both are developed in con- junction. This general criticism of a situation prevalent throughout the cities of the country is mentioned because it represents the situation in Grand Rapids as well. The writer is glad to state, however, that after having examined into the reading situation in quite a number of cities in connection with the work of various school surveys, he has yet met with no city that is so far along the road toward an efficient and balanced program of training in and through reading as the city of Grand Rapids. As we point to further possibilities of progress it is done with the conscious- ness that already great progress in the direction of our recom- mendations has been made; and that the leaders of progress in the city are already fully conscious of the things that ought to be done ; and that the things are already being done about as rapidly as conditions will permit. The Primary Reading The efforts of the primary grades must necessarily be de- voted largely to mastery of the art of reading. The city has adopted and in general is efficiently using a good standardized system of teaching the little people how to read during the first few weeks of their presence in the first primary grade. That the system employed is on the whole a good one is proven by the fact that the children do learn to read within a comparatively short time. The system in itself is, however, rather mechanical and lends itself to abuse on the part of teachers who lack initia- tive and resourcefulness in the use of materials outside of those presented by the "systern". At this stage of the learning a large amount of mechanical exercises is indispensable. The teacher's problem is to make them as varied and interesting as possible ; and to keep the drill, even though large, incidental to the live interests in the stories themselves that are told and read. Even in this early stage of reading, it is the thought, the story, that needs to be the primary thing in the consciousness of the children with the language, the vocabulary, the word-recognition, etc., but modes of expressing the story which occupies the center of conscious- ness. The mechanical basic system now used in the introductory work is distinctly lacking within itself in the story element. A good teacher can develop much interest through the learning and the repetition in various ways of the little basic rhymes, and can keep the interest thus developed warm long enough to cover the 158 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN mechanical and relatively meaningless practice exercises. The g-ood teacher, however, finds it necessary also to supplement with stories and with the reading prompted by the story interest. While both stories and the little jingles now used may both be employed as bases for practice exercises, the story is generally better for the purpose. In conferences with teachers the desire was frequently ex pressed for a basic reading system that was less mechanical than the present one, and which employed the story element in larger measure. These teachers and principals have already discerned the need. Taking the work as a whole through the city, it seems clear that the story element should be larger so as better to serve as a basis for the necessarily rather voluminous and varied mechanical drill. The reading should not grow out of this drill as is too often the case ; but the drill should grow out of the reading. A composite method using elements of the one used at present, and using elements of other methods, based in the beginning upon the reading furnished by books from two or three reading series, should probably be devised, by way of taking the next step in the natural evolution of methods within the city. After the introductory work is covered, the best work in the city that was met with represents a superior type of work. In the best schools one finds the children covering during the first year, six, eight, or ten primers and first readers of varied types and subject-matter. Certain cases, however, were found where tlie class is covering during this entire year only three or four readers and primers. This is altogether insufficient. In such case the class has been too long in getting under way; and where work is slow, mechanical, and impoverished in the early months of the year, the condition of affairs is likely to continue to the end. The city has been reasonably generous in supplying needed reading material in sets large enough for class use. There is an average of about ten sets of supplementary books for each first grade through the city. These have been chosen, however, in a great variety of ways. The assortment at certain buildings, therefore, is very much better than that to be found at other buildings. Certain of the buildings are not now using all of the material with which they are supplied. Other buildings are using about all that they have, and could use more if it were available. One teacher says : ''Every Friday afternoon a different child is chosen to read a story to the room, the child having had opportunity for a previous reading and study of the story." Where rooms are generously supplied with a great variety of INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 159 single library copies of books adapted to this grade, the method is an excellent one and serves various purposes. The child who must choose his own story will often read through a large quan- tity of material by way of finding the story that he wants to read to the class. This in itself is excellent, and in the oral reading he has a real audience, and his primary effort is to make them understand the story. The plan is thus good for both prepara- tory and oral reading. While doubtless now used in many schools of the city, it is one that can be recommended for all and for more frequent use than merely once a week. The introductory work of mastering the simple mechanics of reading covers the first two or three years. The system be- gun in the first grade should probably be continued in an ex- panded fashion through the second. P'or this reason the super- visor of the first-grade work should usually also supervise that of the second grade. One second grade visited has read during the year seventeen sets of books already, with time enough to read three more sets before the end of the year, making twenty in all. This represents what is possible in most schools, and what is desirable in all. In another second-grade class in a neighboring district with not dissimilar population, the corresponding second- grade class has read less than five books. This latter type of work represents a paucity of intellectual nourishment, and at the same time a deficiency in that reading practice on the side of its mechanics which is necessary for speed, facility, good under- standing, and good habits of reading. Since there is an average of ten or twelve sets of supplementary readers for the second grade in the buildings of the city, the facilities are already sup- plied for a larger amount of reading in the second grade than seems now to be the average of practice. Both averages need to be raised. While there is much reading material on hand, there should be even more; and while much is now being- covered in the school of average accomplishment, much more could and should be covered. The Reading of Intermediate and Grammer Grades The work in reading is laid out in the course of study in such a way as to emphasize an intensive study of selections presented in the reading textbooks. The textbook series used from the fifth grade on to the end of the eighth is of such a degree of difficulty, and the mode of treatment of the various lessons is so elaborated and systematized within the text itself that one finds here another influence tending to emphasize the intensive study of the difficult and often inappropriate selections. As a result it 160 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN is quite clear that the consciously directed reading work of the grammar grades, — this leaves out of the account for the moment the Hbrary reading, — is distinctly inferior for the purposes to that of the primary grades. One finds second and third-year classes reading a dozen supplementary sets of books. One does not, however, find the eighth-grade classes reading a dozen sets of supplementary reading books. They ought to read more, not less. If it is objected that the older classes have many things to do because they are carrying many subjects, while the earlier classes have fewer things to do, we must say that the range of things to which attention is given is really much the same in the lower and in the upper grades. Simply, the matters are taken care of in fewer classes in the earlier grades, and are differenti- ated into more specialized subjects in the later grades. Second and third-grade reading, for example, covers matters that are geographical, historical, scientific, literary, etc. In the later grades the readings are classified and assigned to different sub- jects. In our consideration of the reading practice, however, we have regard here for that reading that is done in connection with the geography work, history work, etc., as well as that done in the literature classes. In the upper grades there is more text- book study and less of the experiential education that comes through a wide, varied, and reasonably voluminous reading ex- perience. The later grades need to widen this reading experi- ence beyond that of the lower grades, not to narrow it. Whereas the first three grades have available an average of about ten sets of supplementary reading material, the seventh grade has only about seven sets, and the eighth grade only about six. Instead of the quantity of reading material available for the later grades growing more meagre, it should grow in quite the reverse direction. There should be more to read and on a greater variety of subjects, not less. While it can be said that the com- munity has been much more generous with its schools in the matter of supplementary reading all along the line than is the average of cities in general, yet it must be said that the movement which has for a number of years been clearly under way is yet far from having reached its final stage of adequate development. Much yet needs to be done by way of supplying the later grades with needed reading materials. This reading needs to be of such a varied character that the whole world in its multitudinous aspects can be made to pass in review before the inner vision of the rising generation as the chief education which they will get from books. The varied purposes of the reading experience in the later grades have as yet been insufficiently defined by school authori- ties and teachers. Reading as a mode of formative experience INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 161 shaping the various aspects of the personaUty is not yet suffi- ciently valued within the city, it would appear. An unduly large amount of attention and effort is given to the storing up of items of information within the intellects of the children. There is yet an insufficient faith in the power of wide reading experi- ence to develop equally valuable types of intellectual products along with the various other desirable results of such reading. As in most cities, there is yet a larger faith in learning things as a mode of education rather than experience as a mode of educa- tion. As the city develops the experiential development type of training, it will develop fullness and width and vitality of reading experience as one of the most important forms. One grammar-grade teacher said of the text material that is now assigned for the work : "It is too heavy. It is grown-up literature, not literature for children. Except for certain selec- tions, it is not interesting to the children." It is very evident that this is the cas^e. Even when the theme of the story presented is one that is appropriate to the maturity and interests of the children of the grade, it is too often presented simply as a con- densed series of fragments of the original story and in a style adapted to adults and not to children. Very many of the selec- tions too have been included in the list for purposes that are altogether legitimate, but apparently through a mistaken judg- ment as to the kind of materials that are appropriate to the maturity of the grade. Certain of the most capable eighth-grade teachers met with are using in the eighth grade stories of Greek mythology, Greek hero tales, folk tales, certain of the more mature fables and fairy tales, historical stories, fiction dealing with the Middle Ages, fiction dealing with American history, etc. When inquiry was made as to how the work was carried on, generally the teachers had to say that they lacked sets of books for the_ work, and were depending on the few copies supplied by the library. For reading Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare, there was no set of books available. For the class reading of vital modern dramas so as to educate the population to a level of appreciation higher than that now represented by the ubiquitous "movies," no mod- ern dramatic literature is made available for the work. Pupils that attend the "movies" with great frequency and appreciation sit sufficiently listless and passive in the reading classes. It is true it will cost the city something to supply the children in the schools with that wealth of interesting, vital reading experience which they need for their full humanistic development. It will not, however, cost the people of the city anything like what they are now perfectly willing to pay for the support of interesting l62 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN but educationally relatively valueless motion-pictures as supplied by our commercial agencies. One of the buildings in the city was observed to be making a studied attempt to systematize the reading so as to make it cover a wide range of desirable experience. A series of nature study readings has been arranged, one book for each grade be- ginning with the second. Parallel with this there is a series of historical readings definitely laid out for each grade, and a third series of geographical readings. The plan seems not to have been systematically worked out beyond this point. It should, however, be extended to cover biography, inventions, industry and commerce, travels, hygiene and sanitation, poetry, fiction, drama, etc. Reading opportunities in most of these fields are lacking in most of the schools, — except. as supplied by the public library in single copies, and which therefore do not lend them- selves to class use. Methods Where reading selections are unsuitable because of the ma- turity of the sentiments expressed, or because of their not having been led up to and prepared for by a sufficient wealth of previous reading experience, teaching methods are often suft'iciently in- efficient for training in good reading habits, appreciation, and understanding. So many words, allusions, figures of speech, etc., have to be explained, and the mature adult sentiments have to be so fully discussed, that sometimes but little real reading is ac- complished. Now it is a well-known law of education that it is only practice in doing a thing that trains one for doing that thing. And what is more, it is only practice in doing the thing in the way that it is to be used that will train one to do the thing in the way that is desired. Explaining, talking, dictionary work, using words in sentences, etc., are not reading. Each of them has a proper place, though when the work is well done it is minor and incidental. When they are so much emphasized as to consume the major portion or even a large portion of time and effort, one finds a clear symptom of lack of previous preparation for this work on the part of the class during previous years, or an improper, selection for the present work of the class, or both. The nature of the selections, especially those of the grammar grades, has brought about and made necessary the use of such undesirable methods at the present time in the schools of the city. The way out is a more complete formulation of the pur- poses of using reading as a mode of education, and the selection of a rnore complete and better graded series of reading materials. For either the formulation of the curriculum or the determina- INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 163 tion of methods, one must first know what one is after. The school organization has not yet adequately defined its purposes. Silent Reading The importance of silent reading is referred to in the pub- lished manual only in connection with the reading work of the fourth grade. The statement is general, and probably is intended to apply to all of the later grades. The manual, however, does not sufficiently emphasize it, and it consequently receives rather insufficient emphasis in the schools in general. It is a matter, however, that is taken care of automatically as the volume of reading experience is increased. While the class work at present is given mainly to oral reading and discussion, yet if the reading program is widened in ways herein recommended the greater portion of it must of necessity be silent reading experience. Almost all of the reading of adults is for thought, for infor- matjon, and for imaginative experience. For these purposes silent reading is more effective and more expeditious. Except for a few types of people who need it as a part of their vocational preparation, oral reading is so little used as not to warrant spe- cial training after the primary grades are passed. Stories Read or Told to Pupils Throughout the printed course of study large emphasis is placed upon the telling or reading of stories and poems to the pupils by the teacher. The first-grade outline specifies six kinds of material, and the eighth-grade outline seven kinds of material to be given in this oral way. It would seem to be better for most purposes, at least, for the children to read the stories, poems, etc., themselves. In general, teacher-labor is expensive, and must be used for a large variety of purposes for which books cannot serve as substitutes. When a bookxan be made to serve as a substitute, it would ap- pear that the method would be much more economical and for most purposes just as serviceable. The writer is able to find but one major justifiable reason for a teacher's reading the stories and poems to the pupils. One's pronunciation, mode of utterance, and auditory imagery are shaped in large part by what one hears. To listen to the reading of a teacher of finished pronunciation, enunciation, etc., is an essential element in training pupils in the pronunciation of words that have not yet become portions of their active speaking voca- bulary. To listen to a good voice is part of the necessary train- ing in the right control of the voice. A teacher should therefore 164 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN read to the pupils. It is more important for their education than that they do the oral reading themselves. The amount of such oral reading by the teacher should be adjusted to the needs of the pupils. In regions where the children are of immigrant stock and unused to hearing properly spoken English in their homes or on the playgrounds, there probably should be a large amount of such reading, always dealing with stories or informational articles that strongly ap- peal to the children. In schools where the children come from native American homes, it is probable that not a great deal of such reading is needed. In general, the ordinary classroom speech of the teacher will be sufficient for the purpose. It cannot be urged that the imaginative experience accom- panying the reading is more vivid or more effective v/hen one is listening to the oral reading of another than it is when one is reading the matter silently. This may occasionally be so in the case of selections that are oratorical, impassioned, or for em- phasizing the rhythmic and lyric aspects of poetry; but with most types of reading it is desirable that pupils should be trained through practice to get the full experience through silent reading without having to depend upon others for intensification of his reading experience. To be able to do much reading wholly inde- pendent of others is one of the ends of the training. The Grand Rapids Public Library Among the things needed for the effective conduct of public education, after teachers and buildings have been supplied, the most important doubtless is a supply of reading materials ade- quate in quantity and suitable in quality for the children of the different levels of advancement. In connection with the topics of reading, history, geography, science, etc., we have discussed the textbooks and supplementary reading sets. A no less im- portant factor, however, where the work is adequately developed is the educational co-operative work of the city public library. In this respect Grand Rapids is fortunate in a highly unusual degree. To begin with, the form of organization is excellent for the purpose. The library is governed by a board that is sufficiently separate from those who control the school affairs proper, and yet it is sufficiently linked to the educational organization to secure thoroughgoing co-operation. Of the six members of the Board of Library Commissioners, five are elected by the citi- zens at large, including women, on a non-partisan ballot, and the sixth member is the superintendent of the public schools, ex officio. At the present moment the superintendent of the INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 165 city schools is the president of the library board. The title to all property of the library rests with the Board of Education. For more than twenty years the city library has been plac- ing deposit and branch libraries in all of the school buildings in the city. The legally connected and closely co-operating boards of education and of library are thus by means of a single service systematically taking care of the reading opportunities of all of the people of the city, both juvenile and adult. In the purchase and management of books the board of education takes care primarily of the desk books, the supplementary books, and the classroom reference books, — all of those books that are kept permanently within the classrooms for the systematic class- room work. On the other hand, the board of library commis- sioners supplies the general all-round reading needed by both children and adults, and also the periodical literature which is supplied in unusually generous amounts, both in the central library as well as in all of the branch libraries in the school buildings of the city. A reading room of generous size is now supplied for the branch libraries by the board of education in about one-third of the regular school buildings of the city ; and such a room is being provided in each of the new buildings. The school board sup- plies heat, light, and janitor service, while the library board sup- plies the books, periodicals, card catalogues, and the librarians, and conducts the weekly story hour during the season, the course of free lectures for children and adults through the year, and the systematic instruction of the, children in the uses of the library. These branch library rooms are so arranged that they can serve as reading rooms for the children during the school day and as reading and library rooms for the adult community during the day, the evening, Saturdays, and all school vacations, except certain legal holidays, both afternoon and evening. Separate entrances and separate heating facilities are provided for the community uses while the schools are not in session. The classrooms of the regular size used for branch library purposes in the beginning having been found to be too small, the boards are making provision in all new buildings for much more commodious quarters. This is demanded not only by the needs of facilities for the reading activities, but also for the in- creasing development of the library lecture courses and the ever- increasing attendance. The branch libraries are equipped with from 1500 to 3500 volumes, of which about half are for children and the rest for adults. Each is supplied with twenty-five to thirty current periodicals in the English language and special periodical liter- 166 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ature in foreign languages, adapted to the population of the dis- trict. The use of the books intended for children and adults is carefully studied so as to keep only "live" books upon the shelves, and to return any unused books to the central general library. In most of the schools in which branch libraries have not been opened, there are what are termed deposit libraries man- aged by the principal and the teachers, except in the case of five of the larger schools such as Madison, Diamond, Straight, Widdi- comb, and Jefferson, where an assistant from the library takes care of this work one day each week. The size of these deposit libraries is largely determined by the demands of the pupils. They consist of books that are currently used, unused books being returned. The size of the library is thus taken care of automatically. Its expansion and diminution constitute a baro- meter of reading conditions within the building. In addition to the relative permanent library sets referred to, the travelling library sets constitute an important feature of the work. When a teacher is treating, for example, a topic in history like the American Revolution, she sends in to the central library for a travelling library box of books, ranging according to the topic from twenty-five to two-hundred books, for collateral refer-, ence. This special collection may be kept at a building for four or six weeks, and the books are issued by the teacher to the pupils in informal ways — that is to say, they are not charged in the usual manner upon the regular cards. Those who have not tried the plan in the generous way in which it is carried out in Grand Rapids are inclined to venture the guess that this plan would result in the loss of many books. The books of both travelling and deposit libraries are kept in the buildings and classrooms on open shelves, the pupils having access to them at any and all times while the building is open, whether the teacher is present or not. The library makes the statement, however, that according to the last official report the entire number of books lost in connection with all of the library work in the schools for the entire year was only fifty-eight copies. A number of these copies will probably find their way back into the library in time. It a])pears that where books are made so easily accessible and so abundantly accessible as that provided by the library service in the city, there is no motive for a child trying to keep books that have not been charged, and thus trying to build up a little unneeded private library at the expense of the big ever-ready public library. The library employs a number of ways of encouraging the children to use the books so variously supplied. There is the weekly story-hour from October to March at the central library INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 167 and at each of the branch Hbraries. Monthly bulletins are is- sued calling attention to all new books and to classified lists of books of various kinds. Eight or ten public lectures are pro- vided each year for adults and children at each of the various school branches. Printed slips are prepared announcing each of these public lectures well in advance throughout the district. On each printed slip there is given a list of ten to fifteen books and periodical articles relating to the topics treated in the lec- ture, which can be read preparatory to the lecture, or which may be read after the lecture has stimulated interest in the sub- ject. These lectures are attended in continually increasing meas- ure by both children and adults, with a consequent continual in- crease in the value of the lectures for stimulating reading on the part of juvenile and adult population. A further method of stimulating reading is the organization of reading clubs in the schools. In one of the buildings of the city last year an average of nineteen books per child was read by the pupils of the building, the children of all grades including the kindergarten being counted in taking this average. Many children read a book a week, the habit formed during the school year tending to persist during holiday and vacation seasons. There are some children who read two books a week through the year. Their library cards permit them to take out at one time one of fiction and one of non-fiction. Two a week is not excessive for rapid readers when the content is of this balanced type. Since children should be early trained for rapid silent reading, this constitutes one of the most effective possible de- vices for providing the training. It is rapid voluminous reading of this type that should take care of the major portion of the training- in the mechanics of reading. The books for the schools are chosen by specially trained librarians familiar with children's reading. Recently published and therefore untried books are tried out in the children's de- partment of the general library before they are sent out to the various school, branch, and deposit libraries. After being sent out, reports are received from principals and teachers as to their suitability for the purpose. Principals and teachers are also asked to send into the library any suggestions as to what they want. This method of securing new books combines co-opera- tively the labors of both the library and the school people, and draws upon the best information and experience of each. The library also secures information as to the children's reading in its "Annual Conference on Children's Reading." Both teachers and parents are represented upon the program, the dis- cussion touching upon the reading tastes of children, reading 168 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN needs, suitable books, amounts of different types of reading cov- ered by different classes of children, relative values of different types of reading, and the like. To make the discussions con- crete and practical, the Conference limits itself each year to a specific portion of the reading field. For example, the Confer- ence this year discussed "Love Stories for Children" and last year, "War Stories for Children". This type of conference brings together all of the people interested in promoting and improving children's reading, and prevents any group from work- ing in isolation from the others. After school days are over the most important continuing educational influence, — for we are learning that education must be a life-long affair — is the reading habit in those who have been so fortunate as to acquire it. Education through library reading, therefore, when full and effective in ways evident in frequent cases in this city, is a type of education that does not therefore lapse when school days are over. We have but one recommendation to make : Let the work grow and expand and continue along the lines already provided for by the Board of Education, the Board of Library Commis- sioners, and the professional people within both organizations. II. HISTORY The average number of hours given to classwork in history as reported by principals in their reports on distribution of class time (not study time) is shown in the following table. Beside it is placed the average practice in fifty cities as reported by Pro- fessor Holmes in the Fourteenth Yearbook of the National So- ciety for the Study of Education, 1915. TABLE XXX Hours per Year Given to History. Grade Grand Rapids Fifty Cities I 6 27 II , 4 31 III 4 35 IV _ 7 57 V 11 i>l VI 10 71 VII 69 91 VIII 120 117 Total 231 496 The figures show that history does not receive serious con- sideration except during the last year and a half of the ele- mentary-school course. The published course of study recom- mends only thirty minutes per week during the first half of the seventh grade. In most schools, however, even upon this level. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 169 it finds no place whatever upon the program. Naturally, when fhe subject receives such scant consideration in the first half of the seventh grade, it receives no fuller consideration in the grades preceding the seventh. Since about thirty per cent of the growing generation in Grand Rapids drops out of school before they have taken the work of the last year and a half, it follows that this large per cent of the population of the city does not have that fundamental training in American citizenship that comes from a study of iVmerican history. Here we find one of several reasons why history should be given larger attention earlier in the elementary- school course. From a careful reading of the teachers' manual in history and from observation of the work in the elementary schools, it appears that the city has not adequtely defined its purposes in the teaching of history; that history is insufficiently valued as a training for citizenship ; that the methods of using history as a means of training in citizenship have received insufficient con- sideration ; and that the historical materials to be covered by the pupils, as history is used in training for citizenship, have not always been chosen looking to that important end. It is expected that the course of study shall be followed dur- ing the last year and a half, — though reasonable latitude is al- lowed to teachers in the modification of the outlines. The printed course, however, presents an outline for all of the grades, beginning with the first. Up to the middle of the seventh grade, however, the course is optional. They may sub- stitute a totally different outline or omit the subject altogether. Since the outline of work up to the middle of the seventh grade is not to be taken seriously, naturally there was no serious re- sponsibility resting upon the course of study committee when it drew up the outlines. Without such motivating responsibility, good courses of study are not usually drawn up. It is the judg- ment of the writer that such occurred in this instance. The committee says in its introduction: "The work in the earlier grades cannot be called history, sociology would be the better word." It is the judgment of the writer that biography, personal incident, adventure, and history, all of a concrete, vivid, stirring, active sort, should precede those generalizations con- cerning peoples and nations that we may call elementary-school sociology. The numerous sociological questions which are pre- sented in the outlines for the early grades represent problems of great complexity and difficulty, and should be reserved for later treatment. They have little place in the primary grades of the public schools. Only some of the simpler matters should be at- 170 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN tempted in the intermediate grades, and here it should be noth- ing more than generalizations from concrete matters treated in this history. Sociological conditions in their simpler, rougher outlines can be seen by the children as the background to the actions of men that take place in the foreground of the stage. For example, after one has read concrete stories of early explor- ations in America, including the exploration of the Mississippi and of the Rocky Mountain region ; after one has read stirring stories of Indian life and adventure; after having read the inci- dents of Indian wars and the Indian fringe of other v^ars, etc., it is then easily possible for children to generalize as to the social conditions and relationships of the primitive American tribes. Children can then discuss housing, government, weapons, meth- ods of warfare, domestic animals, the protective instincts, in- fluences bringing people together and uniting them into tribes, primitive beginnings of agricultural implements and methods, and the various other sociological matters relative to the Indians. But these sociological generalizations should come late. They do not belong in second and third grades as provided in the out- lines. The second-grade outline indicates some recognition of this principle, though apparently inadequate recognition. After recommending a rather abstract sociological treatment of "shep- herd life," in one of the later sections they recommend the in- troduction of the stories of Abraham, Joseph, David, and other shepherds that may suggest themselves. Except for the fact that Joseph was not a shepherd and David gave but little time to it, the recommendation refers to the sort of thing to which practically all of the history work of the second grade should be devoted, — that is to say, to simple interesting biographical stories. Out of a series of concrete stories of shepherds, children can, when the right time comes, generalize as to the various as- pects and relationships of shepherd life. To fill the children's minds full of concrete imagery and stories is perhaps the method of laying the proper foundation for the later more generalized stages of understanding. The course of study attempts to organize various types of study, and to give different ones at different points in the course. The second-grade work is to be given to shepherd life ; the third- grade, to agricultural life ; the first half of the fourth-grade, to the history of Grand Rapids ; the second half, to a brief review of general history given biographically, and treating of Rome, Greece, Persia, the age of chivalry, early England, and early Norway. The first half of the fifth grade is devoted to the bio- graphies of prominent Americans ; the second half, to biographi- cal studies of European, African, and South American history INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS l7l during the modern period. The first half of the sixth grade is given to discoverers and explorers of North America, and to in- ventors ; the second half, to a general survey of the heroes of the ancient world, Greece, Rome, China, Persia. This series of general topics seems to represent the zig-zag results of several influences that have been at work. The shep- herd life and agricultural life of second and third grades appear to have grown out of an old recapitulatory theory of education. The history of Grand Rapids in the fourth grade appears to result from the influence of certain local patriotic and historical societies. A part of the work of the second half of the fourth grade and of that of fifth and sixth grades is for the conscious purpose of preparation for the later study of American history. Another portion of it seems to be due to a feeling on the part of the committee that for general cultural purposes one should have a wide backward view over general world history. It is the judgment of the writer that history rightly taught is a matter of great practical value. But actually to be of large value, however, the materials must be chosen with an eye single to the practical values that are to accrue from historical reading and experience. The purposes must be held definitely in mind. Except as the history curriculum looks to results that are needed in the community life of today, there should not be any history curriculum. As a matter of fact, however, we are in our country confronted with a host of social, economic, industrial, religious, political, and other problerns of the greatest complexity. Their solution in our democracy depends upon an adequate under- standing of them on the part of the entire citizenry. The histori- cal approach to each of these various problems is the most illu- minating approach. It shows the problems in their simple early forms. It shows the nature of the influences that have been at work by way of bringing about the present complicated relation- ships. History, therefore, is one of the best possible modes of analysis of the factors that enter into present-day problems. It gives width of vision in the treatment of these problems; it teaches tolerance and patience in the Avorking out of the prob- lems. Materials should therefore be chosen chiefly for the purpose of revealing the nature of present-day social conditions and prob- lems. Our problems are world-wide in their ramifications and some of them reach back to a point even before the dawn of written history. Many of them reach back into the ancient period. For illuminating our present-day problems, therefore, there is reason for teaching world-history beginning with an- cient times. The early work in primary and in intermediate 172 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN grades will deal mainly with biography, adventure, migrations, wars, myths, legends, etc. It will not narrow itself to shepherd life in the second grade, and agricultural life in the third grade, and Grand Rapids life in the fourth grade; but in these early grades the whole world will be its field. The later intermediate grades will read more connected stories of nations, ancient and modern, treated mainly from the biographical point of view and dealing with the larger simpler activities of the nations, — those simple fundamental matters which children of the intermediate grades can understand, such as wars, migrations, struggles of major groups within the nation, changes in major outlines of government, etc. Everything at this level will necessarily be largely personal and the interests will grow out largely of the basic instincts of conflict and danger. By the end of the sixth grade, children through such reading should have a considerable familiarity with the outlines of the chronological, historical movements in the major historical nations, ancient and modern, the basic chronological outline of American history among the rest. In making this recommendation in other places the writer has found the objection to arise that the work above recom- mended simply cannot be done. It is usually said that a familiar-, ity wth the stories of so many nations is more properly a problem for the level of the college rather than for that of the intermediate grades of the elementary school. Let one, however, look over the supplementary readings of a biographical, legendary, and his- torical character designed for the use of, and actually used in third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in American cities at the present time, and let him note the quantity of such reading that is actually covered by the children in cities where they are generously supplied with such reading materials, — let one go far enough into this problem that he may forget his traditional preconceptions, — and he will discover that the program sug- gested is a practicable one. Naturally it is to be done in ways and with the use of materials that harmonize with the nature of childhood of those ages to be found within the intermediate grades. Children of this age are an active, restless, human species. When they are given the opportunity through appro- priate appealing reading to participate imaginatively in the his- torical experiences of men and of people, they are just as active and just as restless and will enter into the imaginative experience with the same zeal. Things of course must be rapid. The panorama must be always changing. The pupil must not have to stop too much to learn things, but must simply live in the cur- rent of the action. In proportion as this experience is vivid and vital, it will shape his mentality and he will remember the out- INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 173 lines of it. He will not often stop to learn things as he reads, and yet the learning that is the outcome of this type of experi- ence will be the best and surest type of learning. The learning that comes from experience abides ; while the learning that comes from memorizing, lacking vitality, fades and disappears. In the introduction to the history course of study the com- mittee has supplied three pages of bibliography of historical readings. Very many of the books are of the types appropriate for the work of the intermediate grades. With the excellent beginning thus made it ought to be possible for the city to as- semble a still more complete list of books appropriate for each of these grades, and from these grade lists select historical readings of the character recommended. This is not reading to be done in addition to that recommended in our discussion of reading. This should be a portion of the general reading pro- gram. It is a matter of no consequence whether the reading is placed in the reading class or the history class. Many good reason's can be given for such a familiarity with the history of Grand Rapids as intended by the outline of work set down for the first half of the fourth grade. It should, how- ever, at this level, be biographical, anecdotal, personal, and con- crete, so far as possible, with the general outlines of the eco- nomic and other growth of the city chiefly in the background. It should be a thing to be read and appreciated ; but not a thing to be learned, recited upon, and examined upon. At a later period when one is considering the civic problems of the city, as one discusses the fire department of the present, it will be proper- ly appreciated and understood if the history of the devleopment of the present fire department from the beginning is introduced rather fully. In the same way one will best introduce the detailed history of the school system, the board of health, the water sup- ply system, the sewer system, the police department, the build- ing situation, the industries of the city, etc. One can then best introduce the city's history in connection with each of these various matters. These studies are of a type for grades subse- quent to the intermediate. The history outline provides that thirty minutes per week during the first half of the seventh grade should be devoted to a discussion of city and county civic problems. While these mat- ters should be taught, it must be first noticed that this is not history, and that no history is recommended for the first half of the seventh grade. Certain civic problems should be taken up for study at this time, but it would be better to take up a few problems on the level of the comprehension of the students rather than to try to 174 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN follow so complete and elaborate an outline, all of the work being done relatively superficially, — in the rare instances in which it is attempted. To handle a few topics seriously and thoroughly would be much better than scattering over the whole of so long a list at this period. Civic topics not treated during the first half of the seventh grade should be treated during the second half of this grade, and during the eighth grade. The v/ork is important enough to justify its being distributed over a long- period of time. It is also sufficiently important to warrant its being looked upon as a subject in itself, and therefore something more than a subject that is taken care of provided there is time enough left after the history work is done. History in the Grammar Grades A spiral method is employed in the teaching of history dur- ing the last year and a half of the elementary course. Both the colonial period and the national period are covered twice. In the first of the three semesters given to this subject, the colonial period is covered down to the end of the Revolutionary War. In the next semester, the class goes back to European beginnings of American history and brings the whole subject down to the present, but looking primarily to migrations and expansions of the population. Thus it covers exploration and settlement, not only of the colonial region but also of the Mississippi valley, the western great plains, the mountain region, the Pacific Coast region, and our insular possessions. Naturally it deals with the various conflicts and difficulties met with in this growth and expansion of nationality. In the third and last semester the national period, beginning* with Washington's administration, is covered. The outline omits the period from 1783-1789 during which the country was governed under the Articles of Confeder- ation. The first and third semesters of this course represent in the main the usual traditional plan of organization. The half year devoted to the topics of westward migration and national ex- pansion is run in between the two halves of a usual course. The plan is unusual. Much can be said in favor of it. More could be said in favor of it if textbooks suitable for this plan of course were available. The first half of the second semester's work duplicates in considerable degree the work of the first semester; and, on the other hand, the third semester's work duplicates in considerable degree the second portion of the middle semester. But such repetition is an essential element of any spiral plan of organization. It is intentional and serves as review. Two impressions a half-year apart are better than one. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 175 As the course is drawn up, the second treatment, however, is from a different angle. There is a somewhat different immedi- ate purpose in view ; and in large part different materials are used. Were proper textbook materials available for the pupils the plan as draAvn up could be commended as being distinctly superior to the usual traditional plan of treatment. The chief textbook difficulty is in connection with the middle semester. For this treatment advised is presented in part in a book that is used in the graduate school of our university.; and in part it is to be found by selecting- passages here and there through the five regular texts of the open list. It is generally believed, how- ever, that at this stage of maturity the chronological treatment of history should be presented in a connected account, which can be read through in a straightforward manner from the beginning to the end. Even after the students have a good understanding of the general chronological sequence of affairs and are taking up the study of specific topics, it is felt that the treatment of a topic should be organic, sequential, connected, so that the child- ren can read the whole of it from beginning to end as one or- ganic story. It is not good in the basic teaching of history at this period for pupils to be compelled to search through a number of books by way of assembling information that bears upon specific topics that are furnished in a topical outline. Collateral work supplementary to the connected treatment of a basic text is valuable and desirable. It is generally thought to be better, hqw^ever, to use a text as the basis of organization of all such collateral material rather than the bare skeleton outline. For children of this age such a skeleton is generally considered to be too frail for secure organization. In the first and third semesters of the work certain teachers have preferred the use of a single textbook as the basis of the work, and to use library or desk copies of the other four books on the open list, and still others in addition for supplementary col- lateral reading. In other cases teachers have preferred the five book plan, the different pupils being encouraged to purchase different textbooks so that each of the five adopted texts will be found in the hands of pupils in the class. The basis of or- ganization is the outline given out by the teacher. All the in- formation then in all of the books is used by the pupils at the recitation time. The result of this latter plan, however, is that the basis of organization must be the outline, and students can- not read the text in its sequential treatment as laid down in the book. Pupils are from the beginning to the end of the year skipping about, finding information on the various topics. The 176 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN former plan is probably the more effective plan of organizing the information and study, and at the same time secures the pooling of the information from the same and even additional books. It appears to be the better method. While commending the general organization of the gram- mar grade work as it stands, it is the belief of the writer, based upon the practice in progressive school systems, that the present form of organization of the work is but temporary, and that in the next few years great improvements can and will be made. This will be accomplished in large part by developing the history work of the fourth, fifth, and sixth, and first half of seventh grades. An appreciation of the general chronological develop- ment of the country in its simpler basic aspects should be rather fully developed by the end of the sixth grade. Much that is now done subsequent to the middle of the seventh grade should be accomplished before this point is reached so that the seventh and eighth grades could be given to the connected treatment of a considerable variety of topics, the understanding of which is demanded by our present problems of citizenship. One of the first of these topics that might be taken up for special treatment might well be that of "Westward Expansion" which the city has already, so far as the outline is concerned, very fully worked out. A second simple topic might be the growth and develop- ment of transportation and communication systems. The con- nected treatment of the history of railroads, waterway transpor- tation, roads, postal service, telegraph and telephone, etc., can he made simple, concrete, interesting and intelligible. With a back- ground of understanding laid in the earlier grades of the general chronological development, this topic or this series of topics may very well be treated in connected form without reference to any other aspects of the national history except as they are re- lated to the topics that are being treated. Other topics that might then be similarly treated are such as the following: the industrial development of the United States, the growth of manufacturing, the growth of commerce, the development of mining industries, the development of foreign commerce, con- servation of our natural resources, pensions, control of the hours of labor, immigration, taxation, tariff and free trade, the control of public utilities, the control of disease, the water supply of cities, city beautification, etc., etc. Some of these topics may seem sufficiently fantastic because of our having become more or less accustomed to think of a conventional series of topics as belonging to the treatment of our American history. As a mat- ter of fact the history cannot be justified except as it affords il- lumination of our present-day problems of various kinds, and particularly those of citizenship. The treatment of a topic is INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 177 lacking in substantiality if the historical background of it is not given as a portion of the treatment. Since so large a proportion of our pupils do not go to high school, if our citizenship is to be prepared, some of the treatment at least must be given during the grammar-school grades. The program suggested can be worked out and adopted only gradually, because it is not possible yet to find satisfactory textbooks or other treatment of many of these various civic problems. The demands on the part of city systems for such reading material is so recent that the supply is not yet forth- coming in any adequate degree. For the present any program must be drawn up with a consideration at the same time of the reading materials that are available, or which can be made avail- able. In large degree teachers are textbook-trained. They know the subject in its traditional content and form of organization, but they are relatively uninformed as to the historical back- ground of our various civic problems. They cannot be expected to perform the large labor of gathering together information on these topics and of presenting matters in part orally and in part through outlines of readings from various sources to be covered by the pupils. A good body of reading on any topic should be made available for both teachers and pupils by the overhead management before the work is attempted. The method employed in the history work of the grammar grades, so far as observed in the dozen visits made to such classes, was mainly of the usual question and answer type. The task of the pupils was to memorize the facts and then to give them out in the recitation in answers to questions. This fact- learning and recitation method is coming to be looked upon as less effective for the serious purposes of teaching history than the experiential method of re-living the reconstructed life of the past through the imaginative experience of reading in which the treatment is full, concrete, vivid, and interesting. At the present time there is too much fact-learning and not enough historical experience. This is not to depreciate the worth of facts. It is to indicate a method of arriving at a memory of facts that is more effective than the direct method of memorization, and which secures a variety of other good results at the same time. The textbook fact-learning method is an ineffective method, and a wasteful method because relatively ineffective. The type of work here recommended is not possible in a city that adheres to the individual purchase plan for textbooks. Only as the textbooks are publicly purchased and held by the school will it be possible to carry through any such plan of work. This is of course already realized by the community as indicated by 178 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN a fairly generous supply of that type of text material which has been misnamed supplementary reading. It is this type of con- crete reading that must really constitute the fundamental text material. The historical textbook series must include a large number of books, each read fairly rapidly for the sake of histori- cal experience ; not read slowly for the sake of memorization of the facts. For the sake of economy, therefore, co-operative pub- lic purchase and ownership is desirable and necessary. The course of study for the grammar grades presents a long series of topics, and gives references in simply a general way. A great deal of unnecessary labor is thus thrown upon the teachers of the 8-1 grade b}^way of searching through the various books for the purpose of finding the materials on the different topics. It would be very economical in teacher's labor, which is greatly needed for other things, if the published course of study would give series of reading references in connection with the various topics of the outline. This could provide for all teachers as full a supply of reading references as is used by the best. It would be a great improvement to bring the work of all up to the level of the best. Such series of readings would not prevent any teacher's going farther afield in the search of still more appropriate materials if the teacher so Avished. It need not prevent any desired degree of flexibility in the administration of the course. As a matter of fact, it will promote flexibility and rational choice. By giving so large a nucleus of material ready at hand, teachers are given time to look further afield. III. CIVICS The course of study makes no adequate provision for the teaching of the civic problems met with by the people of Grand Rapids. It provides that thirty minutes a week in the first half of the seventh grade shall be given to civic problems. But the course suggested is optional; education materials are not pro- vided ; where they may be secured or what they may be is not indicated in any way. The course seems to be theoretically rounded out instead of being a series of topics adapted to the interests and mental maturity of the children ; or of relating to the civic needs of the city. The course also suggests that the civil government of the United States should be taught during the last semester of the eighth grade. As a matter of fact, the course is also providing that the entire national period shall be covered during that same time. The historical task is of such magnitude that it appears not possible to do both in the time at the disposal of the history. It is found, however, tliat in one of the junior high INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 179 schools about half of the time is found for the study of civil government. In other eighth grades this time is not found, and the history consumes all or practically all of the time. The chief criticism of the eighth-grade recommendations concerning civics is that the teaching suggested does not par- ticularly relate itself to our present-day civic problems. The thing recommended is a study of the structure of the govern- mental mechanism, mostly in the abstract. The structure of government, however, is not the thing that gives us most trouble. The thing needed by citizens generally as civic training is that enlightened public opinion on the many questions of public policy necessary for the efficient operation and supervision of the workings of the general mechanism of government. An understanding of problems of the type enumer- ated in the discussion of grammar-grade history is the thing needed in our present-day democracy. Civics should not be a mere addendum to "history. Quite the reverse, the civic problems should be central and the history subordinate, in the sense that historical materials are chosen for the illumination of the social civic problems. The two should possibly be developed together; but after the early chronological background has been taught, in all probability the organization of the two subjects should be brought about by first selecting the sociological civic problems that require historical illumination, and then developing the treatment with the history consciously used as only one of several means of illuminating the situation. Along with the history will be^geographic, economic, and scien- tific considerations, as the social problem is looked at from many angles. The city in this age of complicated problems is expend- ing but little time, effort, thoug'ht, or money upon the training for a conscious understanding of these many present-day prob- lems. The city is expending $32,000 annually for the teaching of drawing in the elementary schools, for which no such good case can be made out. The city is expending $30,000 each year for the teaching of music in the elementary schools, for which equally no such serious arguments can be brought. The city is expending more than $40,000 annually for the teaching of gram- mar in the elementary schools ; and yet there is probably no man who will urge that the problems of correct speaking on the part of the masses of the population is of equal importance with a wise performance of their civic duties. We would not under- value any of the studies mentioned. They are valuable. We merely wish to call attention to the probability that a thing that is still more valuable is being relatively neglected. 180 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN The best thing being done at the present time in this field is the study of "current events". The study of such current events can be given vitality and significance, however, only as the readings are used for the illumination of social problems that have already been studied more or less systematically. The civic studies should therefore provide the apperceptive basis for an understanding of the significance of current events. IV. GEOGRAPHY Geography is accorded a place upon the program from the third grade to the middle of the seventh grade. In these grades the subject receives about the usual amount of time. The course of study manual outlines geographical studies for the last half of the seventh grade and for both terms of the eighth grade. These studies are given no separate place upon the program, however. It is expected that they be taught in connection with the American history. The studies relate solely to America, al- most wholly to the United States, and are the things that should properly be covered in developing an adequate understanding of United States history. Most of the work consists of learning the textbooks in the usual manner, and giving back the facts to the teacher in the recitation. As a rule, the matters to be covered in a given lesson are outlined in detail by the teacher. The pupils then learn the facts relative to each of the topics and in the recitations give back the facts which they have memorized for the purpose. The buildings are supplied with standard sets of geograph- ical readers adapted for the work of the later portions of the course. The readers supplied, however, are too difficult for the earlier portion of the work. Occasional sets of geographical readings of a varied character are found, in third, fourth, and fifth-grade rooms. In general, however, there is a great dearth of proper geographical reading material for these grades. For the later portion of the course the geography manual makes re- ference to certain geographical readings of a type rather more modern than that of the geographical readers generally supplied. It seems, however, that these better readings have not yet been generally supplied to the schools of the city in sets for class use. We recommend that serious attention be given to the mat- ter of supplying proper quality and quantity of geographical reading materials. Pure fact-memorization from the textbooks is ineffective because of the transiency and superficiality of re- sults, and the work is relatively wasteful because relatively in- effective. Effective geographical work must be experiential. In the reading of travels, of the lives of peoples in various lands, of INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 181 connected stories of the industrial life in our own and in other lands in connection with a variety of industries, etc., always noting the maps at the same time, and noting geographical re- lationships, the facts of geography can be given significance and substantiality. The experiential route, while appearing to be longer and more complicated than the simple direct memory method, is, however, the one that is most economical in the end. In this connection we wish to commend most highly the yet un- developed plan of teaching geographical relationships during the last year and a half of the elementary school, — namely in con- nection with the history. As the history course is expanded in the intermediate grades, the proper attention should be given to the geographical settings in the various countries touched upon in the historical readings. As the children read the stories of Greece, Rome, or colonial and pioneer life, there should always be a generous supply of maps and pictures for reference, by way of keeping clear the geographical background of the action. Very little evidence was observed of the use of the problem- method of teaching geography. This is a method of vitalizing the work, the use of which we wish strongly to recommend. The problem work can be most effective if based upon wide geo- graphical reading experience rather than upon the textbooks alone. It can, however, be used for giving a large degree of vitality to pure textbook study. The work of the third grade begins the subject with an at- tempt to develop the basic concepts necessary for an under- standing of industrial and commercial geography. In the words of the manual : "The industrial and commercial idea is the first central idea to be emphasized." Later then in the third grade, attention is given through both reading and observation to phy- siographic matters by way of developing the basic concepts for this side of the work. The elementary geography text is in the hands of the pupils. It is the judgment of the writer that com- mercial, industrial, and physiographic matters are not appropriate for the degree of immaturity of the pupils of the third grade. These are matters that should come considerably later. Inter- esting human stories that have a geographic setting and back- ground with which we desire the pupils to become familiar are more appropriate to the type of interest and degree of mental maturity of third-grade students. The schools that are using "Eskimo Stories", "Little Folks of Many Lands", etc., are dip- covering the type of material that ought to be used chiefly in the earlier portion of the work. The text is good for its maps and pictures. For these earlier grades it is usually, however, too 182 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN abstract and too didactic to be used as the basis of the work. It is good reference material. The first half of the fourth grade deals with the geography of Grand Rapids, It deals with matters that naturally should be well understood by the people of the city. Many of the mat- ters of the outline, however, should preferably be taught in the history class that deals with the development of the city and the region. Many of the other matters are of an industrial, com- mercial and economic character that are intelligible only as Grand Rapids is seen in relation to the general situation through- out the United States. The economic aspects, moreover, are scarcely suited to the mental immaturity of the children. It is because the subject is important for both civic and industrial understanding that it should be taught at the period when it can be taught fully and taught well. The economic relationships ex- isting within a modern industrial city are too complicated for fourth-grade pupils. There is a dearth of proper reading matter ; and also a dearth of organized and significant materials which the teacher can present orally. Naturally the course presupposes a considerable amount of observation on the part of these fourth- grade classes, but observation can be only occasional and can se- cure but fragmentary glimpses of the various things. There must be reading materials in the hands of the pupils that present the various industries, etc., in a well-rounded, organic way, be- fore the fragmentary glimpses of direct observation can be prop- erly understood. The necessary reading materials should be pro- duced by the school people in Grand Rapids ; but they should be prepared for later grades. Naturally the observations and the general life experiences of the children of this fourth-grade level should be utilized so far as possible for developing the fundamental concepts relative to the geography of Grand Rapids, even at this early level. The things that can be properly done, however, at this point, are not sufficient for an entire half-year of work. This is indicated by the general practice of teachers in the city. The outline is not actually being followed. It seems that an outline should be pre- pared which can be followed, — always permitting the desirable degree of flexibility, of course. Where a half-year of work in any subject is looked upon as sufficiently important as to justify the expenditure of several thousand dollars of the people's money, it is of sufficient importance to warrant the careful course-of- study organization of types of work that can be fully carried on during the half-year. To provide one course and then leave teachers to make up and follow another is an indication that the work has not been done seriously, and is not intended for actual direction. Although the statement is here made in connection INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 183 Avith one specific grade and subject, the statement is applicable to portions of several courses. The course in geography provided for the second half of the fourth grade is of a very different character. It looks at the world and at different countries not from the specialized eco- nomic point of view, but from a general human point of view. It recommends that the thought experience be of a type found in "Little Journeys to Holland, Belgium, and Denmark." "The Wide World", "Around the World", "Seven Little Sisters", etc. The textbook is in the hands of the pupils, but Avhere the spirit of the course is carried out as apparently intended the chief value is as a reference book. So far as they go, the recommenda- tions are excellent. The list of books, however^ should be ex- tended and should be improved ,as the publishing houses im- prove their offerings ; and what is more, the books need to be in the hands of the children in full sets for the work. During the course of the year they need to read a number of books for full- ness of experience and width of geographic vision. In studies of this type the countries need be taken up in no particular order. The thing desired is mainly geographical experience touching upon life of all sorts in the various lands. With a well-worked- out system of exchange the city need not own such a large num- ber of sets of books of each kind in order to take care of the work in all of the various buildings. During the course of the year a single set might be used in eight or ten different build- ings. It should be noted by the school authorities that the pres- sent method of handling the supplementary reading materials is not economical. A set of books adapted for the use of a single grade in a building where there is but one class of that grade may be used once during the year for a month, and then stand for eleven months idle upon the book shelves. With a well-worked- out system of exchange it would be possible without any larger equipment of books than that now owned by the city to supply five times as -much reading opportunity to the classes in the various buildings. When the pupils have reached that stage of maturity that would justify the systematic study of the economic aspects of geography, an outline like that presented for the work of the 5-1 class is excellent. There is a question, however, as to whether this course should be placed so early in the series. It is the judgment of the writer that it comes too early. If more history work were given in these earlier grades, with the geography at tTie time in the background but fully developed as the back- ground of the history, an excellent foundation would be laid 184 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN during this period both for the history and the later economic industrial geography. A course of this type demands a wealth of systematized reading materials, together with the necessary industrial maps, charts, etc. To provide an outline of the type here presented and then actually furnish the pupils in most of the schools with only the regular textbooks, the teachers find it scarcely possible to do anything other than to teach the text- books in the wasteful, old-fashioned way. They do not effective- ly lend themselves to the furtherance of such a program. The first half of the sixth-grade work is devoted to "geo- graphic principles." The first four of the six topics assigned to this grade relate to mathematic geography. Certain of the things need to be known, but in general the matters actually needed can be got incidentally, sufficiently for all practical pur- poses, and therefore should require practically none of the as- signed time of the grade. The last two topics relate to the fac- tors of climate and the applications of the principles of climate to conditions in North and South America. Naturally, a good understanding of these matters is desirable. But it is not neces- sary to give most of the half-year of 6-1 time to these matters of climate. If so much time is necessary for that degree of under- standing necessary for all practical purposes, then the pupils must be too immature for the work, or the teaching helps are in- adequate for the purpose. It is the judgment of the writer that at this particular level of geographic teaching the principles of climate should be intro- duced in connection with studies of a concrete character in which the climatic principles are actually seen at work controlling the factors within the situation. To read a full and concrete story of Eskimo life is the method of making perfectly clear to children the climatic effects of high latitudes. To read a story^ of life in the high Alps, is to teach in the most effective fashion the effects of high altitudes upon climate. A concrete study of the life and activities of peoples in Arabia or North Africa or certain portions of our far West, is to show concretely and effectively the effects of dryness as a principle of geographic control. In connection with such concrete stories, if the pupils are suffi- ciently mature, one finds the best possible setting for an explan- ation of the dryness through a consideration of prevailing winds, the proximity of bodies of water, etc. At a later stage of the work in the systematic study of cotton, wheat, coffee, corn, etc., etc., again we are dealing with concrete situations in connection with which the geographical controls can be seen actually and actively at work. They can only be understood rightly as they are thus seen at work. We are not here recommending that the climatic principles be taught "incidentally". We are recommend- INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 185 ing that they be taught as they are seen to be integral portions of real situations ; taught consciously and purposively ; but taught in connection with specific situations in order that they may be taught effectively. When taught in the abstract there are only the forms of teaching. It is not vital. The results are superficial and transient. In the way of intellectual benefits, the work is largely a waste of time. Although the manual presents a progressive type of course for the seventh grade, the actual work of the schools follows the text for the most part. In general the excellent books recom- mended for the work of the 7-1 grade are not to be found in the different buildings in sufficient quantities to supply the individ- ual pupils, and cannot therefore be effectively used. An outline method of teaching a subject of this type with pupils gathering materials from a great variety of sources cannot be satisfactory for students of the seventh grade. The need of continuity, of a substantial basis of organization practically forces the following of the textbook upon teachers. Merely to provide a topical outline is not really to provide the conditions of a different type of work. So much time has been given to a consideration of the geography because of the very great importance of the subject; and because of the possibilities of improvement in a great variety of ways. Various types of geographic helps are supplied to the build- ings for the work. We have already referred to the so-called supplementary reading. For the most part it is reading classi- fied as of this type that should be the basis of the work. As other things are recommended it should always be kept in mind that proper and well-illustrated reading, on the one hand, and maps, upon the other, are the two principal things needed in the work. The schools appear to be well supplied with maps and globes. For certain aspects of the work teachers express the need of certain other maps not now in the possession of the schools. Probably the greatest need of this character is for outline maps of different countries for the work of the pupils in the upper grades. In the matter of pictures one finds that a fair beginning has been made in providing the schools with stereopti- con outfits and with geographic slides for stereopticons. ^ This is not yet well developed, either on the side of the quantity of provision or upon that of effective use of the materials for the teaching. It is one thing to present pictures and talk about them at random and quite another thing to use them for illustrating the details of a general well-rounded treatment of a geographic topic. Pictures should generally be subsidiary and merely for 186 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN illustrating the details of the larger story which constitutes the primary thing. V. ARITHMETIC Formal work begins in the second grade and receives an ade- quate amount of time during the rest of the course. The alge- braic work suggested and provided in the textbooks is not used. The purpose of the work in general appears to be well con- ceived. This is indicated by the relative emphasis upon the various topics. The major attention is given to skill, accuracy, and speed in computation. Drill in these fundamentals covers whole numbers, common and decimal fractions, denominate num- bers, percentage and its applications, business operations, and mensuration. An interesting situation is found with reference to the use of the textbook. Many teachers say they do not use it in their work. Others use it but little. The text deals so largely with so-called reasoning problems in which the fundamental facts are so often unfamiliar or obscure. The desire seems to be, every- where through the system, for problems in which the relations lie clearly upon the surface, so that the major effort may be ex- pended upon the computation for the sake of the drill in arith- metical operations. This practice is to be commended. For drill in the fundamental operations involving whole numbers the Courtis practice material is used in the schools throughout the city. In almost all cases this type of work is looked upon with favor by the teachers and principals. It pro- vides the large amount of necessary drill ready at hand, to- gether with methods of diagnosis of individual needs and meth- ods of economically checking up of the work. Except for drill opportunity afforded by this material, teachers throughout the system, from the lower grades to the highest, are compelled to write the major portion of the problem material upon the black- board day after day. The copying of such problems upon the blackboard is a wasteful method of using the expensive time of teachers. Further, it often results in arithmetic lessons that are too short because of the demands for blackboard space and the various demands upon the teacher's time. It is further a relative- ly unprofitable method of employing the classroom time of the pupils to copy the long- lists of problems that really are needed when the work is effectively done. Good work generally re- quires many problems per day, a large proportion of which in connection with most arithmetical topics should be of the easy so-called mental arithmetic type, Avith only a minor portion of them of that degree of complexity requiring written Avork. Na- INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 187 turally under the circumstances teachers cannot supply the neces- sary wealth of easy problems, except as they are given orally during class time. For the work of the sixth grade a pamphlet has been pub- lished by the school authorities which presents a considerable quantity of supplementary arithmetic problems. Printed helps of this type, though much fuller in content and variety of arith- metical opportunity, should be provided for the work of each of the grades. It would cost much less to supply the city with such printed supplementary helps than it now costs to pay for that time of the teacher that is devoted to preparing daily lists of problems, and then copying them upon the blackboard ; and the plan could be made much more effective. This is recom- mended whatever be the textbook adopted for the basic treat- ment of the work. In general, the work is of the textbook and drill t3^pe, good of its kind, but is mostly undeveloped on the side of practical applications during the later grades. The manual makes the statement that, "In the primary grades the emphasis has been placed upon the four fundamentals, and in the grammar grades upon the applications to actual life." One finds no great amount of evidence, however, of the application of the arithmetic to community problems, civic problems, occupational problems, shop problems, as these are actually found within the community itself. In one school visited the pupils themselves were actually drawing up and dictating problem material as based upon facts drawn from community life. For example, there were problems based upon the increased cost of sugar at the present time, over what it was two years ago ; the increased cost of gasoline this year over what it was a year ago ; changes in the cost of paper, of dye-stufifs, etc. This type of problem relates itself very inti- mately with the community situation, and should be more wide- ly used. It should be developed so as to relate to current grocery problems, problems of the meat market, the hardware store, the drygoods store, builders' supplies, public utility corporations, furniture manufacture, street paving, street cleaning, road con- struction, household accounts, the school fuel bill, the cost of teaching arithmetic annually to 15,000 pupils, the cost of sani- tary arrangements and precautions, the problems of the play- ground and park situation, etc., etc. The applications of arith- metic in the past have largely dealt with commercial trans- actions. Most of such applications are important. At the pres- ent time there are many other commercial applications that are also important, which need to be introduced. But besides the applications to commercial transactions, there should be appli- 188 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN cations to a large variety of such other things as enumerated in the list. A class in one of the schools took up the task of working up the results as found in their building of the recent survey- Courtis tests. The work involved a series of problems relating to the finding of averages and of percentages. It is work of a practical type that in larger degree might well be given over to the pupils for training in the last grammar grade or two. Most of the work of this type should, however, be reserved for the grades of the high-school level. For most students upon this level arithmetic will always remain the most important mathe- matical subject. VI. GRAMMAR, LANGUAGE, COMPOSITION This series of subjects receives very diverse treatment in different schools in the city. Sometimes large emphasis is placed upon the grammar, and relatively little upon the composi- tion. Sometimes the large emphasis is upon the composition, with relatively less upon the grammar. Sometimes there seems to be about equal amounts of time given to the two sides of the matter. In the grammar grades of certain schools English gram- mar is entirely omitted, and beginning Latin is used as the avenue for the teaching of such grammar as the children need. Previous to the sixth grade all of the work outlined in the printed manual is bracketed under composition. The outline for the last three grades provides for both grammar and compo- sition. Grammar On the side of the grammar, a beginning language book of the usual miscellaneous type is used in the fifth and sixth grades, and an advanced text of systematic English grammar in the seventh and eighth grades. In general the plan of treatment provided in the text is followed. The materials are sometimes changed in the order of treatment, but in general the textbooks furnish the materials. As observed on the grammar-grade level the work consists of the learning of grammatical definitions, parsing, and analysis of sentences as the major features. In the few classes where the work was observed it appeared to differ rather greatly in character. Sometimes the pupils were alert, the work proceeded rapidly and with reasonable efficiency, and the pupils appeared to be mastering the essentials of the sub- ject. In other cases, the work appeared to be perfunctory, the recitations were guesses, the pupils appeared to be very little interested, and there was a large amount of general passivity INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 189 and indifference. In one class visited the work was almost wholly devoted to definitions and classifications, and the teacher was insisting strenuously upon the necessity of having all of the definitions accurate as stated in the text. In other classes the emphasis appeared to be upon a more active type of exercise, namely, the analysis of sentences. The writer wishes specially to commend the plan of teach- ing that is being developed in one of the buildings, and would recommend its extension throughout the system. Possibly it may already be employed in other buildings, but was not ob- served. The work is based mainly upon the active exercise of the analysis of sentences. A series of sentences is drawn up illustrating each important grammatical structure or relation- ship the understanding of which is to be developed. In the vari- ous lists the beginning sentences present the structure or the relationship in its simplest possible form. The lists of sentences then grow gradually more difficult, but with a gradient so slight that the power to climb the more difficult levels is acquired in the process of approaching those levels. Definitions do not have to be learned. Children have an opportunity to see the realities as they exist within the sentence structure. They can explain the nature and relationships of those realities. This serves as a substitute for the learning of definitions and accom- plishes the thing that is really desired. The textbook has some value in supplying practice material, though in general the sen- tences supplied are not well chosen or arranged for carrying out the plan. The text is of further value in the organization of things after they have been learned in the more active way. It is good for summary and for reference. To make this plan general would require either a differ- ent text or printed lists of sentence material for the purpose. Analysis should be both oral and graphic, but should always be simple, direct, time-saving, and deal with fundamentals. It should not be too repetitious of things that are already fully known. The best type of diagram is probably one in which the words are written in their regular sentence order and arrange- ment, and the relationships indicated graphically by means of simple signs or symbols. The present method of teaching beginning Latin in the grammar grades of certain schools as a means of arriving at a proper understanding of English grammar has grown in part out of a dissatisfaction with the results achieved through the more direct route of teaching the English grammar. The results of the experiment appear to be rather more satisfactory than those of the English grammar textbook plan. The Latin students are 190 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN able to pass the English gTammar examinations with a rather higher standing; and in addition they have the benefit of the Latin understanding as well. If after the English grammar teaching has been strengthened in ways easily possible, further experimentation reveals similar equality of results, there would be clear justification for an extension of the plan. Composition As one inquires into the composition situation one early discovers the influential presence of "The News Junior", the children's weekly supplement to one of the Jarge dailies. In this are published each week the literary contributions of three or four dozen school children. By furnishing a wide reading public, it vitalizes the written expression of hundreds and even thousands of the children. The plan is commendable, and the schools in general seem to be taking a full advantage of the op- portunity. A second mode of vitalizing the composition Avork in the eighth grade was by using it as one feature in the training for vocational guidance. In one of the buildings the pupils of the finishing eighth-grade class were making a fairly extended study, after consultation with parents, relatives, and associates as to the possibilities and probabilities of future vocational choices. This was being written up in systematic form by way of making definite the various problems involved. In other cases themes deal with the situations in connection with various occupations. Another commendable type of composition work, both oral and written, is the preparation of careful reports on observations or collateral reading relative to historical topics, geographical topics, civic topics, hygienic topics, nature study topics, etc. And there is also full practice in letter writing. It is possible that the written composition work should con- sist mainly of these two things. As one teacher phrases : "These children in after-life are going to write only three things : let- ters, simple memoranda, and occasionally reports. The only kind of composition in which they need training, therefore, are the two things of letter writing and reports." This teacher's view of the matter is sound and practical. It is also in complete accord with the demands of good method in the teaching- of the so-called content subjects. The work in civics, hygiene, sanitation, history, geography, etc., require for clear thinking on the part of the pupils an abundance of oral and written expression. A proper carrying out of the work in these INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 191 subjects, therefore, takes care incidentally of an endless number and variety of oral and written reports. It is probable that relatively little time should be given upon the program to the separate teaching of composition ; and that a less quantity of time than is now given should be devoted to the teaching of the English grammar. In general, the composi- tion work would best be the expression work in connection with all of the content subjects ; and the grammar work, beyond the minimum essentials covered in the grammar class, should be the attention of the pupils to their language in order to make it as effective and correct as possible, — that is to say, applied gram- mar. This plan would eliminate that type of composition where the emphasis is upon the form illustrated or studied and not upon the thought presented. It would also eliminate a good deal of the grammar for which the pupils have no practical use. Some of the most difficult things of grammar, for example, relate to speech forms in which children rarely or never make mistakes. As the grammar tends to be applied grammer and related to the oral and written composition, the things not need- ed are automatically omitted. VII. SPELLING In certain of the buildings spelling receives a quite large relative amount of time. In other buildings only a half or a third as much time is given to the subject. In one 6-2 class 150 minutes of class work per week are given to the subject, and in another 6-2 class in the same portion of the city, having practi- cally the same character of population, the amount of time re- ported is only 35 minutes per week. If the results secured are rellatively equal, there is waste of time and effort at one of the schools. If the work in the building employing the smaller amount of time is distinctly inferior to that of the other building, then the amount of time should be increased. The conclusion seems unavoidable that some supervisory adjustment should be made. Just what it should be, however, cannot be determined without a measurement of the results of the work In the two buildings. The Survey has undertaken no such measurements; but the supervisory people by means of a standardized test, the same for both buildings, could easily make determinations. Out of an extension of such measurements to all buildings ought to be found the minimum amount of time necessary for the class- work in the schools in general. An excellent method of training In spelling that has been well developed in certain of the buildings, and the use of which 192 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN should be carefully fostered in all of them is well represented by the advice given in the manual : "The pupils are expected to keep individual or class lists of troublesome v^ords. The realization on the part of the pupil that a certain word gives him difficulty in spelling is the first step in his learning to spell that word correctly.'' As a matter of fact it is this aspect of the spelling training to which the most careful attention should be given. Our language is largely phonetic and wide-awake pupils spell most of the words that they use in their writing correctly without any training be- yond that of the primary grades. By much correct writing in connection with their composition work, etc., they fix habits of spelling most of their words correctly. Words that they miss should be caught early before habits are fixed in connection with the use of the words. They should find their way into the list of words that need watching, so that a word misspelled once can- not, if proper attention is given to the matter, be misspelled in their writing a second time ; or at least not for long. In the primary grades it is desirable to spell all kinds of words, though usually with the printed or written word before the pupil as he spells. The purpose of this training is to asso- ciate phonetic and letter values, and to develop an appreciation of the letter content of words in general. After the third grade, if the written composition work is of sufficient quantity, this appreciation of the letter content of words is well taken care of through the composition. There is little need, therefore, in the case of most pupils of employing time in the spelling class for the purpose. The word lists presented in the prescribed spelling text, which is universally used throughout the city, are in part made up of words that are phonetic and which are not sufficiently fre- quently misspelled to justify the expenditure upon them of much class study and recitation time. In part they can be justi- fied as training in the appreciation of the letter content of words ; but if the composition work is filled out so as to cover reports on all sorts of themes, thus involving a varied vocabulary, the com- position work affords sufficient exercise of this type. Other words in the prescribed spelling text are those that are misspelled with considerable frequency in the written work of students. They need study by those who misspell them. It is difficult to find any justification of spending time upon them by students who do not misspell them. It is recommended that previous to assignment of lists of words for careful study a rapid written test covering a fairly large number of words be made ; that pupils be excused entirely INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 193 from a study of words that are not misspelled ; that where a word is misspelled by a very few pupils that it be assigned for the study only of those pupils who have misspelled the word; that class study and recitation be devoted to only those words that were misspelled with considerable frequency by the class ; that the place where the mistakes were made be pointed out to the class in their study of the lesson in order that they may know the things for which they must be on their guard : that the work of the recitation be not so much sensory drill in spelling the word over and over again, in ways observed in certain classes, but that it be attention to the hard spots in the words and having pupils point out and explain the things against which they must keep watch ; and finally, that the words thus taught should be reviewed in study and class periods occasionally by way of keeping in mind the things learned until habits of correct spell- ing are definitely fixed in the case of the majority of the pupils. By this method of elimination far fewer words will need to be taught ; they can be taught with greater efifectiveness ; and much less time need be consumed. In the case of the majority of the pupils, they can be doing things that are more profitable to them. It appears that the spelling of word lists is now considered the basic training for correct spelling. It is the belief of the writer that the work can be made more effective if the compo- sition work as fully developed is looked upon as the primary exercise in the training of spelling. We find here another rea- son for a further development of the composition work. The thing to be aimed at chiefly is to develop a habit on the part of the pupils of watching every word, as they write it, so as to be quite sure that they have it correct before setting it down upon their papers, or before leaving it if it has been written incorrectly. The thing most needed is the habit of looking up words in the dictionary or in their corrective word-lists, when- ever there is any doubt in the matter. The certainty that they are going to be caught in case they misspell words and that there is going to be intensive corrective drill on the words that are caught, is a large part of the stimulation to watchfulness. The plan requires pupil-help in the reading of the papers for catching all misspelled words. It is excellent training in spelling for the readers, however, since it develops exactly the habit de- sired, namely, the critical habit of looking intimately into the letter-structure of words by way of .seeing if they are correctly spelled. 194 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN VIII. NATURE STUDY With very few exceptions elementary science is confined to the first four grades, and does not find a place upon the program during the last four grades. The course of study manual out- lines work for all eight grades, covering plant life, sea life, bird life, insect life, pond life, rocks and minerals, and the weather. The work consists mainly of observation and discussion by way of familiarizing children with and making them conscious of common surrounding phenomena of nature. The mode of treat- ment is of a type that for the most part exhausts the possibilities of the subject by the time the fifth grade is reached. If the work is to continue through the last four grades, different modes of work using different materials become necessary. In one building the elementary science is given full time upon the program through all of the later grades, and in one of the junior high schools elementary science finds a place in the last semester of the eighth grade. These developments repre- sent a tendency that should be encouraged. The course of work in these later grades should be very different from that recom- mended in the manual. It should deal rather more with the science involved in the concrete things and concrete situations in which the children are already interested, and with which" they are actively concerned in their work, their play, their home life, etc. The elementary science should deal with electric bells, electric lights, telephone, telegraph, batteries, cells, machines, gas engines, the school heating and ventilation plant, the refrig- erator, the cultivation of plants in the school and the home garden, the care of the milk supply, the sanitary aspects of the water supply, the protection of trees from the depredations of noxious insects, etc., etc. Practical things and situations with which the children are concerned present the opportunity for a great abundance of vital elementary science work. On this level there should be no great attempt to systematize it unduly. It is mainly a matter of unravelling the science elements as they enter into the many situations, and of seeing them at work. The purpose is familiarity with the endless variety of science matters that make up one's environment. Naturally the work needs to be rich in actual contact with realities, with observation, experimentation, and actual control of the science factors. The present use of museum materials for the bird and mineralogical study, and of the field observations will be continued. But there is further a large need also of laboratory opportunity. We do not have reference to such syste- matic work as found in the. high-school laboratories, nor to ex- pensive apparatus of the type there used. But to study elec- INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 195 tricity, the children do need some common electrical appliances like cells, wiring materials, electric bells, electric light globes, toy motors, etc. A good many of the things can be brought in by the pupils, and others can be made in their manual training hour. In a study of fermentation, sterilization, pasteurization, etc., pupils will need only such containing vessels and chemical thermometers as can be borrowed from the domestic science room. In studying atmospheric precipitation, one needs only a glass or metal vessel of water and a bit of ice. Resourceful spe- cial teachers who know science can bring pupils into contact with a large variety of scientific phenomena without elaborate appar- atus. Naturally there are certain inexpensive pieces of appar- atus that will have to be furnished, and a good many kinds of inexpensive supplies, before the work can be well done. Very many of the science situations will be met with in the shop, kitchen, and school and home garden work of the children. Some of such science will be observational only. Other portions will be taken up for further laboratory elucidation and analysis. This work cannot be exhaustive or quantitative. The purpose is chiefly to bring children into observant and thoughtful con- tact with scientific realities so as to develop a familiarity with these realities. If they do not go on to high school they will have some acquaintance with things with which they will have to deal all their lives. If they go to high school, a certain founda- tional understanding will have been laid for the later more exact and intensive work. Elementary science is not science unless it deals with reali- ties in ways mentioned. But not all reality can be met with in immediate experience. Very often this latter is chiefly of value simply as supplying the alphabet for a far wider even though more superficial contact with wider reality to be obtained through reading. It is certain that in connection with many of the things studied there should also be a quantity of reading ma- terial for purposes of organization of the science involved and for the purpose of extending the pupils' understanding to other re- lated interesting things with which he cannot be actually in im- mediate contact. As one studies, for example, the protection of trees and plants from noxious insects, it is possible for the children to have only glimpses here and there within the city of the actual ravages of such insects. These glimpses are necessary for an understanding of the general problem, and for giving them a sense of the realities involved. After such familiarity with a few fragmentary instances, they need a few dozen pages of illus- trated reading matter which shows the nature of the most im- portant types of insect ravages, the things most often attacked, 196 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN the insects that make the attacks, the nature of the injury, the economic and geographic extent of the injurious influence, etc. This larger understanding is the thing chiefly to be aimed at. The simple observations made in field and classroom work are in large measure but preparatory for the reading work that presents the situation in a large and organized way. The same can be said for many of the other science topics. Our science work in the elementary school tends often to be weak largely because we have only the observational glimpses and the random discussion relating to these, and then do not utilize the alphabet of nature thus learned for seeing the wider significances. A realization of this need for readings is general through- out the city system. In one of the buildings one finds a system- atized series of readings supplied in sets large enough for class use, and intended to do for the subject covered the thing recom- mended in the preceding paragraph. Such books as the follow- ing are used : Fultz' **Seed Travelers", Morley's "Butterflies and Bees", Miller's "True Bird Stories", Stoke's "Ten Common Trees", and "Stories for Wonder Eyes". The principal stated that she also wanted a book suited to the interests and maturity of the childen upon rocks and minerals, such as she has been as yet unable to find. For the science work of these grades proper reading ma- terials, well illustrated, are often more important than expensive laboratory apparatus or museum materials. The schools should have these latter things, it is true ; but in general, it is not the laboratory side but rather the reading side of the problem that presents the greatest difficulty. The educational profession has not yet developed a sufficient demand for these reading ma- terials, and the natural consequence is that suitable readings on many of the topics are difficult or impossible to secure. It may be said the teachers would best present the matters orally. To begin with, teachers in general have not the neces- sary information. They have neither the materials nor the time for getting them ; and further, imder present conditions they need a type of reading materials for securing the information themselves that is similar in most respects to that needed by the pupils. To leave the matter to the general grade teachers under present conditions is to demand of them the impossible. The work can be done only as it is departmentalized and put into the hands of special teachers who give their whole time to the work. IX. PHYSICAL EDUCATION Physical education presents problems of great complexity because the training involves the distribution of duties among INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 197 classroom teachers, the physical training department, the school physician, and the school nurse. The work must then look toward building up the individual physically, the formation of right habits, prevention of wrong habits and of deleterious con- ditions, the giving of information concerning hygiene and sani- tation, the generous use of physical play, the use of corrective exercises for those to whom the play is insufficient for physical development, etc. The field is one in which it is generally recognized that ex- perimental education is the only type that can be considered effi- cient. The mere memorizing of facts from books is seen to be an ineffective method of accomplishing the ends in view. On the side of the upbuilding of the individual physically, the program of work in Grand Rapids schools provides for a very elaborate course of formal gymnastics, and a parallel course of plays, games, marches, rhythmic exercises, etc. The formal exercises have been pretty thoroughly systematized and to these the major portion of the time is devoted. The evidence for the relatively large amount of time given to formal gymnastics was obtained chiefly from principals and teachers ; it must be stated in this connection that the writer during eight days of visiting schools when they were in session did not observe the use of the formal gymnastics in any of the physical training exercises met with. In almost all cases, the weather being fine, the work was out of doors upon the playgrounds, and consisted chiefly of active games, rhythmic exercises, etc., of the type that has the greater appeal to children, and which are greatly superior for physical development than the formal classroom posturing pro- vided for in the formal portion of the manual. There seems to be a clear tendency toward diminishing the quantity of emphasis to be placed upon the calisthenics, and a large increase of em- phasis upon active play. This tendency cannot be too highly commended. The effective physical development to be obtained through active play has been and is yet in part restricted because of the unsuitability of the physical equipment provided at so many of the schools. Playgrounds in some cases are too small. The board of education in recognition of this fact is at present doing as much as the funds will permit in the way of enlarging outdoor playground facilities. Even more serious is the lack in the ma- jority of the older buildings of indoor play opportunities during those months when outdoor play is in part inhibited by weather conditions. About all has been done by the school authorities that is possible in the way of fitting up basement playrooms. An undeveloped possibility is the use of movable furniture in class- 198 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN rooms that will permit a variety of uses of the rooms, including the physical training. The suggestion is more practical for first- floor rooms than for those of the second floor, because of the character of the floors in the old buildings. All of our large cities are finding that the provision for ade- quate physical play on the part of children through the entire year is one of the most difficult problems, and one which de- mands large community investment both in buildings and in grounds. The problem should be solved by the community in connection with the total park and recreation movement, and should not be looked upon simply as a public school movement. Whether an elaborate school plant is economical or not to the community depends upon the quantity of its use on the part of all classes, both juvenile and adult. In the matter of training the children in the informational aspects of hygiene and sanitation, a reading course in the subject has been provided which covers all of the grades beginning with the fourth. To this it appears that about thirty minutes per week is given in each of the grades. The fourth grade reads an introductory physiology. The fifth and sixth grades read books dealing in concrete interesting ways with personal hygiene an^d community sanitation. The seventh and eighth grades read a more advanced book of physiology mainly, with some attention to hygiene. In general it is expected that the books be read, understood, and the facts appreciated so that they can be used in the development of habits; but it appears not to be expected that the books shall be memorized and the facts given back to the teacher in the old-type recitation and examination. The reading gives a general over-view of things that should be under- stood. It makes the necessary suggestions. It intends to de- velop right attitudes towards the whole matter of personal and community hygiene. The plan is good so far as it goes. But it is insufficient. The thing most needed in the further develop- ment of the plan is dependent upon the work of the school physicians and nurses. At the present time the city is very in- sufficiently supplied with both physicians and nurses. It is these, however (partly through talks to classes, but in larger degree incidentally but systematically and in connection with health supervision) who should keep alive in the minds of the children, and drive home because of the authoritative force of their position, the suggestions and information on hygiene and sanitation that have been met with in connection with the reading covered in the classroom. Just as we are coming to demand that vocational teaching shall be given by people who are practical specialists in the several fields, so we are coming to feel that INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 199 the responsible instruction in hygiene and sanitation in its later stages and in part all along the line should be given by those who are felt by the pupils to be thorough and practical special- ists in the field. Teaching here should have the sanction of medi- cal authority. In the preliminary readings the teachers can lay a broad and secure foundation for the work. On this, then, physicians and school nurses can build with effectiveness. In the textbooks chosen by the city it is possible that the science motive is relatively too prominent. Children are not intro- spective. They can best be reached by readings in which the social motive is dominant. Materials of this character are rather rapidly being made available by our publishing houses and by health officials. There can probably be no objection to leaving the science reading in the course as full as at present in the seventh and eighth grades. But other readings should be added which approach the problems more from the social point of view at the same time. Since the subject is more important than grammar, time can be found for the extra reading recommended. X. MUSIC No sufficient examination was made of the teaching of music. Only the general outlines of the work were observed. A rather uniform amount of time is given to the subject throughout the various buildings, seventy-five minutes per week being almost universal. The work continues throughout the high school as a full credit course. So far as possible it appears that the work in vocal music consists of singing. It is built upon the very sound theory that "the only way to teach children to sing is to have them sing." The plan is designed to provide the necessary technical informa- tion, but since there are eight years in the elementary grades over which to distribute it, it is possible to give it gradually, to make continual application of it without taking any undue amount of time from that practical application of it involved in the singing by the pupils. The plan appears to be a well-bal- anced one. The results obtained are proof of the effectiveness of the course. In addition to the vocal music, full encouragement is given by the schools to instrumental. It is certainly unusual to find within a city of the size of Grand Rapids eight grammar-school orchestras, with an instrumentation ranging from ten to sixteen ; then to find further a high-school orchestra in each of the three high schools, with an instrumentation of forty pieces in the larg- est. Each grammar-grade orchestra is usually made up of pupils drawn from two or three neighboring schools. The result 200 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS. MICHIGAN is that practically every school has a share in an orchestra that can be used for social functions at the school. The work ap- pears to be developing in a very healthy way, and promises a great future for community music in Grand Rapids. A commendable beginning has been made in supplying the schools with the facilities for the mechanical reproduction of the world's great music. The schools themselves have been raising funds for purchasing victrolas, and the board is expending $50 per year in the purchase of records which circulate among the buildings. The sets, of which the board has already purchased quite a number, are chosen by the supervisor of music so as to illustrate the different musical forms. They can be used, there- fore, not only for appreciation, as the term is often defined, but also for understanding of forms that can be produced in no other way by the limited facilities in the elementary schools. It is possible that the city might do well to be even more generous than $50 a year, considering the type of cheap music that is so often dinned into children's ears at our commercialized places of entertainment. This is but a small per cent of what the city is actually expending in a single night upon less profitable and less effective juvenile entertainment. The work in music appears to be proceeding along good lines. The only thing to recommend is further expansion and development of things already under way. XI. MANUAL TRAINING, HOUSEHOLD ARTS, ETC. Manual training is given to all of the boys, and sewing and cooking to all of the girls during the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades. The amount of time varies in different schools. The most usual allowance is one hour in the 5-1, two hours in the 5-2 and sixth grades, and two hours and a half through the seventh and eighth grades. In one of the junior high schools, however, it is four hours a week during the seventh and eighth grades, and in another it is five hours per week. As compared with the practice of cities in general, the time given to these subjects in Grand Rapids is quite generous. A comparison of the average amount of time given to practical activities in fifty cities, as reported by Professor Holmes, with the time allowed in Grand Rapids is submitted in the following table. The regu- lar grade buildings are differentiated from the junior high-school work in seventh and eighth grades in the table. INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 201 TABLE XXXI Time Given to Manual Training and Household Occupations. Grand Rapids Average Grade BIdgs. Junior H. S. Fifty Cities Grade 5 60 60 50 Grade 6 80 80 57 Grade 7 100 135 72 Grade 8 100 153 74 Total 340 428 253 During the four later grades of the elementary school the city is devoting 35 per cent and in the Junior High School about 70 per cent more time to the practical work of boys and girls than is the average of cities in general throughout the country. This generous time-allowance represents sound and progressive educational policy. The allotment is not too large. Manual Training for Boys The manual training for boys in the fifth and sixth grades is knife-work done on trays placed on top of their regular class- room desks. The work is done not in a shop but in the class- rooms. This results in economy of building space and equip- ment. In proportion to the economy thus effected, the character of the work suffers through lack of proper shop facilities. The knife exercises are directed in all cases by special teach- ers. These are women. The explanation is again perhaps econ- omy. It would appear that shop-work for boys eleven and twelve years of age should cover exercises representing a variety of mechanical occupations of types usually performed by men, and that therefore the teachers should be men. There is a further reason possibly for the employment here of the women teachers. The work is in no sense of a practical character, and it has little relation to labors performed in any practical voca- tion, whether of men or of women. It is an abstract school-room affair. It can be handled by women teachers as effectively as by men teachers, — more so perhaps, since they are likely to look upon it with greater good-will. A man teacher famihar with the practical activities of the mechanical world, as such a teacher ought to be, is likely to be sufficiently impatient with this type of manual training. The material used for the two years of knife-work is thin basswood. In terms of the printed manual, "All of the articles made are of practical use and consist of the following : plant label, twine winder, puzzle, pencil sharpener, calender stand, pencil rack, toothpick holder, brush-broom holder, sled, box, salt-boxy ink-stand, picture frame, necktie rack, and book-rack." 202 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN All of the things made are small. In only three or four cases is the longest dimension of the object greater than six inches. The sled made, for example, is only six inches long and two and a half inches wide. Drawings are made of the articles before the article is be- gun. It is intended that these be working drawings and that the pupils, after the drawings are completed, should work from the drawings. The intent and general relations of this plan is a good one since it properly relates the drawing portion of mechanical activities to the activities themselves. The work is painfully slow, careful, and expensive. It re- quires eight hours distributed over eight weeks to whittle from thin basswood a plant label five inches long and one inch wide. Thirty hours distributed over four months are required for mak- ing a match box. Twenty hours distributed over two and a half months are consumed in making the toy sled. It is difficult to believe that the drill is of the correct mechanical character for eleven and twelve-year-old boys when so much time must elapse between the beginning and the end of the process._ The work is evidently too slow, too painfully accurate for this particular stage of the boy's development, it uses materials that are too small, requiring work that is too fine, and it does not use the woodworking tools that ought to be in the hands of boys at this age. They ought to be in the shop at work-benches with wood- working tools that are very much better than knives for the purpose. Although the manual states that the things made are of practical use, it is doubtful if all of them are. Even when so, it is doubtful if they are made in practical ways, — that is to say, using processes that are of the kind that the practical man would use for making the things in question. And what is more, match- boxes and six-inch toy sleds are not things for healthy twelve- year-old boys. The present work has many values, both on the side of the drawing and of the practical operations. In all probability the results justify the expenditure of time, effort, and money. It is believed, however, that much larger and more justifiable results could be secured. We would therefore recommend that the present work continue until a better type can be provided; but no longer. The work of the seventh and eighth grades is. in specially equipped shops. The teaching is done by men teachers who have in all cases had practical woodworking experience in the trades. They are primarily practical-minded men and secondarily teach- ers of the practical subject. This represents sound policy which should obtain throughout all of the grades. Until recently the work in seventh and eighth grades has INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 203 been a rather formal course of the usual bench-work type in cabinetmaking. The course of study manual states the object: "The primary object of all the work in manual training is to assist in general education, and is not planned to be vocational in nature." The term "general education" needs to be reduced to particulars before we can know to what it actually refers. When so reduced to particulars, if the manual training work of these grades does not refer in some way to the vocational activities of the world in general, it is difficult to see at what it does aim. The work at this stage in all probability should be definitely pre- vocational, the purpose being twofold: (1) to give boys a preliminary acquaintance with the fundamentals of a large vari- ety of the world's occupations for seyeral justifiable reasons; (2) to permit the boys to try themselves out in certain prelimi- nary ways, in labors relating to this variety of fields, as one of several factors involved in choosing a vocation. Bench work in hand furniture-making has a place, and in a furniture-manufacturing city like Grand Rapids should have perhaps an unusually large place even though in this day of machine methods cabinetmaking is the art of but a very few highly trained specialists. But although such cabinetmaking should have a place, it is very doubtful indeed if so large a rela- tive quantity of time should be given to it during these grammar grades. Such a course largely fails to take care of either of the two purposes stated above. Recent tendency indicates proper and healthy development. Printing as a form of manual training has been introduced into two of the junior high schools, and in the proper grades. That the more recent conception within the city is that such manual- training activities should be prevocational in character is indi- cated by the fact that the course of study for printing in the junior high schools was prepared by a committee of practical printers from five of the large printing establishments of the city. This is excellent and represents the proper mode of draw- ing up courses of training for all kinds of practical activity that may be introduced. It should be said further that the teacher of printing in the Junior High School was associated with this committee of practical printers in drawing up the course, and thus provided the point of view of the educational situation. As other practical courses are drawn up by men familiar with con- ditions in the practical occupations, naturally representatives from the school organization should also be found upon the committees. At the Palmer School one finds a practical skilled artisan giving manual training in concrete construction. The boys have 204 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPTDS, MICHIGAN been making fence posts, rustic flower boxes, foot scrapers, square and cylindrical pedestals, concrete blocks and tiles, benches, etc. The work is of a practical character adapted to the maturity of boys of this age, and should be extended as a portion of the manual training in all of the centers, but particularly in the various junior high schools. In this extension of the manual-training work, one finds also a ten-weeks course in practical sheet-metal working, and another ten-weeks course of forge work for grammar-grade pup- ils, in one of the junior high schools. These are types of work that properly belong in a well-built-out junior high-school manual training course. But even this is not enough. It is only a good beginning toward building out the prevocatlonal activities of the junior high school in the degree demanded by the purposes involved. There should also be woodworking on the side of carpentry in addition to the cabinetmaking. This should be of a practical character turning out economic products. On the educational side it cannot be of a proper character unless there is the respon- sibility for the practical accomplishment of real work. There should also be electrical construction consisting of elementary work in the construction of batteries, wiring, annunciator sys- tems, electric light systems, electric toasters, motor and dynamo^ construction, etc., etc. There should also be elementary work dealing with still other varieties of building materials, the mix- ing of mortar, the laying of bricks in simple bond, the mixing of paints and varnishes, the preparation of various surfaces for painting, painting, varnishing, finishing, tile-laying, sidewalk construction, etc. A valuable part of such a course for boys should be the taking apart and assembling of old machines of all sorts to find out how they work, and to learn the various scientific principles involved in the machines, and the methods of transferring and transforming power through the machines to the final perform- ing of the work. To take apart and assemble a few old auto- mobiles, lathes, pumps, sewing-machines, and other samples from the endless variety of machines accessible should be not only an important portion of one's practical mechanical training, but at the same time should be a highly important portion of one's training in the principles and practices of mechanical science. For taking care of the prevocatlonal activities of the gram- mar grades the city is to be commended for having adopted the best possible administrative arrangement for the purpose in its junior high schools. This brings together so large a number of pupils of similar ages and characteristics that it is possible to have a large variety of activities and yet to have classes large INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 205 enough to make this variety economically justifiable. Such a variety of courses cannot possibly be developed in the general grade buildings. They cannot afford the equipment, nor the space, nor the teacher-labor for so many types of activity. In carrying out the program recommended the city will find it necessary to continue its present policy of establishing the junior high schools until all of the children of these grades are as- sembled in schools of this character. Since sixty per cent of them are already so housed the city is in an administrative posi- tion to carry out the recommendations for the majority of the boys at the present time. HOUSEHOLD OCCUPATIONS The girls of the fifth and sixth grades are taught sewing, and those of the seventh and eighth grades cooking. In the final semester of the eighth grade they are given a further half-year of sewing. All of the work is taught by special teachers, who are in general familiar through practical experience with these two household occupations. The sewing in large part is the making or mending of gar- ments for themselves, and in part the making of towels, cooking bags, etc., for the domestic science work of the school. The practical purpose vitalizes the work. The writer did not ex- amine into the details of the sewing work, but the outline creates a suspicion that it may be open in some small degree to the same criticisms as the knife-work for the boys of these same grades. To expend twenty lessons of two hours each in the fifth grade in making a percale, gingham, or calico apron and then another twenty lessons of two hours each in the sixth grade in making a plain white percale cooking apron, — or one entire year's work in the making of two aprons, — ^looks like an over-elaboration of this task. It is doubtful, to say the least whether the schools are justified in making so heavy an investment in training girls at this immature age in fine needlework when most of the sewing that they will later do will be done with machines. The writer wishes here to pronounce no judgment; but only to point out to the school authorities that it represents a problem that should be carefully studied by specialists in the field. In the field of needlework girls need to be trained for the things that they are later going to do. There will be some sewing, patch- ing, mending, etc. ; but if the specialization and commercializa- tion of garment-making proceeds much farther, by the time the present generation of fifth and sixth-grade girls have reached womenhood their chief function in this field will be the ability to select wisely and with good taste garments and other articles of 206 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN needlework. The thing needed is appreciation and understanding of those things involved in the finished articles, which repre- sent good taste, durability, adaptabihty to needs, etc., rather than the mechanical ability to make the things themselves. This changing need is pointed out by way of indicating the need of certain changes possibly in the courses of training. Even though the hand needlev/ork be left as it is, there should be a larger quantity of study of the things that make up different kinds of needlework: studies of color harmony, by having a wide as- sortment of garments either actual or in color picture-plates for study, criticism, judgment and choice: a study of the simpler principles of garment design, again not through the practical labors of designing but through the study of the particular fea- tures of a wide variety of garments; similar studies of trim- mings, edgings, embroidery ; similar studies applied to millinery ; also studies of napkins, tablecloths, bed and pillow coverings, curtains, draperies, etc., etc. The housewife's major problem of today is not how to make these things, but how to select them wisely. To do some work in the way of making them is undoubtedly a portion of the necessary training in appreciation and understanding; but it probably, or at least possibly, should not constitute the major portion of such training. In case the practical constructive training is of large value for taking care of the appreciation, then the question arises why in the needlework course there is not larger attention in the grammar grades to the making of the following, none of which seems to be included: house dress, street or school dress, nap- kins, handkerchiefs, pillow cases, sash curtains, table covers, embroidery, laces, etc. The cooking work of the seventh and eighth grades so far as it relates to activities that can be carried on within the kit- chen appears to be much better balanced. It covers examples from about every possible field of food preparation. But in ad- dition to the things done within the kitchen, the girls should also for the sake of the training, do the marketing by way of becom- ing acquainted with all of the marketing problems. There is also a need of responsibility for turning out a product that is to be used in normal ways. Cooking is not rightly done if it is merely a series of practice exercises, — even though the teacher's supervision and direction be of such a careful sort as to secure the correct material outcome for each exercise. The informa- tion is not rightly assimilated nor are right attitudes of mind developed toward the work. Illustrative of the matter was the situation found in one of the large buildings where the girls re- ceived fifty minutes of domestic science each day for five days in INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 207 the week. • In the preparation of very many kinds of dishes, they find it necessary to spend the time one day in the preparation of the things to be cooked, and then after setting them away in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours, on the following day to do the cooking. In other cases they are able to get the cooking half done during the fifty-minute period, but then have to rush away and leave it unfinished; and most half-cooked things are unsuitable for a continuation of the process on the following day. Were the girls in that building preparing actual meals or portions of actual meals, this wasteful and ineffective method of training could not continue for a single day. This appears to be an extreme case, it is true; but where it occurs shows a lack of seriousness in the work ; and this lack of serious- ness extends to the work of other buildings that have the double period, if there is no method of placing serious responsibility upon the girls. A further recommendation is the development of the science aspects of the work. At present these are inadequately de- veloped. A portion of such science work should be taken care of by the special teacher of elementary science in the grammar grades, and a portion of it by the teachers of domestic science. During these grades the elementary science work of the girls should be separate from that of the boys, taught always by women teachers who are thoroughly conversant with the prob- lems and exercises in domestic science ; and the two departments should be in close co-operation in the conduct of the work. We recommend also that in the junior high schools a cook- ing course of suitable type should be opened to the boys. Camp cooking, as it is sometimes called, is both a good and a practical manual-training course for boys. Such courses conducted in former years were successful. CHAPTER X INTRODUCTION TO HIGH- SCHOOL REPORT The following chapter presents in full the report of Professor C. O. Davis on the secondary schools. In addition to the obser- vations made by Mr. Davis, Superintendent Francis rendered a brief report dealing especially with the junior schools. Super- intendent Francis comments on the great advantage which Grand Rapids enjoys in the fact that the junior high school ex- periment is being tried out in a variety of different forms. He believes that this furnishes Grand Rapids with the opportunity* of arriving ultimately at the most advantageous form of or- ganization. Mr. Francis commends the organization which he observed so far as the personal characteristics and technical qual- ifications of the officers whom he encountered are concerned. He comments especially on the fact that the technical teachers are trained in the methods of the industries. He comments on the possibilities of a greater elaboration of the special subjects and greater emphasis upon the general activities of student organiza- tions. The writer also took the opportunity of visiting the high schools and looked especially into the organization of the junior college and the junior high schools. It is appropriate for him to add to the report of Mr. Davis certain comments with regard to these schools. In the first place, there can be no doubt, even on casual ob- servation, that the equipment of the Central High School is dis- tinctly superior to that of the other schools. Mr. Davis has brought out in his report the differences between the various schools in detail and has set forth very fully the evidence in re- gard to teachers and equipment. The School Board and the school officers may very well con- sider doing more to equalize high-school opportunities offered in the different centers and also the better standardization of all. INTRODUCTION TO HIGH-SCHOOL REPORT 209 the schools. There is abundant evidence in Mr. Davis' report that standards of work are not alike. The largest credit is due the Grand Rapids System for the organization of junior high schools. The experiment has been worked out in a conservative way. The impressive fact about the experiment is that it was started when there was no general recognition of the importance of this type of organization. To- day it is widely recognized that the sometime break between the elementary school and the high school is un-American and un- scientific. Grand Rapids was a pioneer in closing up this breach. The experiment, as Professor Davis has pointed out, should be pushed further. The curriculum of the Junior High School could very advantageously be elaborated. For example, the work in mathematics might be modified in such a way as to introduce the students to the principles and problems of constructive geo- metry and to the simpler algebraic devices which make it rela- tively easy to solve many complicated problems. The equipment for nature study or elementary science of some sort should be introduced as soon as possible into the Junior High School, which is now obliged to utilize the equipment of the Central High School. With regard to the Junior College, it may be said that the in- fluence of the University of Michigan in the organization of this institution has been very large. The authorities of Grand Rap- ids have regarded it as expedient to submit all of the details of junior-college organization to the approval of the officers of the University of Michigan. These officers in turn have treated the experiment with much interest but have naturally been very con- servative. If the enterprise is to succeed, somebody must be bold enough to set aside conservative suspicion of the experiment. The present organization is shown by the present registration to be unworkable. The effort to segregate the college classes abso- lutely from the rest of the high-school organization is uneconomi- cal and impractical. This can be illustrated by reference to one example. Junior-college mathematics is analytical geometry. Anyone who wants college credit for mathematics must enter this class in analytical geometry. Some of the students have not had enough mathematics in their high-school course to justify their taking this college course. On the other hand, it is not thought possible at the present moment as a result of the confer- ences with the University of Michigan to arrange for students to take lower mathematics because it is the accepted theory that junior-college students cannot be in the same classes as high- school students. Thus, a student who ought to be taking' trigo- nometry and is quite prepared for that subject is not allowed to 210 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN go into the class in trigonometry and secure college rcedit, be- cause that is a high-school class. He is introduced into the class in analytical geometry because he is a college student and not because he has had the proper preliminary training. The small junior-college registration makes it impossible to conduct classes both in trigonometry and analytics. Setting aside the institutional conservatism which always at- taches to any new organization, it seems to the present writer, perfectly clear that the only legitimate form of organization which could be developed in the Grand Rapids Junior College is one which allows a student to take that branch of mathematics for which he is equipped. This arrangement would make it possi- ble to utilize the opportunities presented by some of the small advanced high-school classes in mathematics. The character of the instruction would be guaranteed by the general training of the high-school faculty. If there is any doubt about the latter mat- ter or about the ability of the students who have pursued these courses with advanced high-school students to compare favorably with college students, all of the institutions concerned ought to be patient enough to give the matter at least a fair trial. Let the Junior College try the experiment for a year or so. Let the students who go out of the mixed classes be carefullly observed in their later college work. If any serious questions arise with regard to their ability to carry college work after receiving this kind of training, let the accrediting of these junior-college courses come to an end. The experiment in its present form cannot suc- ceed. It is cramped and hampered by forms of organization which are not natural or legitimate. To render the experiment absolutely safe against all possible difficulties is to render it so limited in its scope that it cannot be carried on. The fact that the student population in the Junior College has decreased this year as compared with last year indicates that there is something radically wrong. Another phase of the situation that deserves comment is the tuition requirement imposed by the Board of Education upon students who take junior-college work. First it may be noted that the present tuition does not pay the cost of instruction per student under the present organization. There is some doubt as to the legality of paying for junior-college instruction out of municipal educational funds. This doubt parallels the doubt that once existed in the state of Michigan before the famous Kala- rnazoo decision with regard to the legality of paying out of muni- cipal funds for high-school education. Some day the doubt about junior colleges v/ill go by the same route as did the earlier doubt about high-school expenditures. It will ultimately be recognized INTRODUCTION TO HIGH-SCHOOL REPORT 211 in Michigan as it is now fully recognized in California, that large municipalities will effect for the people of the city a genuine economy by offering in the city itself educational advantages that extend beyond the high-school course. As Mr. Davis has argued at length, a great many students from Grand Rapids go to col- leges in the state of Michigan and elsewhere. For the education of these people the state and the city are making liberal contri- butions. The cost to the student of a year of college education in some other city is very much greater than the cost of a year in Grand Rapids itself. Such considerations as these ought to weigh very largely with the Board of Education of Grand Rapids in deciding whether it is an economy to offer such young people a junior-college education in their home city. The geographical conditions of California are such that the people have been con- vinced of the wisdom of establishing local junior high schools. Whether the movement comes rapidly or more slowly in the mid- dle states, it is certain to receive in the next few years a thorough trial. A number of the great municipalities in the middle states are undertaking this type of organization. Grand Rapids in its junior high-school organization and in the elaboration of its high schools has taken a long step in the direction of a complete education of its young people at public expense. The line of demarcation between the elementary school and the high school has been almost entirely erased by the organization of the junior high school. The reasons which justify that intermediate organ- ization can be applied with slight modification to the junior col- lege. The break between the high school and the college is just as disadvantageous as was the sometime breach between the elementary school and the high school. Grand Rapids was a pioneer in organizing the junior high school. It has an oppor- tunity, if it is willing to set aside some of the artificial restric- tions which now hedge in its junior college, to become one of the leaders in developing that institution also. It is the belief of the present writer that the city would greatly profit by a thor- oughgoing trial of the junior college. Evidence in favor of this move is difficult to present beyond the evidence which Mr. Davis has set forth in his report. Certainly the time has arrived when the city ought to weigh carefully the clear alternative of giving the junior college a fair trial or eliminating it altogether. As the institution stands today, it is weighed down by so many restric- tions that it can not be described as a flourishing institution. CHAPTER XI SECONDARY SCHOOLS Calvin O. Davis FOREWORD The observations, comments and recommendations included in the portion of the school survey immediately following deal with the provisions which Grand Rapids makes for secondary education within its public school system. This includes the organization and work of the junior high schools, the senior high schools, and the Junior College. The data upon which the de- ductions are based were obtained by means of questionnaires^ distributed to the teachers and administrative officers, analysis of printed material pertaining to the organization and admin- istration of the schools, consultations with various members of the administrative and teaching staffs, and eight days spent in actual observation and study of the several schools while in oper- ation. All records, printed material, and other aids which would in any manner throw light upon the plan and conduct of these divisions of the public school work were not only made available for perusal, but the utmost co-operation and assistance was rendered by every member of the school force, in order that a true analysis of the problems under investigation might be reach- ed. Moreover, the most cordial welcome was extended by teach- ers, principals, and other officials in visiting the several rooms and schools, and the most perfect freedom was encouraged in ask- ing questions not alone of themselves, but of the pupils and as- sistants under their charge. In this manner frank, full and cour- teous expressions of views were received from persons of varied interests, experiences, and official rank, and much material for a composite judgment was obtained. The present report, therefore, aims to be an unbiased analy- sis of the facts pertaining- to the secondary schools of Grand Rap- ids, (in so far as these facts were derivable from the investiga- tions conducted), and the criticisms, commendations and sug- SECONDARY SCHOOLS ' 213 gestions offered are the product of the several mutually support- ing forms of knowledge that were contributed. The Secondary School System as a Whole. An investigator of the Grand Rapids public secondary school system finds, taking the system as a whole, much indeed to commend and extol. It is perfectly obvious to him that the citi- zens of the town have taken a keen interest in public education ; that they have supported, and are supporting, the public schools in a generous and liberal manner; that they believe in school progressiveness, tempered by moderate conservatism ; that they wish for their children the best schooling that twentieth century thought can provide and that a reasonable financial expenditure can furnish ; that they welcome an expansion and an extension of school work, provided only it be work that promises suitable returns for the investment; that they encourage the aspirations of their children for high intellectual, moral, and social attain- ments ; that they are in favor of reasonably exacting academic and professional standards for their teachers ; that they have put in charge of the school work men and women in whom they have, and rightly can have, confidence ; and that they are eager and willing to co-operate with the officials of the school in bringing about their educational desires. This certainly is a state of pub- lic interest and public responsiveness that is gratifying. More- over, to a very large degree, much of the school organization and administration in which the}^ take pride is fully worthy of their boasts and loyalty. Three separate high-school buildings and one separate junior high-school building operating in a city the size of Grand Rapids are more than will ordinarily be found. Moreover, these schools are, in general, well distributed geographically and well situated topographically. The Union school provides convenient and ap- propriate high-school facilities for the residents of the west side ; the new South school performs a like service for the citizens of that section; the Central High and the Junior High schools readily accommodate the youths of the older and more thickly settled portions of the city. It may possibly be somewhat unfortunate that the Junior High school building is located where it is — particularly if it is to be used solely for the purpose of a junior high school. The section in which it stands borders closely on the business dis- trict of the city, a district that seems to be encroaching more and more each year upon the adjoining residential sections. Moreover, the residential portion that remains is composed large- ly of the older families whose children have, in large numbers, al- 214 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ready received their education and have disappeared from the scenes of their childhood. The constituency, therefore, that maintains the present school has its geographical center consid- erably apart from the site of the present building. On the other hand, the present structure is admirably situ- ated and fairly well arranged to serve the entire business section of the city as a trade school and technical school, or a day con- tinuation school. Schools of this character are manifestly about to make articulate their demands for recognition in all prog- gressive school systems. Grand Rapids, considering the nature of her industrial and business life, will of necessity soon be forced to listen to this demand, if locally made, and to plan for it. There can be little doubt that if proper school facilities were provided, and proper arrangements were made with employers in the vari- ous stores, offices, shops, factories, and business houses of the city, scores, if not hundreds, of workers now employed therein would take advantage of the offerings and seek to improve not only their occupational training but their interests and powers relating to civic, social, and generally cultural matters. By sup- plementing the day continuation school work with instruction of a similar character offered in night classes (as at present) the Junior High School building can doubtlessly be made to become the most continuously employed school building of any in the city. It is, therefore, suggested that the Board of Education, in laying out its plans for the further extension of school work and the further construction of new buildings, take carefully into consideration both the need and desirability of providing some- where in the city a thoroughly equipped trade school or technical school — for both day and evening classes — and that, secondly, they weigh carefully the advantages that inhere in the thought of converting the present Junior High School building into a school of that sort. In like manner it seems probable that within a relatively short time additional junior high schools will be needed in one or more sections of the city that are at present without such schools. Doubtless the first new district to be thus provided will be the north side, although, judging from the numbers of pupils at present enrolled from that territory in the existing high schools, the necessity for additional accommodations is not pressing. Grand Rapids is also to be commended for the form in which it is organizing its school system. The Board of Educa- tion and the administrative school officers have, apparently, de- finitely committed themselves to the principle of the six-year elementary school and the six-year high school, with a junior SECONDARY SCHOOLS 215 college to supplement the work at the top. In adopting this plan of organization the city has put itself in the van of educa- tional thought and practice. There is no longer any question as to the trend of public school organization in this country. The con- clusions of physiology, psychology and sociology in respect to the need for the adaptation of our schools to the changing stages of physical, mental and social development of children and youths are clear and certain. The theory of individual differences of powers and aptitudes is today fully accepted. The correlative theory of the need of a differentiation of the subject-matter to be studied and of the method of instruction to be employed in dealing with the several stages of human development is like- wise rapidly becoming an accepted pedagogical doctrine. And yet, while Grand Rapids has definitely subscribed to the more logical, more physiological, more truly democratic form of school organization included in the six-six plan of grade group- ings, she has stopped considerably short of what rightfully might be expected of her. The six-year high school as it is in operation in the city today is not fully such a school — if by the expression is meant (as many persons think is meant) not only a change in the form of school organization, but also a pretty complete modi- fication of the subject-matter to be taught, the methods of in struction used, the mode of administration employed and the spirit oj control and direction that dominate. While the steps that have been taken are all in the forward direction, the ad- vance has not as yet carried the schools so far toward the idea of the modern school as the needs of an industrial growing city like Grand Rapids demand or the advice of educational experts recommends. The most glaring faults of omission have to do with the curriculum and its administration. While something in- deed, has been done to reorganize the work of instruction, there is surely need for a more thorough overhauling of the entire program of studies — particularly of the program for the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. The detailed analysis of the situation within these grades is reserved for a later section of this report. What, in general, Grand Rapids needs to do, however, to improve her school system is to complete and perfect the organization and forms of administration she has so happily already, in part, begun. School administration is a dynamic force, not a static one. Forms and processes that serve one generation well, or that fit the conditions of one type of schools or one class of pupils, or that meet the needs of a particular set of concrete problems do not always constitute the wisest and most effective agencies for dealing with school questions arising out of situations that vary 216 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN in respect to time and place and human factors. Indeed, quite the contrary is usually true. In consequence no absolutely set and uniform rules of procedure should operate over a large and complete school system like that of Grand Rapids. Instead, free opportunity should be given not alone for the adaptation of gen- eral principles to concrete situations as they arise and as the offi- cers in charge may judge necessary, but a constant series of edu- cational and administrative experiments should be authorized and a constant checking over of the meritorious and the disadvan- tageous results should take place. Such experimentation may be undertaken co-operatively by the several principals, or by the principal and the corps of teachers v^ithin a single building, or by individuals w^ithin the several schools. The only restraining force that should operate in any given case should be that of balanced reason. Once an individual has been selected to take charge of a given piece of w^ork his powers of free execution should be commensurate v^^ith his responsibility. Happily, this principle is one that is generally accepted by the officers of the school system in Grand Rapids, and is in pretty complete opera- tion at present. Few cities, it would seem, are more fortunately circum- stanced than Grand Rapids to carry on a valuable series of ex-, periments respecting the best form in which to organize the work of secondary education, to test practices in the light of results, and to select finally a plan that will give the maximum points of advantage with the minimum points of disadvantage. Inci- dentally, the city has an opportunity to make real history for herself and to contribute notably to the cause of educational administration in general. The point about which revolves today a vast amount of un- proven and diametrically opposed theory of educational organi- zation is that which concerns the wisest external arrangement to be employed in fashioning the school work. The physically arti- culated six-six plan, the segregated six-six plan, the segregated six-three-three plan all have their pronounced advocates. No one, however, positively knows which type of organization will yield the best returns. Grand Rapids, therefore, with one school that houses all grades from one to twelve, one that includes (or will include when fully developed) the upper six grades only, one that segregates the seventh, eighth and ninth grades by themselves, and one that perpetuates, temporarily and in part, the old four- year high-school arrangement, but which is designed ultimately to house only the upper grades of the high school — the tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades, with possibly the junior college grades — with a situation of this kind actually existing and with each school serving its constituency reasonably well, it would SECONDARY SCHOOLS 217 seem to be the part of wisdom and of progressiveness to encour- age each principal,^ in co-operation with the superintendent and the board of principals, to exercise wide discretionary powers in the external organization and conduct of his building. Pre- cisely what forms of experimentation such freedom should take in each building will be discussed later. Grand Rapids may well feel proud of the two new high- school buildings she possesses — the Central High and the South High. They both measure up well to the standards of modern school buildings. The new addition to the Union High is also fully in keeping with the ideals of modern school architecture. As soon as the old central portion of this school is demolished and the sections planned to contain the auditorium, gymnasium, of- fices and addtional class rooms are completed, this building will be not one whit inferior to any of the other buildings. It is a wise move that the Board has made to complete this building at a very early date. It is exceptionally wise that land lying with- in close proximity to the school has already been purchased and is to be equipped for an athletic field. The Junior High School building is the oldest and least hygienic and commodious of any in the city. Here material changes are needed and needed badly. Not only is the building extremely overcrowded, but under the present conditions, much of the w^ork is seriously handicapped. The school architect should be asked to investigate the entire situation at once, with a view to relieving such over-crowded conditions as can be re- lieved, and with the view further of improving unhygienic con- ditions wherever possible. There is no question that some of the urgent needs for this building are a gymnasium, an auditorium, enlarged facilities for manual training and domestic science work, a conservatory and museum suited to the work of nature study and elementary science, music rooms, rest rooms for both teachers and pupils, and a magazine and reading room. The Board has provided amply for all these essential school aids in the several other build- ings. Equity would seem to call for them here also. It is, more- over, a serious question whether boys and girls of the junior high- school age do not require these agencies for their best develop- ment even more than do the youths of an older age. The period of greatest school mortality lies between the fifth and the ninth grades. No doubt many causes enter into the explanation of this fact, but among these surely is the too common one of adminis- trative indifference to the peculiar interests and needs of late pre- adolescence. The kindergartners and primary grade pupils be- low, and the high-school pupils above, have their especial inter- 218 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ests considered and ministered unto, but too frequently the in- termediate school pupil is an institutional outcast — anything that nobody else wishes is thought good enough for him. His case is not infrequently disposed of on the theory that he is not sensi- tive to the niceties of physical, social, aesthetic, and educational forms and that therefore he does not resent the real, though co- vert, slight that is accorded his nature. No greater mistake can be made in dealing with pre-adoles- cence. Precisely this sort of belief has driven America to the pre- sent demand for a reorganization of our school system on some other basis than the old stereotyped, wasteful, discouraging system of tradition. While Grand Rapids, as already has been said, has advanced far on the road of educational progress, she still has provided less generously for the youths of junior high- school age — and especially for the abnormal or the peculiarly individualistic youths of that age — than for any other class of secondary school pupils. During the present semester (February-June 1916) for ex- ample, twenty-five boys from the Junior High School are required to go each day to the Central building in order to secure the man- ual training work that is desired and is prescribed. The loss in time going and coming is something, but much more serious is' the interference such absences make with the smooth adjustment of the class schedules in the Junior High School the hour pre- ceeding and the hour following the class exercise at the Central building. Moreover, the real necessity for these interruptions does not exist. There is ample room on the site of the present Junior High school for an addition to the manual training shops. Indeed, such an addition was contemplated and expressly provid- ed for in the original plan of the Board of Education. Why delay in carrying out the original scheme is continued is not apparent. In like manner the Junior High School is handicapped for want of an auditorium that will accommodate the entire school — or even a fair portion of it — in assembly exercises, school enter- tainments, and other school gatherings. The auditorium period is recognized by all educators as possessing opportunities for establishing social ideals, moral impressions, and an esprit de corps that no other form of school work can provide. The class- room influences not infrequently soon pass into the rearm of un- traced oblivion. Not so, however, the lessons vividly stamped on youthful souls in the gatherings of the entire school — gath- erings in which participation by pupils is encouraged, and mes- sages from men and by agencies outside the regular school sys- tem are offered. The daily auditorium lesson is one of the much vaunted features of the Gary plan, and the values claimed for it SECONDARY SCHOOLS 219 are not overstated, provided the period be properly utilized and directed. If the school is truly to serve as the socializing agency of democracy, then indeed must adequate provision be made for the free and wholesome commingling of pupils in natural ways, and for the development among them of common social ideals, attitudes, and modes of procedure. Through the instrumentality of the stereopticon, the moving-picture, the victrola and the various agencies the pupils themselves develop within the school, invaluable supplementary educational training is secured. The Board of Education can do nothing more serviceable than to build and equip an addition to the present building expressly for auditorium purposes. The third deficiency in respect to the Junior High School building is the wholly inadequate — not to say, impossible — facil- ities provided for physical training, gymnastic work, and physical recreation. The room at present used for physical education is small, ill-ventilated, and poorly adapted for such purposes. De- spite these facts one has only to observe the work of this depart- ment to be convinced of the eagerness with which all classes of students turn towards it and of the physical and moral benefits to be derived therefrom. The state law, moreover, makes it obliga- tory on every city of 10,000 inhabitants to provide appropriate physical training for all its pupils. Grand Rapids could not, there- fore, if it would, legally neglect this side of the school work — and it certainly does not want to do so. Improved facilities, however, are almost imperative. It would, moreover, be a relatively simple matter to add to the present building a section that should give both the proper arrangement for auditorium exercises and for gymnastic work and physical training, together with the indis- pensable bathing facilities which the twentieth century demands — lockers, showers, tubs, and swimming pools. An arrangement copied, for example, somewhat after the plan employed at the South High School would be feasible and practicable. An alternative possibility (though of much less merit) ^ in improving the material situation in this school and in relieving over-crowded conditions, is that of removing from the building all existing general administrative school offices, the remodelling of the rooms thus vacated, and the rearrangement of doors, win- dows and hallways leading thereto. This plan, however, recom- mends itself solely on the score of immediate economy. To fol- low it would produce a make-shift of an improvement at best. Much wiser, seemingly, is the idea of doing the job correctly when it is done, and having no regrets. Continuous repairing is sometimes false economy. The matter of bettering the lighting facilities is a more 220 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN difficult one to handle. No doubt, however, a decided improve- ment in this respect can be suggested by the school architect, provided he is given ''free hand so to do." The material changes in the Junior High School building are needed at present to meet the wants of the Junior High School pupils. If, moreover, the Board shall act upon the suggestion already made, namely, ultimately to convert the entire building into a trade school catering to the demands of industry and com- merce and providing an extensive vocational education for the growing numbers of adolescents and adults who are looking to the public schools to furnish them the kind of training they find most necessary and beneficial to them, then an even more forceful reason is at hand for enlarging the material facilities and the scope of the school work to be included in this building. In considering, therefore, the accommodations for which the several schools of the city must make provision, the following items taken from the enrollment figures for the last six years are illuminating : TABLE XXXII Enrollment in Grand Rapids Schools — 1910-1915. Year 1910 1911 1912 ... 1913 1914 _ 1915 In view of the facts here presented — facts which show con- clusively that the enrollment in the grammar and high schools is constantly increasing and that the citizens are apparently both willing and desirous of providing enlarged and enriched facilities for their young people, and in view of the further fact that a re- cently enacted state law has extended the age of compulsory edu- cation to sixteen and has limited the hours of labor and the kinds of employment in which youths may be legally engaged at any time — in view of these facts it seems reasonable to expect that larger and larger numbers of young people will be retained in. the schools each succeeding year in the future. Coupled with these conditions is the almost universal agitation for a more complete, systematic education for all members of society irrespective of age, interest and life vocation — an agitation which seems destined to augment greatly both the members for whom schooling must be provided and also the variety of courses that must be organiz- ed to meet their needs. Such conditions will surely make it imperative that addi- Enrollment in En rollnient in Grammer Grades High Schools 5013 1813 5099 1844 5206 1896 5535 1979 5763 2107 2325 SECONDARY SCHOOLS 221 tional school buildings, increased school equipment, varied and enriched programs of study and curricula (particularly on the side of the practical or quasi-vocational subjects), and an en- larged teaching staff shall be planned for the future — even the im- mediate future — and that steps shall be taken so to distribute the inevitable augmentation of the school budget, incident to the ex- pansion and development of the school system, so that it shall not bear w^ith undue weight upon the taxpayers at any one period of time. It seems, therefore, highly desirable that the Board of Education should adopt a constructive, far-sighted building poli- cy at once, — a policy that shall provide immediately for such pressing needs as are clearly and distinctly apparent and for such expenditures each year in the future as exigencies may require and equity permit. The policy of allowing each principal considerable freedom in working out with his corps of teachers the program of reci- tations for his school is in accordance with common practice elsewhere. The freedom to determine the length of the recita- tion period, and incidentally the length of the school day, is less usual, but can be defended in logic. At the Union School recitation periods are forty-seven minutes in length ; at the Junior High they are fifty minutes (having been reduced from sixty minutes this semester) ; and at the Central High and the South High all periods — recitation, laboratory and shop — are sixty min- utes long. In all these schools, except the Union high, a portion of each period devoted to academic subjects is nominally given over to supervised or directed study of the newly assigned les- son. Theoretically this arrangement has the sanction of twen- tieth century pedagogy; actully it is questionable whether the arrangement is wisest. The sixty-minute class period certainly lends itself to easy administrative manipulation. Double periods arranged only for laboratory work once or twice per week, for shop work, for much of the commercial work and work in art are the worry of the program maker. Where the practice pre- vails it is almost impossible to devise class schedules for all pu- pils and to make them workable without inconvenience and an- noyance. Moreover, where double periods are in efi:ect there not infrequently is considerable dawdling and sheer waste of time on the part of many pupils, particularly at the beginning and end of the period. Where the sixty-minute period is in vogue pupils and teachers alike "speed up" and accomplish approximately the same amount of work as in the longer double period, and do it qualitatively as well. It is probable also that the fatigue point is not approximated nearly so often under the hour system as under the double period system, for the preventative of fatigue is 222 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN change. Certain it is that wherever the single period of sixty- minutes was observed in operation in Grand Rapids in connection with shop, laboratory and other practical work, naught but good impressions were left upon the observer. The sixty-minute recitation study period is, however, some- thing entirely different from the sixty-minute period devoted to manual manipulation. Many European countries, it is true, have for years past employed this unit for class recitations even for the lowest elementary school grades, and have seemed to be thoroughly satisfied with it. In general a part of the hour is given over frankly to relaxation. Furthermore the European school recitations is quite different in character from the ordinary one in America. There teacher and pupils devote the hour, quite generally, to a co-operative development of the topic under consideration. Text-books are few. Oral exposi- tion by the teacher and concerted thinking by both teachers and pupils are the rule. There is, in consequence, little need for in- dependent study when the class period is over. The entire period is in itself a study period — only such additional effort on the part of the pupils being put forth as will organize, clarify, and inten- sify the impressions already made. In Europe the teachers are expected to teach, not hear classes recite. Some teachers in the Grand Rapids high schools are capable of using the sixty-minute class periods in the profitable European manner, and do so. Most of them, however, do not so employ it, and it is doubtful if all could profitably do so, if given a free hand. Nevertheless, the so-called supervised study periods of ten or fifteen minutes as now employed in Grand Rapids do not in many instances seem to be justifying themselves. In only one in- stance in visiting the several schools was there observed any pre- tence at actual supervision of study. Moreover, teachers frank- ly acknowledged that they did not attempt to do so except oc- casionally. When the formal recitation period was past, pupils did, of course, open their books, and went through the form of studying the next day's assignment. In most instances, however, it was a perfunctory, performance, and must necessarily have been so, as the limit of time did not permit much more than a be- ginning of effort. In the meantime, teachers busied themselves at their desks, looked over papers, perused the next period's les- son, or attended to routine matters. The only form of supervi- sion that was carried on was to keep order, and some did not succeed well at that. Moreover, the suspicion was constantly arising in the mind of the observer that pupils who did devote themselves seriously to the task were frequently doing so on the supposition that the few minutes there given to the work would SECONDARY SCHOOLS 223 be all that would be necessary and all that would be demanded by the teacher. Hence, instead of encouraging concentration of effort for protracted intervals and a fair mastery of the lesson assignment, pupils were certainly placed in danger of developing habits of hurried, superficial, slip-shod modes of study. The criticisms directed to supervised study as it seemingly is erroneously styled and carried on in Grand Rapids, do not, however, condemn the entire scheme of sixty-minute periods. The administrative advantages alone will make its retention de- sirable. But a modification of the manner of using the hour surely is needed. The formal processes of learning or of study- ing are not so numerous nor so different among the several subjects or the several phases of the same subject as to make necessary the constant personal help of teachers for each individ- ual. Once the pupil has learned to concentrate, to analyze the problem set before him, to apply his past knowledge to new situ- ations, little more is needed or desirable on the part of the teacher than to allow him to exercise his powers. The art of economical effective study is a rare one even for adults, but the art of teach- ing others how best to study each particular lesson is a still more uncommon one. The danger lies in suggesting too much or too little, in carrying most of the burden for the pupil or in carrying none. In view of the weaknesses apparent in the administration of the scheme as it is, it seems wiser that the sixty-minute class per- iod be stripped of its positive requirements of supervised study each hour for a stated definite number of minutes and that in lieu thereof teachers be given freedom to employ the entire period for common class activities. The two most serious faults to be found among American teachers — faults observable not in- frequently in Grand Rapids — are the failure to knit the entire mass of the day's thought material into a compact unity before dismissing it from mind, and, second, the failure to make the new lesson assignment clear, definite, and truly vital. Classroom reci- tations and discussions are necessarily fragmentary, disjointed and unsystematized. It is, however, the chief function of the teacher to bring order and permanency of form out of the chaos of impressions, ideas, and responses. In the ideal recitation period each pupil contributes his quota of knowledge, sugges- tion, interpretation, opinion, and thought, and shares with his fellows and with the teacher the responsibility of developmg the topic that is before them — of clarifying the problem that is in- volved and of advancing it steadily to the point of solution. It is the business of the teacher not only to guide and direct the class activities, but also to supplement, illustrate, expound, and. 224 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN above all else, to unify. Hence the need for systematic summar- izing of accomplishments in each class period is apparent. In like manner, ample time should be taken for assigning the new lesson. How many minutes should be devoted to this part of the work the particular circumstances of the hour must determine. Rarely, however, is enough time or attention given to the task. Moreover, it is certain that the greater the thought and care that are employed in this manner, the less labored and more satisfactory will be the recitation work which follows later. Vague, generalized, formal assignments of lessons stamp the teacher as inefficient more positively, perhaps, than any other one test of merit. Yet the fault is fairly common among all teachers. Instead of imitating the successful business man who advertises his goods, makes his show windows attractive, and draws custom by the sheer force of stimulated curiosity, teachers are prone to let the material for study lie embedded in dull text- books, unmarked by any distinguishing placard, and undiscover- able except as blind chance leads the pupil to begin scratching the surface about it. In consequence of this unpedagogical mode of procedure pupils not infrequently come away from classes with little notion of what the real problem is which is set them, where- in lie the most significant aspects of it, what difficulties of attack beset them, and how they should most effectively proceed to master the work. The result is unintelligent effort, waste of time, and moral discouragement on the part of many pupils. A further result is failure to comprehend the thought in class the following day, lack of responsiveness, irritation with the teacher, growing dislike for, and indifference to, school work in general, and finally withdrawal from further attempts at any systematic education. It is certain that pupils frequently have failed to meet the stand- ards because they have not known clearly what was expected of them, nor how to proceed to the undertaking. No pattern was set before them, no device for whetting the interest was em- ployed with them, no motive for exerting their best efforts was instilled into them. They merely failed in their tasks because others who were supposed to know what was best to do had failed in their tasks. The above reflections are given not with the intent of con- demning any teacher in the Grand Rapids school system, but to emphasize the great need of stressing each day both the processes of unifying and of summarizing- what already has been studied and discussed in class and the necessity of opening vistas through the mass of new material presented and of motivizing the react- ions that are desired. Many teachers do these two things even un- der the present organization of the school work, but it seems rea- SECONDARY SCHOOLS 225 sonable to suppose that, if the brief study periods attached to each recitation hour were eliminated or improved, and if sympathetic supervision of the teachers is given (as at present) by principals and heads of departments, that a more uniform and satisfactory observance of these pedagogical practices would result. In place, then, of the brief, broken and, for the most part, unsupervised (i.e. unassisted) study periods following each recitation, two or three such periods of full 60 minutes each may well be substituted in the schedule of work for each pupil. It surely would be more econ- omical to employ a study-hall teacher who can simultaneously take charge of two hundred pupils, if need be, than for each teach- er in the system to devote one-fourth of her time to the task, particularly when the additional time may be profitably used for class teaching. Moreover, unless the several fifteen-minute study periods that are at present provided can readily be increased to double or triple their length by means of the double recitation period arrangement for all classes, better results, academically considered, can surely be expected by making the change. The sixty-minute class periods and the general organization and administration of the several high schools resulting there- from are also making for a desirable modification in the length of the school day. If the ideal be accepted that the public schools shall, as far as possible, not only prepare pupils for the conven- tionalities, relationships and activities, of the business and social life of the times, but shall also be so organized that they epi- tomize the world of adult life, then it follows that the habits of thought and of action demanded by the world of afifairs shall be implanted and developed in the institution selected by society for that purpose, namely the school. With business and indus- try rapidly being organized on the basis of an eight-hour laboring day, it surely seems anachronous to organize the school work on the basis of a much shorter working day. Not that any teach- er nor any pupil should be expected to devote the entire eight hours to exacting, uninterrupted, intellectual application. Pre- cisely at this point lies the danger of the proposed change, and it should be frankly recognized and avoided. The drain upon the physical and mental energy of a truly live enthusiastic teacher is unappreciated by any save those who have experienced the work. Five hours in the aggregate should surely constitute the maxi- mum daily assignment for any person, two hours of shop, labora- tory and supervising activities being considered the equivalent to one hour of purely classroom work. In like manner, pupils who carry five subjects requiring ex- tensive study and preparation outside the class period should be forbidden to elect additional work of a similar character. But 226 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN by arranging and administering the courses in physical training, art, music, and the industrial and commercial subjects so as to bring change and variety into the daily program, by distributing the periods of recitation, study, recreation, assembly meetings and manual activities, for both teachers and pupils, so that the fatigue point is not reached in any type of work, an eight-hour school day can not only be made possible but feasible and de- sirable. The officials of the school are earnestly advised to con- sider the inauguration of the plan. Just as a longer school day seems about to be accepted as an established policy in educational administration, so likewise an increase in the length of the school year is being made in many cities and towns in the land. Hitherto the added portions have not, it is true, been considered an integral part of the regular aca- demic year, but have been attached as auxiliary or supplementary work during the summer vacation. There is, however, much supporting evidence that the hour is at hand when the more pro- gressive school authorities are about to organize all public edu- cation on the basis of a continuous twelve-month course. The advantages of an arrangement of this kind are so obvious that it is truly strange the plan has not been adopted long before the pre- sent date. Just as the proposal for a longer school day does not contemplate that teachers or pupils shall be driven any more urgently or be burdened with heavier tasks than at present, but merely that a greater degree of flexibility of administration shall be secured for all and that the sum total of effort shall be dis- tributed throughout a longer period, so likewise the longer school year aims in no manner to impose uncompensated additional tasks upon either those who are teaching or those who are being taught. In all probability, a four-term arrangement of twelve weeks per term will appropriately be substituted for the pre- sent scheme of two semesters of eighteen or twenty weeks each. For those whose physical and mental strength and interest make it practicable and safe to remain in school throughout the four terms, opportunity will be provided ; for those who may desire or require a term's vacation annually, biennially, or less often, arrangements precisely as at present can be made. When consideration is given to the facts that for many pupils both of secondary and elementary school age the long summer vacation is both unneeded, if not positively detrimental, whether viewed from the standpoint of physical health, mental energy, or moral development ; that the present school law in Michigan absolutely forbids any one under the age of fifteen engaging in lucrative work even during the summer vacation period, and hence makes these months loafing times for many a SECONDARY SCHOOLS 227 boy and girl ; that pupils who have been forced to be out of school for considerable portions of time during the regular year and who have consequently failed to pass in some part of their school work, can find no better agency than the vacation school to help them gain standing again ; that ambitious pupils of robust health can easily gain sufficient additional credits in the vacation school to enable them to shorten their high-school course, often by one entire year ; that pupils who find difficulty in carrying successful- ly the customary four units of work per year, may, by pursuing only three subjects simultaneously in the regular year and sup- plementing these by work in the vacation school, still maintain their full class standings ; that many pupils have, in cities in Avhich vacation schools have been maintained, voluntarily and eagerly enrolled for the work, partly, no doubt, because of the op- portunities provided therein for social, recreational, and athletic intercourse, as well as partly for the sake of the personal academic advantages to be derived ; that many teachers welcome the chance to increase their annual income through engaging in vacation school work; and that the continuous employment of school buildings is vastly more economical to the taxpayers than to have them closed for two or three months — consideration of these facts, involving, as they do, numerous advantages both social and personal for the city, certainly argue strongly for the establish- ment of vacation schools in a city situated and populated as is Grand Rapids. If it seems to the Board of Education not feasi- ble at the outset to make such schools an integral part of the regular school year, the establishment of them as supplementary undertakings is thoroughly Justifiable and highly commendable. The recommendation is, therefore, earnestly made that provision for high-school work (as well as elementary-school work) be made during the summer vacation months for the children and youths of Grand Rapids. The further recommendation is made that morning sessions only be held, thus preserving to pupils a daily half holiday and freeing them from forced application dur- ing the portions of the days most apt to be sultry and hot. A still additional recommendation is that the recreation facilities of the schools — particularly the outdoor facilities such as the athletic fields and play grounds — and the shower baths be made as available to the youths and adult residents of the city in vaca- tion time as during any other period of the year. One further phase of the general educational situation found in Grand Rapids calls for brief comment, but comment by way of commendation only rather than by way of critical suggestions. This pertains to the spirit of co-operation and the plan for mutual constructive study, by the several high-schooh principals, of the 228 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN entire administrative problems relating to secondary education in the city. The principals' meetings, wherein are threshed over and w^innowed the w^heat and the chaff of business incident to the conduct of the schools, not only largely explains the harmony that, in general, characterizes the work of all the administrators, but bespeaks for the future continued growth in the efffciency of the schools, obtained (as it should be obtained) under conditions varying with each school and each principal, but natural and ap- propriate to each separate organization. In like manner the several types of associations or teachers organizations within the several buildings are highly commend- able, — the faculty meetings, the departmental staff meetings, the meetings of heads of departments. All these indicate that self- analysis and self-improvement (so far as the school as an institu- tion is concerned) are dominating characteristics of the officers and teachers throughout the secondary school system, and that the efficiency and work of the schools, as a whole, are their im- pelling thoughts. Finally the type of printed bulletins, reports, courses of study and other matter designed to make significant to patrons and pupils the purposes, organization, and work of the schools is of the best. Clear, brief, intelligible are words that characterize them all — the Superintendent's Annual Report, the bulletins of information, the records, cards and similar material. The Junior High Schools. Grand Rapids is at present in the midst of a transition period in school organization. Although the work of the seventh and eighth grades is still provided in numerous ward or elementary- school buildings, much of it has been taken away from its tradi- tional settings and is being organized under the form and the name of secondary education. A portion of the work thus trans- ferred is being combined with the work of the ninth grade and is being offered in a building separate and distinct from all other school work. This building is styled the Junior High School. The remainder of the work thus removed from the ward buildings is not so completely segregated from the upper grades but never- theless is sufficiently isolated to warrant treating it as part of the junior high school. It is therefore the purpose of this section of the survey to deal with the work of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades wherever they are apart from the six lower grades of the school system, and the expression "junior high schools" has been selected to include all such separate forms of organiza- tion. As thus described, the junior high-school organization in SECONDARY SCHOOLS 229 Grand Rapids is certainly justifying itself. The fact that within five years the enrollment in one school — the segregated junior high school — has increased from 435 pupils and a teaching force of 13 teachers in September 1911 to an enrollment of over 800 pupils and a teaching stafif of 33 in April, 1916, is highly signifi- cant. Moreover, when the further fact is noted that a very large per cent of the increase in numbers since 1911 consists of boys, the evidence is strong that the junior high-school org^anization is accomplishing one of the greatest services schools are designed to accomplish, namely, making education so attractive and con- sciously beneficial that youths will continue in the schools for as long a period of time as their physical strength, mental capacities and economic resources will permit. The statistics pertaining to the other two schools in which the seventh and eighth grades are organized as junior high-school grades tend to bear out the same conclusions. The increased at- tendance at the Union School and the South School has been al- most phenomenal. At the Union School, too, the number of boys exceeds the number of girls and has done so for the last few years. Even in the graduating class this fact holds true, there being in the graduating class of 1916 eighty-one pupils, of whom forty-five are boys and thirty-six are girls. In variety and range of the subject-matter offered in the junior high-school grades, a notable advantage over the undif- ferentiated elementary-school work is secured. Here many types of interests are taken into account — academic, manual training, domestc science, artistic and commercial. As the schools continue to develop, additional forms of work or at least more differentiated courses of the work at present ofifered, will doubt- less be provided. Yet in the face of the facts that the organization of the work of the junior high schools is considerably different from the traditional forms in which seventh and eighth-grade work has been cast, still some strange, almost anomalous, conditions are met with here. The conviction is deep and strong that while the ideal of a thoroughly reorganized, modernized, psychologized school has been sought in modifying the work of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades, many of the elements and characteristics that seem to be absolute essentials to a completely formulated junior high school are either lacking entirely or else have been put into operation in a very inconspicuous manner. A vision of the ''school of tomorrow" has undoubtedly been had by the au- thorities and administrators of public education in Grand Rapids, but it is equally clear that many old-time traditional forms and practices (some of which are educationally questionable, others 230 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN of which are educationally obsolete) are holding tenaciously in administrative procedure. What is distinctively needed, there- fore, in the junior high-school w^ork in Grand Rapids, is an effort to carry through to completion the reforms that have already been so wq\\ begun. In particular, it is very certain that there is not in operation in the junior high schools the degree of administrative flexibility that the democratic ideal of the twentieth century extols, nor that the economic, industrial and social conditions of Grand Rapids require. Especially is this noticeable in reference to those pupils who belong to the group of the intellectually slow or non-literary people and to those whose educational careers are in all probabil- ity to be terminated at a relatively early date. In other words, whatever flexibility is provided operates to the greatest advan- tage of those who need it least, for those whose school courses are projected some distance into the future and who are definitely planning them, albeit there is also some need in Grand Rapids for more careful attention to the interests of the supernormal pu- pils. The dominant idea that underlies the reorganization of the seventh and eighth grades of tradition is that of providing differ- entiated school work to meet the peculiar needs of the differ- entiated individuality that characterizes the age of early adoles- escence, and not, as heretofore, to prescribe the same cultural elements for all ahke. In other words, the true purpose of the junior high school is to furnish a testing-place and a testing-time wherein each boy and girl may be led to discover for himself or herself the really dominant and abiding elements of his or her personal strength, and, once having found these sources of happi- ness and service, to be assisted in developing them to the fullest possible degree which time and circumstances will permit. The junior high school, under this view, is therefore a school which aims to serve the needs of youths while they are passing through the transition stage of rather complete school dependence to rather complete school independence. It seeks to close the gap that heretofore has yawned between the elementary school and the high school, and it seeks to do this by providing a three-year period in which gradually to make the adjustments necessitated by the changes in subject-matter, methods, and administration that are incident to the change in schools. The new ideal con- templates a rather complete modification of the traditional pro- gram of studies, the organization of differentiated curricula, some freedom of choice by the pupils of the subject-matter to be studied, provision for the differentiation of work among differ- ent class sections pursuing the same subject, comparative ease of SECONDARY SCHOOLS 231 transition from one course to another, much attention to individ- ual aptitudes and individual limitations, and emphasis upon gen- eral principles of knowledge concretely developed rather than upon isolated elementary facts, on the one hand, or abstract, specialized knowledge, on the other. The junior high schools in Grand Rapids, as already implied, meet these standards only in part. The detailed analysis that follow seek to justify this con- tention. Consider first the subject of English. Most leaders of thought dealing with the teaching of the vernacular language and literature are a unit in the belief that detailed and exhaustive courses in formal English grammar — particularly during the early years of school life — are a waste of much precious time for both teachers and pupils alike, discouraging and distasteful re- quirements for many types of youths, and to a large degree fail- ures in effecting the ends for which they are designed and pre- sented. The true aim of the teaching of English in the junior high school, as elsewhere in the school system, is to develop the power of clear, forceful, facile, and pleasing expression of thought, both oral and written; to stimulate the taste for good literature and the power to interpret it fairly when read ; and to give a know- ledge of worthy masterpieces in literature and the power to dis- criminate wisely among the mass of contemporary writings of our own day. It is doubtful if formal grammar serves as the best means for developing the ideals that are sought in the work of English, particularly when taught as an isolated subject consid- erably apart from its concrete connection with daily human expression and current readings. As presented by many teach- ers, it is treated as an end in itself, not as a means to a more noteworthy end. The true way to acquire habits of correct oral and written speech and the power to analyze the thought of lit- erary selections is by speaking, writing and analyzing repeatedly and doing so under the stress of current needs or real motives, not in a formal, abstract manner under circumstances that are artificial and forced. In like manner the way to develop refined taste and true appreciation of literature is by the repeated study of works of literary merit, following always however the univer- sally accepted pedagogical law of proceeding slowly and grad- ually from the child's immediate interests to the interests of more mature life, and providing constantly for variety of form and subject-matter in the studies that are presented. Although in the junior high-school work in Grand Rapids these ideals and maxims are acknowledged in theory, they are not actually put into operation in practices so fully as seems desir- able. Throughout the seventh and eighth grades formal English 232 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN grammar is prescribed for every pupil, except indeed, the few whose linguistic attainments have been sufficiently satisfactory to permit them to be enrolled in courses in Latin or German. Even then, however, fifty per cent of the time allotment is ex- pected to be used for work in English grammar. Except at the South High School, every pupil of the seventh and eighth grades, whether possessed of literary interests or not, whether his stay in school is destined to be brief or prolonged, is required to devote five periods per week to grammar coupled with composition work and work of oral expression. In addition, except at the South High School, supplementary work to the extent of three, four or five periods per week are prescribed for reading, spelling, and writing, in the ratios of 3:1:1. Approximately eight or ten periods, therefore, of the usual allotment of twenty-five (except at the South High School) are taken up with what may be styled work in English. Much of the teaching of grammar that was observed was good, and pupil responses not infrequently were highly credit- able. Nevertheless, for many students, it was evident that the subject was of little interest and of doubtful profit. They pursued it because they were forced to pursue it, but evinced a spirit that betokened a withdrawal from school as soon as the power of the compulsory school law was lifted. In like manner, much of the "Reading" was truly a study of literature for its content value, but in as many instances the aim seemed to be to stress form and fluency only — and even this was not well done in some of the classrooms visited. Moreover, there was little freedom accorded the teacher in the selection of the material to be studied. Elsen's Third and Fourth Readers are, assuredly, text-books of merit, but much of the material they contain is unappealing to many stu- dents. The wonderful riches of some of America's magazines of today, a few of the worth-while contemporary books of adven- ture, fiction, biography, history, and description, and some of the excellently arranged supplementary school readers certainly ought not to be excluded from the course nor be forbidden, or un- known, to the teachers and class, — an ideal which, happy to say, an occasional teacher of English in the junior high school grades has already, though perhaps unofficially, sought to realize. Educational theorists have for some time contended that six years devoted to the formal aspects of reading, writing and spell- ing are sufficient to give to all normal children the fundamentals of those arts, and that whatever additional training is provided should be secured incidentally in connection with the teaching of content studies. Why Grand Rapids, in view of these estab- lished theories, should continue to so large a degree to adhere SECONDARY SCHOOLS 233 to traditional practices is not clear. While stressing so much the formal aspect of English there surely is a diminution of time available for the content side. Moreover, the question persistent- ly arises : Are ten periods (or even seven or eight periods) per week devoted to English in all its phases the best possible distri- bution of time for all types of mind, or even for the majority of pupils of the two grades under consideration? May not the policy of allowing certain pupils of keen language interests to substitute Latin or German for formal English grammar be a wise policy to adopt (the work to be substituted being altered) for other types of pupils, that is, for those who do not profit greatly by any formal language study? May not, in concrete, a course in busi- ness English, shop English, conversational English, magazine English, or a course embodying elements from all such fields, be fittingly employed more freely than at present? Undeniably one's own vernacular language and literature are pre-eminently important for each person. Hence some type of a course in English should be pursued by every pupil in every grade in the junior high school. But it is seriously questioned whether much of the oflferings and prescriptions in English in most of the junior high schools of Grand Rapids is the best and wisest. What a large number of seventh and eighth grade pupils will find most valuable, there is evidence to believe, is a course in which literary selections are largely taken from current writings dealing with science, nature, industry, travel, biography, history, current events, social questions, stories and fiction, and in which the expressional w^ork, both oral and written, is based upon, and motivized by, the impressions gained through the study of such selections and through the common everyday experiences of life. True development in language power comes from having some- thing to say and a motive for saying it forcefully, fittingly, and understandingly. It appears, therefore, convincing that much of the work in English in the seventh and eighth grades needs to be analyzed critically and reorganized sympathetically. The teach- ers of Grand Rapids have in the past worked out co-operatively some very satisfactory courses of study. It would be advan- tageous if they should undertake anew a revision of the woik in English. Similarly, the organization of the work in mathematics in the junior high schools is not in full accord with present-day psy- chological and sociological theories, nor with the practices of many of the most progressive schools of America and of foreign lands. Except for a small group of pupils of superior mathe- matical ability, the offering in this subject are confined entirely to arithmetic, and, nominally at least, to the formal, more or less 234 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN unvitalized arithmetic of the typical text-book kind. In some classes, it is true, supplementary arithmetical work of a concrete, practical character is presented, but it is introduced more or less unauthoratatively, is in the form of additional work, not substi- tute work, and, at most, is given apparently a rather inconspic- uous place in the program. Here, again, flexibility of administration of the school oper- ates for the benefit of those who need it least. The youths who do well in formal mathematics, who are planning to continue their schooling in the senior high school and perchance in college, are allowed to enter upon the study of algebra a year or a half year earlier than they naturally would under the old traditional ar- rangement. The youth who has little interest in mathematics and who perhaps is not especially proficient in the subject is kept droning over the same type of material which he has sought to work through since almost his first entrance into school life. Why sucji an individual should be forced to thresh over old straw when it is apparent the effort is yielding little profit or re- turns is an unanswered question. To reiterate a statement which has once before been made in this report, the ideal of the junior high school is to provide a testing-place for pre-adolescent boys and girls who are seeking to discover themselves. Striking in- dividual differences are, known to characterize the young people of this stage of development. The demand on the schools, then, is to provide for these differences — just as surely and effectively for the ones who have brief educational careers before them or are not distinctively literary minded, as for those with a long school course ahead of them or who are particularly interested in tradional school materials. It is true, principals have the au- thority of excusing from the specifically outlined courses of study such pupils as are found to be wholly unsuited to pursue them, but the power is exercised very infrequently. Only the unusually retarded and exceedingly undeveloped pupil is thus irregularly classified. Provision in which the uniform prescriptions are wholly ignored or radically modified for entire sections of pupils is unknown. Moreover, v/hy the simpler processes of algebra — in partic- ular the knowledge and use of the simple algebraic equation — are denied any pupils whatever in the seventh and eighth grades is surely inexplicable. Why the beauties of form and the graphical representations of space as revealed in constructive geometry are never, or rarely, made a part of the instruction in these grades is mystifying. Practical mathematicians have repeately urged the advantages of the more elementary and fundamental portions of these two branches of mathematics over much of the arithmetical SECONDARY SCHOOLS 235 material that is incorporated in our school work. Teachers and administrators of experience have many times discovered the fact that pupils inapt and dull in dealing with relatively complicated arithmetical processes and problems have entered with avidity upon the study of algebra or geometry and have shown unexpect- ed ability in the new work. And yet, in spite of these established facts, the school authorities in Grand Rapids adhere to the policy of withholding these subjects from pupils of the seventh and eighth grades until after they have completed the customary stated amount of formal arithmetic in those grades. On the other hand, the authorities swing to the equally indefensible extreme of absolutely prescribing an entire year's work in algebra for every pupil before he completes the junior high-school course and before he is admitted to full senior high-school rank. Absolutely to require algebra of all ninth-grade pupils is a survival of tradi- tional practices and can not be justified in a secondary school system designed by a democratic society to meet the practical, educational and social needs of young people of all types of mind and many kinds of vocational interest. A complete over-hauling and reorganization, therefore, of the course in mathematics in the junior high school is imperatively needed, and is earnestly recom- mended. The teaching of Latin and German in the seventh and eighth grades is commendable. Foreign language study as a field of youthful exploration surely demands a place in a school that aims to serve as an institution of introductory secondary training. It is a well-accepted pedagogical principle that the most appro- priate time in which to begin the pursuit of a foreign language is in the earlier years of life, before marked self-consciousness has become an inhibitory factor in expression and before sensitive- ness to the misuses of the conventional forms of speech is acute. Foreign language study should not be substituted, however, for the single course in English recommended above, but should be an elective subject for such pupils as may, after consultation with teachers and principal, decide to select it. Moreover, since the dominant purposes of the elementary courses in language study is to test linguistic capacity, the work should be made as inviting as that of any other elective subject. It is therefore doubtful if school credit should be withheld from pupils who pursue the sub- ject one year and then discontinue it for reasons that are peda- gogically satisfactory. To do so discourages the timid student, though possessing unknown language interests, from electing the courses at all, and encourages the mediocre pupil, who some- what early in the work discovers his inaptitude for it, to continue his unprofitable efforts for the sake of insuring the little credit 236 SCHOOL SURVE\:, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN he has already conditionally earned. Persistency of application and continuity of undertaking are assuredly qualities of habit formation that need to be cultivated in the schools, liut there is no great educational value in continued and continuing defeat. ''Nothing succeeds like success" is a maxim venerable by age, but the opposite statement is equally true, that Nothing fails like failure. Schoolmen need to appreciate this fact, and while not making the irregular transition from course to course an easy transition, yet they should not penalize too heavily the one who, for valid reasons, finds such change conducive to his best inter- ests. In fact there is much to be said in favor of a general course in foreign language in the seventh and eighth grades, the same as a general course is fashioned in science or mathematics or any other subject. Few, if any, pupils know, or can know, with any degree of certainty whether it would be wiser in their parti- cular cases to pursue Latin or German or French or Spanish. A course that should extend over two years and should open vistas of thought and knowledge respecting the country, the people, the civilization, the language, the literature, the history, of each of the four nations of Rome, Germany, France and Spain, would, logically and psycholoj^ically considered, have much merit. The dabbling for two years in each of several languages has been the weakness of much of our educational administration respecting language study. What is demanded is the reduction of the period of dabbling to the lowest valuable minimum, and the extension of the period of continuity of study to the longest realizable maximum. A two-year general linguistc course in the seventh and eighth grades w^ould effect the first desideratum ; the building upon this course for four or more additional years — if language study were to be continued at all — would eflfect the second ideal. The idea here advanced does not, of course, contemplate a five months' course in each of the four languages. What is advocated is rather a course about foreign languages and the peoples who use them than a course in several foreign languages. Such a course would seek to adduce facts of geography, history, litera- ture, beliefs, customs, and institutions of the several foreign nations and to focus these on the question of language. The work should, for the most part, be conducted in English, with in- cidental iise of foreign terms and expressions by way of illustra- tions, and should make extensive use of maps, pictures, charts, lantern slides and blackboards. The aim of such a course would be to enable pupils to know — as well as such a course could lead them to know — the essential differences and striking character- istics of form to be found within the several languages, the pur- pose and significance of foreign language study in general, and SECONDARY SCHOOLS 237 in what respects each particular language possesses advantages over the other languages as a subject of formal study for high schools, if any pupil should elect later to pursue a course in for- eign language study intensively. Furthermore, a course of this type might be expected to yield some power of appreciation of the culture and civilization of foreign peoples — the chief, though often unrealized, end of more extensive foreign language courses in senior high schools and colleges. The time allotment of such a course might properly be twice per week. A course of this kind is confessedly open to the criticism that it is not primarily a course in foreign language, but is historico- sociological material. That criticism, however, holds equally validly with regard to a large portion of the material which enters into nearly every course in foreign language study in schools and colleges. The distinctive merit of a general course over the typical traditional introductory course in foreign language study is its frank acknowledgement of emphasis upon content values rather than form values. The object of the course would, there- fore, be realized if pupils who pursued it were guided fittingly in selecting, or omitting to elect, formal courses in language study later in their high-school years. Moreover, to make a course of this kind at all profitable would necessarily call for the services of no immature person as teacher, but one who has trav- elled extensively, studied deeply, and lived broadly. Such per- sons would not easily be found, but they are procurable. The en- tire idea, though perhaps novel, is not wholly idealistic. It has its prototype in certain ''appreciation courses" to be found in sev- eral schools of the United States. Nevertheless, the idea is ad- vanced not as a recommendation for permanent adoption but as a plan for a promising experiment. The measurable results of its operation would give justification for its retention or give warrant for its abandonment. Should any youths discover their true language bent before the completion of the course as planned they most assuredly should be permitted to pursue formally the language of their choice. The work in history in the junior high school grades also needs revision. It certainly is doubtful whether ancient history in the ninth grade is the most inviting, valuable or appropriate course for pupils of that stage of development. "Ancient Mis- ery" as one pupil styled it, it certainly is for many young people. The events described are so remote in point of time, the treat- ment of the topics is frequently so needlessly and discouragingly detailed, and the articulation of the subject-matter is so often so loosely made with the present-day interests of boys and girls that the subject makes little or no gripping appeal to large numbers of 238 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN them. Moreover, the ninth grade is a grade so critical for school mortality that wisdom would seem to dictate that whatever work in history is offered here should be organized with the thought pre-eminently in mind of interesting pupils and developing in them a love for historical study. In place, then, of ancient history with its many unsatisfying and unsatisfactory results a course that may fittingly be styled elementary) social science may with wisdom be substituted. Such a course should aim to connect the pupil intimately and con- sciously with the institutional forms about him and to make him sensitive to the contemporary demands of society upon individ- uals, and conversely with the influence that individuals are daily exerting in modifying institutional and social agencies and pro- cesses. Such a course might appropriately begin with a study of local history as it is related to world history of the last cen- tury; might build on this foundation an elementary knowledge of political economy and commercial and industrial history and sociology; and culminate in a survey of the political, industrial and cultural activities and agencies of Grand Rapids. Through- out the course stress should surely be laid on the question of vo- cational choices and vocational guidance in much the same man- ner in which work of this nature is at present so admirably done throughout the school system. Precisely as in respect to the other introductory courses ad- vocated in this report, the successful administration of a course like the one sketched here will require that no novice or young college graduate be placed in charge of it. The judicious teaching of history at any stage in the school calls for a relative maturity of judgment and an experience with the world of social inter- course which few persons under the age of twenty-five can possi- bly have acquired. What particularly is needed at this period of the pupils' development is a teacher whose chief concern, to paraphrase a much-used thought, is to teach boys and girls and not merely the subject-matter of the books. Undoubtedly the elementary course in United States History and Government in the. eighth grade is fittingly placed where it is. In a system of schools that is supported by the state emphasis should surely be placed on the development of the intelligent and law-abiding citizen. Little argument, therefore, is needed to justify the inclusion of a systematic course in the history of our own country. The correlation, too, of history and geography in the seventh grade is clearly feasible. The one serious criticism that might be directed to the organ- ization of the history work of the seventh and eighth grades is that no provision is made for the presentation or study of the SECONDARY SCHOOLS 239 great, significant world movements of all time, nor for the sys- tematic study of the notable human characters who have played their parts therein. True it is that biographical studies do con- stitute a part of the offerings in the earlier years of a pupil's schooling in Grand Rapids but in the nature of the case they can, below the seventh grade, include little else than the more strik- ing characteristics of personalty and the more simple events in the lives of heroes and heroines. Biographical studies as an agency for revealing the great revolutionizing, social forces that have been operating in world history since its beginning, must necessarily be deferred to a somewhat later period. At twelve or thirteen years of age, however, pupils have reached the stage when they are intensely interested in human beings not only as human beings, but also as authors and interpreters of social pro- cesses. Here, then, is a time in which historical studies centering about notable men and women can have a Avonderfully appealing influence. Moreover, unless pupils of this age are given the op- portunity to get acquainted with the great significant human movements of the entire past, many of them, because of their withdrawals from school, will never learn of them in any sys- tematic way. It seems reasonable, therefore, to urge that instead of devoting so long a period as three semesters, with some por- tions also of another semester, to United States History in the seventh and eighth grades, that a course in world history through biography be provided. This could well be placed in the second half-year of the seventh grade or possibly in the first half-year of this grade. Within the course biographical studies and corre- lated social events like the following might w^ell be included (without intending to be either dogmatic or complete in the sel- ection of topics) : Khufu, Nebuchadnezzar, Solomon, Cyrus the Great, Xerxes, Confucius, Lycurgus, Pericles and the Golden Age of Greece, Cincinnatus, Hannibal, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Augus- tus Caesar, Alaric, St. Benedict, Mohammed, Charles the Great, Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Robert Bruce, Joan of Arc, Frederick Barbarossa, Peter the Hermit, Lorenzo de Medici, Marco Polo, Martin Luther, Queen Elizabeth, Philip H of Spain, William the Silent, Mary Queen of Scots, Gustavus Adolphus, Cromwell, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, and Bismarck. The importance of the study of history in a civilization such as ours is today and the disfavor in which the subject is at present held by many pupils in the schools gives warrant for experimen- tation in the work wherever it can be done. Wherever courses similar to the one advocated here have been provided many fav- orable results have been obtained, as witness for example the work in Berkeley, California. The recommendation is, therefore, 240 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN that principals be authorized to test the merits of the plan if oc- casion permits and conditions favor. Elementary Science, in the most wonderful scientific and in- dustrial age of the world's history, should need little argument to justify its claim for a conspicuous and permanent place in the curriculum of a school that professes to be (as has repeatedly been said) a school for laying foundations in differentiated know- ledge and powers. A course of this kind has recently — second semester 1914-15 — been put in operation in the Grand Rapids sys- tem. However, in two of the schools it is allotted but two class periods per week; is, in the third school, planned for a single semester's election ; and is generally available only for those pupils who have completed the first half of the eighth grade and have passed all subjects therein with term grades not lower than "G" — the second highest grade given in the school system. Here, again, is seen the operation of the principle already several times pointed out as being in effect in Grand- Rapids, that "he that hath, to him shall be given : and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." The youth who is in- terested in things, who is eager for something concrete and tan- gible, who yearns for that which is different from the linguistic, arithmetic, grammatic studies, and who perchance does not sus- tain himself especially well in the work of those branches is re- pressed, discriminated against, and not permitted to test his capa- city and strength in what might prove to be the most attractive and profitable field of all for him. Grand Rapids needs therefore to expand, liberalize and popularize the course in general science in the junior high school and make it available, if not compulsory, for all pupils in regular standing in the eighth grade. Particular- ly does the industrial character of the city make such a course one of the minimum essentials of the training of all its future citizens. The work in physiology as at present given is exceedingly lacking in uniformity and in seriousness of presentation. Merely to make it a reading lesson in connection with the w^ork in Eng- lish, as it is in several of the sections, is to take from it its dignity as well as much of its worth. Especially true is this statement when the reading lesson in conducted almost solely for the sake of formal values and with little attention to the content side of what is read. The work should either be given over entirely to the director of physical training, or be incorporated in the course in elementary science. If it is to be taught by the several teach- ers of reading as at present it certainly should be raised to a high- er plane of worth and merit. The work provided in manual training and domestic science SECONDARY SCHOOLS 241 and arts, is adequate and calls for no especial comment. The plan of giving each boy and each girl an elementary acquaintance with four aspects of the two general lines of work respectively (woodworking, machine shop, forge or metal work, and printing for the boys ; and sewing, cooking, millinery, and household de- signing for the girls) is an arrangement that is in perfect har- mony with the ideals of what the character and functions of a junior high school are. The flexibility of administration of the various divisions of the work and of the several sections of pupils in each is highly commendable. In like manner the provision for special, short-time, or intensified courses in printing, commercial work, manual arts, and other school subjects to meet the needs of pupils with peculiar school interests and limited economic re- sources is to be approved. The single recommendation that is to be made respecting the administration of such work is that the authority to enroll pupils in the several more or less irregu- lar courses be exercised by principals, not necessarily more fre- quently than at present but perhaps more willingly and less reluctantly, whenever the circumstances of individual pupils seem to warrant granting deviations from the standard arrangements. Whether, too, pupils in the eighth grade in all the schools and not alone at the Union School, ought not to be permitted to elect some work in the commercial department — at least to the extent of testing out their interests in this field the same as in any other — is a fair question to raise. There seems to be no valid reason why they should not do so, and, indeed, several positive arguments why they should. In the first place commercial work well taught possesses unique educational value of its own, the same as any other subject; secondly, the opportunity^ to elect a single course in commercial work each term of the seventh and eighth grades would tend to retain in school some who otherwise would possibly withdraw when occasion permitted ; and thirdly, it would enable some pupils to lay the foundations for specific vocational Work while continuing to pursue somewhat longer a generally cultural course. It is, therefore, recommended that the school authorities organize the work so as to make some courses in commercial branches elective to pupils below th^ ninth grade in all the junior high schools. The work in music and art, though somewhat limited in amount for the pupil in the general course, is doubtless adequate considering the demand of other subjects. In the department of art in particular the instruction is chiefly of an individual char- acter and hence pupils may advance as far and as rapidly as their several talents permit. All factors considered, the program of studies provided for 242 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN the junior high schools of Grand Rapids is as varied and exten- sive as can usually be found in a city of approximately one hun- dred and twenty thousand people, and, so far as the range of offering is concerned, it is about as suited to local needs as the economic resources will permit. The chief defect is, as stated at the outset of this section of the report, too little flexibility of ad- ministration. The reorganization and readaptation which Grand Rapids has gradually been introducing during the past several years has not gone forward either sufficiently far or sufficiently rapidly. The interests and desires of the fortunate few who have pretty definitely selected their courses in school and perchance in life, and those Avho have rather superior intellectual ability on the whole are well and adequately provided for. The youths Vv^ho possess no decided bent in life and who are striving desper- ately to discover themselves, those who are somewhat indifferent to the traditional offerings of the school and yet are decidedly not stupid nor lazy, and those who are perhaps of mediocre in- tellectual ability and yet are sufficiently ambitious to seek to attain to an education commensuate, at least, with high-school graduation — for all these types the administration of the program of studies works not infrequently to a disadvantage. The pro- visions already made for the accelerant groups and for the retard- ed groups should be continued, but similar attention should be given to the peculiar individual needs as they are discoverable among the great mass of normal pupils. For the sake of comparisons there are inserted here the programs of study for the intermediate schools (junior high schools) as they are in operation in several cities of the country. Solvay, N. Y., Intermediate Schools 7th and 8th Grades Open to All Pupils Who Have Finished the 6th Grade ACADEMIC COURSE (Modern Language) ( Composition — oral and written Formal English j Grammar ( Good usage Literature German Arithmetic and introductory mathematics 7th grade Algebra and geometry (Introductory) 8th grade Physiology and nature study 7th grade Biology 8th grade American and current history Commercial and industrial geography Practical and household arts Gymnasium Drawing (Appreciation) Music Penmanship SECONDARY SCHOOLS 243 BUSINESS COURSE ( Reading Formal English j Spelling ( Grammar and composition Literature Commercial arithmetic and bookkeeping Physiology and science 7th grade Biology 8th grade American and current history Commercial and industrial geography Typewriting Practical and household arts Drawing and appreciation Music Gymnasium for girls Penmanship ACADEMIC COURSE (English) Writing- Appreciation — reading selected stories Oral and written composition English i Memory selections Correct usage Technical grammar Spelling Arithmetic: applications of percentage and mensuration Physiology and nature study American history. Preparation to pass regents' examinations Commercial and industrial geography and review of geography for regents' examinations Manual training and mechanical drawing Household science Formal English Open to Pupils 125^ Years Old PRACTICAL ARTS For Boys Reading .Spelling- Grammar and good usage Composition, oral and written Literature (Appreciation) Arithmetic and mechanical drawing Physiology and general science American and current history Commercial and industrial geography Shop Music Penmanship 244 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Formal Eno^lish HOUSEHOLD ARTS COURSE For Girls Reading Spelling Grammar Composition Literature Arithmetic Physiology and general science American and current history Commercial and industrial geography applied to household management Drawing and appreciation Music Cooking Sewing Gymnasium Penmanship VOCATIONAL COURSE IN GENERAL INDUSTRY For Boys Formal English Reading Spelling Grammar Composition Arithmetic and mechanical drawing American history Commercial and industrial geography (alternate years) Shop drawing Shop practice VOCATIONAL COURSE IN HOME MAKING For Girls Formal English Reading Spelling Grammar Composition Applied arithmetic and bookeeping History Industrial geography and textiles Citizenship and hygiene Plain sewing and dressmaking- Cooking Home furnishing and decoration Costume design and millinery design Household economics. Household science Home nursing Music Physical training SECONDARY SCHOOLS 245 READJUSTMENT YEAR 9th Grade. PREPARATORY COURSES. Formal English 3-3 Literature 2-2 German 5-5 Introductory mathematics 2-2 Biology 5-5 Current history 2-2 Drawing 4-2 First column refers to number of 40-minute periods per week. Second column refers to school credits. 21 (Regents' counts, 16 or 17.) The work of the 7th and 8th grades of the Academic Modern Language and Mathematics Course may be accepted in place of the 1st year high school or 9th grade work of this course. 2-1 3-1 COMMERCIAL COURSE. Formal English Literature General science 3-3 2-2 5-5 Typewriting Penmanship Current history 2-2 Elementary bookkeeping 5-5 19K' The work of the 7th and 8th grades of the Business Course may be accepted in place of the 1st year high school or 9th grade work of this course. PRACTICAL ARTS. Formal English 3-3 Mechanical drawing 4-2 Literature 2-2 Shop 8-4 Mathematics (Shop) 2-2 Current history 2-2 20 General science 5-5 The work of the 7th and 8th grades of the Practical Arts course may be accepted in place oi the 1st year high school or 9th grade work of this course. HOUSEHOLD ARTS. 5-3 4-2 20 The work of the 7th and 8th grades of the Household Arts Course may be accepted in place of the 1st year high school or 9th grade work of this course. Formal English 3-3 Dressmaking Literature 2-2 Drawing Current history 2-2 General science 5-5 Cooking 5-3 246 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS— LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. Course of Study for Term Beginning September, 1912. GENERAL COURSE— REQUIRED SUBJECTS Seventh Year English 5 Arithmetic 5. Geography, B7 5 History, A7 5 Physical Training 1 Music 2 Drawing 2 Penmanship 2 Manual Training: Girls: Cooking 2 Sewing 2 Boys: Wood- work 4 Eighth Year English 5 History and Civics 5 Physical Training 2 Oral English, B8 2 Music, A8 2 Physiology and Hygiene 2 Manual Training: Girls: Cooking ? Sewing 2 Boys: Wood- work 4 Ninth Year English 5 Physical Training ^ Music or oral English 2 ELECTIVE SUBJECTS Select 1 of the fol- lowing: French 5 German 5 Spanish 5 Latin 5 Bookkeeping 5 Stenography 5 Note: Two lang- uages may be select- ed only by permis- sion. Select 2 of the fol- lowing: French 5 German 5 Spanish 5 Latin 5 Bookkeeping 5 Stenography 5 Mathematics: Arithmetic, B8 5 Algebra, AS 5 Drawing: Freehand or Mechanical 5 Select 3 of the fol- lowing: French, German, Spanish or Latin 5 Bookkeeping 5 Stenography 5 Algebra 5 Com. Arithmetic 5 Ancient History 5 General Science 5 Select 1 of the fol- lowing: Manual Training: Girls: Cooking 5 Sewing 5 Boys: Wood- work 5 Drawing: Freehand or Mechanical 5 SECONDARY SCHOOLS 247 TRENTON, N. J. INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL. 7th Grade English 4 hours Eng-lish or Foreign Language 4 hours (Pupils taking English have 3 (J/^) Hr. periods on typewriter.) Geography and History 4 hours Science 4 hours Mathematics 4 hours Academic Hours 20 Shop 4 hours Drawing — (1 one-hour period) 3 hours Gymnasium — (2 one- half hour periods 2 hours Music — (2 one-half hour periods) 1 hour Shop hours 10 Total hours 30 8th Grade English 4 hours English or Foreign Language 4 hours (Pupils taking English shall have 3 one-half hours periods on the typewriter.) Geography and History 4 hours Science . 4 hours Mathematics — (Including Elementary Business Forms) 4 hours Academic Hours 20 Shop 4 hours Drawing — (1 one-hour period) 3 hours Gymnasium — (2 one- half hour periods ) 2 hours Music — (2 one-half hour periods) 1 hour Shop hours Total hours 10 30 9th Grade Commercial English — 4 hrs. Bookkeeping — 4 hrs. Science — 4 hrs. History and Civics — - 4 hrs. Mathematics — 4 hrs. Typewriting — 4 hrs. Drawing — 2 hrs. Gymnasium and Music (As in Academic Course.) Academic English — 4 hrs. Foreign Language — 4 hrs. Science — 4 hrs. History and Civics- 4 hours. Mathematics — 4 hrs. Shop — 4 hrs. Drawing — 2 hrs. Gymnasium — 3 hrs. (2 1 hr. periods.) (2 y^ hr. periods.) Music — 1 hr. (2 y2, hr. periods.) Each day consists of six periods of sixty minutes each. Work in science and mathematics will demand separate classes for girls and boys._ Mathematics will not necessarily be the same for all boys and girls in the same year. Industrial English — 4 hrs. Science — 4 hrs. History and Civics — 4 hrs. Mathematics — 4 hrs. Shop — 6 hrs. Drawing — 4 hrs. Gymnasium and music (As in Academic Course.) 248 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN OUTLINE OF COURSE OF STUDY IN THE GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 7-1 Grade English (E 1) Arithmetic (Ml) Geography (G 7) Reading (R 1) Bench Work (Sh 1) Dom. Science (D S 1) Dom. Art,(D A 1) Printing (Print 1) Music (Mu 1) Art (Art 1) 5 5 4 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 21 Elective and Special Business Arith. Applied Eng. Latin (LI) Mech. Draw. German (G 1) Chorus or Orchestra 5 5 5 2 5 2 8-1 Grade English (E 3) 5 Arithmetic (M 3) 5 American History (H 2) 4 Reading (R 3) 1 Shop Work (3) 3 Dom. Science (D S 3) 3 Dom. Art (D A 3) 1 Printing (Print 3) 1 Music (Mu 3) 1 Art (Art 3) 1 21 7-2 Grade English (E 2) 5 Arithmetic (M 2) 5 American History (H 1) 4 Reading (R 2) 1 Bench Work (Sh 2) 3 Dom. Science (D S 2) 3 Dom. Art (D A 2) 1 Printing (Print 2) 1 Music (Mu 2) 1 Art (Art 1) 1 21 Elective and Special Business Arith. 5 Applied Eng. 5 Chorus or Orchestra 2 Printing 5 to 25 Dom. Art 5 to 10 German (G 2) 5 Latin (L 2) - 5 Mech. Draw. 3 8-2 Grade English (E 4) Arithmetic (M 4) American History (H 4) Reading (R 4) Shop Work (4) Dom. Science (D S 4) Dom. Art (DA 4) Printing (Print 4) Music (Mu 4) Art (Art 4) 5 5 4 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 21 Elective and Special Elective and Special Latin (L 3) 5 Latin (L 4) 5 German (G 3) ) c German (G 4) 5 Mech. Draw. 3 Mech. Draw. (2) 3 Business Arith. 5 Business Arith. 5 Applied Eng. 5 Applied Eng. 5 Chorus or Orchestra 2 Chorus or Orchestra 2 Printing 5 to 25 Printing 5 to 25 Dom. Art 5 to 10 Metal Working 2 Art 5 to 10 Dom. Art 5 to 10 Metal Working ' 2 Art 5 to 10 Elementary Science 2 Elementary Science 2 SECONDARY SCHOOLS 249 9-1 Grade 9-2 Grade English (E 5) 5 ?"^^i^^' Ifv 9^ 5 Algebra (M 5) 5 Algebra (M 6) 5 Ancient History (H 5) 5 Ancient History (H 6) 5 Latin (L 5) or (L 5a) 5 Latin (L 6 or L 6a) 5 German (G 5) or (G 5a) 5 Sj''"^-^^ (^ 6 or G 6a) 5 Pen. and Spelling (P & S) 5 Physical Geography (S 6) 5 Physical Geography (S 5) 5 Bookkeeping (Bk 6) 5 Bookkeeping (Bk 5) 5 g^. & Shop (6) 5 Dr. & Shop (5) 5 Design (Des 6 2/. Freehand Draw. (Fh D 5) 2^^ goi^?stic Art (DA 6) 5 Domestic Art (D A 5) 5 Physical Train. (Ph Tr 6) 1 Physical Train. (Ph Tr 5) 1 Note 1: This course of study in 7th and 8th grades is offered only in those schools that have departmental organization of those grades. Note 2: The number opposite each subject in the outline indicates the number of recitations per week or the credit toward graduation. Note 3: The symbol in parenthesis indicates the abbreviation for the subject and the number of the semester in which it is given counting from the 7-1 grade. - > Grand Rapids, in the junior high-school work, has very wise- ly departed from the uniform five-period per week schedule for all classes. The essential ideal in a school of the kind under con- sideration is multiplicity of reactions, an attainment of many kinds of intellectual and emotional experiences, and not so much completeness of knowledge or depth of insight. Hence it follows that pupils should be encouraged to pursue several subjects sim- ultaneously and not limit their work to a relatively small number of studies. Nevertheless, physical and mental efforts have their limitations. In consequence the alternative is either a few sub- jects pursued somewhat intensively through daily recitation per- iods or a larger number of subjects pursued less often than five times per week. What should be the minimum number of weekly class periods allowed to any pupils of normal health has never been scientifically determined. In Germany, in secondary schools, youths of the age of junior high-school pupils in America are re- 'quired to carry thirty, thirty-one, or thirty-three periods per week. In France and also in several other European countries the number of class recitation periods is approximately the same. It seems very reasonable to think the American boys and girls are able to carry a like number of periods and that they should be expected to do so. In order to administer the junior high school with the degree of flexibility that has been advocated throughout this report — looking carefully after the interest of each individual, providing for accelerant groups, retarded groups, dififerentiated groups among pupils of normal capacities but varying interests, permit- ting the election for extra credit of supplementary courses in 250 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Latin, German, general science, and other subjects — in order to administer such a program with any degree of ease and satisfac- tion, it seems both necessary and desirable that the ''point" sys- tem of recording credits should be adopted for the seventh and eighth grades the same as for the upper grades of the high school. In lieu of the present requirement of 150 points for grad- uation a total of 250 might justly be prescribed, 100 of these nominally to be acquired in the lower grades of the junior high school. Indeed there is much to be said in favor of organizing the entire work of the seventh and eighth grades on the principle of minimum essential prescriptions for all pupils and optional electives beyond these. At the present, such modifications as are permitted in the selection of courses come about for the most part as substitutions for other or traditional courses, and not usually as additional courses. In other words, bright, ambitious pupils who looks ahead of the present moment and seek to accumulate sufficient credit by extra efforts to permit them to shorten some- what the period usually needed for graduation from high school, have no definite assurance that the additional efiforts will be specifically recognized in any formal manner except in respect to work in Latin and German. Thus, for example, pupils who devote much time beyond what is prescribed to art, drawing, manual training, domestic science and art, commercial work, and general science do so wholly gratuitously. Granted that, ideally speaking, all persons should undertake works of supererogation, if for no other reason than the subjective effects such efforts have upon the actor, nevertheless the schools are organized on a defin- ite basis of attainments, marks, credits, promotions, and gradu- ation, and pupils recognize the fact as clearly as do teachers and administrators. A policy of the sort advocated should stimulate to effort many a person who can only with difficulty be reached in any other manner. The plan, too, of conducting graduating exercises at the com- pletion of the eighth-grade work is unwise. The custom is a sur- vival of a practice which had some justification at a time when few expected to continue their schooling beyond the eighth grade and doubtless needed the stimulus of the prospective honor to hold them to their educational work even through this grade. Today different traditions and the operation of the state com- pulsory school law make the retention of the custom unnecessary. To perpetuate it is to continue to accentuate the notion that the completion of the work of the eighth grade marks a natural stop- ping point in schooling. The eft'ect of such exercises is likely therefore to be diametrically opposed to the spirit that has pro- duced the junior high school. Certificates indicating the comple- SECONDARY SCHOOLS 251 tion of the elementary course may with full propriety be issued at this time, or at the end of the junior high-school course, but public graduation exercises can most wisely be eliminated entire- ly until the senior high-school course has been finished. The wisdom of segregating pupils by sexes in certain sub- jects has not as yet been so fully tested in American schools as to make the policy thoroughly defensible. There is, hoAvever, much to be said in favor of following the plan. For example, the idea of providing separate sections for boys and girls in eighth-grade arithmetic offers many advantages. Boys could then be given instruction and drill in problems that relate speci- fically to boys' interests or to interests that boys will be apt to follow when men. In like manner the work for girls could center about the problems of the home and woman's work in general. The work in drawing and designing lends itself to a similar kind of administration; while the segregation of pupils in study or session rooms has been practiced in some cities for years. It is, therefore, recommended that the principals take up for considera- tion the idea of putting into operation the plan of sex segregation in certain lines of work and arrive at some definite conclusions for themselves. A later section of this report considers the question of teach- ers and their qualifications. It is, however, appropriate here to raise the question of the ideal for teachers in the junior high school. There is no valid reason why teachers of departmental- ized seventh and eighth grades should not possess precisely as thorough a training, both academic and professional, as the teach- ers of the other grades of the high school. Indeed there are positive reasons why it should be so. It seems appropriate to in- sist that teachers of these two grades should possess unusual ripeness of experience both in life in general and in school work, vigorous health, commanding presence, inspiring personality, sympathy, and an abiding interest in boys and girls of the early adolescent period. There are probably no grades in the entire school system that lay heavier burdens upon a teacher than the seventh and eighth grades. The lower grades may require of her peculiar traits of natural ability ; the upper grades may demand of her a knowledge of science and philosophy; but the seventh and eighth grades exact of her the qualities of studied and ripen- ed art. In the senior high school success may come to a teacher who teaches well her subject; in the seventh and eighth grades success will come only when the teacher teaches well her pupils. It follows, therefore, that none but the scholarly person of mature experience should be put in charge of the grades under consideration — none but the person who not only is a fair master^ 252 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN of the subject-matter she teaches and who can grasp it in its entirety and diversity, but who also can relate it artfully to the life experiences of youths who are just beginning to discover themselves in a world of reality and ideality. It matters but lit- tle in education how the finishing touches are given to a pupil's development ; foundations on the other hand are all important. The task of introducing pupils for the first time to new lines of thought and responses calls for the highest skill, as most college presidents and school superintendents and principals of experi- ence can readily testify. The green, callow youth, perfect it may be in the knowledge of the subject to be taught, but ignorant of the deeper meanings of life and life's relations, will serve the cause of education vastly better if put in charge of advanced rather than beginning courses. From the typical young A. B. student who is fresh from college the junior high school should forever be delivered. In developing the junior high schools Grand Rapids has, at least in part, seemed to keep this ideal before it. The decision to employ henceforth none but college-bred teachers for any grade above the sixth grade, is eminently wise and proper. The further decision to put these teachers on the same salary basis ir- respective of the grades in which they teach is likewise sound economy and sensible pedagogy. The additional determination to require teachers to assume charge of classes in several dis- tinct grades — from the seventh to the twelfth — and to break down any false notion of superiority in rank solely because of the teaching of advanced pupils is wholesome and wise. Grand Rapids has adopted a humane and sensible policy in not unceremoniously eliminating from the school system old and faithful teachers who do not quite measure up immediately to the new standards. Time and opportunity for making readjustments must be permitted. For teachers who are temperamentally un- fitted for departmental work in the new system, or who by rea- son of years can not prepare themselves for the new tasks, or who prefer to continue in undepartmentalized rooms, transfers of positions must be made. The schools exist for the pupils, not for any body of teachers or administrators. Change of system works hardships in all forms of activity in which it is carried out, but so long as care is exercised to minimize the disadvantages to the lowest possible degree no just complaints can be imposed. Hence the Board of Education will do well to grant leaves of absence to such teachers as seek them, to the end that they may pursue, if the}^ desire, academic and professional work at normal schools or colleges, and thus fit themselves anew for re- tention in the school svstcm. Meanwhile, it will be wise for SECONDARY SCHOOLS 253 heads of departments in the senior high schools to exercise super- visory control over the work that is carried on in the junior high schools. Departmental staff meetings, at which shall be included teachers of the same subject in any of the grades above the sixth, should certainly be held at frequent intervals and a spirit of solidarity, homogeneity and co-operation should be developed. The provisions at the present time in operation for meeting the needs of pupils in recreational, social and quasi-academic forms are, for the most part, appropriate and adequate in each school. Departmental clubs ; literary, dramatic and musical societies ; opportunities to develop interest and initiative in co- operative undertakings relating to school publications, school assembly meetings, and school parties are numerous. Physical training and facilities for securing physical recreation are being given the attention they deserve. The one most serious lack in respect to this matter is found at the South High School. No playground or athletic grounds are available for the pupils of this school. And yet directly opposite the building toward the north on Hall street is an exceptionally well-situated vacant tract, ap- proximately a quarter of a block square, that would meet the needs of the school admirably. Steps should be taken immediate- ly to secure this tract of land, or some other convenient tract, for an athletic ground for the pupils of this school. By way of reiteration and summary, therefore, the most ur- gent need that exists with reference to the program or course of study in the junior high schools is a more extensive and freer exercise by principals of the authority to arrange special classes for special types of pupils and to administer the work in the reg- ular courses with a greater degree of attention to individual in- terests. That is, the pupil Avho is out of step with the other boys .and girls in the school, the pupil for whom the traditional classi- fication, the traditional methods of instruction are ill-adapted if not wholly unsuited, should, so far as practicable, be treated on an individual basis and in the manner that his peculiar interests necessitate. This implies certainly the organization of accelerant •groups of pupils, but it much more surely contemplates the plan of substitution, as occasion demands, of some or all of the follow- ing courses for the regularly scheduled correlative courses, name- ly : business English for English grammar ; business or household arithmetic for traditional mathematics ; history of industry, com- merce and the domestic arts for traditional political history; specific trade subjects for general courses in manual arts or dom- estic arts ; and courses in musical and literary appreciation. School credit for out-of-school work of varied and suitable kind may also wisely be granted. 254 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN The Senior High School. Grand Rapids has made provision in three separate centers for the work of the upper three grades of the high school, albeit the new South School is as yet not fully organized. Each of these schools aims to be a cosmopolitan high school. Each, how^- ever, emphasizes certain types of work that the others do not and in this manner serves its particular constituency in an appropriate manner. In the range of subject-matter, in the intensiveness or con- tinuity of offerings and, in general, in the results obtained little more than words of approval and commendation can be spoken. There is some doubt whether the most desirable forms of organi- zation and the wisest modes of administration are always to be found. This section of the report therefore deals principally with these phases of the work. OUTLINE OF COURSE OF STUDY IN THE GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 10-1 Grade English (E 7) 5 Public Speaking (7) 1 Algebra (M 7) 5 Ancient History (H 5) or European History (Long Course) (H 7) 5 Latin (L 7) or (L 7a) 5 German (G 7) or (G 7a) 5 Agricultural Botany (Agr. 7) 5 Botany (S 7) 5 Zoology (Z 7) 5 Bookkeeping (Bk 7) 5 Dr. & Shop (7) 5 Freehand Drawing (7) 2J/2 Dom. Science (7) 11-1 Grade English (E 9) or (E 9a) 5 Geometry (M 9) 5 European History (Long Course) (H 9) or Euro- pean History (Short Course) (H 9a) 5 Latin (L 9) or (L 9a) 5 Greek (Gk 9a) German (G 9) or (G 9a) 5 French (F 9a) 5 Spanish (Sp 9a) 5 Chemistry (S 9) 5 Commercial Law (C L 9) 5 10-2 Grade English (E 8) 5 Public Speaking (8) 1 Ancient History (H 6) or European History (Long Course) (H 8) 5 Latin (L 8) or (L 8a) 5 German (G 8) or (G 8a) 5 Agriculture (Agr. 8) 5 Botany (S 8) 5 Zoology (Z 8) 5 Physiology (Py 8) 5 Bookkeeping (Bk 8) 5 Dr. & Shop (8) 5 Design (Des 8) 2>^ Dom. Science (8) 5 11-2 Grade English (E 10) or (E 10a) 5 Geometry (M 10) 5 European History (Long Course) (H 10) or Euro- pean History (Short Course) (E 10a) 5 Latin (L 10) or (L 10a) 5 Greek (Gk 10a) 5 German (G 10) or (G 10a) 5 French (F 10a) 5 Spanish (Sp 10a) 5 Chemistry (S 10) 5 Industrial History (I H 10) 5 SECONDARY SCHOOLS 255 11-1 Grade — Continued Typewriting & Stenography ( T & S 9a) 5 Draw. & Shop (D & S 9) 5 Mechanical Drawing (9) 5 Domestic Art (9) 5 Freehand Drawing (Fr D 9) 2K> Oratory (P Spk 9) 2 12-1 Grade English (E 11) or (E 11a) 5 Solid Geometry (M 11) 5 American History (H 11) 5 Latin (L 11) or (L 11a) 5 Greek (Gk 11a) 5 German (G 11) or (G 11a) 5 French (F 11a) 5 Spanish (Sp 11a) 5 Physics (S 11) 5 Economics (Econ 11) 5 Typewriting & Stenography (T & S 11a) 5 Draw. & Shop (D & S 11) 5 Mechanical Drawing (11) 5 Housekeeping, Domestic Science (D S 11) 5 Debating (P Spk 11) 2 11-2 Grade— Continued Typewriting & Stenography (T & S 10a) 5 Draw. & Shop (D & S 10) 5 Mechanical Drawing (10) 5 Domestic Art (10) 5 Design (Des 10) 5 Oratory (P Spk 10) 2 12-2 Grade English (E 12) 5 Trigonometry (M 12) 5 American History (H 12) 5 Latin (L 12> or (L 12a) 5 Greek (Gk 12a) 5 German (G 12) or (G 12a) 5 French (F 12a) 5 Spanish (Sp 12a) 5 Physics (S 12) 5 Salesmanship (S'h'p 12) 5 Typewriting & Stenography ( T & S 12a) 5 Draw. & Shop (D & S 12) 5 Mechanical Drawing (12) 5 Home Economics (Dom. Sci. 12) 5 Debating (P Spk 12) 5 In the specific requirements for graduation, Grand Rapids has adopted the standard that quite generally is to be found in Michigan and the Central Northwest, namely : English, 3 years ; mathematics, 2 years ; history, 1 year ; science, 1 year ; and voca- tional subjects (manual training, domestic science and art, com- mercial branches and like subject), 1 year. The prescriptions, except for the omission of foreign language study, meet the speci- fic entrance requirements of the University of Michigan and at the same time insure to the pupils both variety of subjects and some degree of continuity of effort within them. Several questions may be raised in reference to the work here outlined. Among these are the following: In an intensely practical age like ours should two years of mathematics in the form in which the course in mathematics is organized for the high schools today be an absolute requirement for every pupil who seeks the honor of graduation? In a public-school system which aims primarily to develop loyal citizens of the realm ought not the prescription in history to be specifically American His- tory and Civics? In a generation in which science is so funda- mental a subject in life relations as it is today should not two years' work in that field of knowledge be expected of each pupil — one year in the biological and one year in the physical depart- ment? Are, indeed, three years' work in English the best dis- 256 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN tribution of time for all youths irrespective of their interests and life ambitions? These queries are fair but cannot be answered dogmatically nor categorically. Educational values depend for their realiza- tion upon many and diverse factors. The true manner of curri- culum making is to consider the especial needs and the particular difficulties of the youths for whom the work is being planned. The questions that are raised are ones, therefore, that can best be referred to the several principals and their teaching stafifs for detailed analyses and for recommendations to the superintendent and the Board of Education. They are, therefore, so referred, with the present recommendation that they be not allowed to lie on the table indefinitely but be considered forthwith on their re- spective merits. A second observation noted in reference to the work of the senior high schools is that no provision is made either for the definite segregation of boys and girls in any of the academic de- partments or for the differentiation of class work among different sections of the same subject, except that a long and a short course are arranged in European History. The work in the first two years of Latin and German, for example, is precisely alike for those who plan to pursue a four-year course or more in each ; is' precisely the same for pupils who seek to acquire such a general acquaintance with the forms and vocabularies as will aid them later, in a practical way, in the study of legal, medical, pharma- ceutical, chemical, and other technical branches involving for- eign language elements and for those whose interests are pri- marily literar}^ or cultural. In like manner physics and chemistry are organized in precisely the same form and presented in precise- ly the same manner for boys and girls, except for incidental modi- fications for individual pupils within the class, for those planning to continue their education in college and technical schools and for those who are not, and for those whose interests are primarily domestic or industrial and those whose interests are aesthetic and general. Like conditions are to be found in the organization and administration of other branches of study, though perhaps of- fering less basis for criticisms. In schools enrolling as many pupils as the schools of Grand Rapids more than one class section in each of the several subjects may ordinarily be expected for each year. There is, therefore, intrinsically no apparently insup- erable leason why a differentiation of the w^ork in the several sec- tions might not be provided and why the specific needs of the varying types of students who elect the courses or can be pre- vailed upon to elect them may not thus be more fully met. The fact that such flexibility of administration and such adaptation to SECONDARY SCHOOLS 257 individual needs are not more completely planned must account in no small degree for the enormous decrease in the number of pupils electing third and fourth-year foreign language study as compared with the elections of the first and second years. The same body of facts must also quite largely explain the poor show- ing made by some of the sciences in attracting numbers of pupils to them. The following figures, taken from the class rolls of the second semester, February to June, 1916, indicate what is meant. A perusal of this table arouses some interesting queries. Why, for example, are only 15 pupils in the Central High School electing fourth-year Latin? What explanation is there for the fact that in the entire system only 67 pupils are pursuing third- year Latin, and only 82 that are pursuing the subject longer than two years ? Why are only 28 pupils electing fourth-year German, particularly when third-year German classes are large? What explanation is there for the fact that more than half of all pupils stud3nng mathematics and history are enrolled in the first-year classes in both subjects? Why do only 10 girls elect zoology and only 50 boys elect botany? Why is it that four times as many boys elect chemistry as do girls, and only 180 pupils, all told, are pursuing the subject? Why is only one girl at the Union School studying physics and only 47 girls in the entire school system? It seems very obvious from the above comparative statistics and unanswered queries that the entire curriculum of the second- ary schools demands careful analysis and possibly radical reor- ganization. It seems especially obvious that if foreign language study in the high schools is to continue to make an effective ap- peal to pupils in a practical age such as ours, that the work must, in the earlier years particularly, be made much more specifically varied and vital than it has been. Indeed in cosmopolitan high schools such as Grand Rapids maintains there is every reason why some of the courses at least, and particularly of the first and second years, should be given a distinctly practical or functioning trend. The courses of the third and fourth years may be continu- ed, if thought desirable, chiefly as literary studies pure and simple. It is therefore recommended that teachers of foreign languages give respectful attention to the modern demands which a practical age is making of them in respect to the organization and presentation of the subjects which they teach, and so far as it is possible for a body of teachers in a single school system to be independent of those forces of tradition which they clearly see to be ill-suited to contemporary school procedure, that they recog- 258 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS. MICHIGAN X biO X S X t/2 w '2 J m Ph < H t3 C rt Wh o w CO t-lONfO , . . T-ll-lT-l -^ «r) i-lOOOOl CM ^^ t- u O O O O ui en (Aj U3 CV) o :r^-*o c 2 QJ O SECONDARY SCHOOLS 259 nize and re-adapt foreign language study to the spirit of those demands. A recommendation of like sort is also made to teachers of all the other traditional subjects. Particularly is there need, both on general educational principles and on the basis of the facts ex- hibited in the table presented herewith (Table XXXIII), for a modification of the work in some of the science courses. House- hold chemistry and a course in physics that shall deal primarily with the common phenomena of daily life and include only a min- imum of the quantative studies of technical and quasi-technical topics relating to specialized interests surely are the educational rights of the girl and the boy who are seeking a secondary-school training which leads directly to the home and to business, just as fully as the more intensified courses are the democratic high- school birthright of the youths who are planning a college career. The dogma : "Whatever best fits for college also and necessarily best fits for life" is no longer accepted as good pedagogy or good common sense. The one branch of study that appears to be unduly limited in the scope of its offerings in the Grand Rapids high schools is music. This fact is peculiarly strange since the city is the center of unusual musical activity and interest. Choruses, orchestras, glee clubs, and bands do exist in thriving fashion in each of the several schools, and instruction once or twice a week is given in the art of musical expression. But, except at the Central High School, and even here largely in the Junior College, no provision is made for studies like harmony, history of music and musical appreciation. Nor, except in rare instances, is school credit al- lowed for musical studies carried forward outside the school sys- tem. It is therefore recommended that the authorities consider the advisability both of extending the range of offerings in music in the several schools and also of accepting more freely, but under guarded conditions, a limited number of credit points for musical studies pursued privatel}^ by pupils. In general Grand Rapids has made ample provision for courses in manual training. A possible exception is found at the Central High School. Here no opportunity is oft'ered young men to acquire training in any form of metal work or forging, nor is a machine shop operated. There seems to be some demand for work of this kind, and the manual training rooms, as at present arranged, permit the easy installation of it. The authorities are, therefore, advised to consider the wisdom of the project and to provide for its inauguration if conditions warrant doing so. In providing for the organization of recitation sections, Grand Rapids has in general kept the size of classes at an advantageous 260 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN figure. Of course no absolutely fixed number of pupils per class can be designated as the invariable minimum and maximum standards. The North Central Association of Colleges and Sec- ondary Schools has gone on record as follows : ''No recitation class should enroll more than thirty pupils." On the other hand local and temporary conditions often make the organization of classes with an unusually small number of pupils entirely justifi- TABLE XXXIV Facts concerning the enrollment of students according to subject in three of the Grand Rapids High Schools. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL Number of Number of Number of Average Size SUBJECT Sections Pupils Teachers of Class English 50 1083 11 21 + Mathematics 37 849 9 23 — History 22 493 5 22 — German 19 Z7i 4 19 — French 5 86 1 17- Spanish „ 3 53 1 17-- Latin 22 481 5 22— Science 26 525 8 20+ Commercial Work 26 557* 6 21 + Additional facts : (a) Only one class in the school enrolls more than 30 pupils, except certain classes in commercial work, art, and manual training. (b) No class enrolls fewer than 12 pupils, while the following number enroll be- tween 12 and 20 each: Latin, 3; Science, 8; Commercial Work, 5; English,, 14; Mathematics 1; History, 6; German, 6. Total, 43. * The compilation omits one class in spelling, penmanship, etc., of 312 pupils. UNION HIGH SCHOOL Number of Number of Number of Average Size SUBJECT Sections Pupils Teachers of Class English 21 496 6 23 + Mathematics 19 420 4 22 + History 10 217 2 22— German 10 128 2 13— Latin 4 69 2 17 + Science 13 271 3 21— Commercial Work 14 293 3 21— Additional facts : (a) Aside from the semi-vocational classes three sections only enroll more than 30 pupils. (b) Eleven sections enroll but 12 or fewer students each. These are: German, 6 ; Latin, 1 ; French, 1 ; Science, 1 ; History, 2. SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL Number of Number of Number of Average Size SUBJECT Sections Pupils Teachers of Class English 22 518 5 23 + Mathematics 22 630 5 29— History 17 448 4— 26+ German 5 110 1 22 Latin 6 108 1+ 18 Science 4 92 1 23 Commercial Work 11 299 3 27+ Additional facts • . . . (a) The following sections with enrollments above 30 pupils each are being conducted: English, 2; Mathematics, 10; History, 5; German, 1; Com- mercial Work, o. (b) Only three sections hare fewer than twelve pupils enrolled. These are: German, 1 ; Latin, 2. SECONDARY SCHOOLS 261 able from the standpoint of both pedagogical theory and econom- ic expenditures. A perusal of the daily schedules for the second semester, 1915-16, of the several high schools in Grand Rapids reveals some interesting facts relating to this topic. It is clear from the above statistics that attention to certain administrative changes should be given forthwith. With ten sections in German at the Union School enrolling in the aggre- gate 128 pupils and with six of these sections enrolling fewer than thirteen pupils each (one enrolling 4, one 6, one 10, and two 12), with one section in French enrolling only 4 persons and one sec- tion in Latin enrolling 7, there is convincing evidence that the supply of language offerings of the kind that is given is in excess of the demand. On the other hand, with 24 sections at the South High School each enrolling more than 30 pupils per section (and eight of them enrolling more than 35 pupils each) it is equally clear that the number of class divisions and consequently the number of teachers employed is inadequate. The phenomenal growth of the school during the past year may in part excuse a situation which ought not to be continued permanently. That the training given to pupils in the several high schools of Grand Rapids is, generally speaking, appropriately broad in scope and acceptably efifective in quality is evident in several ways. The term marks that are given out by teachers do not necessarily carry with them to others the positive conviction of infallibility. However they do have their value. The accompany- ing table shows the distribution of grades as they were issued by the Union High School in February, 1916. The percentage of failures, except jn a few subjects, is not unduly large or small. TABLE XXXV Percentage of pupils in 17 classes at the Union High School with records of E, G, F, 75, failures, conditions, and incompletes for the semester ending January 26, 1916. E SUBJECT % Algebra-1 21.27 Algebra-2 28.12 English-1 00.00 English-2 00.00 EngHsh-3 11.86 English-4 14.90 History! 8.33 History-2 10.71 General Science-1 13.72 Bookkeeping-1 6.66 Bookkeeping-2 8.57 Latin-l 8.33 Latin-2 00.00 German-1 11.76 German-2 9.09 Geoinetry-3 33.33 Physiology-1 ..„.,„...„ 8.89 Condi- Incom- G F 75 Failed tioned plete % % % % % % 28.36 34.75 3.56 9.22 2.83 00.00 31.25 15.63 12.50 12.50 00.00 00.00 37.97 43.41 6.20 6.20 4.66 1.55 28.86 36.53 13.46 5.77 9.62 5.77 44.06 35.58 8.48 00.00 00.00 00.00 42.55 36.16 2.13 2.13 2.13 00.00 48.33 21.67 5.00 11.66 3.33 1.66 46.44 25.00 10.71 00.00 3.57 .3.57 22.72 31.81 4.54 13.72 9.09 4.54 36.67 23.33 1.66 15.00 00.00 16.67 31.42 37.14 00.00 2.86 00.00 20.00 37.50 33.33 4.17 12.50 4.17 00.00 25.00 23.00 00.00 50.00 00.00 00.00 31.37 37.26 5.88 13.73 00.00 00.00 21.21 42.42 12.12 15.16 00.00 00.00 16.67 16.67 8.33 00.00 00.00 25.00 28.89 37.78 8.89 11.11 00.00 4.44 262 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Table XXXVI shows the efficiency of the industrial train- ing of the Union School as evidenced in the cases of nine boys (only one being" a graduate) who during the summer of 1915 were given positions with responsible firms in the city. TABLE XXXVI Wages earned by boys during the summer of 1915, from their ex- perience in Union School machine shop. F. H. A. Hesseltine DuBois Vis Coper DeBoer Given J^year on appren- ticeship $15.00 per week $10.00 per week $10.00 per week Given 1 year on appren- ticeship $15.00 per week $13.00 per week $15.00 per week $9.00 per week Baldwin & Tuthill Fox Machine Company. In his father's machine shop. Wilmarth & Morman Fox Machine Company. P. I, J. Smith VanderMale , Bildson Rindal Wilmarth & Morman. United Motor Truck Co. Republic Truck Company. Waddell Manufacturing Co. A third test of the efficiency and adaptability of a school sys- tem is found in the percentage of pupils that are retained in the schools throughout the entire course as planned. The following table seeks to indicate the situation in Grand Rapids. TABLE XXXVII Showing the number of teachers in whose classes the elimination of pupils between September 1915 and February 1916 lay between certain given percentages. Number of Teachers Not Number of Teachers Eliminating SCHOOL Reporting 0% 1—5% 6—10% 11—15% Over 15% Central :. 1 7 17 19 4 Union 6 19 9.4 1 South 4 15 11 2 3 Junior 11 7 5 6 4 Totals 22 48 42 31 12 Percentages 14.2 30.9 27.1 20.0 7.8 Median loss between 6% and 10%. Table XXXVII is to be interpreted thus: Seven teachers at the Central High School last semester (Sept. 1915-Jan. 1916) permanently eliminated from their classes between one and five per cent of their pupils ; seventeen eliminated between six and ten per cent ; nineteen eliminated between eleven and fifteen per cent ; and four eliminated more than fifteen per cent. The median loss is between six and ten per cent, not an unusually large ratio when all eliminating factors are taken into account. Table XXXVIII shows that as compared with fourteen other typical cities of the United States the percentage of pupils in Grand Rapids who are retained in the school system until the twelfth or graduating grade is reached is that of the median group. SECONDARY SCHOOLS 263 TABLE XXXVIII Showing percentage of the total high-school enrollment in the gradu- ating class for Grand Rapids and fourteen typical cities. High School Percentage of Pupils CITY Enrollment in Graduating Class Paterson, N. J 2400 6.5 Richmond, Va - 2360 7.4 Syracuse, N. Y - 2838 7.5 Nashville, Tenn 1500 9.5 Fall River, Mass 1536 12.0 Worcester, Mass 3945 12.0 Trenton, N. J 1384 13.0 Omaha, Neb 3000 13.0 Grand Rapids, Mich 2254 13.2 Reading, Pa. .._ 1575 15.0 New Bedford, Conn - 1200 " 15.5 Columbus, Ohio 4228 15.8 New Haven, Conn 3300 16.3 Des Moines, Iowa - 3115 16.3 Spokane, Wash 3500 18.0 Median: Approximately 13.5%. A still further test of the efficiency of the work of the Grand Rapids high schools is seen in the records maintained by the graduates of these schools during their first semester's residence in colleges and universtties. During the past four years Central High School has graduated 772 students and Union High School 267. During these same four years, 387 of the graduates of the Central High School and 80 of the graduates of the Union High School entered higher institutions of learning. That is, 50% of Central graduates, and 30% of Union graduates have entered colleges, being 44.94% of all graduates of the two schools. This per cent compares very favorably with those of other school systems as is shown b)^ the accompanying table. TABLE XXXIX Showing the percentage of graduates who have entered college dur- ing the last four years from the high schools of Grand Rapids and nine other cities. Percentage CITY of Graduates New Haven, Conn 10% Nashville, Tenn 20% Fall River, Mass 25% Worcester, Mass 35% New Bedford, Conn - 38% Grand Rapids. Mich 44.94% Des Moines, Iowa 45% Scranton, Pa - 50% Columbus, Ohio 60% Spokane, Wash 75% One hundred and twenty students who have graduated from the Grand Rapids high schools (108 from Central and 12 from Union) have entered the University of Michigan during the past six years. The records they have made during the first semester of their freshman year is given in the subjoined table. 264 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN TABLE XL Showing the academic record sustained by the graduates of two Grand Rapids high schools during the first semester of their attendance at the University of Michigan. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES No. Year Entered No, with no Grade Below C No. with One Grade or More Below C No. Warned No. Dis^ missed No. Withdraw 1910 16 1911 24 1912 14 1913 20 1914 16 1915 18 Totals 108 Percentages 10 22 12 13 12 7 76 70.4 4 2 2 4 3 4 19 17.5 2 1 7 10 9.2 2 1 3 2.8 UNION HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES No. Year Entered No. with no Grade Below C No. with One Grade or More Below C No. Warned No. Dis- missed No. Withdraw 1912 1 1913 1914 4 1915 7 Totals 12 Percentages Grand Totals 120 Grand Percentages 1 4 5 41.6 1 2 3 25.0 2 1 3 25.0 1 1 8.3 81 67.5 22 18.3 13 10.8 . 4 3.3 « The table reveals the fact that until the fall of 1915 the rec- ords sustained at the University w^ere unusually good. Of the 25 freshman who entered in 1915, however, eight were placed on the ''warned" list at the end of the first semester. Whether these figures indicate that scholarship standards are declining in Grand Rapids or are being raised at the University, or that principals in recommending pupils to college authorities are not discriminating as carefully as formerly, or that an unfortunate combination of circumstances last year produced the results mentioned, there is of course no positive means of determining. The facts indi- cate clearly that a possible weakness of some sort exists, and it is therefore incumbent upon principals and their teaching staffs to scrutinize with care succeeding evidences of declining standards of scholarship and take measures to remove their causes. Provision for meeting the social needs and interests of the pupils of the high schools seems to be varied in kind and ample in extent. "Democracy's high school" is an expression that fit- tingly characterizes each building, for democracy rightly de- mands for her subjects a well-rounded, many-sided education and not solely an intellectual training. Such an education is being given in Grand Rapids. Pupils are being taught lessons of SECONDARY SCHOOLS 265 individual initiative and independent leadership, of active and in- terested group co-operation and participation, and of ready and cheerful submission to the collective w^ill when socially expressed. This training is being secured through various types of student collateral activities — ^debating or forensic clubs, student councils, literary societies, study clubs, dramatic associations, musical , societies, business organizations, journal clubs, and sim- ilar agencies. Moreover, a spirit of happy, genial, enthu- siastic activity prevades each school. Kindly sympathy and courteous, frank intercouse betw^een pupils and teach- ers, and pupils and schoolmates, were conditions that were everywhere observable. The one insidious danger that may perchance lie hidden in the whole social organization of the high school is excess. So long as the collateral activities are supervised and controlled as they seem to be at present naught, in general, but advantage will emanate from them. The gymnasium erected for the recreational activities of the pupils of the Central High School ought, in the interest of the social life of the pupils attending, no longer to be diverted from its original purpose. Only by the use of properly arranged quar- ters can the social, athletic and recreational life of the pupils be duly administered and safe-guarded. One further observation respecting the organization of the Central High School is to be noted. This school is planned to accommodate only senior high-school and junior-college students. At the present time fifty-five ninth-grade pupils are also enrolled in the building. Pupils of this grade should be transferred as soon as feasible to other buildings where the work may be organ- ized in close conformity to their needs. In harmony with such action it seems reasonable to suggest that the Board of Education modify its policy of basing the salaries of session-room teachers on the number of pupils enrolled. The reasons for such a recom- mendation are clearly obvious. The Junior College The educational theory upon which two years advanced work beyond graduation from the high school is to be provided by the public school system for the young people aspiring to a full col- lege training, is a sound educational theory. The provision for this work within a central high-school building is also a wise provision. There can be no doubt that with facilities for securing the first two years of college or university training within the school system of one's ow^n city or town a full college career will be made possible to many a youth who otherwise, for economic reasons, would either be deprived of the privilege entirely or else 266 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN would have the realization of it so long deferred as to make its attainment doubtful, if not altogether improbable. The recorded facts relating to the Junior College in Grand Rapids bear out this contention in the cases of several individuals. Moreover, moral considerations, especially in so far as they concern youths of undeveloped social habits and those of un- sophisticated experiences, argue to the, same end. For such, a year or two years beyond high-school graduation spent in their own town and school where they are surrounded by familiar in- fluences and associated with teachers and companions who know their points of strength and weakness and who can sympathize with them in a personal way — for such the junior college serves a valuable end. Large colleges and universities situated at some distance from home are often not the fittest places for youths who are unusually immature, although graduates of secondary schools. Persons of this class need a little longer the personal protecting care of the parental surroundings. Besides, the ties of f^iiily life make the postponement of the severance thereof as long as possible exceedingly desirable to many a parent and to man}^ a child. When the boy or girl has once broken from the family circle, to live even temporarily apart from its direct in- fluence, a return thereto in any permanent way is as nearly im- possible as it is improbable, and perhaps even undesirable. Again, it is good business sense which dictates a plan for educating as many as possible of the young men and women in their home city. Each young man or woman who secures his collegiate training away from Grand Rapids, thereby, for the most part, deflects from the city's business resources a sum of money equal to the cost of his collegiate training. The junior col- lege established locally tends to keep such expenditures in the channels of local trade. But there are also other good practical reasons why the junior college should be perpetuated in Grand Rapids. The new Central High School building is erected in the older section of the city. Its immediate constituency is composed, to a large degree, of the older families, families that are reaching the point of retirement from active participation in business affairs. When the children who are at present in the schools have graduated, relatively few others from the same families will be entering the schools to take their places. Moreover, each year sees not only a notable expansion in the entire population of Grand Rapids, but the encroachment on the old residential district of business houses, apartment houses or institutions of a public or quasi- public character. In consequence, if the present building is to serve the city to its fullest capacity, it must continue to exist as SECONDARY SCHOOLS 267 a school for the entire city and not ever be limited to a school for a small section of the city. A junior college fully developed v^^ould serve just such an end. The trend of public education throughout the entire United States is certainly in the direction of including in the public school system the two years' w^ork that is for the most part, at the present time, included among the offerings of institutions of higher learning. That is, the first and second year's work in our universities will certainly, in some cases at least, gradually be taken from those institutions and be incorporated into the local school systems, thereby making the opportiniities for the acquirement of the work of these two years much more readily obtainable by all classes of students, and, at the same time, relieving the unweildy congestion that is now being experienced in most of the larger universities. There can be no question that the junior-college movement is upon us. It is being developed in all portions of the land from California to Massachusetts. Grand Rapids, therefore, in making provision for such an extension of its public-school work is in entire har- mony with the prevailing theory and practice of the best educa- tional movement of the day. The present Junior College, however, which was opened in Grand Rapids with much eclat in 1914 and seemed for one year to be developing a momentum and an influence that would cause it to be firmly established as an integral part of the Grand Rapids school system, is not meeting either the ideals or the conditions that can rightly be demanded of it. Instead of gaining in strength and prestige, it is dwindling and waning in power and influence. Instead of increasing in numbers of students, it is actually diminishing in numbers. This year it is very obviously passing through a critical period. Twelve months ago it enrolled 42 students. This year it has attained a maximum of only 37 members and these have been depleted in numbers for one reason or another, until at present (April, 1916), only 22 are in actual attendance. The size of classes is in consequence necessarily small — too small, indeed, in several cases, to make the continu- ance economically justifiable to the taxpayers. It is undoubtedly true that small sections must for sometime be the rule rather than the exception in any newly established junior college which the city might provide. Moreover, there is both psychological and practical justification for having classes in college work con- siderably smaller than those in secondary work. There is, how- ever, a minimum below which the public-school system may not continue to organize courses. The following figures give the pre- sent enrollment in the several classes : English: now enrolled, 17; last semester, 22. History: now 268 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN enrolled, 9: last semester, 13. German : now enrolled, 8; last sem- ester, 9. Mathematics : now enrolled, 7 ; last semester, 12. Bio- logy : now enrolled, 8 ; last semester, 8. Physics : now enrolled, 6 ; last semester, 8. Moreover, when we consider that, as the work is organized in Grand Rapids, the regular teachers of the high school are given charge of the work in the Junior College and therefore excused from two class periods in the high school for each class period which is carried on in the Junior College, it again is perfectly apparent that economic reasons will demand that class sections shall not be imduly small. The Junior College in Grand Rapids is in very grave danger of dying a premature death. As already indicated above, it is an institution that is altogether too worthy of a place in our present-day school system to be allowed to die out. In its estab- lishment two years ago, the Board of Education of Grand Rapids put itself in the forefront of educational progressivehess in the state of Michigan, not to say in a goodly portion of the United States. To allow the undertaking as it has been inaugurated, to pass into oblivion, would be a calamity for Grand Rapids, for the state of Michigan and for the cause of progressive education in general. Wherein, then, lie the elements of weakness and of mena- cing dangers, and what agencies and means of correction are possible? First, it should be said, the trouble surely aces not center in the teaching staff which has been chosen to conduct the work of instruction. These persons have been selected with dis- crimination. They are eminently fitted for the several positions which they occupy. Indeed, it is doubtless fair to allege that be- cause of their maturity of years, their somewhat extended periods of teaching experience, their personal interest in the young peo- ple under their tuition, and their keen sense of responsibility for the successful operation of the new plan, the teachers who are charged with the conduct of the junior college work in Grand Rapids are actuUy giving to the young people under their charge a collegiate training that is superior to what could ordin- arily be expected from the younger and ultra-academic instruc- tors into whose classes freshmen students are commonly placed on their entrance into our larger colleges and universities. That the intellectual training given in the Grand Rapids Junior College is fully up to the standards set by the older col^ leges with their four-year courses is fully evidenced by the fol- lowing statistics gathered with reference to such students as had completed one year's work in the Grand Rapids Junior College in 1914-15, and have during the current year, 1915-16, continued their collegiate careers in other institutions of higher learning. SECONDARY SCHOOLS 269 Sixteen students are included in this group, the different colleges attended by them being seven. The distribution of these students is as follows : Oberlin, one ; Notre Dame, one ; Northwestern, one; Wisconsin, two; University of Michigan, (engineering) two; University of Michigan, (literary), eight. By comparing the grades or marks accorded to these sixteen students by the teachers in the Junior College in June, 1915, with the grades or marks obtained by them at the close of their first semester's work in the several older colleges attended by them in Februar}'-, 1916, the following table is derived: TABLE XLI Comparison by subjects of the grades given sixteen students at the Grand Rapids Junior College and at various senior-college institutions. Junior College Grades Grades Given by Other Colleges A's B's C's D's E's Total A's B's C's D's E's Total Rhetoric 25900 16 14300 8 Mathematics 12241 10 01200 3 History 41301 9 26000 8 Biology 06300 9 01000 1 Physics 22010 S 01000 1 German 22501 10 54100 10 Total 11 18 22 5 3 59 8 17 6 31 The above table shows that no grade below C was given to any junior-college pupils of Grand Rapids in any senior college last semester (so far as pupils continued junior-college work in the senior college), that only six pupils received a grade of C, while 17 received a grade of B, and 8 a grade of A. By comparing the changes in position of pupils in the two types of institutions — junior college and senior college — another check on the work of the junior college is secured and interesting facts are revealed. Table XLII gives these items. Here it is seen that only four persons in senior colleges fell below the grades given in the junior college, fourteen received precisely the same grades, while eleven gained grades above those given in the junior college. This is a remarkably good record. TABLE XLII Relative standing of students who continued in other colleges the same subjects they pursued in the Grand Rapids Junior College. Falling Below Junior Having Same Grade Having a Higher College Grade in as in Junior Grade Than in SUBJECTS Same Subject College Junior College Rhetoric 2 5 1 Mathematics 2 History , 14 2 Biology 1 Physics 1 German 4 6 Total 4 14 H 270 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RARIDS, MICHIGAN If the grades obtained by students in subjects not pursued in the junior college but first elected in senior colleges be con- sidered, substantiating evidence of the high quality of work done in the junior college is obtained. Table XLIII shows the figures. Here it is noted that of the twenty-six grades given out, seven are A's, five are B's, fourteen are C's, and not one is below C. That is, approximately 50% of the grades are what colleges usual- ly regard as ejcce//en/ and superior and none is hdow i good. TABLE XLIII Grades obtained by Grand Rapids Junior College students in sub- jects not begun in the Junior College. SUBJECT A's B's C's D's E's Total Chemistry 3 3 French 4 12 7 Spanish 2 2 Latin 10 1 Philosophy 2 6 8 Economics 2 10 3 Astronomy 2 2 Totals 7 5 14 26 By combining all the gi*ades secured — both in the junior college and in the various senior colleges— an even better show- :::::::::i-it::"i:--i::i::i: :^"54" "i^: i'' ^i j:i: i^2 ±^:_- :h.i :>< i - ' - j^a ± __. ::::::::: i±::::::::;:---:::: , - : "^ : -lit _ : M^'^ _ p '^ : 5- "? > "^ t ^ — ^ i • > \^ it. _:_ iL __ ^.t _ __ . :_ _+tL," _ J : --- -- p \v- tv ^ 3^ ^ * ^ -t^ :: _ _ __ : :_ __ ^^, _ _ : - :: . "^ ^ L^ t^ \ , :_ __ : -L^.-- _:._ _ _ : k_ /u -:-E;:i:::::^--E:""F"-: , 6 r> \ 17 ^, . . 5_li__, JT f" ic ii*i -J LcfiCi.acsfflsa s - -- - -- ^ "/ir4tf7rJ^(^^7t^»lB i - ::::T::ii:::i:::::i=S^?^- :5:^^'J-?$?-::::::::::: DIAGRAM LXIII- -Distribution of grades of Grand Rapids Junior College students Junior College and in Senior College. SECONDARY SCHOOLS 271 ing is made for the Grand Rapids students. Table XLIV and Diagram LXIII make this clear. Of the total number of grades {67) secured in Senior Colleges, forty-three, or more than 64.17% are superior grades, and only two, or less than 3% are below C, or what is regarded as a normally satisfactory grade. TABLE XLIV Distribution of grades among the sixteen Grand Rapids Junior College students entering Senior Colleges in 1915. A's B's C's D's E's Total Grades given in Grand Rapids Junior College 11 19 2v3 5 4 62 Grades given in Senior Colleges ., 20 23 22 2 67 There is only one conclusion that can be drawn from the above facts and figures, namely, that the Grand Rapids Junior College during its first year of existence did train students, in- tellectually and academically speaking at least, to a high degree of proficiency. There is no reason to question but that it is doing similar work at present. On the other hand, an analysis of the concrete situation and an observation of the junior college actually at work reveals counter-active forces in operation. There is little opportunity for, or little realization of, college spirit — that indefinable some- thing that leaves its abiding influence on persons even when the effects of classroom activities have seemingly passed away for- ever. The enrollment in the junior college is too limited, recita- tion sections are too small, collegiate interests and activities are too curtailed to produce the most friendly emulation and the most wholesome stimulation for young people. Members are too few to develop an esprit de corps of their own. Surroundings are too impersonal to lend themselves to a feeling of proprietor- ship, even of partnership. There is little or nothing that the junior college students can look upon as their own — as constitu- ting a constructive element in their group taken as a group. Not only are they housed in the same building with the high-school pupils, but their recitation work is carried on in the same class- rooms and with the same equipment as that provided the high- school pupils. They are denied not only a segregated section of the building, but also any room that they may regard as their own session or rest-room. No consultation rooms are available for them ; no separated portion of the library is devoted to them for study or for reference work ; no assembly meetings are possi- ble for them. Nor are there facilities for gymnastics, athletics, literary and social activities to inspire them -with a sense of homogeneity of thought and action. In short, the junior-college students are at present, at least to a large degree, an unarticula- 272 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN tive group of young people, without consistency of organization, without definiteness of purpose, without group consciousness, and without the material surroundings and equipment that will tend to produce these essential elements readily. Values are not always determinable in quantitative terms, and it is altogether probable that the American colleges have recently committed the impious sin of the worship of numbers of students they can enroll. Nevertheless, there can be no true college spirit, and hence no true college, without a student body of fairly respect- able size. What the minimum is none can say with positiveness. It seems reasonable to state, however, that a junior college at- tached to the public school system in Grand Rapids cannot be economically conducted with fewer than one hundred persons enrolled. For a year or two at the outset of the undertaking, a smaller number may be sufficient to justify the experiment, but surely an ideal of two or four hundred students enrolled must be expected for the not too remote future. It should, therefore, be the first business of the school au- thorities to secure an attendance in the junior college to warrant not only the continuance of the college, but its gradual expansion. This is an age of advertising — of letting prospective interested people know what is provided for their needs and of presenting the matter to them in an attractive, appealing way. A cam- paign of dignified, judicious advertising of the Junior college, not only among the citizens of Grand Rapids, but also among the residents of suburban towns lying within the western section of Michigan, may well prove a wise venture. Secondly, in order to make the college truly attractive, the Board of Education may very fittingly consider, at least the wis- dom of providing for it either a definitely segregated portion of the Central building or of some other building, and of en- couraging in all appropriate ways the development of a true college atmosphere and a true college organization. A third factor enters into the future development, organiza- tion, and administration of the Junior College in Grand Rapids. This is the attitude of the senior college towards it, and the arti- culation that can be secured between the junior college on the one hand and the senior colleges on the other. In the nature of the case, the University of Michigan is the chief standardizing educa- tional agency in the state. And it ought so to be. Not only is it an integral part of our public school system, but it has, from the earliest days to the present, been generally recognized as the head and crown of that system. In consequence it would be ex- tremely unfortunate, not to say dangerous and disastrous, for the Junior College in Grand Rapids to grow up entirely unrelated SECONDARY SCHOOLS 273 and unarticulated with the older and more complete institution, the University of Michigan. And yet, right at this point is the crux of much of the difficulty respecting economical adminis- tration of the junior college. The University has approved the experiment Grand Rapids is making, and has agreed to take the students w^ho may be trained in the junior college and allov^ them credit, hour for hour, for work pursued therein. It has, however, steadfastly insisted that the junior-college work shall not only be taught by teachers of pronounced superior academic training (ultimately to be guaranteed by the collegiate degree of Master of Arts or Doctor of Philosophy), but also that the junior-college classes shall be segregated absolutely from the classes made available in the high school. In other words, the University has insisted that precisely the same entrance requirements shall be enforced in the Junior College as would be exercised at the University itself and that none but high-school graduates, having fifteen units of approved work, shall be admitted to junior col- lege work. In consequence in several cases small classes cover- ing precisely the same field of Avork, though possibly in a slightly different manner, have been carried simultaneously by the same teacher — one class being scheduled as junior-college w^ork; the other as high-school work. This situation is noticeable particu- larly in third-year German, in biology, and in history. Moreover, since the Board of Education has prescribed a tuition fee of sixty dollars for junior college work, whereas similar courses may be elected in the high school without an}^ tuition fee whatever, it has resulted in a goodly number of young people remaining in school as graduate high-school students, rather than as junior college students, albeit the University allows but half credit for any dis- tinctively high-school work of that kind. It not infrequently happens, also, that an individual pupil in the high school completes the required work for graduation at the end of the first semester, but, for personal reasons, defers tak- ing the diploma until the June commencement time. Under the present arrangements, such a person is denied the privileges of the junior college. And, again, it occasonally happens that a sen- ior in the high school has completed thirteen or fourteen of the required fifteen units, and has included in these credits all of the specific prerequisites for admission to certain junior-college courses. For example, attention was called to several cases in which seniors had already to their credit four units in English, or two units in German, or one unit in history, or science, but who, under the rules, were kept from the junior-college classes of the same line of work. To admit them to junior-college work under the circumstances, would, it is true, be the equivalent of 274 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN admitting" students with academic conditions — a practice at pre- sent condemned by most standard institutions of higher learning. Nevertheless, while the junior-college is in its infancy, it is the part of justice, not to say wisdom, to surround it with all the best possible conditions of growth. Standards of scholarship must be maintained, but the employment of good common sense in the administration of the agencies designed to secure such standards must also be employed. Until the number of students enrolled in the junior college makes possible not alone the organ- ization of fairly good-sized sections for classroom instruction in the various subjects ofifered, but also the differentiation of sec- tions to meet the multiplicity of needs that inevitably develop under the elective system in schools, considerable freedom seem- ingly should be accorded the principal and the. teachers in admin- istering the work they seek to offer. Ultimately it should not be necessary or possible to place in a class in junior-college German I (third year German) a student who has already completed four years of work in German in the high school ; nor to group together in junior-college Mathematics I, those who have had in high school two years, two and a half years, and three years of mathematics respectively; nor to admit to junior-college His- tory I, those who have had in high school one year's work, tvv^o 3^ears' work, three years' work, and even four years' work in the subject. And yet this is done at present in the Junior College. Two of the present class in Junior-College German (third- year German) have had four years' work in German in the high school; four of the nine at present enrolled in junior-college Mediaeval and Modern European History had had European His- tory in the high school ; three of the eight members of the junior- college Zoology class had carried zoology in the high school ; while of the twelve who started junior-college mathematics last semester, five had completed seven semesters of high-school mathematics, three had completed six semesters and four had completed five semesters. Yet all of these persons were pursuing junior-college work in classes that also enrolled others whose high-school preparation in the several fields was very much less than theirs. The Junior College, however, is offending in this respect not one whit more flagrantly than is the University, of Michigan, which sets the standards. Indeed, at the University, the classi- fication of students in their work is in many respects even more loosely done, and is done on a much larger scale. The above conditions are set forth not for the sake of con- demning the junior-college organization, and surely not for the sake of giving unqualified approval to the methods in vogue at SECONDARY SCHOOLS 275 the University. They are presented in order to show that in both institutions the concrete, practical exigencies of circum- stances must be taken into account. Particularly in a newly es- tablished school like the Grand Rapids Junior College, slight var- iations from fixed standards should be permitted without ques- tioning, especially when it can be shown that such variations are merel}^ technical in character and conduce in no apparent manner to weakening the efficiency of the organization and in- struction. Here, as elsewhere, the letter of the law killeth, while the observance of the spirit tends to keep alive and to develop the whole. In view of the observations made and the comments offered above, the following recommendations are respectfully presented to the Board of Education for their consideration : First, that the Junior College in connection with the public school system of the city be continued on a permanent founda- tion, be liberally supported financially and morally, and be per- mitted to develop unrestrained by any artificial or technical forms of organization and administration. Second, that the charge for tuition within the college be re- duced to a sum no greater at least than that required at the Uni- versity of Michigan, and that consideration be given to the plan of eliminating, at a very early date, all tuition fees whatever for residents of Grand Rapids, thereby making the junior-college work as available and free as high-school work is at present. Third, that an understanding be brought about with the University of Michigan whereby a somewhat greater liberality and flexibility of organization of class work may be secured, to the end that a truer classification of pupils pursuing work in spe- cified fields may be made, a more economical organization of reci- tation sections may be obtained, a greater freedom for the ad- justment of individual pupils' interests and needs may be granted, and an enhanced stimulation and esprit de corps within the col- legiate work may be produced. Fourth, that, as soon as feasible, recitation rooms, library facilities, office and consultation quarters, separate and distinct from those of the high school, be provided. Fifth, that as soon as sufficient numbers of students can be enrolled, a second year of off'erings be added to the program of studies or the curriculum. Sixth, that a dignified campaign of advertising be carried on throughout the city and state, in order that the public may be ac- quainted more fully with the aims, scope, and organization of the Junior College. 276 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN The Teachers There are one hundred fifty-five teachers engaged in carry- ing on the work of public secondary education in Grand Rapids. These are distributed among the four schools as follows : Cen- tral, 48; Union, 39; South, 35; Junior, 33. These teachers have under their tuition 2,254 pupils, or an average of 14.54 per teacher. The usual number of weekly recitation periods assigned each person is five, but teachers conducting classes in the junior college are given only four high-school sections. Teachers of the manual and commercial branches and other work requiring little attention outside of class hours are not infrequently as- signed six recitation periods. The administrative policies that are operating in the arrangements here noted are in accord with the best educational theory of the day and call for no comments. In establishing the academic qualifications for teachers Grand Rapids has wisely set the standards at college graduation and a minimum amount of teaching experience for all except teachers of the so-called non-academic subjects. The standard however is not being administered retroactively so as to elimi- nate from the system teachers of long tenure who entered upon their work under conditions somewhat different from those found today, and it ought not to be so administered. In the future, though, it is to be the policy, as avowed by the school authorities at present in charge of the work, to enforce the higher standards of training in the appointment of all new teachers of academic branches both in the junior high schools and in the senior high schools. As in the past, teachers of non-academic subjects will be required to possess evidences of such special training and fitness as the several lines of work may demand. The new schedule of salaries recently adopted by the Board of Education indicates clearly that the intent is to pay teachers sufficiently well to justify the higher professional requirements that are being set. Particularly worthy of commendation is the rare, though thoroughly equitable, policy recently made eff'ective in Grand Rapids in placing teachers of the academic branches in the seventh and eighth grades on precisely the same footing, respecting training and salary schedules, as the teachers of similar subjects in the upper grades of the high school. The departmentalization of the work of these grades and the organi- zation of them as a part of the secondary school system, make it as essential that teachers who are assigned to them shall be as thoroughly prepared in the subjects they are to teach and as fully conversant with the purposes, problems, and procedures of secondary education as it is for teachers of- the upper high- SECONDARY SCHOOLS 277 school grades. Indeed there Is well-established theory for de- manding that teachers of the seventh and eighth grades shall in every respect be among the strongest teachers of the entire school system. The youths attending these two grades are usually in the most restless, mischievous, active, curious, and alert period of school life. None but teachers of pronounced forcefulness of personality and ripeness of sympathy can deal with them and their interests successfully. As stated elsewhere in this report it is precisely the recognition by educators of the peculiar physical, mental, and social traits of boys and girh of the late preadolescent age that has led to the reorganization of the traditional school system to conform to the demand. But no reorganization of system wtihout a corresponding reshaping of the standards set for the administration of the system will produce the desired results. It is the teacher, after all, who gives character and form to any grade or any school. In view of the newer pedagogy and the newer psychology it is certainly reasonable to expect and demand that the teachers who are henceforth placed in charge of youths in the exacting transition period marked by the junior high-school grades shall possess the following qualifications at least: unusual charm of personality and address, broad sympathies gained through much contact with the world at large and young people in general, several years of active teaching experience, and academic train- ing equivalent to that denoted by the Bachelor's degree. In short, manly men and womanly women of superior natural and acquired traits of character should alone be given positions in these grades, and their salaries should be commensurate with the qualifications demanded. Grand Rapids is therefore taking the wise course in setting for teachers of these grades academic requirements equal to those set for teachers of the higher grades. It ought very justly to set even higher standards. Table XLV shows the training, teaching experience and the salary schedule of high-school teachers at present in the school system of Grand Rapids. Diagrams LXIV, LXV, and LXVI show the same facts in a different form. From the table and diagrams it is seen that more than fifty per cent of the teachers in the junior and senior high schools hold college degrees and that more than forty per cent have received normal-school or other special training. In like manner the statistics reveal the fact that the largest number of teachers are those of considerable school experience, more than fifty per cent having been engaged in the work in excess of ten years. Salaries, too, are reasonably worthy as salaries go, more 278 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN than fifty per cent of all the teachers being paid in excess of a thousand dollars per year. Table XLVL and Diagram LXVII show how the ranges of salaries in Grand Rapids compare with those in eleven other cities of the country. TABLE XLV Record for 1915-16 of the academic training, teaching experience and salaries of high-school teachers in the high schools of Grand Rapids. Total SCHOOLS No. of Teachers Central 48 Union 39 South 35 Junior 33 Totals 155 4 teachers did not report. SCHOOLS Under 5 Years Central 5 Union 6 South 13 Junior 10 Totals 34 1 teacher did not report. TRAINING w ithN ormal School With With or Special Aca- A. B. Degree A. M. Degree demic Training 34 4 15 15 1 16 18 16 13 3 16 80 8 63 EXPERIENCE 5-10 Years 11-20 Years ver 20 Years 5 20 17 11 13 9 9 13 14 5 4 39 51 30 SCHOOLS Under $750 Central Union 4 South 3 Junior 4 Totals 11 4 teachers did not report $750- $850 1 9 5 11 26 SALARY $851- $1000 2 6 7 9 24 $1001- $1200 9 9 12 4 34 $1201- $1500 19 7 5 2 33 Over $1500 1.6 4 2 1 23 ii^ m in m m m tn ii ii i^ 32 iQ il DIAGRAM LXIV — Showing training of high-school teachers in Grand Rapids. 280 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Uy. .j r-r^ 1 " cc ui _ _ ., ^> u^ LC. Ti^J ?^ 22 \z_ : : : _ vAW -ji... ^/Atz, S>5 32 - ^M <&% JiZ^ zi zziVi- — JZ22J : - o&d 22 27255 :: : l/A\ ccciz ^i.4^^ yAz\ 555z? - - 2?5&5 ^: M%yi _ ^^^TlIZ C€jf!t U 'i I \ zaJzc :s;2222:— :::.:-: Vtw- r A es - :_ -_ — "l^^^^^^H ^^^^^H 4 n HMH ^^^^ feU , ^^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^H~ ^H^Hi ^^^^H~ te. "H^nmm ^^^^^^^g ^^^^^^^. :_ T&. :_ .: :_:- ^^^^^^1 ^^^^^^1 ^^^^^H "^^^I^Hr "'^^^^^^■~ "^^^^^^i ^I^^Hl^H '^^^^^^^H~ ^^^^^^^H H^H^^l ^^^^^H ^^^^^^B ^^^^^H ;3^ ' ~ ^^^^^^^B '^^^^^^^H' i^^™ ■ ' ^^^H^^^i~ ^^^ ^^^^^^1 ^I^^B^a I^^H W^fflnffl ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 ■■■■ ■ IIIIIIIIIIBHHBHIIIIIIIII ■■■■■III IIIIIIH ■■■■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■ 1 1 1 1 nil i 1 ■■■■ ■iiiiiiiiiia^^^HiiiiiiiiiiM^^^iiiiiiiiiiai !____ m-— - fflE 1::::41 :: :::: _ :. j?c.;::: Bib::::: — s;t r 7" — 7^ — kTi ^ !i:::::!!i:":;PP!:: " ]ia3aB[iS3[^ cisaEEi.. ~ ti:?^cbfc----t"r^RLtk icyi^t"- * -^ T__. _L. ._ _-!-- -- 11 I^ AfgC Y <| I \ f , vn( l*St 1 III 11 11 P- ! 1 T ^m] ?■ \'rf. L^ 11..U. '^*flvi p^ ; :::::::::::::::::*::::::: RuMltitfflJllftWH- 1 Pvf rWwvvl \m\\\ \m \ 1 DIAGRAM LXV — Showing teaching experience, in years, of teachers in the several high schools of Grand Rapids. SECONDARY SCHOOLS 281 DIAGRAM LXVI — Showing range of salaries in the several high schools of Gra Rapids, the average range and range for the entire city. nd 282 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN TABLE XLVI Comparison of the ranges of salaries in the elementary and high schools of Grand Rapids with those of 11 other cities. Range in Range in CITY Elementary School High School Omaha 600-1000 800-1200 Syracuse 400- 800 550-1700 Des Moines - 950 850-1400 Paterson 475-1000 700-1800 Grand Rapids ' 500-1000 800-1350 Nashville 400- 700 900-1500 Spokane 600-1000 1 100-1400 Toledo - 1000-2000 New Haven 450- 850 750-2000 New Bedford 800- 850 800-2200 Trenton 1000-2500 Columbus 1600-2500 Table XLVI and Diagram LXVII show that Grand Rapids is considerably below most of the cities with which it is compared both in its minimum and maximum limits, particularly for high- school teachers. Only three cities have a lower minimum salary schedule for high-school teachers, while all but one of the cities listed have a much higher maximum limit. If Grand Rapids is to continue to secure first-class teachers it must increase its salary schedules by several hundred dollars. In addition to the training and experience exacted of teach- ers previous to their appointment to positions, contemporary educational theory and practice demand that there shall be evi- dences of continued growth on the part of teachers while in service. There are obviously numerous ways in which such development may be secured. Attendance at educational meet- ings, participation in activities connected with social, philan- thropic, religious, and cultural undertakings, private reading and study, all carried forward coincident with the school year, are some of these. But the long summer vacation periods likewise afford opportunity for systematic study that has been fully grasped by relatively few persons. The college and university summer school has become an established agency in our educa- tional administration. Its courses are organized quite largely to meet the peculiar needs of teachers of experience. Its term is usually scheduled to fit the convenience of public school men and women. It exists, in fact, primarily to aid those who aspire to grow in service. Foreign and domestic travel, in like manner, yield benefits to teachers that are incommensurable. While no doubt the best service many a teacher can render to herself and her school frequently will come as the result of a vacation period spent in complete rest and recreation, it is rea- sonable to expect and to demand that occasionally such vacation periods shall be spent otherwise. Table XLVII and Diagram LXVII I show the manner in which the high-school teachers of SECONDARY SCHOOLS 283 ;^^± ::==== llllllljlll[llll[llll[llllllllllll- ^!===== = = = "=" = = = " ="-"=" Eii:: ::::::::: ::::::::: ::::::: 1 1 1 1 — 1 J^:==== === = :==E$:==::===E=E= = = = = = L_^ ^- + i^==- = = = ==::=- = - = = :-:i = = = : = - S:::x:::::::ix:::±:::::::::::- : __3i 1= === ===-==---- ii 1 1 N 1 T^ in A---tt-i ,;- .._g \ 1 -j-^ -| 1 L-=; -^ 1 ^ iX li:::::: ::::::::: :::::::::::e: : _:: ---... _ - |ee;ee||eeeeeee;eeee;;eee:;e; _j_ _j_ : ^_ Er±X ::::::: ::::==::: :::::::::::e:: -::::-:::::::::::: ::::i::±:::5i: i^llllllll |i^ |[J| 1 I 1 U 1 d| is__j__-± S J J wg_ ^ExEEEiEEE±EE^;=EE^;EEEEEEE d"? 1 h M 1 ' ' a--::--:-3:f+----Ji-T 3 — 1 ^T"^ tSi- -^ ^^ T -1 ^ ■'"■' ■■ ■ ■■ 1 [__^. ^ - - -- " "^ - N 19 |;;;:;;;:;:;;|,;|:|:|::;;|:;|| 1 m mij 'tI e;:eeeeeee:;;:e|-ee|eeeeeeS|; -^ TJl :;;:::::::: :::S|:::::J:::S=': |: z z^z ^z :z :::|::::::;::::::::ii:i:::::.a,!: jj 1 1 1 in ■Ly |EEE:!=EEiE:EEE:|TiE:!EfHE :eeeeeee|eeeee;Eee=:Eee|eeeee EEEEEEE:EE|EEEE|EEEEi||EEEE:; EEEEEEEiEEE=EEEE^I EEE'Ee|eEEE EE 1 ||||;|h=:h:| ::i:::-i::::|:::|=:::h:::|::::: -Milii 284 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Grand Rapids have spent the summer vacation periods during the past six years. TABLE XLVII Shows the way in which the high-school teachers of Grand Rapids have spent the summer vacation periods during the past six years. SCHOOL Central Number Traveling 27 17 South 13 Junior 14 Total" SCHOOL Central Ni Att 71 umber ;ending 24 South 21 Junior 18 Total 90 Credit is SCHOOL Central ... Union South Junior Total TRAVELING Number of Average per Summers Teacher 67 2.48 33 1.94 23 2.53 23 1.63 156 2.19 *SUMMER SCHOOL WORK Number of Average Summers Teacher 49 1.81 43 1.79 43 2.04 39 2.16 174 1.93 given for one or more summers thus spent. REST AND PLEASURE Number of Aggregate Number Average Teachers of Summers . Per Teacher 36 100 2.77 29 70 2.41 20 52 2.60 17 58 3.41 102 280 2.74 Average for Entire School 1.39 .84 .94 .69 1.00 Average Per School 1.02 1.10 1,22 1.18 1.12 Average for Entire School 2.08 1.79 1.48 1.76 1.80 These statistics reveal the following; facts : Seventy-one teachers have spent an aggregate of 156 vacation periods in travel ; ninety have attended college, university or other summer schools for a total of 174 terms; 102 have devoted an aggregate of 280 summer vacation periods exclusively to rest and pleasure. Put into the form of averages the following re- sults are obtained, namely : The typical high-school teacher in Grand Rapids has employed the last six vacation periods thus : Travel 1.00 Summer School : 1.12 Rest and pleasure exclusively 1.80 Unspecified (probably mostly in rest) 2.08 Total , - 6.00 The degree to which specialization of work is carried in the schools is shown by the accompanying table and Diagrams LXIX and LXX. TABLE XLVIII Departmentalization of work in the high schools of Grand Rapids. SCHOOL Central .... Union South Junior Totals Percentages Teachers Not Reporting 3 2 5 10 6.5 One 10 6 8 7 31 20.0 No. of Teachers Teaching Subjects as FoUow^s Median: Between two and three. Two 13 10 4 10 37 23.9 Three 14 11 8 7 40 25.8 Four 6 3 7 6 22 14.2 Five 1 7 3 1 12 7.7 Six 1 1 .65 Seven 1 1 2 1.3 ±k ±-- ± - Bffii^:' -* T rrT' ■■■■ft'lil nil iBHHHBIillll pniHHHH 11 11 1 HHHHH 1 I ~r "It 1 11 T 1 ttti HHHHhhII II IHHHHH 1 ilia^^H^IIIIIIIIIIBB^^B llllllillBBBn ■■■■■■II III ■■■■■in 1 I ■■■■■■II iiim^^^B 1 1 {■■■■■IIKIIII IB^^^BII 1 IIIIBH^M '" ■■■■■■II iiii^^wniii ■■■■■■ 1 ■■■■■III 1 !■■■■■ Ill II ■■■■■11 1 IIIIBB^M ■■■■■■ 1 ■■■■■ 1 !■■■■■ Ill II ■■■■■nil IIIIB^^M ■■■■■■ 1 ■■■■■ 1 I^^^^B III II ■■■■■nil IIIIB^^M ■■■■K^l II III^^^^B 1 ■■■■CJI II Ili^^^^BIII 1 ^ LJ J Jl lU 11 U J UllllJl I M ■■■■■■1 II iim^^^Biii 1 iii^^^^^iiiiiiiiim^^^^iiiiiiiiiia^^n ■■■■■ill iiiiiii^^^^Biii 1 lll^^^^^illlllllllBB^^ailllllllliBB^M ■■■■■Ell iiiiiim^^^Biiii 1 Ul 11 1 J 1 ■■■■■■II Ilillll^^^^BIIII 1 lll^^^^^lllilUIIIBB^^BIIIIIIIIIIBB^n IIIBHaHBIIIIIIIIIIBniHB lllllllilBB^n ■■■■■■ ■■■■■ 1 {({■■■■■iiiiiiJiiia^^^B iiiiiiiiiBB^n ■■■■■■ ■■■■■ 1 II^^^^^IIIIIIIIIIBB^^B lllllliilBB^M ■■■■■■ ■■■■■ i 1 1 ■■Hiiri ■■■■■ 1 1 1 1 11 ■■■■BB - ■■■■■ 1 1 ItlH^^^^ lillli ■■■■■ 1 11 IBB^M iiiiiiiiiiai 1 1 ■■■■■■ ■■■■■ 1 1 1 !!■■■■■ Ill III ■■■■■ 1 II IBB^W ■■■■■■ ■■■■■ 1 > >■•■■■■■ lllllll ■■■■■ 1 ii IBB^n ^^^^^^^1 ^^^^H ■■■■■ ■"■"■ ■■■■■ 1 II ■■■■■! ^^^^^H ^^^B ■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■! ~^^^^^^i~ "^^^1 ■■■■■ ■■■■■' ■■■» ^^^^^H ^^^B ^^^^^^^B ^^^H ■■■■ta ■■■■■' ■■■■! ^^^^^H ^^^B ■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■1 o^^^ ^H HUM i^HH MM i^H^ 1 M 1 <>^^H ^H ■■■■■ taHHHB ■■■■! ■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■I • ^^^^^H ^^^1 ■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■I ^^^^I^^B ^^^^B ■■■■■ ■^■■B ■■■■I ^^^^^^^B ^^^^B ■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■! .- ^^^^^^^ _^^^g ■ ^^HB ^^^ '" ^^^1 ^■H ^^^ ^^^1 ^^H ^^H ^^^1 ■ ^IH HI 1 ^^^ --t^- iiii ■■■ Z S2Z5 ?iZ25 ■■■■■■ y.yy^ ■■■■■ ^V/s^ ', '/y^d ^v > '/yy 4 y&WA >ir yvOvK*^ ^Oy ^K P rJfOfd JJyy' 5Ki ^ v& t /V> A ^W ^rSK «>8 > V^ ^ i&% // y /^ 1^ ^ ^A ft ^JsK ? XXir! ^ 4 ■ ^ ' - - t Cr X 1 TT ' :t(i:Li!i^. x-¥: a?^ OlixiP^ itiBtiieE ^_ £i2g( e "I ' 1 I \ E3? V''L/s\l\ }m 1 k.f-LU>U J^ 4l <^l ^ IT tp )Lvi\.vfVPir Tp^VvSd. Jl ■' ^ "J"! ^ U ^< \i Ae^ .^iVi ■ ^ rr I I ■• A nf htA\ >fe iL ,<» \ m :::;:::^___:f__u_;^=:;f¥ - DIAGRAM LXVIII— Showing the Rapids have spent manner in which high-school teachers of Grand the last six summer vacations, 286 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RARJDS, MICHIGAN More than sixty-nine per cent of all the teachers have not to exceed three separate subjects to prepare and teach daily, the median being somewhat less than three. The showing- is there- fore good, albeit there is always a danger of over-specialization as well as under-specialization in conducting school work. The amount of time teachers spend daily in preparing for their duties is one test of merit and efficiency, though surely not an absolute test. Obviously persons whose work lies in a single limited field, or who are assigned several class sections of the same course, or who teach expressional subjects only, require for outside preparation less time than teachers of other branches. Table XLIX and Diagrams LXXI and LXXII show the varia- tions in this time. The mode seems to be between an hour and a half and two hours; the median is the same; while the range is 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l< ^-\-] hh ^ [ _L_ 1 1 1 t" r , ] HH^^Ii 1 1 ■^^^^^H IliillllllllH I^^^P^H IliillllllllH , t bSssi ^^^^^^i iiiiiiiiiiiiiii , 1 1 lu : 1 It It -" ;: i 1 1 1 ! i^^^^hh iiiiiiiiniiii ili > ^/5vL/ / /yOOi/ 5^?55J /yv>CJl< n^T^i - ^^^^B III 1 ^^^^ v Tn." : ppppH ttflHH u ^---■- - ^^ 1 ^^ ^1 "t 1 n mH,^^ . = r 1 " '^ \l ' 1 V' 1 1 *" "' 1 \' 1 J v! ! ' • ki 1 1 > \' i i feHHt 1 f leiaid,fVL"Aa tsi/p ivLbied T S £ , » 3jk tU:^^^^-^ ■ ■ ~^ "Vi u Tf I aL vi > k 1 iini ii i pk dff- n'^ |\HtT TrPJ 1 It Ik 31 d 1 iv imi 11 ' 1 H ' 1 -J "i^ 1 1 ji' 1 1 ICO.dA . (\d TivC, Su.l »i "":T""-TP-=IT- tT---T^ --+--4-I — \ — riTi 1 1 1 — DIAGRAM LXIX — Showing departmentalization of work in high sehools. SECONDARY SCHOOLS 287 -- -^ -i-QtTi^-i _ __ _j_ - "1 1 5C 1 1 1 T nj _L ■ I _j- . "T iH 1 ] - _ _ - 1 Ml 1 1 1 M 1 ! 1 1 ■ ■■ 1 m 1 1 ! M 1 1 1 J ; 1 ' L ' U " " ^ -^ - - - j: "': -1- i--t- ±-^..^mj_:tiH :_: :x:± + :±: iiixi---- 1 L^_| ^Ht+ -^— S5 "-!+'- -H^4-^^ '^ ^^ ^+^H -±— i^J f ---::::: 1 i ' i ■ M M i i M i 1 i 1 . i ■ 1^ M M \ ; 1 1 M 1 ' j M ; - : [ - ---TT"!'" "; — m" ^'^\~y^ "i~~n — 1 1 - "rVn — | [ ~|~]~n MM 1 i 1 M i i 1 T •Jir : I — 1— -H-;— i^->f' -I -t^— -^^— - n^-^ ^-ffr ^ r " 1 1 ! i : ! 1 i , -r-H— -^---^hH-ht-H^-K^+^^NT^T -Ejx++-jS ■ ' ' ' 1 ' 1 i i I i V 1 i- --'..!.: 1 ' \ 1 -_ ■ -^ _: : ^ -Li L i J J_ L . 1 ^r "H t ! ' • ' 1 ' i T^ n i 1 T \ MM ^ T-^'---'--%tH4=W 1 ==^#+==^====== — --^"'!-H==i=^- ! =h=4t!-=K4^:^±=-:^::= = = - ' ' M : i 1 1 ; M MM 1 1 M M ' i ' 1 ^ \ i X'T L " M ■ ■ ■ i i 1 ! M 1 i 1 : 1 1 M I ! M\ 1 • ."": M^ M M II r 1 i |-- iTt 1 'T! ' T" "i M'^ 1 X ' : ' \ Mil 1 M i i Mm M I 1 S 1 1 ± ■ 1 1 1 M 1 MM Mi' M ' ' • ' M M \ III ["T" ' M : Mi It ill i i 1 ; 1 1 N " M M M . i 1 ill s. 1 V 1 1 1 ; /O ■ : M I'l M ! 1 M i 1 i 1 i M M 1 1 .^-Lll N 1 ^ m Hg3Tft;.|gg gpll: j jl|-ftf| Jj 1 : ' Mil 1 M i MM 1 M II Mil ::: Ll:. i^^sJ8i;#it^::llli:::l:i il+i! — ^ M-TT-f-r-^-^TT-'T-TTr-TfT-'-- t"^---' ■rj-:":j|?^^=r"fi=; i-di- itr ! \ - - r — q^ ' ■■ ■' - -■ 1 1 i "^ ... — •■ " ' ^-^ ■ \ < /- y ■ I 1 M i ! (Ti ' 1 1 Moil' 1 /? $WU \ \ \ \ f\ \ \\ i 1 i i M i i 3 i M ( W - 1 ^ ^ ! ^1 ■ 1 M 1 1 M i ' r 1 j i M u M i 1 i 1 \ ' ' ' \ '■ ^ ' M 1 1 1 1 b?i M W i > , • ■* ■ 1 IfM g|rs J l-4-;-^-U-l-i-i-44 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 i -1 — (-4-1- -!-f 4-- -I-! — !- 4--^ -A\W-%A L-^ DIAGRAM LXX — Showing the range of different class subjects teachers of the Junior and Senior High Schools. taught daily by the TABLE XLIX Showing the number of minutes teachers spend daily in preparing their school work. Number of Teachers Spending Number of ^^^ ^_ Minutes Indicated in Preparing Work Not Re- SCHOOL Under 30 30-60 61-90 91-120 121-200 Over 200 porting Central 1 5 12 14 8 2 6 Union 4 10 12 7 1 5 South 10 5 7 11 2 Junior 1 7 7 7 10 1 Totals 2 26 34 40 36 6 11 Percentage 1.3 16.8 21.9 25.8 23.2 3.9 7.1 Median: Between 91 and 120 minutes. 288 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN from less than 30 minutes to more than 200 minutes. Speaking generally, the time given by teachers to the preparation of their daily work seems reasonable. Conducting classroom exercises is, after all, but part of a teacher's daily routine of work. Hall duty, session-room duty, assisting pupils after school to make up lost work, assisting with student collateral activities, attending-- to minor cases of disci- pline — all these demand an added portion of a teacher's energy and time. Table L and Diagram LXXITI indicate the range, DIAGRAM LXXI — Showing time spent by teachers preparing work. SECONDARY SCHOOLS 289 DIAGRAM LXXII — Showing the range in time spent by teachers daily in preparation of school work. in minutes, devoted by teachers to these tasks. From these it is to be noted that few teachers devote less than an hour per day to such work, whereas the median lies between an hour and an hour and a half. TABLE L Range of time spent daily by high-school teachers on duties other than class recitations. SCHOOL Central .... Union South Junior Totals Number of Teachers Spending Minutes Indicated Not on Duties Other Than Class Recitation Answering, Under 30 30-60 2 11 2 9 9 14 4 43 Percentage 2.6 27.7 Median : Sixty to ninety minutes. 61-90 6 8 10 4 28 18.1 91-120 121-200 Over 200 or None 34 21.9 6 7 5 6 24 15.5 6 8 1 3 3 1 7 15 4.5 9.1 290 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN A teacher's efficiency and worth must finally be judged by the character and quality of the results attained by her. School results, however, are difficult of computation. The school pro- duct is a human product and none can compute in mathematical terms the teacher's influence in shaping ideals, attitudes, thought processes, reactions and success in human life. Only approxi- mate conclusions can be drawn. It is therefore a mistaken policy which seeks to rank a teacher solely by reason of the term marks she gives out. Nevertheless a high percentage of pupil failures in any school subject is evidence which tends to show that one or more of several unfortunate and unjustifiable conditions exist. DIAGRAM LXXIII — Showing range of time high-school teachers spend daily on duties other than class recitations. SECONDARY SCHOOLS 291 These are : faulty organizations of the subject-matter, or improper classification of pupils, or unwarranted standards of attainment as set by the teacher, or excessively poor teaching. When a course of study has been the product of careful reflective analysis, when it has stood the test of trial for years, both in a given school and in schools of like character throughout the land, an abnormally large percentage of failures each term is a condition that pretty definitely points to the teacher as the responsible and unjustifi- able cause thereof. What shall be the normal percentage of non- promotions for any given class can not of course be stated with positiveness. The law of probability would suggest not to ex- ceed ten per cent. As the upper grades of the high school are reached even this percentage is regarded as being too large. Cer- tain it is that non-promotions amounting repeatedly to twenty- twenty-five and thirty per cent or more of the class are unjusti- fiable and should be stopped by the administrative officers. Either better teaching should be insisted upon or modified stand- ards of attainment should be established. To permit the con- tinuance of such practices is to swell the amount of school mor- tality beyond all reasonable limits. Education which is growth does not result from repeated failure but from repeated successes. The following tables and diagrams reveal in part the situa- tion as it exists in Grand Rapids. A study of these tables and diagrams evinces the fact that there is considerable need of bringing to the consciences of teachers of certain branches the necessity for rather radical reforms on their part. TABLE LI Showing the number of high-school teachers who at the close of last semester (Sept. 1915-Jan. 1916) promoted stated percentages of pupils. Teachers Not SCHOOL Reporting Number of Teachers Promoting Under 70% 70-80% 81-90% 91-95% 96-99% 100% Central 3 2 6 27 7 3 Union 4 1 2 10 8 9 5 South 3 2 711 2 2 8 Junior 7 2 3 12 1 4 4 Totals 17 7 18 60 18 18 17 Percentages 10.9 4.5 11.6 38.7 11.6 11.6 10.9 Median: Between 81 and 90%. TABLE LII Showing the number of high-school teachers who failed certain percentages of students last semester. Teachers Not SCHOOL Reporting Number of Teachers Failing: Over 0% 1-5% 6-10% 11-15%, 16-20%, 21-30% 30% Central 5 1 15 15 9 2 1 Union 5 7 14 9 3 1 South 49770521 Junior 74873400 Totals 21 21 44 38 15 11 4 1 Percentages 13.6 13.6 28.4 24.5 9.1 7.1 2.6 .6 Median: Between 6-10%. 292 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN T[iiii[iiin|ii|iii|i|||[i||i[|||^^^ 1 ill 1 mi 1 e;eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee|eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese:ei|eeeee meeee:eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet||e|:Eeeee eeeeieeeeteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeei^^ed^eeeeiee ilillllllPiiililii^ ;e:eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee|e;eeeeeeeeeeeeee;eee;eJ ||:|:M 1 1 1 M |i| Pm 1 ii y . ^ __u.^ ^ Mill — TTTX^n — itH — n3 ill 'i !|l ' ' III ' i '"' ' l| M1 ' ''id ;E;EEEEEEE±EE|EEEEiEEEEEE|EEE|EEEEEEEEE| 1 |aE:|;EEE-E - J- --V- -j- p+JJIJUIJJIJjJjJ^::^ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 h 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' Im^^^Jvi >3 1 li 1 iiiii::ii:ii:iiii:ii:i:ii::ii:::ii::::^±4±^^i^J_... j : :i-^ — hH r- M i ; fc + \ = = = = = = ^|^^_^.^^_|___i iHiHHiiiiyiiiiniiiiiHHiiiijiiiiii 294 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS. MICHIGAN The following tables and diagrams show the percentages of pupils who were failed, conditioned, and promoted by the sever- al teachers in the Central High School, Grand Rapids, during the four years 1911-1915. The variations not only among the several departments but also among the various teachers within particular departments are notable. The summarizing table and diagram (Table LIII and Diagram LXXVI) are especially in- teresting. From these it is to be observed that the general aver- age of the entire school for the four years compiled is : Passed, 83.24%; conditioned, 6.6%; not passed, 10.16%. The depart- ment of German has the greatest pupil mortality, only 74.69 per cent of all persons electing the subject being given a passing mark and 14.76 per cent being failed outright. On the other hand, relatively few who have elected work in science have been held back from promotions, 91.88 per cent of the pupils pursuing the subject having received term marks of "passed". German, mathematics and Latin, in the order named, are the only depart- ments in which the percentages of pupils "passed" falls below the general average of the entire school, and the two depart- ments of Latin and German are the only ones in which the per- centage of "conditioned" pupils is in excess of that of the general average for the entire school. 7^I^C^•HT•PAvS^SE-D. t.MeL.lv«iM GiERMAN PRENCM FJ aPAMlAH r«^A-rwE.rvn.a-^if-,«. lAT f»RY ■flEM&BAi AVFRAfiF Pb-k^ Ge-ht • Not • ?Avf.^E-D. pErK^ C&.HT- GGHDlTIONErD. DIAGRAM LXXVI — Percentage of pupils "passed", "not passed", and "conditioned" in the subjects indicated for the years 1911-1915. Central High School, Grand Rapids. SECONDARY SCHOOLS 295 TABLE LIII Showing the percentages of marks, by departments, in the Central High School of Grand Rapids for the four years, 1911-1915. Per Cent Per Cent Per Cent SUBJECT Passed Conditioned Not Passed English 84.22 6.34 9.44 Latin 81.17 8.33 10.50 German 74.69 10.55 14.76 French and Spanish 87.12 5.97 6.91 Mathematics 79.75 6.55 13.70 History 83.88 5.11 11.01 Science 91.88 -3.39 4.73 General Average 83.24 6.60 10.16 In considering individual teachers and their markings it is to be noted also that wide variations occur. The following ex- treme cases are to be found. TABLE LIV Percentage of pupils passed and not passed by individual teachers in the various high-school subjects at Central High School. Teacher's Number Per Cent of Per Cent of SUBJECT (arbitrarily assigned) Pupils Passed Pupils Not Passed English 32 98H h 3— 23 92- 6— Zl 93- 5— 38 72- 20+ 24 74H h 12+ 29 76- V 21 Latin 17 80 10 20 80 10 22 81 11 19 74 16 German 61 59.£ 23.9 59 68.C 16.7 62 79.^ ^ 9.9 60 n.i 11.3 56 71.5 16.3 French and Spanish 53 79.2 11.8 55 93.8 \ 3.1 52 96.] 1.9 54 79.5 10.8 Mathematics 7 89.^ \ 6.4 2 69.S 17.5 8 llA \ 18.3 11 72.2 20.8 History 45 70.: 12.4 44 79.C 11.6 46 88.2 8.4 50 88.1 7.6 Science 64 94.C 5.0 68 98.C 2.0 69 "96.^ ^ 2.0 70 98.5 1.5 71 98.5 1.5 76 95.5 , 0.0 DIAGRAM LXXVII— Percentage of pupils "passed," ' not passed, and conditioned at the Central High School according to departments for the years 1911-1915. A— English; B— Latin ; C— German ; D— Spanish and French; b— Mathematics ; F — Mathematics for first and second years only ; G — History; H — Science. A— ENGLISH 'PB'K^- Cb-HT " Pa^^B-P , ^K.- Gb-nt -Hot • Pa6^e&K_- C^HT • GoKBITIOHBB, t7p SECONDARY SCHOOLS B— LATIN 40 60 297 tP^Ki Gs^kt ° Not » PA^S'S&a, 20 Ml 52.1 Ml All ?^B-K_- G^-HT • Go^HBITlOHE>'P< C— GERMAN P5-K.- Gb-nT-Pasab-b. 60 100 Pb-Kj G^ht-Not-^a^^b-©. PE-K:. G^HT • GONPITIONSB. 298 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN D— SPANISH AND FRENCH 20 40 =PE-K.- GfirHT • Hot • PA^^b-©. ^ij Chnr ' GoNsiTioHfi-B. o L_l \LM E— MATHEMATICS PBtK." G^kt ° Hot <' pA^6£rp. SECONDARY SCHOOLS 299 'Pio.xj G^HT ° GGKprrroN5-p. O 2 4 P «^o a O 10O i 2_ 3_ 4^ ^^ 1 16. ^" F— MATHEMATICS (First and Second Years) 2l. 2 P 4. 6 B lOO 4- 5- 4- ' IIL II m ^" li 14. it V^KJ G&TiT ° NoTo PA^^5E•P fi 4_ 2_ 1? ii 1* 04. 300 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Pb-Kj Gb-HT" Gohpition&p G— HISTORY ?>&K_' G^NT ' PA^Shd. P^K.- Ge^nt • Nor • pA^^iS-^ Pe^Xj Ge-kt • GoKBiriOHSD SECONDARY SCHOOLS 301 H— SCIENCE VB-KJ GE-HT ° PA6<3B.D. Pe.^- G^-HT-NoT-pA^^a M PS-K^ GSMT " CoHDlTIOH^D. As stated before, a high percentage of failures among stud- ents may not necessarily be a cause for criticism of the depart- ment or the teacher concerned. On the other hand, such facts surely give no valid basis for pride or elation. An unusual number of pupils not promoted over a period of four years is rather clear evidence that something in the organization or ad- ministration of the work needs correcting. Either the material studied is improperly selected and graded for the pupils pursuing it, or standards of attainment are set unjustifiably high, or peda- gogical skill is lacking in the teacher or teachers. There is no 302 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN virtue in discouraging pupils. Moreover, it must be remembered that the public high school today is a cosmopolitan school in many senses. No longer are individuals with exceptional liter- ary ability and interest alone being admitted as students. No longer is college preparation the dominant aim. No longer is thoroughness in the sense of complete mastery the accepted pedagogical ideal for every high-school course and for every high-school pupil pursuing it. Some work is designed chiefly to inspire, stimulate and arouse pupils to continued effort within the selected field; some is designed solely to yield appreciation of values. Teachers in the Central High School, as well as in the other schools, will do well to compare their percentages of promotions and failures with the averages of their department and of the entire school, and to seek to discover and analyze the causes that are producing marked variations from common prac- tice. General Summary A. Summary of commendations made in reference to pre- vailing condition: 1. The spirit of co-operation shown by the administrative officers and teachers in the conduct of this survey. 2. The civic pride and spirit that dominate Grand Rapids. 3. The interest taken by the city in its schools and other agencies of culture, and the generous financial support given them. 4. The form of school organization that has been adopted, namely the six-six arrangement of the twelve grades with a junior college supplementing these. 5. The freedom accorded administrative officers by the Board in applying rules and regulations as exigencies may make desirable. 6. The artistic and serviceable character of the high-school buildings recently erected, and the plans for the extensions of these buildings. 7. The policy of providing play and athletic grounds for each school. 8. The organization of recitation periods on the basis of sixty minutes each. 9. The spirit of co-operation and loyalty that exists among principals and teachers. 10. The general form and the desirable definiteness of bul- letins and reports that are issued. 11. The policy of giving each student in the junior high SECONDARY SCHOOLS 303 schools an elementary training in each of four forms of manual or domestic arts. 12. The policy of departing from the traditional uniform five-period per week class schedules. 13. The policy of employing, in the future, none but col- lege-bred and professionally trained teachers for all grades above the sixth. 14. The policy of assigning to the several teachers classes in the lower and the upper grades of the school, thus minimizing the tendency to make invidious distinctions of rank among the corps of teachers. 15. The policy of placing teachers of seventh and eighth- grade work in the junior high schools on the same salary sche- dules as teachers of the higher grades. 16. The general policy of providing in varied ways for the organization of student collateral activities and the modes of control adopted. 17. The provisions for giving the pupils vocational insight and interest. 18. The scope or range of the program of studies provided for the senior high schools. 19. The spirit of democracy and decorum that prevails in the several schools. B. Summary of adverse criticisms : 1. Omission from the school system of day-continuation or trade schools. 2. The uncompleted character of the reorganization of the schools on the six-six basis. 3. Inadequacy and unhygienic condition of the Junior High School building. 4. Misuse of study periods as at present organized. 5. Inflexibility of administration, particularly for certain types of students in the Junior High School. . 6. Organization and administration of certain departments of work in the Senior High School. C. Summary of recommendations : 1. The establishment of a trade or day-continuation school, possibly within the present Junior High School building. 2. Providing, soon, for additional junior high schools in the city. 3. Re-examining and over-hauling the entire program of studies by the administrative and teaching staffs acting co-opera- tively. 304 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 4. Carrying forward a constant series of educational and administrative experiments, the checking over of results ob- tained, and the continued adoption of modifications that are found to be advantageous. 5. Improvement of the Junior High School building, so as to give better sanitary and hygienic conditions, less over-crowding of pupils, and adequate facilities for auditorium, shop, gymnastic and recreational activities. 6. The adoption of a long-term building policy for the future. 7. Greater freedom for individual teachers to employ the sixty-minute recitation period as exigencies of the occasion dic- tate. 8. More attention by teachers to assignments of lessons and to careful, summarizing of class discussions. 9. The gradual extension of the school day to include eight hours to be devoted to intellectual, recreational, and social activi- ties. 10. Provision for sessions of the schools during the sum- mer months. 11. The reorganization, by teachers, of the courses of study, particularly of the courses of English, mathematics and history of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. 12. Allowing credit for one year's successful pursuit of foreign language study if the study is then discontinued by the pupil for adequate reasons. 13. Testing the merits of a two-year general language course in the seventh and eighth grades. 14. Continuing the course in general science in the seventh or eighth grades and making it available for all pupils. 15. Allotting the work in physiology to the teachers of physical training and general science and withdrawing it from the course in reading. 16. Provision for pupils to elect some commercial work in the eighth grade in all the junior high schools and not merely at the Union High School. 17. Testing the feasibility and wisdom of permitting or requiring pupils to carry more than twenty-five hours of school work — academic, manual, and recreational — per week. 18. The adoption of the "point" system of recording credits in the seventh and eighth grades the same as in the ninth and upper grades. 19. The elimination of the ceremonies of graduation at the end of the eighth-grade work. 20. Consideration, by principals and teachers, of the policy SECONDARY SCHOOLS 305 of segregating boys and girls in recitation sections in certain subjects of study. 21. Requiring that none but college-bred teachers of sev- eral years of teaching experience and of unusual personalities be assigned to junior high-school teaching positions. 22. The granting of leaves of ^ absence to teachers at fre- quent intervals for the sake of rest and study. 23. Securing an athletic ground for the South High School and making available for pupils of the Central High School the gymnasium that is designed for their use. 24. Allowing school credit for out-of-school work of ap- propriate kind. 25. The gradual expansion of the salary schedules of teachers in harmony with the increased cost of living. 26. The continuation of the present Junior College and adequate provision for its maintenance. 27. The consideration of the feasibility of reducing the tuition fee in the Junior College considerably below the present fee. 28. Securing a more definite understanding with the Uni- versity of Michigan, whereby, during the next year or two of the development of the Junior College, a somewhat more liberal and economic classification of pupils within the Junior College may be secured. 29. Providing, as soon as conditions will warrant, segre- gated quarters for the junior-college students. 30. Providing, as soon as numbers of pupils will warrant, a second years' offering of the junior-college work. 31. The carrying on of a dignified campaign of advertising for the Junior College and its work. CHAPTER XII SPECIAL CLASSES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF GRAND RAPIDS Charles Scott Berry INTRODUCTION 1. Classes for Retarded Children. a. Auxiliary Classes. b. Ungraded Classes. 2. Open Air Classes. 3. Truant School. In partial preparation for this report which is a study of the classes for retarded children, the open air classes, and the truant school, the writer spent six days in Grand Rapids visiting schools and studying conditions. During this period he visited the aux- iliary school, all the auxiliary classes, a number of ungraded classes, the truant school, and the three open air classes. He met the teachers of the auxiliary and ungraded classes and in- structed them how to give certain pedagogical tests to their pupils. All the pupils in the auxiliary classes and five pupils in each of the ungraded classes and the truant school, were given these tests. He also met the principals of the elementary schools and discussed with them methods of selecting pupils for un- graded classes. He distributed to the teachers of the auxiliary and the ungraded classes a questionnaire covering important points connected with their work and training. He not only visited classes and made psychological tests, but he also had conferences with some of the prominent citizens not connected with the school who are interested in the problems of retard- ation. Through the courtesy of Mr. W. A. Greeson, superintendent of schools, and Mrs. Cordelia Creswell, supervisor of special SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 307 classes, the writer was given every opportunity to cover as much ground as possible in the limited time at his disposal. And he wishes to express his appreciation, not only of the generous assistance rendered him by Supt. Greeson and Mrs. Creswell, but also his appreciation of the kind reception given him by the principals and teachers who ungrudgingly assisted him in every way possible. 1. Class for Retarded Pupils Grand Rapids has a larger percentage of its elementary- school pupils enrolled in special classes for retarded children than has New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, Cleve- land, or Detroit. This does not mean that Grand Rapids has a larger percentage of backward and feeble-minded children than any of the cities named, for we have no good reason to think such is the case ; but it means rather that the superintendent of the Grand Rapids schools has for some years been making a special study of how to reduce the amount of retardation in the ele- mentary schools and the special class for retarded children has been developed as one means to that end. At the present time almost five per cent of the pupils enrolled in the elementary schools of Grand Rapids are in classes for retarded children. The growth in the number of pupils enrolled in these classes over a period of eight years is shown in Table LV. Growth in School Year 1907-1908 1908-1909 - enrollment Enrc Spec TABLE LV in special classes during eight )llment in Enrollment in Pei ial Classes Elementary Schools in 94 14139 156 14172 280 14435 510 14661 568 14688 790 15373 790 15582 754 15519 years. r Cent of Pupils special Classes 0.67 1.10 1909-1910 1.94 1910-1911 3.47 1911-1912 3.87 1912-1913 . 5.13 1913-1914 .. 5.07 1914-1915 .. 4.86 In the first column is given the school year; in the second column the total enrollment in the special classes for retarded pupils ; in the third column the total enrollment in the public elementary schools ; and in the last column the percentage the en- rollment in the special classes is of the total enrollment in the elementary schools. From Table LV we see that the enrollment in the special classes for retarded children has increased from less than one 308 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN per cent of the enrollment in 1907-1908 to almost five per cent in 1914-1915. The general policy of the superintendent has been to place in these special classes principally children retarded two years or more ; that is, the pupils who are two years or more over age for their grade. The increase over a period of five years in the per- centage of pupils two years or more over age enrolled in these classes is shown in Table LVI. TABLE LVI Increase during five years in percentage of pupils two years or more over age enrolled in special classes. No. Total No. in Kindergarten No. in in Grades and Per Cent in School Year and Grades Special Classes Special Classes Special Classes 1910-1911 676 510 1186 42.9 1911-1912 529 568 1097 51.7 1912-1913 456 790 1246 63.2 1913-1914 352 790 1142 69.3 1914-1915 261 754 1015 74.6 Table LVI gives the number of pupils in the public ele- mentary schools of Grand Rapids two years or more over age, and the percentage of this number in special classes for retarded children (auxiliary and ungraded classes). In 1910-1911 about forty-three per cent of the pupils two years or more over age were enrolled in special classes ; in 1914- 1915 almost seventy-five per cent are to be found in these classes. In forming these special classes the superintendent had two objects in view; first, to reduce the amount of retardation in the regular grades by removing those who blocked the progress of the normal children ; and, second, to give the retarded children the training and instruction suited to their needs. Let us con- sider, first, to what extent he has been successful in reducing the retardation in the schools by the formation of these classes. If the special class is effective, we should expect to find each year a smaller percentage of the total enrollment retarded. Unfort- unately we cannot go back of the year 1910-1911 because a differ- ent method of reckoning retardation was used prior to that date. In Table LVII is given for a period of five years the percentage of pupils retarded one year, two years or more, as well as the total percentage retarded. TABLE LVII Retardation in the elementary schools. Per Cent Retarded Per Cent Retarded Total Per Cent School Year One Year Two Years or More Retarded 1910-1911 8.19 8.07 16.26 1911-1912 7.13 7.46 14.59 1912-1913 6.55 8.10 14.65 1913-1914 5.15 7.33 12.48 1914-1915 4.58 6.55 11.13 SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 309 In 1910-1911 the total number retarded was over sixteen per cent of the elementary school enrollment; in 1914-1915 it had fallen to about eleven per cent. That is, during this period of five years the retardation has decreased over thirty-one per cent. Doubtless other factors besides the special class have contributed in bringing about this reduction in retardation, but without question the special class has played an important part. In this connection it is interesting to note that during the period there has been a comparatively slight reduction in the total percentage of pupils two years or more over age. In 1910-11 eight and seven-hundreths per cent of the total enrollment were retarded two years or more; in 1914-1915 it had only dropped to six and fifty-five hundreths per cent, a reduction of nineteen per cent; but the number retarded one year dropped from eight and nineteen hundreths per cent of the enrollment in 1910-1911 to four and fifty-eight hundredths per cent in 1914-1915, a reduction of forty-four per cent. In other words, the reduction during this period in the percentage of pupils retarded one year was more than twice as great as the reduction in the percentage of pupils retarded two years or more. It is true that we have not consid- ered one factor that would make some difference and that is, the fact that some pupils are put into the special classes who are not retarded two years or more, and we have estimated all the pupils in the special classes to be two years or more over age. How- ever, this factor alone could not possibly account for the differ- ence. In estimating retardation (and our discussion thus far has been based on the figures taken from the reports) the superin- tendent has considered at age all pupils in the first grade eight years old, in the second nine, in the third ten, and so on. This is making a very liberal allowance as most of the children enter the first grade when six years of age. Let us consider retarded all children in the first grade eight years old, in the second nine, in the third ten, and so on, in order that we may determine what changes have taken place in this group in the five years under discussion. The results are given in Table LVIII. TABLE LVIII Number of pupils retarded one year by a different method of esti- mating retardation. School Year Per Cent Retarded One Year 1910-1911 : 18.5 1911-1912 15.8 1912-1913 14.4 1913-1914 12.7 1914-1915 - 12.4 All the pupils in this table are at age by the superintendent's method of estimating retardation. 310 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN In 1910-1911 eighteen and five-tenths per cent were retarded one year (using our less liberal standard of reckoning retarda- tion) but by 1914-1915 this had fallen to twelve and four-tenths per cent, a reduction of about one-third. These figures in con- nection with the figures given in Table LVII seem to indicate that the special class, at least as it is at present organized, is most effective, not in reducing retardation amounting to two years or more, but rather in reducing the retardation of one year or less. This fact seems to indicate that pupils who are so dull as to lose two years or more during the first three or four years of school life cannot keep the pace set by the normal child even though the regular teacher does give them unusual atten- tion. The chief value accrues to the child of average or slightly less than average ability who can make his grade if he receives a little extra help from the teacher. In other words, a policy that would place in the special class those children who cannot complete the first three or four grades without repeating twice or oftener is sound, for most of these pupils will not be able to keep up with the normal pupils no matter how much assistance they may receive. They are destined to march more slowly than their normal fellows, simply because they have less ability. But is it wise to allow a child to fail in two years' work be- fore he is placed in a special class? While we believe that a policy that looks to placing in special classes all those children who if left in the regular grades would lose two years or more is sound, yet that is quite a diflferent matter from waiting until the child has lost his two years before he is placed in the special class. The present policy of allowing the child to fail in two or three years' work before he is placed in the special class where he be- longs is not using that class to best advantage as a means of reducing retardation in the regular grades, for the retarded child has been blocking the progress of the normal children for several years before he is finally put into the special class. A study of repetition in the grades during the five-year period indicated in Table LVIII shows that during this time the greatest reduction in repetition has been in the third and fourth grades, not in the first and second grades, nor in the grammar grades. This seems to indicate that relief comes to the teachers of the third and fourth grades through the removal of the special-class pupils. Yet it is the first and second grades that stand most in need of relief. During the first semester of 1915-1916 the percentage of repeaters in the first and second grades of the Grand Rapids schools was greater than in any other two grades. Furtherm^ore the primary teachers have a larger number of pupils to teach than do the teachers of the grammar grades. In 1914-1915 the SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 311 number of pupils per teacher based on the average belonging, was for the grammar grades twenty-seven and two tenths and for the primary grades thirty-two and three tenths. That is, the pri- mary teachers have on the average five more pupils per teacher than the teachers of the grammar grades. Not only do the teachers of the first and second grades have more pupils than the teachers of the higher grades but among these pupils are to be found most of the backward and defective children, for these children are commonly not put into the spe- cial class until they have reached the third grade. In other words, the special class, one function of which is to reduce the repetition in the regular grades, is not helping at all where help is most needed, in the first and second grades. Why not follow the plan of selecting the pupils for the special class from the children who have failed in the first half of the first grade's work? If this method of selection were adopted, the first and second-grade teachers would get relief at the earliest possible period. By this method of selection the special class would become most effective in reducing retardation where reduction is most desirable; viz., in the first and second grades. From the standpoint of the good of the backward child an early selection is highly advisable. If he is allowed to fail two or three times before he is put into the special class he has be- come schooled in failure before he gets even a fair chance, for surely he has not had a fair chance if he has been expected to do more than his ability enables him to do. On the other hand, if failure in the first term's work in the first grade was due to poor health, or poor teaching, the child now has an opportunity to make good as he is given exceptional opportunities, and, if he makes good, he is returned to his regular grade. But if he shows he has not the ability to keep up with the normal child, even though under an expert teacher, he is evidently where he belongs. From every point of view it is advisable to put a child into a special class, or give him special assistance, as soon as he has shown that he stands in need of such assistance. And if a child fails in the first half of his first grade's work, that fact in itself is conclusive evidence that his case needs investigation — that he needs help of some kind. a. Auxiliary Classes (1) History and Organization. The classes for retarded children of the public schools of Grand Rapids are divided into auxiliary and ungraded classes. 312 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN The auxiliary classes are for the mentally defective children, while the ungraded classes provide for the backward pupils. The first auxiliary class was started in the summer of 1910. In the fall of that year the auxiliary school consisting of four classes of twelve pupils each was organized. Since that time eight other auxiliary classes have been organized in different parts of the city in connection with the regular public schools. The auxiliary school which is located in a separate building is organized on the departmental plan, having four departments — kindergarten, academic, manual training, and domestic science. The increase in the number enrolled in these classes since the organization of the auxiliary school in 1910 is shown in Table LIX. TABLE LIX Increase in number of pupils in auxiliary classes over a period of five years. School Year ■ No. in Auxiliary Classes 1910-1911 68 1911-1912 70 1912-1913 96 1913-1914 93 1914-1915 ISO In the five years of the existence of the auxiliary classes tlie enrollment has more than doubled until at the present time it is equal to almost one per cent of the total enrollment of different pupils in the elementary schools. In Table LX is given the range in mental and chronological ages that is to be found in each of the auxiliary classes including the auxiliary school. TABLE LX Range in chronological and mental ages of pupils enrolled in auxi- liary classes and auxiliary school. SCHOOL C. Age M. Age Auxiliary 8-18 5.0-10.0 inc. Buchanan 7-12 6.2- 8.2 Coldbrook 9-16 8.0-10.2 Diamond -. 9-15 6.0- 9.8 Franklin 8-13 5.2-10.6 Jefferson 7-14 6.2- 8.8 Junior High 12-15 8.8-11.4 Straight 7-11 4.0- 9.2 Widdicomb 9-15 6.0- 9.2 C. Age, Chronological Age ; M. Age, Mental Age. This table shows that the auxiliary classes although situated in different parts of the city are much alike in respect to the range chronological and mental ages, with the exception of the Junior High auxiliary class which is made up of high grade boys and girls ranging in mental age from 8.8 to 11.4 years and in chron- SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 313 ological age from 12 to 15. Some of the high grade boys and girls of the other auxiliary classes were transferred to the Junior High class, which is centrally located, in order that they might be given the special training suitable to their needs. (2) Selection of Pupils The children who are put into the auxiliary classes are taken from the grades and from the classes-for backward children. The principal commonly notifies the supervisor of special classes that she has some children in her school that she would like to have examined with the view of ptitting them into the auxiliary class if they are found to be mentally defective. The supervisor ex- amines these children by means of psychological tests and if they are found to be so retarded mentally that there is little hope of their ever catching up with the normal child, they are assigned to the auxiliary class. Occasionally a child is put into the auxil- iary class to receive some extra help in order that he may catch up with his normal fellows and return to his grade, but common- ly only pupils that are considered to be mentally defective are put into these classes. Children are also brought to the super- visor by teachers and parents for examination at the psychologi- cal clinic. These children upon examination may be recommend- ed for the auxiliary class. It is a significant fact that these children at the time they are given the psychological examination and recommended for the auxiliary class are not given a medical examination. But after they have been assigned to the auxiliary class the teacher of that class is supposed to take them to a physician for exam- ination sometime during the year. Commonly the physicians do- nate their services as the board of education has made no provi- sion for the medical examination of these children. In the judg- ment of the writer this is a very serious mistake. No child should be assigned to an auxiliary class without first having re- ceived a careful medical examination. Many of these children are suffering from physical defects that only the physician can readily detect. No matter how carefully the psychological ex- amination may be made it alone is not sufficient. Much mental retardation is due to physical causes which may be renioved, but only the physician, not the psychologist, is capable of making the physical examination. It is a sad waste for a teacher to spend energy in trying to overcome a mental defect due to a removable physical cause. At the present time the practice in most of the large cities is to have the two examinations — medical and psy- chological : both are necessary. But not only should every child be given a medical examination before being assigned to one of 314 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN these classes, but he should be re-examined at least once a year as long as he remains in the auxiliary class. (3) Equipment. The auxiliary school is housed in an old building that is too small and poorly arranged for the work that is being attempted. The playground in connection with the school building is also too small, and the school garden is so small that it can be used only for demonstration purposes. The school building is not centrally located so that most of the children are compelled to take the street car to and from school. As far as the equipment for the school work proper is concerned it is satisfactory. It would not be advisable to make any marked increase in equipment without erecting a new building. It seems to the writer that the solution of the problem here is not to erect a new building but rather to use the present building for the lower-grade mental defectives and provide for the higher grades in the auxiliary classes and in a school .centrally located. If all the lower-grade children w^ere taken out of the auxiliary classes, it would lighten the burden of the auxiliary class teacher by relieving her of some of her most hopeless cases, and by giving her a more homogeneous group with which to work. Furthermore it would be a decided ad- vantage for the lower-grade children to be thrown togther in a school of this kind for they are the ones that derive the least satisfaction, and suffer the greatest annoyance from associating with normal children. To carry out the above suggestions would be to go a step further in the direction of existing tendencies, for the auxiliary school at the present time has a larger percentage of low-grade children than the auxiliary classes which have been organized in connection with the regular schools. Most of the auxiliary classrooms are pleasant and satisfac- torily equipped. However, there are some marked exceptions. At the Widdicomb School the auxiliary class three days in the week occupies a miserable, poorl}^ lighted cooking room in the basement, and the other two days a basement room used for phy- sical training which is only a slight improvement over the cook- ing room. This is exceedingly unfortunate, as the children are working under most adverse conditions. In fact rather than to continue to hold the class in such a room it would be better to abolish it entirely, as much needed as it is. In the Straight School the auxiliary class occupies a cloak room which is totally inadequate in every respect. It is not sur- prising that the teacher of this class has decided to go back to regular grade work another year. To teach all the year in such a SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 315 room must necessarily prove depressing both to pupils and teach- ers. The room which the auxiliary class occupies in the Diamond School, while much better than the auxiliary class rooms of Widdicomb and Straight, still leaves much to be desired as it is too long and narrow and is not properly lighted. If the auxiliary class is to be regarded with approval by parents and pupils, it should occupy, in every instance, a room as good as the other classrooms in the school building. Most of the rooms are supplied with movable seats, but some are not. It is important that every auxiliary room be provided with movable seats in order that the room may be used for a variety of purposes which is impossible with the fixed seats. The equipment for the regular school work is on the whole satisfactory. The teachers for the most part are able to get what they need without marked delay. Neither are the teachers held down to the same kind of equipment in every case. They are given opportunity to work out their own ideas without undue interference from above. (4) Training and Instruction. In order to study the work in reading, arithmetic and writing that is being done in the auxiliary classes of Grand Rapids as compared with the work of similar classes in Detroit, the writer requested each teacher to give pedagogical tests to each pupil in her class of a mentality of six or above. The following selection was used as a reading test: "Rex, was a little black dog. He was Kate's dog. Rex ran away from home one day. His friend, the big brown dog next door, went with him. They ran along all the morning. It was nearly noon and the dogs were hungry. They had not had a thing to eat since morning. Rex saw a rabbit hop across the road. His friend saw it too. They ran after the little rabbit. The rabbit tried to run away but the big brown dog ran faster. He soon caught the rabbit and the two dogs ate it. They were now very tired and lay down to rest. After a while they started on again. Towards night they became hungry again, but could find nothing to eat. They wished they were home to get a nice big bone. Kate and Mary the little girl next door, always gave their dogs a bone at night. At last they saw a little gray object running across the road. The dogs thought it was another rabbit. They ran after it but found it was only a cat. Then they walked on again wondering where they were and what they were going to find to eat. Soon the places began to look familiar. They turned the next corner and there in front of them were their homes and Kate and Mary at the gate looking down the road. The dogs 316 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN bounded joyfully toward their mistresses. How glad they were to be home again. They were each given a large bone and were so glad to get home that they decided never to run away again." The following instructions were given to the examiners : First, secure the name, age (date of last birthday), and grade of the subject. Now present the story and say: 'T want you to read this story aloud until I tell you to stop." Allow one minute from the time the subject pronounces the first word. After the subject has finished reading say: "Now tell me in your own words what you have read." After the subject has told as much of the story as he remembers ask him the following questions : "1. What was Rex? 2. Whose dog was he? 3. What did Rex do? 4. What went with him? 5. How long did they run? 6. How did they feel then? 7. What did Rex see? ' . 8. What did the dogs do? 9. What did the rabbit do? 10. Which caught the rabbit? 11. What did they do with it? 12. What did they do after eating the rabbit? 13. When rested what did they do? 14. How did they feel towards night? 15. Why did they wish to be at home? 16. Who gave them bones at night? 17. What did they see run across the road? 18. What did they think it was? 19. What did they find out it was? 20. What did they wonder? 21. How did places begin to look? 22. What did they see when they turned the corner? 23. Who were at the gates? 24. What did the dogs do? 25. What were they given? 26. What did they decide to do?" In addition to the above directions the examiners were instructed to keep a record of all mistakes made. In case the subject hesi- tated in pronouncing any word the examiner was instructed to pronounce the word for the child and count it an error. The amount of the story read and reproduced by the subject was es- timated by means of the questions which cover the main points of the story. If the subject read only as much of the story as is covered by four questions, and when asked to tell in his own words what he had read if he answered two of these questions he was given credit for having reproduced fifty per cent of the story. And if on being asked the four questions he answered SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 317 three of them correctly he was credited with a reproduction of seventy-five per cent of the story. The test in arithmetic consisted in giving answers to the following twelve oral problems : "1. James gave me two marbles and Arthur gave me one. How many marbles did they give me? 2. John had five apples and he gave three to his brother. How many apples did he have left? 3. If one pencil costs two cents how much money will it take to buy three pencils? 4. If oranges cost two cents apiece how many oranges can you buy for four cents? 5. A farmer had four horses and bought three more. How many horses did he then have? 6. William had nine marbles. He lost three. How many marbles did he have left? 7. How much must I pay for three tops, if one top costs three cents? 8. If one apple costs four cents how many apples can you buy for eight cents? 9. Willie had seven pennies. His father gave him six more. How many pennies did he then have? 10. There were twelve apples on a tree. James knocked off four. How many apples were left on the tree? 11. If marbles are worth four cents apiece how much will four marbles cost? 12. If one notebook costs three cents how many notebooks can you buy for fifteen cents?" The examiners were instructed to read each problem slowly and distinctly to the subject. If the subject did not understand the examiner was to read the problem again. The subject was given as much time as he desired to solve the problem. Each examiner was to give each child the twelve problems regardless of whether he gave the correct answers or not. The subject was given credit for the number of problems correctly solved. In giving the writing test the examiners were told to give the subject the following instruction: ''Write this sentence as fast and as carefully as you can until I tell you to stop : 'My dog plays with the ball." Time two minutes. The subject used a pencil and wrote from a typewritten copy of the sentence. The subject was given credit for the average numbers of letters writ- ten in one minute. In Table LXI are given the results of the three tests arrang- ed according to mental age of the subjects, not only for the aux- iliary classes of Grand Rapids, but for those of Detroit, Michigan, as well. In addition the results of testing one hundred and two normal children between seven and eight years of age of the Detroit schools are given on the last horizontal line of the table. Although the table is self-explanatory, it might be well to indicate the significance of some of the figures that appear in the 318 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN L) bjo f=3 § p^ S § o 2 Be lo. t- M O (M O >0 O lO l-H CO -* -* lO to to !^ S ^O! ^^SSsSiS? Ci bfl C ^ -^^^^^^^'S J] S < a %o CO '^ 00 Cl CM — ' WM -* ia i-(i-iMe>ic-ix;ooo5 - M (M W CM W n M -M 3 1^ (MW<*if:CiO^T-HO (M Q < H o a-d C ft u be G 0-100 0-100 0100 0-100 0-100 14-100 37-100 0-100 8 6 g Sg5§S6i2S3S § oft be P4 8 6 H eoo1 H M U Grand Rapids Detroit Grand Rapids Detroit Grand Rapids "ft i a! ; 1 Q o SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 319 first horizontal line under the division entitled, "Words read in one minute." The 21 which appears under "M", the median, means that of the 24 children tested between six and seven men- tally that as many read less than 21 words as read more than that number of words. The numbers 0-58 under ''Range" mean that the poorest member of this group read no words and the best one read 58 words. The 13 under "1st Q.", the first quartile, means that twenty-five per cent read less than 13 words, and the 37 under "3d Q", third quartile, means that seventy-five per cent read less than 37 words in the one minute. From the first and third quartiles we see that fifty per cent of the pupils read be- tween 13 and 37 words in the one minute. The marked similarity in the attainments of the children of like mental age in Grand Rapids and Detroit is most surprising. However, Detroit has slightly the better of it as far as the median number of words read is concerned, although the difference is not significant. In the median number of errors there is very slight difference; also in the amount reproduced the two cities are on a par. The same may be said in regard to the number of problems solved. However, when we come to the average number of letters written in one minute Detroit has the advant- age all the way through. The similarity of results obtained is all the more striking when we bear in mind that in both cities the tests were given by many different examiners, as each auxiliary class teacher tested her own pupils. In the judgment of the writer the marked uniformity of results under such circumstances means that in both cities the auxiliary class teachers are teaching these children about as much reading, arithmetic and writing as they can assimilate. If such were not the case, we should expect the two cities to make unlike showing. On the last horizontal line of the table are given the results obtained by testing one hundred and two normal children be- tween seven and eight years of age in the Detroit public schools. It is interesting to note that these normal children do not make as good a showing as do the auxiliary class children who are between seven and eight mentally. In fact, the auxiliary children have the advantage in each one of these tests. But when we compare the normal, children with the Detroit auxiliary children who are six years mentally we discover that the results are al- most identical. In other .words, in pedagogical attainments the auxiliary child between six and seven years mentally is about on a level with the average normal child between seven and eight years chronologically. We have little reason to think that the psychological tests place the child lower than he belongs, as practically all the work of recent years seems to indicate that the 320 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Binet tests rank the younger child too high. If this is the case, than the difference in pedagogical attainments between the normal child of seven chronologically and the backward child of seven mentally is to be accounted for in two ways ; first, by the fact that the auxiliary child has been in school so much longer than the normal child of the same mental age, for nearly all the children in the auxiliary classes are retarded two years or more mentally; and, second, because of superior instruction, for the teachers of the auxiliary classes are a selected group commonly chosen from the most successful grade teachers and in addition have received special training for their work. In looking over the results for the different auxiliary class- es of the Grand Rapids schools the writer does not find that tnere is much variability in medians for the children of like mental age, except in the case of one class where the work in reading is considerably below the median for the auxiliary classes as a whole. From what the writer saw and learned of the handwork that is being done in these auxiliary classes he is of the opinion that it is up to the standard of the work in most cities of like size. The older children are given regular manual training work in some cases by the auxiliary class teachers ; in other cases by the regular teachers of manual training and domestic science. In some of the auxiliary classes part of the manual training and domestic science work is done in the auxiliary classroom. The writer questions the wisdom of equipping any of the auxiliary or ungraded classrooms for the regular manual training and domestic science work. When the boys and girls of the spec- ial classes are far enough advanced for this kind of work it w^ould seem economical, instead of duplicating apparatus, to have these children receive this kind of training in the regular domestic science and manual training rooms which are thoroughly equip- ped for this purpose. Then too if the manual training and dom- estic science work of these special classes (auxiliary and ungrad- ed) were given by the regular teachers of the manual arts instead of being given by the auxiliary or ungraded class teachers, as is being done in some schools, the work would be much improved. Grand Rapids is fortunate enough to have some teachers of the manual arts who are very much interested in the teaching of backward and defective children, so the problem of securing the right kind of teachers is not a serious one. It would of course be necessary to have the auxiliary children given this work in spec- ial classes, as they are backward not merely in academic work, but in manual work as well. But not only should this work be given by special teachers of the manual arts, but much more of SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 321 it should be given to the auxiliary children than they are now get- ting. If possible one period a day, instead of one or two per week, should be devoted to this work. If the above plan were adopted, the children would get not only more work in the manual arts but they would get it under more favorable conditions as the work would be given in the rooms thoroughly equipped for that purpose and by special teach- ers of those subjects. In the second place, the teacher of the aux- iliary class would be free to devote her attention to the children who were not able to take the work in the manual arts, as it rare- ly happens that a teacher has a class sufficiently advanced that all can be given this work with profit. Then too it is expecting much of the auxiliary class teacher to ask her to be well prepared in manual training and domestic science work, as well as being a specialist of the first rank in the teaching of academic subjects. However, in event that the changes suggested were to be carried out it would be necessary for the teacher of the auxiliary class to keep in close touch with the work the children are doing in the manual arts in order that she might correlate that work with their other activities. She also should have sufficient knowledge of basketry, caning, modeling, etc. so that she could direct the work of the younger and more deficient children along these lines. (5) The Teachers. The auxiliary class teachers are well trained, enthusiastic and intensely interested in their work. In Grand Rapids these teach- ers are paid $100 more per annum than they received as grade teachers. This has made it possible to secure for this work some of the best grade teachers. All the teachers of auxiliary classes have had experience in teaching normal children, and all have attended at least one summer school in preparation for the work in which they are now engaged. Furthermore, these teach- ers receive one hour's instruction every week in the correction of speech defects. The plan that has been pursued thus far of selecting only successful grade teachers for auxiliary classes and requiring them to make special preparation for the work, as well as enabling them to continue their preparation while in service, is to be com- mended. Only the well trained, resourceful, enthusiastic teacher can hope to succeed in teaching backward and defective children. (6) Supervision. The general plan of supervision is very good. The super- visor requires the auxiliary class teacher to secure a photograph of each pupil soon after he is admitted to her class. This photo- graph is kept on file at the office of the supervisor. Each teacher 322 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN is expected to visit the home of each pupil in her class at least once during the school year. And some of the teachers make many more visits than are required because of their interest in the children and in winning the support of the parents. The supervisor has supplied all of the teachers with suggestive sched- ules and outlines of the work in the different subjects. The teacher is not supposed to follow these outlines ; they are simply to help her in arranging her work so she may get the best results. Each teacher has a book in which she keeps a record of the work done each day.. At the end of the month the teacher submits to the supervisor a statement of the progress of her class in the var- ious activities they have been pursuing. During the second half of the year the teacher gives each child a psychological examina- tion, and at the end of the year she files with the supervisor a report of the progress of each child in her class for the year. Along with this report she submits samples of the child's work. The supervior plans to visit each auxiliary class at least once a month.. B}^ this plan of requiring each teacher to file at the super- visor's office a report of the child's mental develompent as meas- ured by psychological tests, and of his pedagogical progress as measured by the samples of work done, as well as by the judg: ment of the teacher, a very complete record of the child's growth, interests, and attainments has been secured by the time he leaves school. Such a record should be of great value in helping to determine what should be done for the child upon leaving school. Some of the teachers complain that it is a good deal of trouble to make out these reports, and feel that perhaps their time might be spent to better advantage. To omit any of the data that are now required would, in the judgment of the writer, be a great mistake. We know none too much about the back- ward and defective child and the character of his development. Furthermore, the data secured by means of the psychological ex- aminations and from the reports of the teachers have already proved to be of value in connection with the juvenile court cases, for during the present year the supervisor of special classes has been asked to examine more than fifty cases for the juvenile court and many of these cases either were or had been in the auxiliary classes. (7) After Care. Unfortunately little is done for the children of the auxiliary classes after they leave school. Some are supported by friends and relatives, some become wholly or in part self-supporting, some become a burden to society, some get into trouble and are SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 323 found in juvenile court, and others get married and increase their kind so that the auxiliary class of the future may be well filled. The after care of the mentally defective child is a problem that is being very generally discussed in many of our cities, but no city has succeeded in solving it. In fact, there are two distinct questions connected with the after care of the boys and girls who are mentally defective ; first, ''How can they become self-support- ing"; and, second, "How can they be prevented from increasing their kind?" Let us consider the former of these problems first. How can we do more to make these boys and girls self-supporting? The sub-normal boy upon leaving school is not prepared for any specific line of work. ' He has received merely a general educa- tion, but the same thing may be said of the normal child upon fin- ishing the elementary school ; he is not prepared for any particu- lar line of work. However, there is one important difference be- tween these two types of children that has not been sufficiently emphasized. The normal boy in learning a trade, or entering a profession, or on going into business of any kind, is competing on equal terms with his fellows ; the sub-normal individual never is. If he gets a position how can he hope to keep it in the face of normal competition? He cannot hope to compete successfully with his normal fellows in any line of work unless he has some advantages at least. It is possible to give him some chance by preparing him for some specific line of work during the last two years he spends in the elementary school. An attempt is being made in this direction in several of our cities, by the establishment of prevocational schools where the boys and girls are given an opportunity to take a maximum amount of work in the manual arts. But it seems to the writer that we have not yet gone quite far enough. During these two years these boys and girls should be prepared for some specific line of work which they can take up at once upon leaving school and by means of this work be- come self-supporting. Grand Rapids has made a beginning in the right direction by establishing at the Junior High School an auxiliary class for high- grade boys where they are given a maximum amount of hand- work. In fact, some of them have become very proficient in bas- ketry. But the question arises in connection with this work as to how they are going to use this skill to gain a livelihood when they leave this class. Even most of these boys are destined to enter the ranks of unskilled laborers to compete on unequal terms with their normal fellows, and consequently to lose out in the competition. It would, without doubt, be a measure of economy for the school board to devote some building centrally located to 324 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN the vocational training of these high-grade boys and girls where their academic training would be continued, but where the em- phasis would be placed on preparing them for some trade or for specific lines of work in the manufacturing plants of Grand Rap- ids. If all the high-grade boys and girls from the auxiliary classes and the backward boys from the ungraded classes were sent to such a school upon reaching the age of fourteen and were to remain there until sixteen, a large percentage of them would become self-supporting at once upon leaving school. But one step further is necessary, and that is, to appoint some person to act as a follow-up agent, to see that these boys and girls are properly placed upon leaving this school. New York has visiting teachers who devote all their time to visiting the homes of the children and in assisting in every possible way to improve the environ- ment of the child. Surely Grand Rapids could use advantage- ously one such person to look after the auxiliary boys and girls who are in school as well as those who have left school. But let us glance at the second question as to how to prevent these defectives from propagating their kind. There are two pos- sible ways, sterilization and segregation. The former under ex- isting conditions is out of the question, public sentiment is de- cidedly against it, and rightly so, it seems to the writer. The sec- ond method is to segregate these high-grade boys and girls in institutions. But where? Our state institution is full and has a long waiting list. The prospects that the State of Michigan will, in the near future, provide enough institutions to take care of its feeble-minded are exceedingly remote. Relief can only come through the city building such an institution. Such a plan has been advocated for several large cities, but as yet no action on a large scale has resulted. At the present time it is costing Grand Rapids one hundred dollars per year for each child in the auxiliary school. That is more than half as much as it costs to support a defective child in the state institution for the entire year of twelve months. In the state institution he is not only fed and trained and instructed, but in addition he receives the best of medical attention and leads a much happier and more useful life than does the lower-grade defective in the auxiliary school, or the auxiliary class ; he not only leads a happy and useful life in the institution, but what is more important yet, he is prevented from propagating his kind. If Grand Rapids were to secure near the city a large tract of land and erect on it cottages sufficient in number to provide for all its feeble-minded children it would be rendering a real and lasting service to its own community and to the state at large through the reduction of pauperism, crime and feeble-mindedness. SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 325 If the generous and public-spirited citizens who have done so much for the auxiliary classes and the open-air classes of the public schools would become interested in this larger and more important problem a solution would be possible. (8) Recommendations. In the judgment of the writer the good work that is now being done by the auxiliary classes of Grand Rapids may be improved by adopting the following recommendations. 1. That all children before being assigned to an auxiliary class be given a medical examination as well as the psychological examination. 2. That better class rooms be provided for the auxiliary classes in Widdicomb, Straight and Diamond Schools. 3. That all auxiliary class rooms, not already so equipped be provided with movable seats. 4. That more work in manual training and domestic science be provided for the auxiliary classes and that this work be given by special teachers of these subjects. 5. That the auxiliary school be used for the children that are most defective mentally. 6. That a building centrally located be used as a vocational school where the high-grade boys and girls, and backward boys and girls from the ungraded classes, may be sent upon reaching the age of fourteen. 7. That a field worker be employed whose business it will be to follow up the auxiliary boys and girls and assist them in every way possible, both before and after they have left school. 8. That the city look forward to the segregation of its feeble-minded in order that the chief cause that makes neces- sary the formation of auxiliary classes may be removed. b. Ungraded Classes The ungraded classes of the Grand Rapids public schools were first organized some years before the auxiliary classes were started. They have gradually increased in number until at the present time there are twenty classes in connection with fifteen schools. Five of these schools have two ungraded classes each. Where two ungraded classes are found in the same school build- ing both may be used for pupils of about the same degree of retardation, or one may be for the primary pupils and the other for pupils from the grammar grades. The pupils that compose these ungraded classes may be drawn from two or three differ- ent schools or they may all come from the same school. The enrollment in the majority of these classes is about what it should be : between twenty and twenty-five. Experience has shown that 326 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN a teacher cannot handle advantageously more than twenty-five pupils as a maximum. The pupils enrolled in these classes range in age from seven to twenty-two. However, there are only three classes that have any pupils under nine years of age, and more than half the classes have no pupils under eleven years of age. It is a significant fact that five of these classes have pupils over sixteen years of age. It seems to indicate that the classes are liked by the pupils, otherwise they would not remain in school after they had reached the age of sixteen. The pupils for these classes are selected by the principals of the schools in which the ungraded classes are organized. This means of course that in the majority of the cases the backward pupils of that school are cared for first before any are received from the neighboring schools that have no ungraded classes. And this is only natural as long as the principal has complete control of the class in her own building. In the selection of pupils for these classes the practice is not uniform although, generally speaking, the policy is to put into these classes those who by repeated failure in the grades have shown conclusively that they cannot keep up with their normal fellows. Then again pupils, on account of illness or absence from school, may be put into these classes temporarily in order to make up the work they have missed. Sometimes these pupils do not sit in the ungraded room but merely go to the ungraded teacher to recite in the subject or subjects in which they are behind. As a result of the different methods of selection there are in these ungraded classes children ranging in mentality from those of more than average ability, who are in the class for a short period of time, to those who are strictly feeble-minded. It is conceded by many of the teachers that they have one or more feeble-minded pupils in their classes. Very few of the children in these classes have had either a medical or psychological exami- nation. The equipment of the ungraded classrooms is, for the most part, like that of the regular grade rooms. However, there are some marked exceptions. Some of the rooms are equippd for handwork of different kinds, and one room that the writer visited had a sewing machine, and a cobbling outfit both function- ing while pupils were attempting to study. Of course, the char- acter of the equipment will depend on the mentality and interests of the pupils that are in the class, as well as on the aims of the teacher. Most of the teachers of these classes have a twofold prob- lem — that of coaching children of normal mentality or slightly SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 327 less than normal with the view of returning them in the course of a few months to the regular grades, and the problem of train- ing and instructing pupils who are so backward mentally that they can never catch up with the normal child no matter how much assistance they may receive. In answer to the question, "What per cent of your class will you be able to return to the regular grades?" the majority of the teachers placed the per- centages between twenty-five and fifty. The range was from ten to eighty-five per cent. It is perfectly evident that the teachers of the classes for ungraded children have, in some respects a more difficult task than the teachers of the auxiliary classes. The latter teachers are not expected to bring any of their pupils up to the normal standard, while the success of the ungraded class teacher is largely measured by the percent- age of her class she is able to return to the grades. Her work is supervised by the principal of the school who is not in a position to judge whether a given child is not returned to the grades because of lack of ability, or because the teacher has not pursued the right methods of instruction. Then too the teachers of these ungraded classes are handicapped in having had no spe- cial training for this kind of work. Only four of the twenty teachers of ungraded classes have had any special training, yet in the judgment of the writer they need such training quite as much as the auxiliary class teachers, and perhaps even more so under the existing methods of supervision that obtain in these classes. In the first place, the method of selecting the pupils for the ungraded classes is not all that could be desired. As the writer pointed out, in discussing the superintendent's policy of not putting children in the special classes until they have lost two years or more, the child has become accustomed to failure be- fore he is put into the special class and the normal children have suffered by his presence during this period when he was making extra demands on the grade teacher. But if the children were selected for the ungraded classes at the end of their first semester in the grades, this two-fold loss would be in large measure avoided. But these children before being assigned to an un- graded class should be given a medical and psychological exami- nation. By this method those who stood most in need of help would receive it. Any child six or seven years of age who enters the first grade and fails in the term's work needs special consideration to determine if possible the cause of his failure. If he is handicapped by physical defects, or if he is subnormal in mentality, both the principal and the ungraded class teacher should know these facts. By such knowledge the teacher will 328 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN be enabled to do the most for the child. Each child should be tried out thoroughly in the ungraded class and if he is found to be mentally defective he should be put into an auxiliary class. As long as there are not enough ungraded classes to accommo- date all pupils that may fall behind in their work, we should be careful to put into these classes those children that stand most in need of special assistance. We can never be sure that the wisest selection has been made under the present method of choosing children for these classes. Furthermore, under the present system of selection, the schools which have no ungraded classes, but are supposed to send their backward children to the ungraded classes in adjacent schools are not likely to get fair representation. But if pupils were assigned to these classes only after they had been given a psychological and medical examination, then only those would be selected who stood most in need of individual assistance. In other words, the selection of pupils for the ungraded classes should not rest with the prin- cipal alone, but the principal and the supervisor of special classes should make the selection. And the supervision of these classes should be under the control of the supervisor of special classes. The principal is not a specialist along this line and consequently should not be expected to supervise a work for which she has had no special training. Then too she has enough to do without being compelled to undertake this work. The ungraded class should be a clearing house for children not getting along well with their work. There should be no stigma connected with being put into this class. Let pupils understand that in being assigned to this class they are being given an exceptional opportunity to make up the work in which they are behind, and when that work is made up they will be returned to their grades. In one school where this method has been adopted the class is so popular that it has a waiting list. In a school building where there are two ungraded classes it is desirable to have one for the primary grades and the other for the grammar grades. A grammar-grade boy commonly resents being put into the same room with primary pupils even though he may belong there. Also in dividing them this way the burden of the teacher is lightened as she does not have so many grades to teach. Ungraded classes are much needed in the Hall School and also in the Plainfield School. These two schools had during the first half of the present year a larger percentage of repeaters than any other two schools in the city. Both buildings are over- crowded, and some of the teachers have too many pupils to do the best work. In the Plainfield School the average number of pu- SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 329 pils per teacher is over forty, while the average per teacher for the elementary schools of the city is only about thirty. The principal of the Plainfield School claims that over twelve per cent of her pupils are retarded two years or more. And this is true in spite of the fact that she claims to have a good corps of teachers. Evidently the size of the classes in this school should be reduced and an ungraded class organized to provide for the backward pupils who are blocking the progress of the normal children. While the writer appreciates the good work that is being done in these ungraded classes yet he believes that work would be improved if the following recommendations were adopted : 1. That in the future the majority of children put into un- graded classes be selected from the pupils who have failed in the first term's work of the first grade. 2. That the children for the ungraded classes be selected by the supervisor of special classes and the principal of the school to which the child belongs. 3. That all pupils in the present ungraded classes be given a medical and psychological examination, and those found to be mentally defective be placed in auxiliary classes. 4. That in the future all pupils before being assigned to an ungraded class be given both a physical and psychological ex- amination. 5. That the supervision of the ungraded classes be under the direction of the supervisor of special classes. 6. That future teachers of ungraded classes be required to take special training as is now required of the auxiliary class teachers. 7. That the backward boys and girls of the ungraded classes who show some ability in manual work, upon reaching the age of fourteen be sent to the industrial or vocational school, the estab- lishment of which has already been recommended. 2. Open Air Classes At the present time Grand Rapids has three open air classes and one open air school. The three open air classes are held in connection with the Sigsbee, West Leonard and North Division Schools. The Sigsbee open air class was organized during the school year of 1911-1912. This class is conducted in a portable building which has been set up near the regular school building. The class has an enrollment of twenty-six, ranging in age from seven to fifteen and representing grades one to seven. The children were selected by the teachers and superintendent and were required to have a medical examination before being as- 330 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN signed to this class. For the most part the parents pay for the extra food and clothing as they are glad to have their children in this class. All the children who want it are given a cup of cocoa or milk in the morning. The West Leonard open air class is also conducted in a portable building which has been set up in the school yard near the regular school building. This class has an enrollment of nineteen, representing grades three to seven. These children are provided lunch twice a day. The lunch, which is prepared by the open air teacher and the principal of the West Leonard school, is served at nine o'clock in the morning and at two forty- five in the afternoon. The children pay thirty-five cents every two weeks to defray the expense of food. The North Division open air class, or more properly speaking, open window class, is held in a large room on the third floor of the North Division school building. The classroom has large windows on three side so there is an abundance of fresh air. This class has an attendance of eighteen pupils. In age these children range from seven to twelve, and belong to grades one to three inclusive. Although this class was started in February, 1916, when the weather was very cold, only o'ne boy asked to go back to the regular school. The children who are in this class come from three or four adjacent schools. Each child that wants it is given a half pint of milk in the morning and another half pint in the afternoon. Before the Walker School was converted into an open win- dow school the consent of the parents of the pupils was obtained. Extra clothing was provided and the windows were then kept open during the entire year. The children were furnished milk every day. The superintendent in his report for 1913-1914 says : "If the Walker School had not been made into an open air building I doubt if school could have been kept there because the building is so old and dilapidated that it is impossible to keep the building warm in severe weather. As it is, with the children supplied with extra clothing, the windows can be opened and the children are comfortable and happy. Never in the history of the school has there been so little sickness as this last year, and the work of the children has been improved by the open air. I am not exaggerating when I say that they do not look like the same set of children, they have improved in health, in work, in looks, in attendance — in every possible way." The food and extra clothing for the three open air classes and for the open window school have been furnished in large part by the Fortnightly Club, an organization composed of generous SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 331 and public-spirited women who have rendered invaluable as- sistance in developing the auxiliary and open air classes. Without question the open air classes as well as the open window school have proved to be a decided success. But this is the experience of all cities that have given the open air class a fair trial. It is safe to say that the value of these classes has been established. The question is as to the character of their future development. Grand Rapids has between one hundred and one hundred and ten pupils enrolled in the three open air classes and open window school. The estimate most commonly made is that from two to five per cent of the school children stand in need of the open air treatment. According to this estimate there are in the Grand Rapids elementary schools from three to seven hundred fifty children who would profit greatly from the open air treatment. How may they receive this treatment at a minimum cost? It is not easy at the present time to give a satisfactory answer to this question because of the diversity of practice. St. Louis in 1915 completed an open air school the equipment of which alone cost three thousand dollars.. This school is supplied with baths, lunch rooms, and dental clinic. It opened with a corps of six teachers and an enrollment of one hundred twenty-one pupils. On the other hand, Supt. Dyer, of Boston, in his report for the school year 1914-1915 referring to the tubercular and anemic children says, "These are in fifteen open-air rooms, which are, as a rule, equipped for the purpose with wraps, reclining chairs, and luncheon facilities. There seems to be no tendency to increase the number of these rooms. So much attention has been given to ventilation of our school rooms by the open-window method that teachers feel most of their rooms are, to all intents, open air rooms, and the principals who make comparisons between the children in the open air rooms and those under ordinary condi- tions are coming to the conclusion after many years of trial that except for markedly defective children the so-called open air room is unnecessary. Our medical inspector is giving this mat- ter serious consideration this year but has not as yet reached a conclusion as to the advisability of increasing or diminishing the number." In the annual report for the year 1913-1914 Supt. Dyer in dis- cussing the same problem says : "The open air classes number fifteen and these seem to be sufficient to meet the need of special treatment of children who are undernourished and anemic. In fact, most of our school rooms are to a considerable extent open air rooms. The provision that windows shall be open at all times when the "leather at all permits and that the rooms be 332 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN flushed periodically through the day is very carefully followed by almost all our teachers. The temperature is carefully watched and except in summer is rarely above 68 degrees. Whether as a result of this or not, the number of children needing distinct and separate open air treatment seems to be diminishing rather than increasing. In most of the open air classes a luncheon is pro- vided at the smallest expense possible to the children. This provision should be made for all the classes in order that these children should have the proper kind of nourishment at the noon period." In this same report Dr. Harrington, head of the department of school hygiene, says : "Besides the fifteen open-air classes for the especially selected debilitated children, the school com- mittee has made an effort to have every classroom an open-air room. Legislation bearing upon the temperature and regulation of windows has been carefully observed. Among 1,065 different classrooms visited during February, March, and April, 1004 had open windows. Nine hundred forty-seven had a temperature between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Six hundred eleven had a temperature of 64 to 68 degrees, inclusive." The trend of development in New York City is also in the direction of the open window classes. Such classes were rapidly organized during February and March of 1914 so that before the conclusion of the term there were ninety classes in Man- hattan. In discussing these classes in the superintendent's re- port for 1913-1914 Dr. Woodruff, medical inspector of open air classes of New York City schools, says : "These classes were conducted like ordinary classes, except that the classrooms were cut out of the ventilating system, and ventilation was carried out by means of open windows. This gave, during the winter, a lower temperature, greater humidity, and greater air movement, as well as that intangible quantity, 'fresh air'. The classroom temperature was kept between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit, when the outside temperature was not higher, and 50 degrees F was considered the minimum temperature. Heat was permitted to overcome unduly low temperatures and 'rawness' (excessive hu- midity.) Children were allowed to wear their own wraps and hats when they desired, but no equipment was provided. In some classes feeding was given at the desire of teachers or principals. This was almost entirely self-supporting. It consisted either of food, such as sandwiches, brought by children, with or without milk, or else milk and crackers, procured by the teacher and for which the children paid. The average cost when milk was pro- cured by the teacher was about ten cents per capita per week." The following are some of the suggesti&ns made by Dr. SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 333 Woodruff based on experience with open window classes in New York City: 1. "That room is preferable for this type of a class which has windows on two sides so as to insure open windows on at least one side, if on account of high winds or a driving storm they have to be closed on the other. Rooms with sliding doors such as those which form parts of assembly rooms are not satis- factory. The doors do not fit closely together and this, together with the ventilator above, creates too much of a draft. 2. "A room with south or east exposure gives best results, as this room is the warmest in winter time. Rooms with a northern exposure, particularly those room in which it is diffi- cult to keep the temperature at a comfortable point in cold weather with the windows closed are bound to give dissatis- faction. 3. "A minimum of 50 degrees F. seems to yield the best results, as under ordinary conditions children do not feel cold at this temperature. On some cold raw days without sun, the temperature will need to be higher, probably over 55 degrees. It is well to assume that shivering on the part of any child indi- cates that the child is not warm enough. 4. "If the children come to school with their clothing soak- ing wet, it is desirable that the room be conducted as a closed classroom until their clothing is dry, unless the temperature with the windows open is about 65 degrees or higher. 5. "The heat required to maintain the temperature at ap- proximately 50 to 55 degrees, should be obtained preferably by a little heat from each radiator, rather than by all from one radiator, so as to prevent any child sitting near a radiator from being overheated. This is practicable, as in most classrooms the radiators have valves which can be controlled by the teachers. All children should be urged to wear sweaters if they can obtain them. They should be allowed to put on wraps or overcoats if they feel. the need of them. Children with catarrh or running ears or whose medical card shows adenoids should be placed on that side of the room away from the open window. Those sus- ceptible to catarrh or those near windows should be encouraged to wear caps, regardless of appearance. 6. "It is advisable that teachers dress appropriately. A thin wash waist, which is comfortable in a hot steam-heated apartment, is not sufficient for such a room, and unless teachers wear flannel waists or sweaters they will want to keep the tem- perature too warm for the more warmly clad children. There is a tendency, I think, for most of us to forget that, except in cases of extreme poverty, the average public school children who come 334 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN from homes where there is no heating plant are accustomed to dress very much more warmly than those of us who live in steam- heated apartments, where the temperature nearly always tends to be too high." The experience of Boston and New York seems to indicate that if our public school buildings were properly heated and ventilated the need for the strictly open air class would not in- crease but decrease. The regular classroom is in part creating the conditions that the open air class is trying to relieve. Ap- parently the most can be accomplished by devoting a great deal more attention to the proper ventilation and heating of the regular classrooms, and using the open air room proper for children that are tubercular or come from tubercular families. The writer would make the following recommendations : 1. That more attention be given to converting the regular classrooms into open v/indow rooms in accordance with the sug- gestions contained in the quotations from the Boston and New York reports. 2. That enough open air rooms thoroughly equipped be furnished to provide for those children who especially stand in need of fresh air, food and rest. 3. That the children for these open air classes be selected by physicians, not by teachers. Only in this way can we be sure that the children who stand most in need of this treatment will get it. 4. That future school buildings be so constructed that they can to advantage be used as open window schools. 3. Truant School The truant school under its present principal has a history of seventeen years. The principal points with pride to the fact that so many of the former pupils of this school are now success- ful men. He insists that not one of the pupils who have attended this school during the seventeen years of his administration has made a criminal record since leaving school. If this is the case it is a record of which to be proud, especially in view of the fact that this is a school for truant and incorrigible boys. Boys ten years of age or above are admitted to this school upon the recommendation of the principal of any elementary school and with the approval of the superintendent of schools. Pupils also are admitted from the parochial and private schools upon the recommendation of the truant officer. When once ad- mitted they remain in the truant school until the principal thinks it wise to return them to the r^egular schools, or until they have reached the age of sixteen. The interesting fact is that very SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 335 few of these boys want to return to the regular schools. The writer asked the principal and his assistant to leave the room and he had a talk with the boys in regard to the school. Only three out of the forty-five boys enrolled said they would rather be in the regular schools, and the reasons assigned were that they did not have enough manual training work, no recesses, and little opportunity to use the playground. From the stand- point of the boys the school is eminently satisfactory. One rea- son for the general satisfaction is the way the school is con- ducted. It begins at the usual hour, nine o'clock, and continues until eleven when most of the pupils are excused to sell the morning papers, which in Grand Rapids do not come out before eleven o'clock. School begins in the after-noon at one o'clock and most of the boys are again excused at three o'clock to sell the afternoon papers. Thirty-five out of the forty-five boys en- rolled sell papers. But the selling of papers is done under strict supervision. Each boy has his corner and is supposed to be there at certain hours of the day. The principal makes two tours of inspection each day, at eleven o'clock and again at three o'clock to see that each boy is at his place of business. The selling of papers is considered a part of the education of these b^ys. One reason the principal encourages, and in some cases insists on the boys selling papers, is that many of them come from homes where the conditions are such that they do not get enough food to eat. By selling papers they are able to earn from one to eight dollars a week. The principal also secures positions for many of the boys during the summer vacation as he believes, and rightly, that work is an important factor in the education of these boys. The truant school is housed in three rooms in the Junior High School building. One of these rooms is fitted up for manual training work ; the other two rooms are used as class- rooms and one of these is also used as an office. The boys enrolled in the school are from ten to sixteen years of age, and all are in the grammar grades. In order to determine how these boys compare with normal children the writer gave them three tests taken from Pyle's ''Examination of school child- ren". The tests used were one of the "logical memory tests" in which the selection entitled the "Marble Statue" was used, and two tests of "rote memory" in which two lists of concrete and abstract words were used. In memory for concrete words sixty-seven per cent fell be- low the standard of attainment for normal children of like age; in memory for abstract words, and in the logical memory test, eighty-seven per cent failed to reach the normal standard. While 336 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN too much weight cannot be given to tests of this character yet the results obtained would seem to indicate that on the average these boys are in mentality somewhat below children of like age in the public schools. The writer gave a psychological examina- tion to one of the boys who was said to be among the dullest in the group and found him to test two years below age. Evidently the teachers are here dealing with a group of boys some of whom failed to make good in the regular school, not merely because of lack of interest and consequent irregular attendance, but also because of poor ability. The way the work of instruction is divided the principal teaches the seventh and eighth grades and the assistant teacher teaches the rest. As there are fifteen boys in the seventh and eighth grades that leaves thirty pupils for the assistant teacher to instruct. The principal also has charge of the manual train- ing work. The writer is decidedly of the opinion that the present training and instruction that these boys are receiving in the academic subjects and manual training is unsatisfactory. In the first place, the school day is too short. The majority of the boys, the thirty-five who sell papers, are in school only four hours per day. In the second place, the principal of the school is devoting only part of his time to teaching. The boys of the school are getting very little manual training work, simply because the principal finds it necessary to spend so much of his time in looking up boys who are not in school. He frequently drops everything and starts out at once to get some truant boy whom he has succeeded in locating. In the third place, the assistant teacher has too much work to do. She cannot be expected to handle to best advantage a group of thirty or more, and com- monly more, ungraded boys. She is an excellent teacher and is doing good work and is liked very much by her pupils, but she is being overworked, for she is trying to do in a short school day with a group of ungraded truant boys what most teachers are expected to do in a longer school day with a group no larger of well-behaved graded pupils. One solution of the problem would be for the principal to cease acting as truant officer and leave that work to the regular truant officer and devote all his time to the work of teaching. If the principal were to do that, and if the boys were to give up the selling of papers, then the school day could be lengthened and the present teachers would have the time to do justice to the manual training and academic work. But such a solution of this problem would be decidedly unwise. The function of a school of this kind is not merely to train boys in the conventional SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 2>Z7 school subjects, but also, and above all, to develop character, to make honest men out of boys who got a wrong start. This func- tion of a truant school should never be lost sight of, and the principal has kept this function clearly in view. The careers of the boys that have left this school during the seventeen years of his administration are conclusive proof of that fact. To have the boys give up selling papers would be a decided mistake. This work is not only enabling most of these boys to earn a little money that is much needed, but it is at the same time giving them a training in conducting business in an honorable way. To have the principal give up his work of acting as truant officer would be a mistake. One reason the boys are sent to this school is that they have been irregular in attendance. The regular truant officer was not able to keep them in school when they were enrolled in the regular schools. We have no rea- son to think he would be more successful with truants from the truant school. In Table LXII are given figures showing the enrollment and attendance in the truant school for a period of eight years as compared with the attendance in all the public schools of Grand Rapids. TABLE LXII Attendance at the truant school compared with attendance at all public schools of Grand Rapids. TRUANT SCHOOL Number Percentage Percentage of Attendance School Year in Attendance of Attendance for AH the Schools 1907-1908 : 74 96.0 95.8 1908-1909 64 1909-1910 56 1910-1911 65 1911-1912 58 1912-1913 71 1913-1914 55 1914-1915 58 In the first column is given the school year; in the second, the total number of different pupils enrolled in the truant school ; in the third, the percentage of attendance for the truant school based on the average number belonging ; and in the last column, the percentage of attendance for all the public school of Grand Rapids based on the average number belonging. This table shows that throughout this entire period the at- tendance in the truant school has exceeded the average attend- ance for all the public schools, and that during the last six years it has exceeded it by two per cent or more. These figures show conclusively that the principal of the truant school has been eminently successful in preventing truancy. But the principal has succeeded in keeping these boys 97.0 96.8 98.1 95.2 97.6 95.6 98.5 95.8 98.5 96.45 98.6 96.07 98.8 96.21 338 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN in school not only by catching the truant before he has had a chance to profit from his truancy, but also by making the school so attractive to the boys that they do not have much desire to play truant. One striking fact is that so few of the boys that are sent from Grand Rapids to the Industrial School at Lansing have ever been in the truant school. It seems to indicate that most, or at least a majority, of the worst cases never are sent to the truant school. Apparently the method of selecting boys for this school is not all that could be desired. If boys are sent to the truant school simply because they have been irregular in attendance, because they did not like school, or if they are sent to the truant school simply because they have an abundance of energy that causes them to get into mischief then, without ques- tion, the truant school is not getting the type of child that stands most in need of the kind of instruction and training that a truant school is supposed to give. The writer would make the following recommendations : 1. That pupils be committed to the truant school upon the joint recommendation of the principal of the elementary school from which the child comes, and the principal of the truant school, with the approval of the superintendent. The principal of the truant school, because of his knowledge of boys in general, and because of his knowledge of what many of the boys are doing and the type of place they are frequenting after school hours, is in a position to render valuable assistance in the selec- tion of boys for the truant school. 2. That a man assistant be appointed to assist in the work of teaching at the truant school, in order that the present assist- ant may be relieved of some of her work, and in order that the principal of the truant school may have more time to investigate the cases that are proposed for admission to the school, to direct and supervise the activities of the boys outside of school hours, and to secure positions for them during vacations and upon leaving school. The writer is convinced that the principal C9,n render a much greater service by using his time in this way than by devoting it all to teaching in the school, for the work siig- gested above can be done successfully only by one who under- stands boys thoroughly, and who is in sympathy with them. 3. That the truant school open at eight o'clock in the morn- ing and close at eleven, and open in the afternoon at twelve forty-five and close at three o'clock. By adopting these changes the work of selling papers would not be interfered with, and the SPECIAL CLASSES OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS 339 school day would then be of the same length as that of the regular schools. 4. Thai: the boys be given more manual training work, better opportunities to use the playground, and that bathing facilities be provided. 5. That all pupils upon admission to this school be given a careful psychological and medical examination. 6. That each year the principal of the truant school submit to the superintendent of schools a detailed report of the work of the truant school. CHAPTER XIII BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT John F. Bobbin In any present consideration of school buildings and equip- ment in Grand Rapids it is necessary to divide the buildings into two classes: (1) those that represent the building policies of former boards of education, and which are of types no longer constructed but most of which must be used for many years to come ; (2) the buildings recently constructed, which represent the present building policy of the board. The New Buildings Judging from the results secured, the city is fortunate in hav- ing a school architect who has thoroughly familiarized himself with all of the best features of modern school-building construc- tion. Buildings like the Franklin and the Sheldon can be com- mended in almost all of their features. Questionable arrange- ments are few and slight. Among the striking features of excel- lence are the following: 1. The school plant supplies the material facilities for a very wide range of educational and community activities : classrooms, assembly rooms, gymnasium, manual training room, domestic science room, branch public library, cloak-rooms, nurses' room, shower baths, moving picture and stereopticon facilities, social center room, kindergarten room, toilet rooms, teachers' rest room, principal's ofhce, rooms for ungraded pupils, teachers' lunch room, etc. 2. The building is of fire-proof construction throughout. 3. The orientation of all classrooms is either east or west, and in no cases north or south. 4. The lighting in all classrooms is unilateral. 5. The ground floor is sunk but little below the general BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 341 grade level, thus permitting large windows and adequate lighting of the rooms on the ground floor. 6. The ratio of window space to floor area is sufliciently large in all classrooms. 7. The tops of the windows are square and reach as nearly to the ceiling as practicable. 8. In most cases the mullions between the windows are as narrow as construction will permit, thus eliminating bands of shadow across the classrooms. 9. Translucent shades are provided for the windows. 10. A carefully chosen and pleasing tinting scheme has been employed. 11. The lighting is always from the left side of the pupils. 12. The rooms are thoroughly ventilated with a modern plenum system, which takes the air from a good height above the ground. 13. The temperature of the air is automatically controlled. 14. After passing the coils, the warm air is humidified by means of a copper evaporating-pan humidifier. The per cent of humidification is automatically controlled by means of a humid- ostat in one of the classrooms. 15. In addition to the indirect heating of the classrooms in connection with the ventilation, there is also a vacuum system of direct steam heating with radiators of the wall type located under the windows. This direct radiation is controlled by ther- mostats which operate the diaphragm valves. 16. All classrooms are of good standard size with no space wasted by making them too large, as in the majority of the older buildings. 17. Each classroom is supplied with a cloak-room, and a closet for teachers' supplies. Cloak-rooms are commodious, ven- tilated, and lighted. 18. The corridors are adjusted in width to the needs of the buildings, space being ample without waste. 19. Exits are sufliciently numerous, sufliciently wide, doors opening outward and provided with automatic panic bars. 20. The boiler-room, although within the building, is sep- arated from all other portions of the building by means of fire- proof construction. 21. The floors of classrooms are invariably of close-grained hardwood, usually or always maple, and never of pine or other loose-grained or soft wood. The floors of corridors are of tinted concrete composition, and are both pleasing and serviceable. 22. Adjustable desks are found in all the classrooms. 23. The blackboards are of slate. They are suflicient in 342 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN amount, without excess, and are placed in the different rooms at levels corresponding to the needs of the pupils of different grades. 24. The ceilings of the rooms are of standard height. 25. Drinking facilities of the most modern type are installed upon each floor. 26. Toilet accommodations are placed on each of the several floors for both boys and girls. All plumbing is of approved mod- ern, sanitary type. There is a thorough' system of ventilation completely separate from that of the rest of the building. The flooring is of good composition, and the rooms are adequately lighted. 27. Special entrances are provided for the community center room and the branch library room, w^hich permit their use with- out opening up any other portion of the building. 28. The building is provided with a vacuum cleaning system. 29. The buildings are of simple, pleasing architectural de- sign. They combine economy of cost with good architectural proportion and general appearance. 30. The cost of the buildings as compared wicK similar con- structions in other cities is moderate. It is somewhat lower than in Detroit or Cleveland ; considerably lower than in Newark and St. Louis ; and very much lower than in Boston. It is not suf- ficiently low, however, to create suspicion as to quality of mater- ials or character of workmanship. There are a few things, however, in the new buildings that should be considered in planning the construction of future build- ings. While most of the things mentioned here are of minor significance, some of them are of sufficient importance to justify careful scrutiny: (1) In certain of the rooms in the newer buildings — the Lexington, the Franklin and the Sheldon — and in certain of the newer additions, as for example that at the Alexander School, the front wall of the room is so completely given to doors as to leave inadequate blackboard space at the front of the room for the teacher, and to make it difficult to mount pictures at that end of the room where they can be most effective. Much can be said in favor of a closet for the teachers' supplies at or near the front of the room, where they are easily accessible. But when the result of placing the cloak-room at the front of the room re- quires two additional doors at the front, making three in all as in the Franklin, or four at the front as in the Lexington and in the Alexander addition, then it seems clearly desirable that the cloak-room should be placed at the back of the room. If placed at the front it should certainly be so arranged as not to break the front wall so completely as is now the case. It seems that a. BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 343 desire for architectural symmetry has outweighed considerations of educational utility and serviceability. In all cases it is the work that goes on within a building that should determine the arrangements within the building. Where architectural sym- metry and educational needs cannot be reconciled, it is the needs of the educational work that ought to be dominant. The neces- sary degree of architectural symmetry and good appearance can always be obtained. It perhaps ought also to be said that building plans should never be adopted until they have been carefully gone over by those who are to use the buildings after its completion. Requests, suggestions, and judgments of teachers and principals in such case do not always show as great familiarity with modern build- ing construction as is, desirable. Nevertheless, knowing what they want to do within the building their advice is generally worth listening to as to the kind of building arrangements that will best serve their purposes. (2) The classroom bank of windows should not be carried so far forward. The reasons for carrying the dead wall space back eight feet at least from the front is that the presence of win- dows too far forward means an undue amount of frontal glare upon the eyes of pupils in the rows of seats nearest the windows. This extra glare reveals itself also in undesirable ways upon the varnished desk tops and the front blackboard. If the extra window space is actually needed for illumination on cloudy days, and is justifiable for that reason, it perhaps should be provided with special dark blinds that are kept drawn on days when such extra illumination is not required. This mode of treatment is recommended for the front window in each of the classrooms of the buildings recently constructed. (3) In buildings like the Franklin, the corridors, especially those of the first floor, are not well enough lighted from the out- side. The placing of toilet rooms for both boys and girls on all floors is very commendable, but they should not have been placed so as to close both ends of the corridors on each floor. This space should be given to windows, and the toilet rooms placed at the sides of the corridors. (4) Toilet fixtures for the little people on the first floor, the standing wash basins, etc., should be of such a size and height as best to accommodate the diminutive stature of the primary children. If not uniformly small, they should be of different sizes. Wash basins should be much more numerous than at present, provided with liquid soap, and with towels always on the holder. (5) Both in the purchase of the sites and in the plans of the buildings, provisions should be made for the construction of 344 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN additions in the future, as the district about a building becomes more densely populated. The Older Buildings and Their Equipment. Some of the older buildings are of antiquated and undesir- able types. The board already has been working for some time upon the policy of replacing them with modern construction. The continuance of this wise policy will in time provide suitable buildings for every district in the city. The change, however, must necessarily be gradual. Except in a few instances where the buildings are highly unsuitable, the older buildings must be used yet for many years. The problem of the board in connection with these older buildings is to make them as serviceable as possible during the time that they must still be used. It must be remembered that the children going to school within these more ancient buildings are as deserving of good accommodations as the children of the districts possessing modern accommodations. Since it is im- possible to afford entire equality of accommodations, it is desir- able that especial care be given in the old buildings to those im- provements that require no fundamental reconstruction, and which can therefore be economically made. It is possible to take care of the lighting, the ventilation, the furnishing, the decora- tions, the fire protection, the cleanliness, the heating, the black- boards, etc., so as to bring about reasonable equality of oppor- tunity in these various things throughout the city. In most re- spects it must be said, too, that commendable attention has been given to the various needs of the older buildings. In all of them one finds recent adjustments which have been made for the pur- pose of modernizing the structures and equipment. New toilet facilities have been installed. Ventilation arrangements have been made. New windows have been cut in rooms formerly too dark. Unused basement rooms have been improvised for play- rooms, shops, kitchens, etc. Older types of heating have given way to modern types. School yards have been enlarged through the purchase of adjacent lots. Modern playground facilities have been provided, etc., etc. The writer was informed that when the present board took charge of affairs, the buildings in general were in a deplorable condition. The city was years behind in its building program. In every building one finds that the pre- sent board has been trying to overcome the accumulated results of former neglect. ^ The recommendations made in the sections that follow which look for further improvements in the facilities provided in the older buildings fully recognize the fact that the present BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 345 board has for some time been working upon the problem of im- proving the older buildings as fully as the funds of the district will permit. Since their policies are already so evident, our pur- pose here is not mainly to suggest to them what they ought to do so much as it is to reinforce policies that are already being ef- fectively carried out. In pointing to shortcomings observed in the older buildings, it is not our purpose to point out all kinds of shortcomings. Many of these cannot be overcome without an outlay that is unwarrant- ably large. When the outlay required goes beyond a certain point the district will have to wait until the building can be re- placed by a modern structure, or until an addition to the present structure can be built. Our purpose is to point out only short- comings that can be remedied without fundamental alterations of the present structures. Where fundamental alterations are re- quired, the only thing to do is to recommend an addition or a new building. Provision for a Variety of Activities. When the oldest buildings were constructed education con- cerned itself with little besides learning things out of books. The only activities for which a building needed to be equipped were study and recitation activities. It was then known that many other things were necessary for the full development of children, but the schools had undertaken no responsibility con- cerning these other things. Moreover, it was felt that since school buildings were for children only, they were not designed to take care of any type of adult activity. More recently we have conceived, as indicated by such good practice as that shown in the new buildings in Grand Rapids, that we must take care not only of the activities of the children but of the adults of the district; not only of learning things from books, which is necessary, but also the training that comes from play, from athletics, from music, from social activities, lib- rary reading, shop activities, gardening, etc. When the principals in the old buildings were asked what they needed in order more adequately to take care of the activi- ties of children and adults in their community, demands every- where were of similar tenor: "We need an assembly room." "We ought to have a branch library room." "We need a gym- nasium, shower bath, lockers, etc." "We should like to have a room for our backward children." "We need a manual training room." "We need a swimming pool." "We need a larger play- ground and a better equipped playground." "We need rest- rooms and limch-rooms for the teachers." "We need a sewmg- 346 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN room outside of the kitchen." "We need indoor playrooms for the children." ''We need a school garden." The school board and the professional people are to be com- mended for making vigorous efforts everywhere throughout the system to take advantage in the greatest possible degree of the opportunities afforded in the school buildings of taking care of these various activities. In most cases about all has nov^ been done that the older buildings will permit. In most cases nothing remains to be done but to build additions or to build a modern structure in the place of the outgrown one. Assembly Rooms, Branch Library Rooms, Gymnasium. When the older buildings make no provision for such large rooms — this neglect is universal in the old buildings — there can be no adequate remedy within the building itself as it stands. In such cases it is possible for the board to consider an addition to the building which represents the first unit of construction of a new building which is designed in time to replace the old one. Such a plan would provide facilities at present for the quite old buildings, and yet retain the buildings for service as long as con- ditions may make this necessary. It means that in the replace- ment of the building a portion of it might well be built soon, and the remaining portion of it several or many years hence. The plan naturally requires long foresight and stable policy. As the board provides new construction for the city, one thing to keep in mind — and the board appears to be keeping it in mind — is a general distribution of assembly rooms, gymna- siums, etc., over the city so that where a district has no such accommodations for itself the accommodations can be found in an adjoining district at no great distance. It is possible to make one assembly room, one gymnasium, etc., for the immediate present serve the needs of two or even three adjoining districts. Naturally, this cannot be so sat- isfactory to the district that has no accommodations of the sort of its own ; yet in so far as the need is felt by the district for such accommodations, the plan may be made fairly serviceable. For healthy children and adults to walk the extra distance can do them no harm. The chief obstacle is a mental, not a physical one. In the same way that it is possible to get on with manual train- ing and domestic science rooms in only certain of the buildings, so it may well be possible in the immediate future with these other facilities equitably distributed throughout the city to get along with those for the next few years in similar fashion. Any such plan should be looked upon as only temporary, however; and to continue only so long as conditions make it necessary. BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 347 A special word needs to be said concerning the gymnasium accommodations in the Junior High School. The school is so large and the need of physical training opportunity throughout the entire year so great that facilities for all should, if possible, be provided at the school itself. At present within the buildings there is one gymnasium room large enough for the girls or for the boys, but not for both. The building is congested because of the presence there of the Truant school and of many of the ad- ministrative offices. It would seem that one or the other of these should give way to the needs of the Junior High School. The proposed use of the attic for a boys' gymna.sium seems im- practicable owing to the nature of the construction. A gymnasium on the fourth floor in such a building would interfere seriously with the class work of the floor beneath. If the congested condi- tion makes it necessary for the attic to be used at the present time, something besides the physical training should be placed there. It is clear that the Junior High School building needs an addition to provide for gymnasium facilities, even if an addi- tional room equal to the present one could be improvised. There are at present no adequate dressing rooms, no shower baths, no lockers, no swimming pools, etc. There is a fair-sized playground, and during good weather it is fully used for physi- cal training purposes. During the milder portions of the year, it is better than an indoor gymnasium. But Michigan winters are long, and there are several months in the year when the outdoor grounds can be little used. Cloak-Rooms. A number of buildings have no cloak-rooms. Hats, wraps, etc., are hung: upon hooks along the walls of the corridors. It- is an unsightly and in some degree insanitary arrangement. In some cases it possibly cannot be easily remedied; but in some case certainly a remedy can be found. This probably should be done in the case of certain of the more substantial buildings of medium age that will be used for decades to come. It is possi- ble to provide simple lockers, wall wardrobes with doors, or roll- top front. Because of the fact that the classrooms in almost all of these buildings are larger than what is now considered a stand- ard size, such as exhibited in the Franklin, wardrobes can be placed at the back of classrooms in most instances. In other cases they can be placed at the side and back. It is not always easy to provide ventilating arrangements for such improvised wardrobes ; but in many cases this can be done. In many cases it is possible to run a partition so as to cut off a strip across the side or back of the large classrooms, and 348 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN thus provide cloak-rooms and storage closets. Where practicable this is better than placing the cabinet wardrobes at the back or side of the room. Where the corridors are unnecessarily wide, it is sometimes possible to utilize a part of the corridor space for this purpose. Whether in the corridor or in the classroom, it is not necessary in such improvised cloak-rooms for the wall to extend to the ceiling. Since it is not usually possible in these cases to secure the desirable separate ventilation for such cloak- room arrangements, a wall six feet or so in height and finished on top to serve as a pedestal for decorations of various kinds may well be sufficient. Such screen walls were recently ob- served in one of the best and newest elementary buildings in Cleveland. So far as possible, classrooms and corridors from an aesthe- tic point of view should present simplicity of lines, colors and decorative efifects. Wardrobes or cloak-room arrangements when improvised in this manner require careful judgment to prevent an unduly cluttered and confused appearance. While utility in such arrangements is the principal thing, it must still be remem- bered that from an educational point of view, good appearance is one type of utility. Economical Use of Large Classrooms. It is generally agreed that ordinary classrooms in elementary schools need not be so large as those to be found in almost all of the buildings of Grand Rapids, except those recently construc- ted. If the opportunity afiforded by large classrooms to make classes very large is not taken advantage of and abused, probably the objections to the larger classrooms are not so serious as some- times urged. If seats are rightly placed in reference to the win- dow and to the blackboards, and if too large a class is not placed in the room, much indeed can be said in favor of the commodious spacious classroom. On the other hand, it is somewhat more ex- pensive to maintain and operate in matters of fuel, janitor ser- vice, repairs, etc. The suggestion that we would make is that the excess space in the large classrooms be employed for providing variety of educational activity. In a number of cases for the grades where sewing is taught, it would be well to bring the sewing-machines out of poorly lighted basement kitchens and to place the ma- chines and necessary tables in the excess space in the large class- rooms. The simple laboratory provision necessary for elementary science could easily be provided for within such excess space. BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 349 Heating and Ventilation. The mode of heating that has been made universal in all of the regular buildings of the city is indirect heating of the air fur- nished the classrooms by passing it through steam coils in the basement, together with direct heating by means of radiators usually of the wall type within the classrooms. The ventilation is most frequently of the gravity type. This is not and in the nature of the case cannot be satisfactory. When the difference in the temperature of the outside air and the inside air is not great, in autumn and in spring, the circulation of the air is very slug- gish. Rooms were visited in which the ventilation was very unsatisfactory because of this reason. The system seemed to be working as well as it could work under the circumstances. Un- der such conditions it is possible to supplement the ventilation of the gravity system by means of the windows. In doing so, however, a good deal of administrative care is necessary because if the windows are opened miscellaneously in the rooms of the building, the working of the gravity system is entirely deranged, especially if there is any considerable wind blowing. The sup- plementary use of windows requires that they be opened and closed simultaneously in all of the rooms of the building. Forced ventilation by means of a fan should be installed in every building as rapidly as conditions permit. In one of the buildings, for example, the old gravity boiler is to be taken out during the coming summer and a new one installed. It is not, however, proposed to install a fan at the same time. We recom- mend that as such renewals are made that fans be installed, un- less the building is to be replaced by a new structure within a relatively short time. One finds evidence throughout the system that the board of education is doing what it can by way of remedying the ventil- ation deficiencies. Serious neglect of the building situation many years ago appears to have presented to the board the double problem of providing for current necessities as well as making up for past deficiencies.. In a few things like ventilation, which is so closely related to the health of the entire younger generation, it would appear that the city should be fairly generous in provid- ing the funds necessary for remedying clearly discernible defic- encies left from past management. Certain types of deficiency may be deferred ; but those intimately related to the health of the young people should receive immediate attention. The board is short of funds for doing the work. A little present generosity on the part of the city in supplying needed funds cannot but re- present prudence and economy in the end. Especial attention needs to be called to the ventilation in 350 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN two or .three domestic science rooms that were visited. These rooms were in the basements of the buildings with no ventilation except windows, which were small. Because of the fact that the windows are small the cooking arrangements need to be placed near the windows. Then when the windows are open- ed for purposes of ventilation the gas burners are blown out and the cooking interfered with. The practical re- sult is that the windows are kept closed ; from twenty to twenty-five open gas burners are burning and using up the oxygen of the air. The room is also lighted at the Hall School by means of gas lights which burn up a further supply of the oxygen. The result is such a depletion of the oxygen of the room that at times the lights burn noticeably dim, and the air is of a sufficiently undesirable character for breathing purposes. Such domestic science rooms as those at the Diamond School and the Hall School are imperatively in need of an adequate ventil- ation system. An attempt seems to have been made in all cases to provide ventilation for the toilet rooms. It is generally of the gravity type, and often not very serviceable. In one building odors from the toilet rooms were clearly distinguishable in a second-story classroom, and in more than one case it was possible while visit- ing classrooms on the first floor to determine under which end of the corridor the toilet rooms were placed simply from atmos- pheric evidence. In all cases examined the janitors seemed to be doing all that the building arrangements would admit of. In no case met with was the deficiency really very serious at the time. The arrangements, however, are such that in certain buildings there must be at times serious annoyance due to imperfect ven- tilation. Doubtless the board and the business management is ready to remedy conditions as soon as the community is willing to provide them with the means for doing so. The sanitary ar- rangements of the toilet rooms in the matter of ventilation should be made as perfect in all buildings as they now are in the new buildings. In the old buildings in every case examined the fresh air intake is on a level with the street, the alley, or the adjacent playground. In many cases on windy days a large amount of dust is unnecessarily warmed and sent to all of the classrooms of the buildings. In nearly all cases, the cold air chamber was used as a storage room. In one of them we found a pile of sand, a quantity of kindling made up of wood, bark, and the accumulated trash of several months, old boxes and barrels, a large quantity of dry modelling clay, with everything covered with a heavy coating of dust. In only one case was a cold air chamber visited BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 351 that was not used in some measure for storage purposes. In this one case the walls and ceiling, and even the floor were newly Avhitewashed. This represents a condition that should be gen- eral instead of highly exceptional ; but even here the work had only recently been done, and the air intake was from a sandy, dusty, playground. Even if not used as a storage chamber, it must soon become a dust chamber through which the air must pass to the lungs of the children in the classroom. The cold air intake should, wherever possible, be elevated ten or fifteen feet above the surface of the earth, even in the case of the old buildings. The Lighting of the Buildings. In occasional instances only are rooms supplied with too small a quantity of efifective lighting surface. Often it is badly distributed over two or three sides of the room, but can usually be made to serve lighting purposes without serious alteration. In certain of the buildings the window proper is short and has a transom above it. Above the transom there is a wide space between transom and ceiling. The presence of the transom en- tails some six inches or more of opaque space between the glass of the window and that of the transom. In many cases the transom was frosted years ago, but is now a dark gray, and prac- tically impervious to light. In certain rooms lighted with win- dows of this type, there appears to be insufTicent illumination of the desks on the far side of the rooms from the window. Just outside of more than one such room there are trees the foliage of which prevents effective window illumination. Occasionally, too, there is a larger amount of light-absorbing blackboard space than is necessary. In three buildings, rooms were observed in which the illumi- nation was from the pupils' right. In not one of the cases was it really necessary. The desks need to be turned around and made to face the other way. In very many classrooms, there are two or three small win- dows at the top of the wall, at either the back or the front of the room. Sometimes these are at the front and are of clear glass with the shades not drawn. This means a deleterious glare upon the pupils' eyes when they are reading from the blackboard, or from wall maps at the front of the room. Over such front windows the shades should be kept drawn. Where similar windows at the back of the room mean an injurious glare upon the teacher's eyes, the blinds there should also be kept drawn. Rooms having such front or back lighting are sometimes 352 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN so imperfectly illuminated from the side as apparently to re- quire the use of these small windows for purposes of illumination, especially upon cloudy days. The glare from the clear glass of such open windows is as serious upon dark days as upon light ones, — possibly even more so because of the character of the diffused light. Such rooms should probably be provided with a ceiling that is perfectly white or only faintly tinted, and with prismatic glass or some other reflecting device for the small windows, the purpose of which is to throw the light against the white ceiling and the light-tinted upper portion of the walls. This permits the entrance of the light, but throws it downwards indirectly, producing the soft and very desirable indirect light- ing. Where the back windows are of full size and because of the inadequacy of the side windows must be used for the illumi- nation of a portion of the room, arrangements should be pro- vided by way of minimizing the glare in the face of the teacher as fully as possible. The glare is likely to be chiefly from the upper half of the window, the lower half being below the hori- zon line. A device that tends to deflect the light upward in ways above mentioned will also here prove to be at least a part- ial solution. In many cases the side windows have transoms which were painted years ago and are practically impervious to light. These side windows should be utilizied as fully as possible for the room illumination. Such transoms should be cleaned of all paint and provided with transom shades, for use when shades have to be drawn. In general such side windows should not have transoms, because of the wide opaque bar between the transom glass and the window glass. The whole of the space should be a single window. Where the side transoms are low, it is possible that they should often be of prism glass so as to throw the light to the far side of the room, or the windows should be extended upward. In a few cases the trees, during the months when they are in foliage, greatly obscure the illumination of the classrooms. While trees in the school yards are desirable, if they are properly placed, they are undesirable when improperly placed. There can be no more justification for placing a bank of foliage in front of a win- dow where the school work requires good light than there is of building a stone wall in front of such a window. The board of education has carefully protected the children from the presence of such an obstructing wall. They must equally protect from ob- structing banks of foliage. Present and past boards of education are to be commended BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 353 for having- placed the additions to buildings in such wise as usually not to obscure the lighting of rooms already constructed. A mistake of this type, though not a serious one, was observed at the Hall School ; but it is very rare. The tinting of the rooms is not always related to the illumi- nation. In standardizing the color schemes the authorities have chosen very satisfactory tints, which seem, however, to be ap- plied uniformly throughout a building. Rooms of south illumi- nation receive exactly the same treatment as rooms of north illumination. Poorly lighted corridors and cloak rooms are treated exactly the same as rooms brilliantly lighted from south exposure. It would appear that rooms having only north light should have a color scheme that is lighter and brighter and warmer than rooms that face the south. It would seem that rooms having east and west exposure — the orientation that repre- sents the current building policy of the board, — should probably be intermediate between that of north and south rooms. Ground floor rooms should probably receive slightly different treatment from those of the clearer second story. Poorly lighted corridors, closets, cloak-rooms, etc., should certainly receive a treatment dift'erent from that of the well-lighted outer portions of the building-. A classroom in which the light area is small in pro- portion to the floor space should be given a bright tint, while a room with an excess of lighting area, of which there are several in the city, should be given darker tones. The older buildings that are to be used for many years yet should be carefully studied by way of making their appearance light, bright, and attractive. The old school buildings are most in need of it. In general, buildings are clean, and present a good appearance from outside. Much, however, that could be done inside with white enamel paint has not yet been done. The window shades in a few rooms visited were in very bad condition ; and in one or two rooms there were no shades of any kind. It was explained that the old ones had worn out some time ago, and that their turn had not yet arrived for receiving new shades. The translucent shades recently furnished are not of satisfactory character for controlling the light in certain of the classrooms, because of their open texture. A smooth, non- porous blind of white or cream would not only be more service- able, but would give a far better eft'ect to the appearance of the room. Teachers appear often to be negligent in the management of the shades. In certain rooms visited the shades w^ere not drawn over the small windows above the blackboard at the front of the room, althoup-h not needed for illumination of the 354 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN room. The same was noticed in the management of the blinds over the small upper back windows. Where side windows furn- ished the major illumination and where this is excessive, as in a few cases, shades were not drawn with a view to cutting off the frontal glare in the eyes of the pupils by lowering chiefly those at the front of the room and leaving the rear ones full height. Rooms were sometimes dark because blinds that had been drawn in the morning, when the sunlight reached the windows, were left at the same position when the sun was at the other side of the building. In certain cases the light in the corridors might be greatly increased through the use of glass doors for the buildings. The lower corridor of the Junior High School, for example, and espec- ially the stairs leading from the lower corridor to the second floor are very dark on the brightest days. Artificial illumination is provided, but the lights were not usually turned on when the building was visited. The use of glass doors at the front of the building, the removal of obstructions now in the corridors, and a more generous use of white surfaces would very greatly re- lieve the difficulty. The classrooms in the old buildings face all directions. In its new buildings the board has wisely decreed that classrooms shall face either the east or the west, but not the north or the south. This policy should be adhered to in the building of addi- tions to old buildings. To adhere to this policy in the building of additions it is not always possible to introduce the factor of building symmetry. This, however, is not necessary. All of the rooms in the recent addition to the Alexander building face the south, when they may just as well have faced east and west. In the new addition to the Sigsbee, four new rooms have only north light. Noises In the construction of the newer buildings the tendency is clearly discernible to place them on streets where there are no car lines. A number of the older buildings are near car lines. A few of them are so very near that the work is disturbed by noises and dust. As old buildings are replaced by new ones, this condition can be remedied by securing a different site within the district. In one case the work of the building seemed to be consider- ably disturbed by the noises from a near-by garage, livery stable, and blacksmith shop. There should be city ordinances that for- bid the location of establishments of this character within a certain minimum distance from school buildings. In general it can be said that ^he buildings are so placed BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 355 that children are not appreciably disturbed by noises coming in from the neighborhood. The writer can recall no single case of a class having been disturbed by any such noises during the period of his visit. Seating The newer buildings are supplied with adjustable seats and desks of modern kind. Occasionally in the older buildings one finds adjustable desks. As a rule, however, except in the recent buildings, all of the desks of a room are of the same size and are non-adjustable. Since the children within a class are never all of the same size, the results everywhere in such rooms is that some of the larger children have to work in seats and at desks that are much too small for them, and in other cases the seats and desks are too large or too high for the children. In one building a whole sixth grade class was observed seated at desks of a size appropriate for fourth-grade children. Adjustable desks should be furnished all of the classrooms of the city. It is not necessary to supply the entire room with this type of desk. One or two rows of adjustables placed through the middle of the rooms will provide for the necessities of the children who are exceptionally large or small. This has already been done in a few classrooms in the city. It should be made universal until such time as the non-adjustable desks have dis- appeared. It may be urged that the old non-adjustable desks are in stock and that the city cannot afiford to scrap them until full service has been secured from them. Our recommendation is not that they be scraped, but that they be so distributed through the city that every room will have some of the adjustables and some of the non-adjustables. Certain rooms, especially in the newer buildings, are equipped wholly with adjustables. Some of those could be distributed to other buildings, and the non-adjust- ables used in part in the newer buildings, until such time as the city can afford proper seating for all. It is also possible to place within the classrooms, using the desks at present in stock, one row of desks larger than the aver- age size used in the room, and one row that is smaller than the average size. Seats and desks in one of the buildings were observed that were very old, instable, and loose in the joints. The surfaces of the desks were so rough and uneven that certain of them were very unsuitable for writing. The wood presented evidences of the setting in of dry rot. At some stages in their career seats must be adjudged to have served their day. Evidently some of 356 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN those in the Michigan building have served more than their time. In tv\^o or three buildings large numbers of broken, unser- viceable desks w^ere found stored in the basement. Since the space is sometimes needed, since they can only gather dust and present an undesirable appearance, and since portions of them can be used for the repair or rebuilding of desks, all such accumu- lations of broken desks should be removed to the repair rooms. Rough desk tops can there be re-surfaced and re-varnished. Special attention should be given to the seating of special rooms. In the rooms for the auxiliary class in one of the new buildings, there were seats and desks for twenty-five pupils, al- though the class is only about half this size. It would usually be better to supply such rooms with movable furniture, chairs, tables, sewing-machines, work benches, etc. While certain of the systematic handwork will be obtained in the regular shop, kitchen, etc., the rooms for auxiliary children should certainly be equipped so as to permit a large variety of practical activities. Movable chair-desks are now used in certain of these special rooms in the city. In buildings where there is a lack of indoor play space for rooms in which a variety of special activities are desirable, the movable chair-desk offers large assistance in the solution of the problem. We recommend both to the board and to the professional people a consideration of the use of movable furniture by way of solving certain of the present prob- lems. The Cleaning of Buildings In the matter of cleanliness all buildings presented a favor- able appearance. Even when the woodwork w^as old, roughened, and discolored, it appeared to be at least clean and sanitary. Vacuum cleaning has been introduced into all of the more recently .constructed buildings and vacuum systems have been installed in a few of the older buildings. The systems were observed in operation in more than one building and the cleaning was proceeding without the scattering of dust. In two build- ings visited in which vacuum cleaning systems are found, dry sweeping with brooms and without the use of any sweeping- compound was raising clouds of dust and making the air im- possible for healthful breathing. It is clear that certain of the vacuum cleaning systems in the city need looking into. Where a system will not work, a mistake has been made in the original purchase, in the installation, or in the current management. Whatever be the cause of the difficulty, the system should be made to work, or removed from the building and disposed of. Dry SAveeping is the plan employed in all buildings that have BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 357 not vacuum cleaning systems. In no case observed were janitors using sweeping compounds either in classrooms or in corridors. During the sweeping period buildings are filled with dust, which settles down upon the floors, etc., to be kicked up by the children and breathed during the following day. The use of a good sweeping compound Avould remove the dust from classrooms and corridors instead of leaving it there for the children to breathe. Blackboards In the newer buildings and here and there in other build- ings one finds blackboard slate of good quality. It is the best type of blackboard, except that made of glass, — which is not yet commonly used in America. The objections to very many of the plaster blackboards used throughout the city and repainted oc- casionally is that they tend to grow too "shiny," and because of reflections make it difficult or impossible for pupils to read black- board Avriting from certain positions within the room. In only one building were the blackboards observed to have holes in them with the mortar and sand coming out. Every- where else they seemed to be in a proper state of repair. In the rooms of a number of the older buildings, there is clearly too large a quantity of blackboard space. The wide board at the front may well be retained. In such cases the upper portions of side and back boards may be cut off by a moulding and thf. upper portions of the blackboard tinted to harmonize with the vvall above; or it can be used, as in many instances at present, as a panel for pictures, pupils' papers, drawings, etc. In a number of cases small segments of the blackboard are to be found between back or side windows. Blackboards should never be placed in such position. They should be removed or painted the wall color. Except for one or two subjects, a large amount of black- board space is not desirable. There should be not a single foot more of blackboard than is necessary. An interesting device was observed at one of the buildings that enabled a school to have all of the blackboard space that it needs in times of great- est demand, without making a large amount of fixed classroom blackboard necessary. The school owns forty small blackboards, about 3^ by 3^ feet, of light wood, each mounted upon two thin legs, so as to bring it to the proper height. The board can be moved to any desired position and stood against the wall, doors, cabinets, etc. When it is no longer needed, it can be 358 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN pushed into a storage closet. Being only ^ of an inch in thick- ness, not a great deal of storage space is required. Floors Recently laid floors, whether in new or old buildings ap- pear to be always of close-grained hardwood, — maple in every instance examined. Pine or other loose-grained wood seems not to be used. Many of the floors in the older buildings are dark and un- sightly because of an excessive use of oil. There are reasons to think that the floors in these rooms where children spend so many of the formative years of their existence should be as clean, as bright, and attractive as the floors in a well-kept home. In most cases the basement playrooms have been given a good flooring. In two or three buildings visited, this playroom had a floor of cement. The dust of the cement combined with the dust entering from the outside playgrounds through the windows makes the air practically impossible for play purposes. All playrooms need a floor that will not produce dust, and one that is not so hard as cement. Wood or battle linoleum such as found in the corridors of the new South High School should be used. Toilet Rooms All buildings are supplied with automatic flushing toilet facilities of modern type. The rooms are usually sufficiently large, usually well lighted. The stalls are provided with doors, and placed along the sides of the room so as not to obscure the light of the usually small windows around the top of the room. An excellent quality of individual porcelain fixtures with open front wood seats were the only type observed. The ventilation has already been discussed. A single wash-basin is the usual allowance provided each of the toilet rooms throughout the city. In some cases this is a good modern porcelain standing wash-basin with running water, and in other cases it is nothing more than a soapstone sink with no plug provided that permits the holding of the water. The only possibility of use is to hold the hands under the faucet, the sink being of use only for catching the waste water and carrying it away. In a few cases bar soap was found, and in a few cases there were paper towels on the rack. More often, however, there was no soap of any kind, and while paper towels seemed to be commonly a portion of the stock in the storeroom, they were often not present on the racks provided. These washing facilities are inadequate in almost every way. BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT 359 The soapstone sinks are not of the right character. One to a toilet room intended to accommodate several score children at a time is wholly insufficient. Bar soap is not much better than the common roller towel from a sanitary point of view. The de- ficiency is to be noted in the newer buildings as well as in the older ones. The provision of toilet facilities for teachers and principal separate from that of the children is not usual. There should be such provision. A very small number of shower baths have been installed in connection with the toilet rooms in the newer buildings. In most cases they are not much used because of the lack of dress- ing booths, of curtains for the showers, etc. When the statement is made that it is useless to provide bathing facilities simply because recent experience in certain of the buildings show that they are not used, it must be replied that the proper conditions for use have not been supplied at the same time. Further facilities are indeed needed, but they need to be placed in proxi- mity to the gymnasium, instead of their present distribution and location. After being properly located they should be provided with dressing booths, locker facilities, and the possibility of a greater degree of privacy. The Playgrounds The playground facilities provided for the use of the different schools are very unequal in amount. Certain of the buildings are well provided. At others the playgrounds are much too small. The board is to be commended in its policy of enlarging the smaller playgrounds as rapidly as conditions permit. A good minimum standard to set is 100 square feet per pupil in average daily attendance. The surfacing of playgrounds is a serious problem. The grounds at more than one of the buildings are surfaced with a mixture of loose sand, gravel, and clay. At one of the buildings visited on a windy day great clouds of dust arose from the children's play. When the wind is blowing towards the building, the result is that the ventilation shafts and the rooms receive too large a supply of dust from such a playground. In wet weather the sand and clay is carried into the rooms on the children's shoes. A number of the playgrounds need either to be filled or to have more adequate facilities for draining. Grounds should be so drained that they are available for play on practically every day of the year, except during the time when it is actually raining. 360 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Open-Air Rooms The board of education seems to have supplied no open-air rooms for the anemic and tubercular children of the city. Neither the old nor the new building provide open-air rooms. In observ- ing the two open-air schools in connection with the Sigsbee and the West Leonard Schools, everything except the teacher and the instruction supplies appear to be furnished by voluntary co- operative organizations, instead of by the board of education. The beneficent results of the open-air treatment of certain types of children are so evident, it seems that the board should consider whether it should not arrange for at least one sunny open-air room in each new building that is constructed ; and to provide for such a room here and there in the buildings already in use. CHAPTER XIV THE COST OF PUBLIC EDU CATION IN GRAND RAPIDS Harold O. Rugg Grand Rapids is very liberal in its endowment of public edu- cation. There are many outstanding facts which indicate most definitely the extent of this liberality. It spends more for school purposes and devotes a larger part of its municipal money to schools than most cities of the same wealth; it does not, however, take advantage of its capacity for making permanent improvements through taxation, for it sells bonds for such purposes wdien all needed funds could be raised through local taxation ; it provides a sufficient number of teach- ers to permit instruction of pupils in small classes ; it pays teach- ers better salaries than do most other cities of its class ; it does not, however, endow supervision of instruction on as adequate a basis as other cities of its class ; while spending more per pupil for both business and educational purposes it spends a larger pro- portion of its school money on business activities than do other cities of its class. In its distribution of money for educational activities it spends about the same amount per pupil for admin- istration, operation, maintenance and instruction but gives a larger proportion of its school money to overhead expenses and upkeep of school plant than it does to instruction and operation of the plant. On analyzing its expenditures in detail we find that with the exception of supervisory activities Grand Rapids ranks high among cities of its class in the support that it gives to each type of activity; when measured in terms of per pupil cxt penditure elementary and secondary schools are both more liber- ally supported than in other cities of the same wealth: at the 362 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN same time a much larger proportionate amount of financial sup- port is given to high schools. Chapter XIV of this report will support by detailed evidence and comment the above statement concerning school finance in Grand Rapids. Definition of Various Terms Used in This Report. 1. Administration. The term administration will be used in this report to denote the activities of the central offices. These include the following: 1. The superintendent's office, including assistant superintendents, officer in charge of attendance and hy- giene ; 2. The office of the business manager and the entire cen- tral staffs of the superintendent of buildings and the supply clerk. 2. Supervision and Instruction will include the activities of all school supervisors whether of ''subjects" or of "grades"; all principals and their clerks ; all teachers of whatever grade. 3. Operation will apply to all activities of operating the plant, including for Grand Rapids the following: all work of janitors, assistant janitors, janitresses and engineers, and any other operating employees ; fuel ; and janitors' and engineers' sup- plies. 4. Maintenance will apply to all activities connected with repairs to buildings, replacement of equipment, etc., whether concerned with labor or materials. 5. "Capital Outlays" will apply to all activities connected with permanent improvements to school plant, building of new buildings, acquisition of school sites, etc. In general the terms used will follow the accepted definition of the National Associa- tion of School Accounting Officers and the United States Bureau of Education in connection with the "standard form" of the Bureau of Education for reporting school financial facts. 6. Current Expenditure is a term applied to all expendi- tures, exclusive of capital outlay, incurred in the running of the public schools during one year. It includes Administration, Sup- ervision and Instruction, Operation and Maintenance. 7. Under Business Purposes will be included the activities of: 1. All offices in charge of Buildings, Supplies, Auditing and Finance; 2. All operation of Buildings; 3. All maintenance of Buildings. 8. Under Educational Purposes will be included activities of: 1. The Superintendent's offices, salaries and expenses; 2. Salaries and expenses of supervisors and principals; 3. Salaries of teachers; 4. Educational supplies; 5. Textbooks; 6. All other "instructional" expense for schools. 9. "Average." In this report all ''average" expenditures are COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 363 computed by the commonly used "simple average" (or arithmetic mean) obtained by adding up the total scores and dividing by the number of cities. 10. Cost Accounting will include all activities of: 1. Distri- buting charges against buildings, departments, and funds ; 2. The computation of current ''unit costs" ; 3. The preparation of cost data for Grand Rapids' activities in previous years (called "his- torical" cost studies) ; 4. The preparation of comparisons of costs in Grand Rapids and other cities (called "comparative" cost studies) ; 5. The interpretation and application of the cost computations to improving school practice. A. The Legal Basis of the Public Schools At the present time, the Grand Rapids school system is opera- ting under the charter granted the city in 1905, and revised in 1907. There are four definite financial provisions in these charter- ed pov^ers of the Board: 1. A statement of the commencement of the fiscal year; 2. The time for estimating taxes for the en- suing year; 3. The method of raising revenue and the limit of possible taxation for school purposes ; 4. The methods and limi- tations of borrowing money for temporary school purposes and for permanent improvements. 1. The first two of these provisions can hardly be said to be planned to aid the business department of the schools in its annual treatment of educational data. The financial year is to commence April 1st of each year. This provision if followed out, would result in a bad adjustment of the financial accounting to important problems of school administration. A school year naturally ends with the month of June. The annual reporting of school facts, the determination of annual per capita costs in terms of pupil enrollment and attendance, the estimating of supplies needed for the ensuing year as determined by current usage, the planning of the various items in the budget ; all these and other necessary phases of school practice concur in a demand for a fin- ancial year coinciding with that of the educational department. Notwithstanding the chartered provisions, the Board of Educa- tion has recognized the needs of the situation, and for the past ten years has operated under a financial year commencing with July 1st. 2. Section 12 of the revised charter (1907) states that the Board shall annually make an estimate of taxes necessary for the ensuing year on or before the first Monday in March. This means that the business department is forced to undertake the task of planning a scientific budget for the ensuing year shortly after the middle of the current year. Instead of being able to 364 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN rely on fairly complete expense data for the current year, the business department is compelled to resort very largely to data for previous years. The Board of Education should look forward to the time when such a change can be effected in these provi- sions that both the commencement of the financial year and the time of estimating taxes for school purposes can be moved for- ward to more closely approximate the limits of the school year. 3. The Board of Education of the city of Grand Rapids has not the power to levy taxes for the support of schools. Its legal powers include only the estimating of the amount of taxes deemed necessary for such support. The actual levying of taxes can be done only by the single taxing body of the city, namely the Common Council. It is advised in its decisions as to the apportionment of the city budget and the levying of taxes by a Board of Estimate, composed of the mayor, the city clerk, the city comptroller, three members of the Common Council, and three citizens to be appointed annually by the mayor. In both appointment and composition the Common Council and the Board of Estimate are political organizations. The business de- partment of the Board of Education, during the last ten years has attempted to develop an adequate system of budget making de- signed to secure financial support that will closely approximate the real demands of the system. (A more complete treatment of this subject will be taken up in a later section of this report.) These attempts at scientific budget making are defeated by plac- ing the levying power in the hands of a political body, elected by wards and not primarily interested in securing the best provision for complete educational development in the city. Officers of the Board of Education have recognized the needs of this situa- tion and have considered ways and means of effecting definite changes in its legal status that would result in a more thorough and scientific (and less political) control of the annual school budgetary and tax levying procedure. It is to be regretted that changes have not yet been effected that will give the Board of Education power to pass finally upon the budget, and establish its own bonding policies in school matters. There are now several cities and a few states in the country that give the power to levy school taxes to the Board of Education. California, Ohio and Kan- sas are illustrative of this practice. In these cases there are cer- tain restrictions on the taxing powers of the Board, such as the statement of the maximum amount of taxes that may be raised on the assessed valuation of real property in the city. Missouri has seen fit to give St. Louis and Kansas City full taxing powers, with an upper limit beyond which they cannot tax themselves for school purposes, of six mills on the dollar. The list of cities in COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 305 which the Boards of Education have complete taxing power in- cludes Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Boston, Denver, Portland, and Seattle. The Limit of Possible School Revenue. In any one year the Board of Education can raise by taxa- tion not more than five mills on the dollar of assessed valuation for general school purposes. In addition, it has what is known as a one-mill tax. For buildings, new sites, and for paying school bonds it can raise an additional five mills on the dollar. Table LXIII presents a detailed analysis of the property valuation and the money raised by taxation for school purposes during the past ten years. Diagrams LXXVIII and LXXIX show the curves of possible revenue for general purposes and for permanent im- provements, together with the curves of actual expenditures for these two major purposes. Several outstanding facts may be listed as a basis for dis- cussion : 1. The assessed valuation of the city has more than doubled in ten years. Half of this increase is a result of the recent reas- sessment of property values made last year. 2. The amount of taxes raised for general school purposes has increased more than four fold in ten years. 3. The amount of money raised annually by taxation during the past ten years has been practically constant, (in spite of the fact that over a million dollars have been raised by bond sales for permanent improvements). 4. There has been a remarkably rapid increase in the num- ber of mills raised for general purposes, increasing from 2.29 and 1.94 mills in 1906 and 1907 respectively, to 5.46, 5.30 and 5.30 in 1912, 1913 and 1914. 5. In the past ten years Grand Rapids has never levied more than 1.89 mills for permanent improvements. It has very gener- ally taken out of the annual budget about one-third of its priv- ileged amount for these purposes. The table will bear more minute analysis. From 1902 to 1913 the assessed valuation of property in Grand Rapids in- creased slowly, averaging less than $3,000,000.00 a year. Previous to 1902, in 1900 and 1901, there were large increases, $16,000,000 and $13,000,000 respectively. Again in 1915 a complete reassess- ment of property values was made, raising the total valuation by $50,000,(XX). For the entire fifteen years the valuation increased at an average rate of $8,000,000 a year. In the mean time, the tax for general purposes has been 366 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN HH U ^2 H pi; '^ vh oj o X jH Ti J w 1 1—1 o o > PQ a < Ul X H u O < H c« < O G u ^o tn 4-. C •- S5 ii PhS ^ ^5oacMoac\jcooarc-i t^ 1-H (M t^ 1-H CM vo c^ «-i ca Tj-" (tJ" irT ro J-T (U t-N J>N 00 00 00 .Y- o> o ,_< VO "n 1-1 t-H < : P^ i <5 W >^ ^ tv oc o- c T- i-v ^ u- c a- o- o- o- a> o- O^ o- o^ ON 2TL21^^2^i m ^titimiii 5ii%i P. m.^ i^i: It -±^ ^fJ m n: 'tt tlW- m DIAGRAM LXXVIII — Comparison o£ curve of possible taxation for general purposes with actual tax levj^ 1906-1915. i z-sfJ^Qtjji^ :SLggS K iWi-. ■11 ^tr. zli tl ■Kiz -tt a it. lit mr. DIAGRAM LXXIX — Comparison of curve of possible taxation for permanent improve- ments with actual tax levy, 1906-1915. COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 369 going: up by leaps and bounds. In ten years it has increased $550,- 000, an average of $55,000 a year. The lack of parallel between the increase in general tax and assessed valuation of property caused the number of mills raised to come dangerously near the legal limit in 1912, 1913 and 1914. In 1912 it would have^been possible to put into the budget for general purposes only $50,000 more; in 1913 and 1914 about $70,000 and $80,000 respectively. At a normal increase of $8,000,000 a year from 1914 to 1915, in- stead of $50,000,000 that the city was given there would have been available an assessed valuation of $121,000,000. To raise the bud- get of $726,000 would have required the tax of exactly six mills, and this would have left the Board of Education in the position of having utilized every possible source of income for general school purposes. However, the increase which came as a result of the reas- essment of property values in 1915 is an indication of two facts: First, the valuation during the years 1911-1914 was probably too low, and hence the proximity of the total mill tax for general school purposes to the legal limit (5.46, 5.30, 5.30) had not in it the elements of danger that we would have at first inferred. It is probably true that had an adequate estimate been made in 1912, that at least $125,000,000 would have been found which, with a budget of $509,000, would have resulted in a mill tax of slightly over four mills. Second. Probably not for many 3^ears will there be such an increment in the assessed valuation as was made last year. If we project the past experience of the city into the future, the next few years will see relatively small additions to the valuation. With a budget for general school purposes increasing at the rate at which it has increased in the past ten years, will the Board again soon face the question : "How raise money for general school purposes?" Let us take a concrete case. Assume that the assessed val- uation of thecity will, increase annually $8,000,000. Assume that the Board's annual increase in expenditure will be $55,000 (the average annual increase for the past ten years.) What will be the mill tax situation five, ten and fifteen years hence? We set down the facts below : YEAR Assessed Valuation General Tax No. of Mills Levied 1920 $203,000,000 $1,001,000 4.98 1925 243,000,000 1,276,000 5.26 1930 283,000,000 1,551,000 5.48 If property valuations and school expenditures should continue to develop in the next fifteen years as they have in the past fifteen years, it is doubtless true that the Board would face no serious difiiculty in financing the public schools. At the same 370 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN time, it would be working so near the legal limit of revenue that an unusual demand upon the financial resources of the Board in any one year would be hard to meet. There is, of course, no assurance that the capacity of the city, as shown by assessed valuation, will develop at the rate at which it has developed in the past. If it should not, the Board within a few years, will have to face a situation demanding some retrenchment. The fact that in the past three years the mill tax has been close to the legal limit is suggestive of the need for a constructive plan for handling this matter in the future. The other outstanding fact, concerning the utilization of the city's financial resources, is that in spite of a heavy outlay for permanent improvements, the city has never taken advantage of its burgetary possibilities in the matter of school plant. This question will be discussed in full in the section dealing with che bonding policy of the Board of Education. 4. To provide for emergencies, the Board is given power to borrow money temporarily in a total sum not to exceed $30,000 in any one year, this loan to be paid out of the first school money collected thereafter. During recent years, the Board has had to take advantage of this power but once, in 1914-1915, when a mistake in estimating the amount of money to be received frorh the state primary fund caused a deficit in current funds. For purposes of permanent improvements, the Board may borrow such money as it deems necessary (subject to approval by the Common Council) and on such terms as it deems wise. The only restrictions placed on the bonding powers of the school district are that no bonds shall be sold for less than par, bear more than five per cent interest, or run more than twenty years. The question of bonding and bonding policies, borrowing on short term notes, etc., will be discussed fully in a later section of this report. 5. Important to the later discussion of the general organiza- tion of the school system, and of the relation of the business and educational departments, is the provision' that the Board may apportion to its administrative officers, the superintendent of schools and the business manager, such duties as it sees fit. Thus it is clear that aside from questions of taxation, bonding, and gen- eral finance, the Board of Education is unhampered in determin- ing the methods of organization and administration of the pub- lic schools of the city. Section B. The Sources and Amounts of Revenue of the Board of Education Table LXIV summarizes the sources and amounts of reven- ue of the Board of Education for the ten years 1906-1915 inclus- COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 371 ive. During- that time the total net receipts of the Board have nearly, tripled, and the funds raised by local taxation have doubled. With the exception of 1912, during the years 1909 to date the Board has obtained about 20 per cent of its income from its apportionment of the state primary fund. It may be noted that this is a larger proportion of city school revenues coming from a state school fund than v^ill be found in most states. It is common to find 90 per cent or more of the school revenues raised by local taxation. The amount of the apportionment is deter- mined by the number of children of school census age (5 to 19 years inclusive). For some time past it has been felt that the annual school census was not resulting in an accurate statement of the number of persons of school census age. The recently organized Bureau of Census has estimated that Grand Rapids should have a considerably larger number of persons reported at the ages 5 to 19 inclusive than has been reported. If this esti- mate is correct, it would mean that the Board would receive from the state primary fund each year several thousand dollars more than is indicated in the table. Within the past year, a con- tinuing census has been established in the office of the business manager, and plans have been perfected for obtaining a correct count of the persons of school age. Furthermore, the business department is somewhat hamp- ered in its planning of the annual budget by uncertainty as to the size of the state primary apportionment. With the exception of 1912, the size of the fund has been fairly constant, running about $220,000. In that year, the date of apportionment of the state fund was changed from May to July, with a consequent loss to the Board of some $200,000 of primary money. This deficit was made up by a legislative permission to borrow $225,000 of the city, the same to be paid in three annual installments of $75,000 each. The Relation of Revenue Receipts to Current Expenditure of the Board of Education. During the last ten years the Board of Education has increased both its expenditures and its revenues very rapidly. Has the one increased more rapidly than the other? Table LXV presents the relation between revenue re- ceipts and the annual expenditures during the past ten years. These data have been taken from the Annual Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1906 to 1915 in- clusive, as compiled and reported by the business manager of the Grand Rapids Board of Education. An examnation has been made of the records from which the data for 1915 were reported to the Commissioner, and it is evident that the data, although 372 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ,-H 00 \0 o VO O m 00 00 '4- VO o VO o \o CO ^ r^ iri eg -rf o ro CO cm' Co" 0\ IT) VO VO 00 00 CNl ^ o 2^«l ro m O^ O^ ■^ "\ CM^ CO OHS ro" o T^ VO ^^'-^^ lO CO t^ u-> »> in 03 00 o VO ^ S^ oq 00 CM 00 O C^ CO tH OJ >-l CM CM CM c o CO CM (N VC ,_, t^ \f CO 00 ^ flJCO o O oc c^ Tl- ur o o On S CJ . ITi c«- IT) r>.' (^ •^ CO CO oc VC CM CM o < ^CO u- O t-x o "* 0\ "^ iS<^ ,_, a- " ,_, tvT •«t VO \r- VO c OS Wvo c^ v£ 0\ r^ oc CO I-H CSl tn -^ t^ « c c\ c^ ■* c c o> o o> o OS o^ o O Ov COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION ^7Z not classified in the Board's accounts on the same basis as that used by the Bureau of Education, have been reclassified and reported with care. Since the data are organized in the required YEAR 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 Expenditure Total Expenilitures 438,661 TABLE LXV s to Revenue R Revenue Receipts 482,645 561,871 561,371 621,805 612,274 728,149 466,855 841,032 884,882 966.222 .eceipts 1906-1915*. Excess of Excess of Expenditures Receipts Over Over Receipts Expenditures 43.984 435,570 126,301 504,822 56,549 536,010 85,795 537,660 74,614 552,250 175,899 637,210 170,355 665,227 175,805 725,521 159,361 764.398 201.824 * Data as reported by Business Manag-er of Board of Education to U. S. Com- missioner of Education, Annual Reports 1906-1915, Vol. II. form, it is more convenient to take them from the Commissioner's Reports. The table shows that the expenditures of the Board of Edu- cation have exceeded the revenue receipts but once in the past ten years. In 1912 there was a serious deficit in the teachers' salary fund, due to the fact that the May apportionment of the state primary fund was not made. As we have noted above, the deficit in this year cannot be said to be due to any un- favorable condition of the finances, of the Board of Education. Judged by the condition of many American cities, the relation between current expenditures and revenue receipts of the Board of Education in Grand Rapids is very satisfactory. Section C. The Capacity of the City to Support Schools Table LXIII indicates that the city of Grand Rapids is liberal in the measure to which it taxes itself for the support of schools. It is raising large amounts of money for educational purposes and it is still far from taking advantage of its legal privileges in school taxation. The question is fair, however : Is it raising as much money as it should for school purposes when measured in terms of its financial capacity to do so? We have no definite ideal standard by which we can answer the question : "How much money should a city raise for school purposes?" We can, however, state the degree to which a city conforms to or betters the common practice of the day. We can legitimately compare the procedure of a city in any aspect of the administration of its schools with other cities having approxi- mately the same financial status. The Bases upon v^^hich the Cities have been Compared. No 374 SCHOOL SURVEY. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN entirely satisfactory basis has as yet been worked out for the grouping of cities for comparative purposes. It has been agreed that comparison should be made only of cities of roughly the same size. It is a well-recognized fact, however, that cities of the same size vary widely in their wealth, distribution of their population by nationality and by occupations, prevalent wage scales, rapidity in growth of the number of children of school census age, proportion of the school population in parochial schools, etc. An ideal list with which to compare the financial situation in Grand Rapids could best be made up by taking account of all of the above factors. To do so, however, would reduce the size of the group to such an extent that it would be of little value for practical comparative purposes. In selecting the cities used in this report, three criteria were followed : 1, the cities must be roughly of the same size ; 2, they must have approximately the same wealth per person in the population ; 3, they must have roughly the same wealth per school census child. It is thus be- lieved that the most adequate single basis for comparing school finance in cities is the per capita amount of money available for school purposes. In computing the amount of money raised per school census child, since the legal school census age is 5 to 19 years inclusive in Grand Rapids, the number of children between these ages has been computed for each of 19 cities from the most recent census returns (1913).) It was found that the applica- tion of any other factors of comparison would reduce the size of the group to a number where position in the group would have little practical significance. The adoption of the above criteria of per capita wealth per person and per school census child resulted in the elimination of such cities as Hartford, Con- necticut, and Salt Lake City, Utah, — cities of roughly the same size as Grand Rapids, but of 70 per cent greater capacity for supporting schools. The original list consisted of the 26 cities that in 1910 had populations ranging from 80,000 to 125,000. Of these cities, Dallas, Texas, reported no data to the United States Commissioner of Education in 1915. Spokane, Washington, and Omaha, Nebraska, were eliminated because their per capita wealth so greatly exceeded that of Grand Rapids ($1,700 and $2,000 per inhabitant as contrasted with $1,000 for Grand Rap- ids). Yonkers, New York, and Youngstown, Ohio, two cities that in 1915 were estimated at 96,610 and 104,489 are not included in the final list because only those cities were taken that had populations of between 80,000 and 125,000 in 1910. These two cities have grown so rapidly in the past five years that they are now more clearly in the same population class with Grand COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 375 Rapids. Since the financial records for 1915 had to be secured through correspondence with the United States Bureau of Edu- cation, the records for these two cities were not included in the original tabulations made. The final list as used in this report in- cludes one city as large as 174,108 (Birmingham, Alabama, per capita wealth almost identical with that of Grand Rapids) and one city 96,854, Kansas City, Kansas. Practically all the re- maining cities cluster very closely around Grand Rd'pids in population (125,759) and in per capita wealth ($1,029.99). Thus, school finance in Grand Rapids will be discussed in this report through a comparison of its status with that of each of the other eighteen cities used in the following tables. 1. Degree to Which Grand Rapids is Supporting Schools Table LXVI and Diagram LXXX compare the total ex- penditures of Grand Rapids for all school purposes, the expendi- tures per inhabitant with those of 18 other cities. A table which has been computed giving the estimated real property valuation per inhabitant shows that Grand Rapids is practically the average city of its group in its capacity to support schools, i. e., it ranks ninth in a list of nineteen cities. This point should be emphasized in connection with the later discussion of com- parative expenditures. Grand Rapids is considerably above the average in its per capita current expenditures, ranking third in expenditure per inhabitant. Table LXVII and Diagram LXXXI show that Grand Rap- TABLE LXVI Expenditures for all School Purposes per Inhabitant 1913*. Expenditures for Schools Per Inhabitant CITY * Total Amount Rank Albany $426,362 $4.17 9 Birmingham 421,230 2.66 19 Bridgeport 369,283 3.29 17 Cambridge 560,508 5.14 4 Dayton ..._ 506,452 4.15 11 Des Moines 684,150 7.26 1 Fall River 515,325 4.16 10 GRAND RAPIDS 628,924 5.21 3 Kansas City 386,522 4.22 8 Lowell 437,987 3.98 13 Lynn 386,355 ' 4.02 12 Memphis 475,922 3.39 15 Nashville 387,357 3.40 14 New Bedford 475,445 4.4l 6 Paterson 578,864 4.38 7 Richmond 385,181 2.89 18 • San Antonio 366,618 3.31 16 Scranton 621,733 4.49 5 Springfield, Mass 689,998 7.07 2 * Data from U. S. Bureau of Census, Bulletin No. 126, p. 22. 376 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ids is spending more money on schools in proportion to its capa- city for doing- so than the average city in the group. It is in the upper third, ranking sixth in 19 cities in expenditure per $1,000 of real wealth, although it ranks ninth in estimated real wealth per inhabitant. Furthermore, in proportion to its capacity, it is spending more than twice as much as the cities ranking 17th, 18th and 19th in the list, and practically the same amount as the DIAGRAM LXXX — Expenditures per inhabitant for 19 cities. COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION ^11 cities ranking 3rd, 4th and 5th. The city is a leader in the de- gree to which it is taxing its capacity to support schools. TABLE LXVII Expenditures for School Purposes per $1,000.00 of Real Wealth Rank of 19 Cities. 1913*. Estimated Expenditures Real per $1000 Valuation Total Expenditures of Real Wealth CITY Population of Propertyt for Schools Amount Rank Des Moines 94,238 87,887,532 684,150 7.78 1 Scranton 138,621 101,944,538 621,733 6.10 2 Paterson 132,236 101,993,413 578,864 5.68 3 Fall River _... 123,982 97,935,957 515,325 ' 5.26 4 Lowell 109,885 84,792,243 437,987 5.17 5 GRAND RAPIDS 120,695 124,313,651 628,924 5.06 6 Cambridge 109,045 115,947,300 560,508 4.84 7 Lynn , 96,099 81,529,354 386,355 4.74 8 New Bedford 107,766 101,744,559 475,445 4.67 9 Springtield 97,654 151,960,100 689,998 4.54 10 Kansas City 91,687 90,367,010 386,522 4.28 11 Nashville 113,822 102,881,745 387,357 3.77 12 Albany 102,344 115,325,264 426,362 3.71 13 Bridgeport 112,144 105,965,619 369,283 3.49 14 Dayton 122,079 150,005,610 506,452 3.37 15 San Antonio 110,679 115,415,044 366,618 3.19 16 Memphis 140,351 184,198,795 475,922 2.59 17 Birmingham 158,200 170,239,276 421,230 2 48 18 Richmond 133,185 198,358,386 385,181 1.94 19 * Data from U. S. Bureau of Census, Bulletin No. 126, p. 22. t Computed from the stated assessed valuation and rate of assessment. 2. How Grand Rapids Spends Its Money The Extent to which it Supports Schools as Compared with the Way in which it Supports other City Departments There are two ways in which may be determined the extent to which the city's money is going into the schools, 1, by a com- parison of the absolute expenditure per person for each of the city departments ; 2, by a comparison of the per cent of the total governmental cost payments that goes to each department. Neither basis for judgment is sufficient if taken alone; the two taken together provide a method of determining the status of the question. Table LXVIII and Diagram LXXXII present the absolute expenditures per inhabitant, and Table LXIX and Dia- gram LXXXIII the percentile expenditures. The last column of Table LXVIII indicates that Grand Rapids spends slightly less per inhabitant than the average city in the group, (although the absolute dift'erence is slight) for the operation of all city depart- ments. But of the total governmental cost payments, it devotes a larger percentage of its municipal income to schools than all but three of the 19 cities. It ranks third in the 19 in the abso- lute amount spent for schools. The city is devoting relatively 378 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN m i i'-T m till m: m h^ii: lUIULi '3£ :ffif ]6i X m ^:Si!is^^sii^ mmik DIAGRAM LXXXI — Expenditures for all school purposes per $1000 of real wealth — 19 cities. little of its income to police, highways, sanitation and charities, but a comparatively large proportion to schools. Nearly one- half of its municipal income goes to the support of the public schools. _ Table LXX indicates the position of the city in the list of 19 cities, in the per cent of total governmental cost payments devoted to the various city departments. Thus, the city is not only hberal in its total expenditures per inhabitant, and its COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 379 TABLE LXVIII Expenditures per 19 Cities 1913.* Gen'l CITIES Gov't. Police Inhabitant for Various Sani- High- Fire Health tation ways City Departments. Total Expense Char- for all Gen- ities Schools eral Depts. Albany L84 1.99 2.10 0.20 1.13 1.38 0.45 4.17 14.93 Birmingham 0.62 1.01 1.37 0.13 0.85 0.96 0.22 2.66 8.20 Bridgeport 1.23 1.36 1.90 0.14 0.99 1.76 0.92 3.29 12.46 Cambridge 1.13 1.72 1.33 0.52 1.93 3.08 0.65 5.14 17.31 Dayton 0.94 1.25 1.23 0.19 1.31 2.29 0.51 4.15 12.44 Des Moines 0.95 0.95 2.34 0.12 0.72 1.51 0.05 7.26 15.60 Fall River 0.67 1.42 1.40 0.41 0.90 1.94 0.98" 4.16 12.59 Grand Rapids 1.15 1.15 1.73 0.37 0.84 0.80 0.23 5.21 12.32 Kansas City 0.84 0.90 1.42 0.09 0.46 0.76 0.09 4.22 9.45 Lowell 1.03 1.35 1.59 0.23 1.06 1.90 0.84 3.99 12.96 Lynn 1.09 1.17 1.43 0.41 1.09 1.87 0.66 4.02 13.35 Memphis 0.72 1.57 1.49 0.35 1.18 2.00 0.55 3.39 12.68 Nashville 0.66 1.23 1.27 0.24 1.04 1.65 0.44 3.40 10.82 New Bedford 1.24 1.69 1.26 0.52 1.60 2.34 0.68 4.41 15.32 Paterson 0.65 1.44 1.66 0.17 0.77 0.97 0.52 4.38 11.35 Richmond 1.34 1.49 1.45 0.40 1.75 2.97 0.64 2.89 13.77 San Antonio 0.60 1.22 1.31 0.17 1.06 1.70 0.22 3.31 10.03 Scranton 0.86 0.88 0.94 0.07 1.01 1.02 4.49 9.75 Springfield 0.88 1.71 2.63 0.42 1.44 3.39 0.53 7.07 19.94 U. S. Bureau of Census, 1913, Bulletin No. 126, Table 2, Page 44. TABLE LXIX Per Cent of Total Governmental Cost Payments Devoted to Various City Departments 1913*. CITIES Gen'l Gov't Police Fire Health Sanitation High- ways Charities Schools Albany 12.3 13.3 14.1 1.4 7.6 9.3 3.0 27.9 Birmingham T.e 12.3 16.7 1.6 10.4 11.8 2.6 32.5 Bridgeport 9.9 10.9 15.2 1.1 7.9 14.1 7.4 26.4 Cambridge 6.5 9.9 7.7 3.0 11.1 17.8 3.7 29.7 Dayton 7.6 10.1 9.9 1.5 10.5 18.4 4.1 33.4 Des Moines 6.1 6.1 15.0 0.8 4.6 9.7 0.3 46.5 Fall River 5.3 11.3 11.1 3.3 7.2 15.4 7.8 33.0 Grand Rapids 9.4 9.4 14.0 3.0 6.8 6.5 1.9 42.3 Kansas City 8.9 9.5 15.0 1.0 4.9 8.0 1.0 44.6 Lowell 7.9 10.4 12.2 1.8 8.2 14.6 6.5 30.7 Lynn 82 8.8 10.7 3.1 8.2 14.0 4.9 30.1 Memphis 5.7 12.4 11.7 2.8 9.3 15.8 4.3 26.7 Nashville 6.1 11.3 11.7 2.2 ■ 9.6 15.2 4.0 31.5 New Bedford 8.1 11.0 8.2 3.4 10.4 15.3 4.4 28.8 Paterson 5.8 12.7 14.6 1.5 6.8 8.5 4.6 38.6 Richmond 9.7 10.8 10.6 2.9 12.7 21.6 4.7 21.0 San Antonio 5.9 122 13.0 1.7 10.6 17.0 2.2 33.0 Scranton 8.8 9.0 9.6 0.7 10.4 10.4 .... 46.0 Springfield 4.4 8.6 13.2 2.1 7.2 17.0 2.7 35.4 * U. S. Bitreau of- Census 1913, Bulletin No. 126, Table 2. 380 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ^^^'' gii^ "" mm i m I ^_ 3 I i i i ^ COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 381 DIAGRAM LXXXII— Per cent of tot&l cost payments to schools— 19 cities. 382 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN TABLE LXX Rank in Per Cent of Total Governmental Cost Payments Dev oted to Various City Departments 1913. High- ways Cha CITIES G en'l Gov't Police Fire Health Sanitation irities Schools Albany 1 1 6 15 13 16 12 16 Birmingham 10 or 11 4 1 12 6 13 14 10 Bridgeport 2 9 2 16 12 11 2 18 Cambridge 12 13 19 4 or 5 2 3 11 14 T-av'on in or 11 12 16 13 or 14 4 2 9 7 Des Moines 13 or 14 19 3 or 4 18 19 15 18 1 T^'^ll Ui-f^i- 18 6 or 7 13 2 14 or 15 7 1 8 or 9 Grand Rapids 4 15 7 4 or 5 16 or 17 19 16 4 Kansas d>,y 5 14 3 or 4 17 18 18 17 3 Lowell 9 11 10 10 10 or 11 10 3 12 Lynn 7 17 14 3 10 or 11 12 4 13 Mempiiis 17 3 11 or 12 7 9 6 8 17 Nashville 13 or 14 6 or 7 11 or 12 8 8 9 10 11 New Bedford 8 8 18 1 6 8 7 15 Paterson 16 2 5 13 or 14 16 or 17 17 6 5 Richmond 3 10 15 6 1 1 5 19 San Antonio 15 5 9 11 3 4 or 5 15 8 or 9 Scranton 6 16 17 19 6 14 19 2 Springfield 19 18 8 9 14 or 15 4 or 5 13 6 expenditures expressed in terms of its capacity to support schools, but it is devoting a proportionally large part of its municipal expenditures to the public schools. 3. How the Board of Education Spends its Money (a) The Distribution of School Moneys Between Current Expense and Permanent Improvements. The principal division of school expenditures is that between current expense and out- lay for permanent improvements. Table LXXI and Diagram LXXXIV show the growth and distribution of the Board's ex- penditures. In fourteen years the Board's total expenditures have increased nearly 300 per cent. In fact, in ten years they have tripled. From 1902-1905 it spent annually approximately $400,000. In 1914-1915 it spent over $1,000,000 and $1,400,000 respectively. During the same time, the average number of pupils belonging to the school system increased only 1990 or 14.2 per cent. An analysis of the total expenditures reveals where the largest portions of the expenditures went, namely' into per- manent improvements. The analysis to be made later will show that for years previous to 1905 and 1906, relatively little was done in adding to the permanent plant of the Grand Rapids school system. From 1893 to 1905 only three new grammar school buildings were built (at a cost of $130,000) and no high schools. In the same time four four-room additions were made to elementary schools. It was a period of relatively little atten- tion to the development of the school plant. With the reorganization of the Board of Education in 1905 (a Board of nine members elected at large, replacing a political Board of twenty-four "'ward" members) there came a change in COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 383 TABLE LXXI Amount spent for all Current Expenditures and for Permanent Im- provements during years 1902-1915 inclusive.* Total Spent Total Ex- Average No. Total for Permanent penditure for All Pupils Belong- YEAR Current Expenses Improvements School Purposes ing to Schools 1902 - $349,885.09 $35,801.68 $ 385,686.77 13,321 1903 - 393,984.85 35,347.18 429,332.03 13,126 1904 416,289.46 17,236.83 433,526.29 12,992 1905 409,785.89 24,700.00 434,485.89 12,902 1906 458,055.73 89,222.86 547,278.59 13,047 1907 435,570.26 88,603.60 524,173.86 13,139 1908 514,784.37 119,804.43 634,588.80 13,374 1909 550,128.16 250,210.53 800,338.69 13,493 1910 561,457.05 404,466.14 965,923.19 13,580 1911 575,478.78 245,751.97 821,230.75 13,771 1912 662,940.28 157,159.14 820,099.42 14,112 1913 769,440.11 89,880.59 859,320.70 14,730 1914 791,239.91 249,594.73 1,040,834.64 14,865 1915 884,008.22 545,771.48 1,429,779.70 15,311 * Data from Annual Reports of the Board of Education. the manner of handling school business. A new educational and business organization was installed, and a systematic study un- dertaken of the needs of the school plant. During 1907 and 1908 several necessary four-room additions were made to grammar schools, and a plan for high-school development worked out. It was quite clear that a complete overhauling of the physical equipment of the plant was necessary. This resulted in an ex- penditure of over $400,000 for new buildings, $302,000 of this being for the Central and Union High Schools, the remainder for new elementary schools. Careful reading of the reports of committees, of the business manager and of the proceedings of the Board, leads to the conclusion that the Board of Education, through its business department, has administered the develop- ment of the school plant in a far-sighted manner. Careful stud- ies made of particular buildings and of the life of school build- ings in the city of Grand Rapids in general, culminated in a definite building policy of the Board in 1912 and 1913. In that year a scheme of five-year development of the school plant was planned, and $1,011,000 in bonds were voted by the Board of Education. This policy of replacement and extension was hamp- ered by an adverse vote of the people on referendum in 1913. Notwithstanding this, the Common Council approved bonds to the amount of $557,000 in 1913, from which the South High School and new elementary schools were built in the past two years. The delay in approval of the bond issue, however, ac- counts for the low point in the building curve in the above diagram. The upward trend of the permanent improvements curve in 1914 and 1915 is explained by the completion of the high schools and of several new elementary schools. (A more 384 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN iU Uinhi iUi m Ui m i^i w^ ^^t ^v. t: til :. h2 m Pa m S2 vni- lll ^il i2J22±i: ill St Uz^ '.Z^ht^ TJtl. zilt±z^tz i'Mzz'^if: 4- m '-t^^^tz^M 15 n m ^-sfmi jbl^ t- m ^i 'pr^^^^ ^^^^i^ -t^ DIAGRAM LXX XIV— Amount spent for 190 current expenses and permanent improvements 2-1915. COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 385 detailed analysis of the bonding policy of the Board of Educa- tion will be discussed later in this report.) Thus, careful analysis of the financial aspects of the building situation in the city shows that the great increase in the absolute and relative amount of money spent for permanent improvements is but a natural outcome of a long period of neglect of the school plant. The city should face squarely the problem of supporting the Board of Education in its present attempt to bring the ele- mentary schools of the city up to a high standard. The high- school situation has been very much improved within the last three years. It seems clear that more attention should now be given to the development of the elementary-school plant. (The question of how best to raise money for building purposes and the efficiency of the architectural and construction department of the business organization are discussed later in the report.) In the same interval from 1902 to 1915, the total current expense of the Board has increased fairly regularly from year to year. A comparison has been made of the growth in the average number of pupils in the fourteen years 1902 to 1915 inclusive, with the increase in current annual expenditure. Dur- ing the time that there has been but relatively little increase in the number of pupils in the public schools (as shown by the Annual Reports of the Board of Education) there has been a remarkable increase in current expenditures. Table LXXII and Diagram LXXXV analyze the larger items making up the total current expenditures. Roughly 70 per cent of a city's school expenditures go into the salaries of teachers. The increase in current expenditures is shown by Table LXXII to be found very largely in this item: the city spent nearly $300,000 more in 1915 for teachers' salaries than it did in 1905. In the same interval the number of teachers in the system increased from 422 to 611, TABLE LXXII Total Expenditures for Salaries of Teachers, Janitors, and Adminis- tration, and Average Salary Paid Per Teacher. For 1905 to 1915 in- clusive.* SALARIES PAID Average No. of Admin- Salary Paid YEAR Teachers Teachers Janitors istration Per Teacher 1905- 422 $285,476 $30,074 $11,914 $676 1906 425 293,824 29,687 10,390 691 1907 452 323,185 33,073 11,490 715 1908 483 376,981 32,563 11,874 780 1909 482 394,822 33,215 12,263 819 1910 _ 488 402,355 32,768 12,871 824 1911 505 413,263 40,407 13,884 818 1912 - 540 450,884 46,031 14,325 835 1913 .- - 558 483,961 45,963 15,417 867 1914 593 516,832 46,712 16,523 871 1915 611 548,795 49,459 18,510 898 * Data from Annual Reports of Board of Education. ho :z: mi 2: ll^ in y- zio^ ±n m tm m i?i>S u tt. ft il 7^15 /^ m tt am t\ i^^m ^a m m iSLEai2L;5r=i==:^3a:^= DIAGRAM LXXXV — Increase in number of teachers and in average salary paid to teachers, 1905-1915. COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION- 387 an increase of about 30 per cent. This has meant a constantly decreasing- size of class. At the same time, the Board has con- sistently raised teachers' salaries. In 1905 it spent for this pur- pose $676 per teacher: in 1915, $898 per teacher. (A detailed discussion of salary schedules will be given later in this report.) While the total amount spent for teachers' salaries has practi- cally doubled in ten years, janitorial expense and administrative salaries have increased about two-thirds. In the meantime, building and ground maintenance has nearly doubled, $23,365 to $51,656; fuel expense has more than tripled, $8,607 to $25,444; the interest on bonds, $12,451 to $36,398, supplies, $11,530 to $33,752 have each tripled. This study of the classification of total disbursements leads to the conclusion that the city of Grand Rapids, through its Board of Education and Common Council has been very liberal in its support of schools. Not only has it entered upon a definite policy of developing the school plant, but it is also assuming an attitude of being willing to pay more for each aspect of educa- tional service. (b) The Relative Extent to which Grand Rapids Supports Different Kinds of Educational Service 1. How does Grand Rapids Distribute Its Current Expenditures? Granted that the Board of Education has entered upon a policy of development aimed at correcting the condition brought on previous to the reorganization in 1905, is it developing all phases of educational work, or is it emphasizing one at the ex- pense of others? The business manager, appointed by the Board in 1906, in designing a system of fund accounting, classified accounts as 1, educational (fund numbers 1-9 inclusive) ; 2, business (funds numbers 10 and above). The business department at the same time was created a co-ordinate department of the general sys- tem. The business manager reported to the Board directly, not to the Superintendent of Schools. It is pertinent to the pur- pose of this inquiry to study the expenditures of the Board when classified in accordance with this larger basis of division em- ployed since its establishment in the busines manager's office. a. Educational vs. Business Expenditures of the Board. Tables LXXIII and LXXIV show the status of the two divi- sions. Table LXXIII shows the amounts spent for all educa- tional purposes, and for all business purposes during the past five years, and the per cent of the total current expenditures de- 388 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN voted to each. The following items are included under the above named purposes : Educational purposes (salaries and expense). 1. Salaries and expenses of teachers, principals, and their clerks ; of supervisors and their clerks ; 2. School supplies, school books, manual training supplies and equipment; 3. Instructional expense for special schools; 4. Other miscellaneous instructional expense. Business purposes — salaries and expense of the business department. 1. Expenses of the Board of Education; 2. Maintenance of buildings and grounds; 3. Salaries and supplies for janitors; 4. Fuel, light, pov^er and v^^ater ; 5. Miscellaneous business expense. TABLE LXXIII Distribution of Educational and Business Expenditures of the Board of Education, 1911-1915 inclusive.* Per Cent of Total Devoted ,to Educational Business Total Current Educational Business YEAR Expenditure Expenditure Expenditure Purposes Purposes 1911 $452,152.07 $ 96,021.77 $548,173.84 82.48 17.52 1912 498,426.71 136,260.91 634,687.62 78.51 21.49 1913 532,508.36 130,897.11 663,405.47 80.27 19.72 1914 563,206.65 118,442.37 681,649.02 82.62 17.37 1915 602,944.20 153,253.26 756,197.46 79.75 20.25 * Data compiled from the Annual Reports of the Board of Education. The table shows a certain consistency in the policy of the Board in its distribution of expense betv^een these tw^o larger types of activities. Approximately four-fifths of the Board's money has gone to educational purposes, tv^o-fifths to business purposes. Is this proportion rightly balanced? Is the business department receiving more or less than it should? Has the Board of Education, in establishing a policy of physical development, and in reorganizing the business end of school administration, emphasized unduly the activities of the business department at the expense of the educational department? The best method available for ansv^ering these questions is to compare vv^hat the city is doing v^dth the record of other cities in its class. Table LXXIV does this by giving the absolute amount spent per pupil in average daily attendance for these tw^o purposes, together w^ith the per cent of the total devoted to each. It should be noted that a city's expenditures for any school purpose should be analyzed in this tv^o-fold w^ay, 1. by determining its absolute per capita expenditures ; 2. by comput- COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 389 ing the per cent of its expenditures devoted to the particular phase of school administration in question. Both methods must be used to give an adequate comprehension of the situation. Table LXXIV shows that Grand Rapids is spending more money Total and Per Capita Purposes,* Total Expenditure for ; CITY Albany Birmingham Bridgeport Cambridge Dayton Des Moines Fall River Educational Purposes 387,781 453,073 400,184 539,066 466,131 624,827 497,634 TABLE LXXIV Expenditures for Educational and Business Rank in Ex- Expenditure Per penditure Per Pupil Pupil in Average Average Daily Daily Attendance for : Attendance for : Educa- " Educa- tional Business Purposes Purposes GRAND RAPIDS 598,771 Kansas City Lowell Lynn Memphis Nashville New Bedford Paterson Richmond San Antonio Scranton 382,624 322,425 340,413 463,011 374,181 399,308 519,833 512,294 393,060 526,037 Springfield, Mass. 706,367 * Data from Annual Report, Business Purposes 92,120 71,721 90,950 93,559 130,140 144,396 122,344 153,986 132,103 87,131 85,115 81,728 59,034 81,712 88,366 83,624 85,814 156,591 165,480 tional Purposes 35.85 23.01 24.95 37.11 29.86 40.20 35.05 40.65 30.57 29.14 27.61 29.95 24.22 32.12 26.95 23.17 34.46 26.63 45.42 Business Purposes 8.51 3.64 5.67 6.44 8.34 9.29 8.61 10.45 10.55 7.60 6.91 5.29 3.82 6.59 4.58 3.78 7.52 7.93 10.64 United States Bureau of Education, 1915, Vol. II. for educational purposes on each child in average daily attendance than all but one of the 18 other cities in the list. Springfield, Massachusetts exceeds it in per capita expenditures by nearly $5.00, but it should be remembered that Springfield has a capa- city for supporting schools that is considerably greater. At the same time, Grand Rapids ranks third in 19 cities in its per capita expenditures for business purposes. This part of the table shoves, then, that Grand Rapids is not only liberal in its expenditures for schools, but that it is comparatively liberal in its expenditures for all phases of school work. It does not, however, reveal the exact way in which the Board is dividing its financial interests. Table LXXV and Diagram LXXXVI also show that whereas Grand Rapids ranks fifth in 19 cities in the per cent of its current expenditures that it devotes to business purposes, it ranks fif- teenth in the per cent devoted to educational purposes. Where it is spending 20.46 per cent of its school money for business pur- poses, Kansas City is giving 25.66 per cent, and Nashville is de- voting only 13.63 per cent. These diflferences, although small ab- solutely, are large relatively. It is true that we have no adequate basis for determining what is the best percental distribution of school money. According to common practice among American 390 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN DIAGRAM LXXXVI — Per cent of current expenditures for educational and bvisiness purposes. COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 391 cities, Grand Rapids is spending slightly more on its business department than most other cities. However, the above analysis of the position of Grand Rapids in the group of cities of its class in the per capita expenditure for both educational and business purposes will at least temper the conclusion that Grand Rapids ought to spend a larger proportion of its income on the education- al phases of its school work. TABLE LXXV and Business Purposes. Educational CITY Purposes Albany 80.81 Birmingham 86.35 Bridgeport 81.41 Cambridge 85.21 Dayton 78.17 Des Moines 81.23 Fall River , 80.27 GRAND RAPIDS 79.54 Kansas City 74.34 Lowell - 78.77 Lynn 80.00 Memphis 85.00 Nashville 86.37 New Bedford 83.02 Paterson 85.47 Richmond 85.97 San Antonio 82.08 Scranton 77.06 ^ Springfield 81.02 The distribution of total expenditures alone, however, does not solve the problem entirely. It has been recognized for some time that the Board of Education has been forced to pay a large amount of attention to the physical and business aspects of the schools. The necessity of this was noted above in commenting upon the way in which the Board distributes its money between current expense and capital outlay. A careful reading of the proceedings and Annual Reports of the Board of Education, sup- plemented by interviews with members of the Board and the busi- ness and educational departments, leads to the belief that there has been a tendency in Grand Rapids to emphasize the business aspects of school development. A comparison of the salaries paid for business administration and for educational administration 1910-1911 and 1915-1916 inclusive shows the following totals:** ** From data supplied by Business Manager's office. penditures devoted to Educational Bvisiness Purposes Rank of Per Cent of Total Expenditures Devoted to : Educational Business Purposes Purposes 19.19 12 8 13.64 2 18 18.59 9 11 14.79 5 15 21.83 17 3 18.77 10 10 19.73 13 7 20.46 15 5 25.66 19 1 21.22 16 4 20.00 14 6 15.00 6 14 13.63 1 19 16.98 7 13 14.53 4 16 14.03 3 17 17.92 8 12 22.94 18 2 18.98 11 9 392 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Business Educational Administration* Administrationf 1910-11 : 11,888 8,284 1911-12 : 11,521 8,692 1912-13 12,364 9,597 1913-14 12,944 10,477 1914-15 14,885 12,090 1915-16 17,548 13,321 * Includes salaries of the business manager and clerks in his office ; superintendent of buildings, school architect, the director of the census and his clerks ; the supply clerk and assistants. t Includes salaries of superintendent, assistant superintendent, office assistants, truant officers, head of attendance department and assistants. A consideration of the above analysis of administrative ex- pense emphasizes the belief that the administrative phases of a business nature have been the more completely developed. Due to the undeveloped condition of this branch of the administration in earlier days, it must be said that most of the addition to the business staff has been quite necessary. A real supply depart- ment has recently been established that is handling its work in a very creditable manner. The repair and janitorial departments have been combined under one administrative officer, a superin- tendent of buildings and grounds. This step was in line with the properly increasing centralization and co-ordination of school administration. The Board has, within a few years, established a department of school architecture to put the designing and construction of its new buildings on a purely professional basis\ It can be shown that the expense in this connection is clearly justifiable. A recent innovation is the creating of a permanent bureau of census and statistics. Through a misconception of the proper function of such a department, it is being administered by the business manager, and is included in the above table with the business expense. The type of work done to date has been such as to contribute very largely to the business outcomes and not to the furtherance of specific phases of purely educational practice. A proposed reorganization of this department is dis- cussed later. Careful consideration of all phases of the distribution of the Board's expenditures leads to the conclusion that while it has emphasized somewhat unduly the business aspects of the schools, it has been justified in doing so by the undeveloped state of the organization ten years ago. At the same time, it must be stressed that the city is a leader in its liberality in each of the larger phases of school expenditure. 2. The Board's Expenditures Classified in Terms of Service Rendered a. The Larger Aspects. Tables LXXVI and LXXVII ana- lyze still more in detail the distribution of the Board's current expenditures, excluding outlay. They do so in terms of education- COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 393 al service rendered of the following specific types: 1. Adminis- tration; 2. Supervision and Instruction; 3. Operation of the Plant; 4. Maintenance of the plant. Tables LXXVI and LXXVII show for 19 cities the total expenditures for each of these types of service, and the per cent of the total current expen- ditures devoted to each item, with the rank of the cities in the per cent devoted to each. The table shows that Grand Rapids is in the top third of the cities in the proportion of its expendi- tures for administration and maintenance of the plant, and con- siderably below the average in the proportion of .its expenditures devoted i;o supervision and instruction and operation of the plant. This is largely accounted for in the case of the first item by the above discussion. That the city has been devoting such a large proportion of its income to maintenance is to be expected in view of the condition of the school plant. With the constantly increas- ing replacement of old buildings, the unusual percentage of cur- rent income devoted to this item should be reduced. It must be TABLE LXXVI Distribution of Total Educational Service, 1915.* CITY Administration Albany 14,107 Birmingham 14.021 Bridgeport -- 11,252 Cambridge 25,733 Dayton 17,018 Des Moines 18,921 Fall River 19,255 GRAND RAPIDS 29,970 Kansas City 35,623 Lowell 12,342 Lynn 20,728 Memphis .- 22,623 Nashville 16,931 New Bedford 17,664 Paterson 15,586 Richmond 14,796 San Antonio 17,564 Scranton 32,741 Springfield 29,923 * Data from 1915 Report of ^urrent Jbxi jenditures tor various kinds of Supervision and Operation Maintenance Instruction of Plant of Plant TOTAL 381,366 69,050 15,378 479,901 444,076 56,544 10,153 524,794 395,022 69,775 15,185 491,234 522,150 77,901 6,452 632,236 457,689 60,699 60,805 596,211 612.557 111,512 23,432 766,422 483,393 84,560 31,803 619,011 582,221 87,536 50,162 749,889 373,341 63,611 41,107 513,682 314,711 78,803 3,484 409,340 230,439 58,289 15,322 324,778 452,796 52,402 16,918 544,739 366,246 34,977 15,061 433,215 384,805 68,720 8,776 479,965 516,153 63,996 12,464 608,199 506,454 53,593 21,435 596,283 388.290 40,385 32,635 478,874 516,994 88,447 44,446 682,628 681,762 113,634 45,717 871,036 he U. S. Commissioner of Education, Vol. II. noted also that the business department has recently adopted the policy of building equipment and furniture, and it is probable that a fairly large portion of the 1915 maintenance is due to the in- clusion of all expenses of the shop force whether engaged on re- pairs or on the building of equipment. Tables LXXVIII and LXXIX show that in actual per capita expenditure. Grand Rapids is a leader in the degree to which it is supporting each specific phase of school work. In administra- tion, supervision and instruction, and in total current expendi- 394 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 11 ajp^T-HVOriOOr-lrtt^Tl-OlChOO cMOt^iocsfomvo '^° S G « *^ ■-2 rt lO 2^'*rOVO,- 1-1 P^ C'S *-■ 03 3 r-( 't 00 10 00 in CKl r^f^t-jcvirrjvcvdvn X tn X m ^ J w 03 C +J4-. J > O G C '^^'Vi:j\ooo\0irtc:>\00\^0\in nr^Tfccja^Tfoin CQ o o)^ ^^ "* d Tt c-i o Tt^ .oooooot^t^t^t^t^i^t^ ro 'S-" d ■* Tf rH ir^ 00 ;3 oooooooooooot^t^ &'— 1 ^ 3 c/3 Z a a o X .-. +J W IDi-HOO^OOOt^ONfO rHCf^vOin^tvOt-^^ rj gl-jCsICNlC^fJCMCOrOfOVOcOVO •^ (rj ro "3 •v i 1 2 SJ 1 u7z ^ c > 'c > Q < 1 5: c IE c E 1 p: 5 c c 51 c c E < r l- <:mmuQQPiHOWH-]j^^^^p:;c/2c/2c/2 COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 395 ture, it is spending more on each pupil in average daily attend- ance than all but one of the 19 cities in the list. Springfield, Mass., again ranks first. In operation and maintenance Grand Rapids is in the top third of the cities, ranking sixth and second respectively. To w^hat degree is Grand Rapids spending money on its school buildings and other permanent equipment in comparison with the cities of its class? Table LXXX and Diagram TABLE LXXVIII Current Expenditures per pupil 19 cities, 1915.* Average Daily CITY Attendance Albany 10,816 Birmingham 19,694 Bridgeport 16,034 Cambridge 14,524 Dayton 15,608 Des Moines 15,543 Fall River 14,197 GRAND RAPIDS 14,730 Kansas City 12,515 Lowell 11,065 Lynn 12,329 Memphis 15,462 Nashville 15,449 New Bedford 12,431 P.aterson 19,284 Richmond 22,102 San Antonio 11,406 Scranton 19,755 Springfield ". 15,552 * Data from Annual Report of in Average Daily Attendance. Supervision and Adminis - Instruc- Main- tration tion Operation tenance TOTAL . 1.30 35.26 6.39 1.41 44.36 .72 22.65 2.88 .52 26.77 .70 24.63 4.36 .95 30.64 1.77 35.92 5.37 .45 43.51 1.09 29.32 3.89 3.90 38.20 1.22 39.45 7.19 1.50 49.36 1.36 34.04 5.99 2. '2 4 43.63 2.03 39.52 5.94 3.41 50.90 2.85 29.83 5.08 3.29 41.05 1.11 28.44 7.15 .31 37.01 1.68 18.69 4.73 1.25 26.35 1.46 29.28 3.40 1.09 35.23 1.09 23.70 2.27 .98 28.04 1.41 30.96 5.54 .70 38.61 .81 26.76 3.33 .65 31.55 .67 22.91 2.42 .97 26.97 1.54 34.04 3.54 2.86 41.98 1.67 26.17 4.48 2.25 34.57 1.92 43.82 7.33 2.95 56.02 e U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1915, Vol. IL TABLE LXXIX Rank of 19 Cities in Current Expenditures per pupil in Average Daily Attendance, 1915.* Supervision Adminis- and Main- CITIES tration. Instruction Operation. tenance. Total. Albany 11 5 4 9 4 Birmingham 17 18 17 17 18 Bridgeport 18 15 12 14 15 Cambridge 4 4 8 18 ' 6 Dayton 14 or 15 10 13 1 10 Des Moines 12 3 2 8 3 Fall River 10 6 or 7 5 7 5 GRAND RAPIDS 2 2 6 2 2 Kansas City f '. 19 9 3 8 Lowell 13 12 3 19 11 Lynn : 5 19 10 10 19 Memphis 8 11 15 11 12 Nashville 14 or 15 16 19 12 16 New Bedford 9 8 7 15 9 Paterson 16 13 16 16 14 Richmond 19 17 18 13 17 San Antonio 7 6 or 7 14 5 7 Scranton 6 14 11 6 13 Springfield 3 11 4 1 * Data from Annual Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1915, Vol. II. 396 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ^||||4i l ll^li | te|||i ^l ||l^H t+l ^l ll k^lllff M uhmizi uniui'^sj.iit: i m ^ 21S3 '€&il.liip.h. A'^t^ZSLlL 11 mvr 52Q3 ilM %t2'. I :^i.z[ K im^iLi ■M l\JtLZUMl S iiwtm. izz± I i^s: r^ I ttt mmm DIAGRAM LXXXVII — Expenditures per pupil in average daily attendance, capital outlay (Average of years 1910-11 to 1914-15). for COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION Z97 TABLE LXXX Average Expenditures for Capital Outlay 1910-11 to 1914-15 in- clusive. Total amount spent and amount spent per pupil in average daily attendance. 16 Cities.* Expenditure Per Pupil in Average Daily Attendance: Average Outlays Average CITIES 1911-1915 Daily Attendance Amount Spent Rank Springfield 257,767.00 13,835 18.63 1 GRAND RAPIDS .... 191,821.40 14,375 13.34 2 Lynn 130,589.60 10,934 11.85 3 Richmond 178,415.60 16,788 10.62J: 4 Bridgeport 158,784.00 15,142 10.48T b Des Moines 126,630.20 14,596 8.67 6 Memphis 110,541.60 13,330 .8.29 7 Paterson 144,545.80 17,839 8.10 8 New Bedford 89,558.20 11,478 7.80 9 Fall River 104,544.00 13,474 7.78 10 San Antonio 78,649.20 10,388 7.57 11 Nashville 97,035.00 14,121 6.87 12 Birmingham 77,639.40 17,691 4.39 13 Kansas City 46,471.00 11,921 3.89 14 Dayton 52,837.40 14,022 3.77 15 Cambridge .- 17,559.40 14,303 1.23 16 * Data from Annual Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education. t Average Daily Attendance for 3 years. % Average Daily Attendance for 4 years. LXXXVII show for 16 cities the average expenditure for cap- ital outlay during the five years 1910-11 to 1914-15 inclusive (both the total and average amount spent per pupil in average daily attendance). That the amount of money that a city spends for its school plant is an unstable item of expenditure is well shown by Table LXIII and Diagram LXXVI. It was decided that to average such expenditures during a course of say, five years, would smooth out any irregularities, and result in comparable figures. The table shows clearly that Grand Rapids, in terms of its capacity to do so, is spending more money per pupil in aver- age daily attendance for permanent improvements than all but one of the cities in its class. The discussion that has been given of the recent attention to the physical plant may be thought to account for this high position. Averaging the expenditures for capital outlay, however, for the five years 1906-1910 inclusive, gives an average expenditure of roughly $190,000 — almost iden- tical with that of the last five years, and an even higher per pupil expenditure. During the past ten years, therefore, the city clear- ly ranks at the head of the list.. If the table had been prepared ten years ago, however, as an average expenditure for new plant for the years 1901-1905 inclusive, the average expenditure for all permanent improvements would have been less than $25,000 a year, giving a per pupil cost of about $2.00 a year, with a conse- quent ranking near the foot of the list of cities. b. Classification of Expenditures in Terms of Specific Types of Service Rendered. Tables LXXXI and LXXXII compare the Board's expenditures per pupil in average daily attendance for 398 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN various specific types of service rendered with those of 18 other cities. In all but one small item, that for salaries of supervisors, Grand Rapids ranks in the highest third of the 19 cities. In the amount spent per pupil in average daily attendance for salaries of teachers, it is exceeded only by Springfield. In the manner in which it provides educational supplies it must be regarded as un- usually liberal. (The efficiency with which it administers these expenditures is another matter to be taken up in a later section.) In its expenditures for wages of janitors, for fuel, and for main- tenance of the plant, it leads the other cities, ranking always in the upper third. Tables LXXXI and LXXXII show that Grand Rapids ranks relatively low in the amount that it pays for salaries of super- visors, occupying the 11th or 12th place in the list of 19 cities. Attention should be called to the fact however that, expressed in absolute amount spent per pupil, the cities that rank 6th to 12th inclusive vary in their per capita expenditure by only 15 cents. It is possible to study the problem further by asking how many supervisors are employed per 1,000 pupils in the different cities. Obtaining the number of supervisors and the average daily at- tendance from Table 10 of the 1915 report of the United States Commissioner of Education, we find that Grand Rapids ranks third in the 19 cities, as shown by Table LXXXIII. Since the city of Grand Rapids is spending less per child in average daily attendance and yet is supplying more supervisors per 1,000 pupils it must be paying a smaller salary. The 1913 report of the United States Bureau of Education gives data showing that the average expenditure per supervisor for salaries and expenses of supervisors in 1912-13 was $937.00. Adequate data are not available to give a precise compari- son by grades of schools and by special subjects, of the cost bi supervision. The best compilation of data on this subject is found In Bulletin No. 16, 1914, of the United States Bureau of Education, "Tangible Rewards of Teaching." Table 2 gives data on the average salary paid to various kinds of supervisors In 1912-13. Unfortunately it reports comparative data for only four cities, those on scattered types of supervisory work. They do not include Grand Rapids. The only remaining method of arriv- ing at a comparison is to compare the average salary paid In Grand Rapids with the average paid in cities of the population class 50,000 to 100,000 or 100,000 to 250,000. It will be at least fair to Grand Rapids to compare the average salary paid to supervisors with that paid in cities of the former class. The list is given in Table LXXXIV. One fact is clear: Grand Rapids pays a much lower salary COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 399 oq ro oo i-H 1-4 ^ OOJOrooOOvOt^VOTj-oOOOVOvOO^i-iOfOVO ti O si CM t— * tH m Oa Tt" T^ Ci (Vl Tt- rvl ro — J rr^ rv-i ^ ^i (^T #^ 03 O fl c4 T^nC^-^-nrrooirjToic-i ■ ■ a g a ^ • • ^- ^ ^- ^- c^ ^ ^ ^- • • ^ ■ • • ^ ^ 2 ai Kfl X Cl4 t^ ^ t^ fo C3'*.Lo O On ^ Tt" lo lo Os (Ni On »-< ■* CM C>a vo "^ ro 00 o fO -^ ■* ^ 5 ■= on ^ < m 'O o 2 o o 5 o y^ ^ -Mo 400 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN .C C o\ t^ '^ 00 00 f^ ^ «*5 o\ o m vo fo in \o ■^ §ii ; 00 o cd t^ vo \o ^ U 00 ,-H ,-1 O o ^ o\ •* o C/2 ■^>,a'^ V-rot^(NI,-iasPOir>Tj-,-!00ON00'*iyi V-OO-1 "^u/CJ. O'-' 1-1 r-lr-l,-! i-H,-(Ot-I ^^r^. ^ OCN'^fOi-Hiot^CSJOOu-iroOr^CK. MeO-^i^T-i o c 03 'a c Q l^\0 l-rcfOOs00\O l-i,-i O <; m n u "fi ti >-i S3 ^ a ^ 4J J3 O S O f! COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 401 TABLE LXXXIII Rank of 19 Cities in Number of Supervisors per 1,000 Pupils in Average Daily Attendance. CITY Number of Supervisors Rank New Bedford 11 1 Springfield 12 2 GRAND RAPIDS 10 3 Lowell 8 4 Bridgeport 13 5 Dayton 11 6 Paterson 13 . 7 Nashville 9 8 Scranton 11 9 San Antonio 6 10 Birmingham 10 11 Des Moines 7 12 Fall River 6 13 or 14 Memphis 7 13 or 14 Albany 4 15 Lynn 4 16 Kansas City 3 17 Richmond 4 18 Cambridge — 2 19 TABLE LXXXIV Minirnum, Maximum and Average Salary Paid to Supervisors in Cities of '50,000 to 100,000. Type of Supervision Minimum Salary Maximum Salary Average Salary Supervisor of: Intermediate Schools $800 $1600 $1045 Primary Schools 700 1800 1213 Kindergartens 700 1450 1130 Drawing 675 2000 1216 Music 600 2250 1280 Physical Training - 900 2000 1354 Manual Training 550 2400 1509 Sewing 760 1400 1020 Cooking 625 1620 1159 Penmanship 900 1600 1214 Foreign Languages 990 1500 1245 Miscellaneous 900 2250 1567 (The salaries paid to supervisors in the next larger population class, 100,000 to 250,000, are much higher than the above salaries.) to supervisors than the average in the cities of the population class 50,000 to 100,000. Analysis of the 1915-1916 payroll shows that the average salary paid to art supervisors is slightly lower than the average paid to art supervisors in 1912-13 in above group ; that for music is slightly higher ; that for physical edu- cation is considerably lower; the remainder of the salaries paid to supervisors average much below (1915-16) those paid on the average in other cities of the above class. Even though specifically analyzed data, comparable at every step, are not available to answer the above questions, we are at least enabled to say that Grand Rapids is not paying as much for supervisors as are other cities of its class. The discussion points to another outstanding fact which will 402 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN be elaborated in Chapter XV: the accounting methods of the business department are not planned so as to result in specific cost statements measured in terms of educational service rend- ered. Using the criterion of prevalent practice as the standard, this analysis of the expenditures of the Board of Education leads to the conclusion that, w^ith the exception of the supervisory phase, the Board in disbursing the city's school money has taken the position that all phases of school administration shall be thor- oughly supported ; that there is some evidence that the Board has been giving somewhat disproportionate emphasis to the develop- ment of the business side of the schools ; that the Board has been endowing all other phases of the school work more liberally than most other cities of its class. (c) The Relative Extent to Which Grand Rapids Supports Different Kinds of Schools There are two principal Avays to study the efficiency of a school system's financial administration. The first is to discover to what extent it supports different kinds of educational service, e. g. (1) classifying service as educational or business : (2) classi- fying service as administration, supervision and instruction, operation, and maintenance; (3) classifying service in terms of specific types of educational work, such as teachers' salaries, janitors' salaries, cost of fuel, etc. The second method is to dis- cover to what relative extent the city is supporting different kinds of schools. We have found that, as judged by prevalent standards in cities of its class Grand Rapids spends a large amount of money on its school. It distributes this money fairly uniformly throughout different "service-departments" of school administration. No one of the more important branches can be said to be really neglected. The question therefore arises : "How is it endowing differ- ent types of schools? Is this large expenditure of school money going in undue proportion to elementary or to secondary schools? How do the per capita expenditures for these two types of schools compare with those of other cities?" The data of Table LXXXV and Diagram LXXXVIII and Tables LXXXVI and LXXXVII answer these questions. Table LXXXV shows the total current expenditure, the expenditure per pupil in average daily attendance and the rank of each of 17 cities in expenditure per pupil, for both elementary and second- ary education. The interpretation of the table is clear: Grand Rapids is spending more per pupil in average daily attendance COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 403 if^ lO t-H C.5 c ON t— I 'o Exp upil Atte tary jIs tfl J4 m Per P Daily . Elemen Scho( .« rt D tN. «^ >. er Pupil in Attendanc Secondar Schools o o CO C -a fl^t: P 03 pen rag. mer cho C X u v(n o o •«^5 CO G (U U 3 X 03 ^1 X! 3^ J rt O X w S hJ s CQ •OJ M < W l-c o penditure for econdary Schools cn X C/j CMO\<^tr)t^(Mt^OO vo r^ t^ .2 -5l- T-H vo o vo -^ 00 in "^ lO ^ ON VO lO T}- i-H UI rf Tj- vo CM LD t^ VO lO n^ \0 VO On (^ (N CM ro -io mOOOrOfOrot-^^tMi-iT)-rOTfioONOfO LOvOio\OoqroO\r^<^0.]OOr^_^l^OLOiocg ■r ((tT i-T cC tC oo' cm' o\ cv] vo lo r^ 0-] 0000cOVOi-HONt^: !=i o O V ^ r^-*T-4CJ\OiO'*Cgi-i\OrOiO(MOOO ro" in" m" oo" o' CM f^ "O -^ t-T cT t^ -^ ro rc o\'iOO\ fO->u > 'tn -* VO \o VO CO :3 j^ 03 2 oj <^ IT) o\ bfi S2 G ^ in CO 00 w. VD o 'S o CM CM OJ oa 'c5 rd o u H H o^ u t/, u t« T— < a; a ;3 ^ '"' ■"* '"' ■^ rt CO > O 'W 'o o s r^ o CAJ .' w V 1) S 03 OJ ."S t« :^ u bfl LT) VO ^ [^ o 4; fO CO CO CO CO CO > +-« X X l-i S I— 1 ^ ^ ^ ^ NC^ X ^ H J Q -«) h-1 .S -s- .2* 'o M w 'S^ ::>: .s <: u ■ •«; go o ■o CM CO CM o CM 00 H § Cm I lO '"' CO CO CO CM CM CO oT 'o o ^to u 11 o 00 a\ l^ CO CO C/2 MD u-J lO ^ CM lO c 'C ^ CO CO c^ CO CO CO _CJ .« a;'>^ ^ S3 p ^ Ph o CS H 03 U3 O J- o CM CM lO "1 (Nl ON fo' ^ CO CO CO CM oq CO CO a; 'O jn CTJ Ui 1 o ^•g,§ CM t^ 00 CM in "^f en «-c CM ON* cK On On CO o X " CM CNl .2 ^C/3 "H ?:; CT3 > .2 o ' — o 00 o vo CO O • t-l Ho VO r^ 0\ ON. lO <.^ ""* o ct3 l C/2 ,-( r-l (M CO Tt On CJn On + ^ >.U3 c G J- »tv.Novovo o^ W M rt * c ^ o ■^ °-s S ^ Sii CO CO ■* t^ 00 1- -cm S^ On in O 00 *i ^ 1 t> 00 oc ?0 CT) TO l< 03 ^- TJ- Tj ^ inmin o^ "o W u- c Ui "J G w "rt « t-W j~'q CO rt VC c^ t> in SM o "bDO -<* 0^ t> O lg ^ en •r 5 "^'•XS 1-1 1-^ 03 V -*-' fj ■w (O .i£ S 03 rt ppq Q'" c CO TJ- LO ■7 * ++ 6 (N CO ^ ON o! ? 0^ o^ ON COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 407 I ffmi tt^ fm\ mi * ^, '5^ ^^ 'M im ti m. mt imi a IjCZE m Zl-K.! tm m u i n u. m E. i tfi'C. t%. is tm tt± tu m tt± tm mt iJAl ]^ as;^ ik 2W^ DIAGRAM LXXXIX— Number of pupils primary grades and per teacher in high school, grammar grades, kindergarten — 1910-1915. 408 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN complete six-year high school. This rapid high-school develop- ment has meant four things: 1, a rapidly increasing secondary staff; 2, a parallel decrease in the size of class (the tendency in these directions is shown by Tables LXXXVII and LXXXVIII and Diagram LXXXIX) ; 3, a decided increase in the secondary payroll; 4, a parallel increase in the salary schedule. During the six years from September 1909 to September 1915 the number of secondary teachers increased 78 per cent, while the high-school enrollment increased 28 per cent. In the same interval the number of elementary-school teachers in- creased 19 per cent wth an accompanying increase in enrollment of three per cent. The building of a new high school invariably means a considerable addition to the secondary staff. With the new plant before them a Board of Education will sanction con- siderable increases in the number of new teachers. This is shown in the increase in September 1915, at which time 22 new teachers were added to the staff with the opening of the South High School. The table shows further that during the three years, 1909-10 to 1911-12, the size of the average secondary class de- creased from 23.4 pupils per teacher (based on average number belonging) to 19.7; during the same time there was practically no drop in the size of elementary classes. From 1911-12 there was a marked reduction in the number of grammar pupils per teacher, size of class falling to 27.2 in 1914-15. At the same time the size of the primary and kindergarten classes decreased by 3.5 and 3.1 pupils respectively. It must be said on the whole however that there has not been as much recognition of the need for small classes in the lowest grades as there should have been to keep pace with the reduction in the upper ones. ' At this point we need a comparison of the size of class in elementary and secondary schools in the various cities of the Grand Rapids group. Table LXXXIX and Diagram XC supply the data. Ranking the cities inversely to the size of class shows Grand Rapids to stand third in the list of 19, with a secondary class of 19.6. If the minimum size of class may be taken as synonymous with maximum opportunity for the development of efficient instruction, then Grand Rapids, among the cities of its class in the country, is offering an unusual opportunity for the raising of instructional efficiency in its high-school classes. The figures given above for its elementary classes are taken from the 1915 Report of the United States Bureau of Education in order to make them as comparable as possible with the other cities of the list. It will be noted that the commissioner's fig- ures state the average size of the elementary class in Grand Rapids as 27.4 and that this result does not check the figures in COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 409 Table LXXXVIII (as it gives the average size of all elementary classes). In that table (the data of v^hich are taken directly from the printed manual of the Board of Education 1915-16) it is shown that the average size of the grammar class is substant- ially as stated in Table LXXXIX, 27.2. At the same time the average primary class is 32. Using this figure in Table LXXXIX shows Grand Rapids to rank 10th instead of 4th, which is below the average in the list of cities in its class. This confirms our view taken above that the Board of Education has been endowing secondary education somewhat at the expense of primary education. It is doubtless true that the size of the grammar grade classes is small enough to conduce to efficient teaching. It is less true of the size of primary classes. It is pertinent to our inquiry to note that the primary en- rollment in the public schools has not increased in six years. It has in fact decreased. The grammar grades continue to hold a slightly larger group each year; the high schools have shown a marked increase in enrolment in two years. To an impartial observer the facts set forth above mean that the city does not have on its hands the problem of housing, equiping, and teaching very large increases in its elementary school population each year. It does not face, as Cleveland and many other cities do, the necessity of making large addi- tions to the staff each year to take care of thousands or even hundreds of new elementary pupils. If we can judge from the curves of growth of the last fifteen years the increase in the grade population will undoubtedly be slow. At the same time, without doubt, there will be a constantly increasing annual addi- tion to the enrollment in the high school. In this Grand Rapids is feeling the same larger demand for high-school education that is being felt by the other cities of the country. This all means that while the Board will probably need to make small additions to the secondary teaching staff each year, it will not need to make the very large additions that it has been forced to make recently. In this connection Table CI, inserted later in the report, is of interest. The data on the average size of class in different departments of the Central High School for the first semester of 1915-16 indicate that Grand Rapids has a number of very small classes in the special subjects, e. g. domestic art, domestic science, drawing and art, although it has developed a large Eng- lish department. Its classes in English are large (the average is 30) when judged by the common practice. With these except- ions the average size of class enrolled in different departments follows the average of all city high-school classes very closely. 410 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN O 'O 00 00 -* 1-1 o^ 0\ t^ ^ ■* fO 1-t •'^JJOOOt^t^'troO ^ y c^i i-H i-n! U; in tr! 00 H o P5 < Os VO (M CO 0\ ^ <>] ON r\) n lo O] (M CM I CM O.) Ol Ol C) CI CI CJ i-< C-l 1-1 rt-^iorof^ONONONCqt-^Oq X \^ 03 X X H H-1 1-. (u U < ^ oj H < Oh*. l2 ^ooocooc^cdi-i o ONr-iod(Niot^'o.5f^ CJ 00 ON "^ ^ Cd 0> C-]lOt^ONON'-INO'^-lOfOfO „■ CvJ t^ VO CO fO 5 r>! c^i vd J5 C<1 CO fO rt w On t^ "^ eg oq o ■» cf re ro >M* O O 1-1 00 vo ro ^ ri; C] t^ 00 00 ro 00 ft ro lO fO ro •^ ■* g !=« o. 73, >> c w C r^ .3 vi 03 ™ "" TO < pq W cj Q Q fiH <" <« T! - c S o c E < o . irj vo vo in 00 c-j ^ t^ T-i rf ca r^I f<:) !>.' CQ t--^ 'iS CO CO 'a- CO ro fO CO f^ CNJ TtI CO CO ON o CO CO CO CO CSl o CNJ^ oC o" •^'' ^ tC o' CO o' oo*~ CO o U (A CO CO CJ 00 o 'J- CO CO CO CO CO CO o 1 ^ o >> ^ ^"^'^'^fLtpa.irjtyjin COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 411 3|5H^a| | 1 1 k' ' ' ' ^^ H M ' I W I H^ 1 1"!^^ 4S:±ife: :m ses r^roTSImnSSSSBr'SESSSSSSS mio DIAGRAM XC — Number of pupils per teacher in elementary and secondary schools. 412 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN In consideration of the elementary school situation it should be said that the educational department has been giving con- siderable attention to the development of special schools, and special types of work. This is v^ell shown in Tables LXXXVII and LXXXVIII, by the increase in enrollment in the auxiliary schools and classes (68 to 150 since 1911), and in the growth of ungraded work. At the same time the number of ungraded teachers has practically doubled, auxiliary teachers have in- creased from 4 to 12, special supervisors from 3 to 14, and kinder- garten supervisors from 16 to 31. This indicates that in con- nection with the elementary phases of school work the attention has been given largely to special types of school work. It was found above that Grand Rapids is spending a large amount of money on both elementary and secondary schools. Two factors could contribute to this condition: 1, a small number of pupils taught by each teacher ; 2, a large average sal- ary paid. The first factor has been found to exist; that is, Grand Rapids requires a teacher to teach a relatively small number of pupils. The city has been shown to rank high in its attention to reduction of size of class in the high schools and grammar grades of the elementary schools. We need the facts next as to the average salaries paid to different grades of teach- ers and as to the way in which these salaries compare with those of other cities. Table XC shows the median or average salary paid (accord- ing to the 1915-16 payroll) to various grades of teachers and in TABLE XC Median or Average Annual Salaries paid to Various Grades of Teachers in Grand Rapids Schools, 1915-1916.* Amount 1. Central High School 1250 median 2. Union High School 1200 median 3. South High School 1050 median 4. Junior High School: a. High School Department 950 median b. Junior Department 850 median c. Elementary Department 850 median 5. Elementary School Teachers 800 median 6. Manual Training Teachers 1200 median 7. Auxiliary School for Exceptional Children 965 average 8. Oral School for Deaf 930 average * Data from 1915-16 Payroll of Board of Education, exclusive of Principals, As- sistant Principals and Directors of Special Subjects. the various high schools. As has been indicated elsewhere in this report the Board of Education has not been supporting the three high schools equally. In the matter of salaries paid there is also a progressive increase from the Junior High School with a median salary of $950, to the South High School with a median salary of $1,050, to the Union High School with a median salary COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 413 of $1,200, and finally to the Central High School with a median salary of $1,250. Tables XCI, XCII and XCIII compare the median salaries paid and the salary schedule of Grand Rapids with 16 other cities ; also the increase in the salary schedule in Grand Rapids during the past nine years. It is found that Grand Rapids leads the list again in the typical salary which it pays to elementary school teachers. Together with Des Moines and Lowell it pays a median salary of $800. It should be remembered that the Board of Education recently increased the salary schedule of elementary teachers for the third time in nine years. Table XCIII shows how this growth has come about. Since 1907 the Board of Education gradually extended the number of years of service through which it is possible to secure further increase in salary. This has resulted in extending the number of years for elementary teachers from 8 to 12 years with an accompanying increase in possible maximum salary from $750 to $1,000. Thus Table XCII shows that the city now ranks second in the maxi- mum salary that it is possible for elementary teachers to secure. In this the city has kept abreast of the most progressive practice in this country. The situation is nearly as satisfactory in the case of the high-school salaries. The median high-school salary paid in Grand Rapids is $1,200 and this places the city in the top third of 19 cities. At the same time it has in like manner recently ex- tended its high-school salary schedules with a consequent result that in 12 years of service, a teacher can advance to $1,350. There is no distinction made between the salaries of men and women as in many other cities, with the result that the maximum salary possible for men, places Grand Rapids thirteenth in the list. On the other hand Grand Rapids ranks 13th in the list of 19 cities in the median salary paid to elementary school principals, with a median of $1,030. (Table XCI presents the data.) With the increase in the salaries of the grades and high-school teachers there has not been a sufficient increase in the salary paid to ele- mentary school principals to bring them to the average of the group. An elementary school principal in Grand Rapids is not a teaching principal ; she is primarily a supervisory officer. The results of this tabulation confirm the discussion made above of supervisors. It is a fair question whether more attention ought not to be paid to the supervisory phase of educational adminis- tration. 414 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN COG ^ w 2 :^ :2 ^ o o O \o O V- ° r-, VO O i^ r-< r-H oo' ON '^' ON ^ 00 ^ od -^ J3 S u ni t^ o 01 O to in m u in CO-:: o rt bfl 'S s £ >> -a "o ^ "rt o n3 CAv 'o tn "rt w u ^ . CAON 73 m "o o .c -O o o o o . ^3 o OO ^H o o O lo t3 *-■ u-i OO CO to lO lO U-) s^ r^ 0\0\ CO >^ >H h- 1 1— 1 t-H -Djg O ^oo u r; lO lO lo (M ^^ is 00 00 o -^ U X (U w ■;;:; J M bo < o H a rt tr •O 'a 03 P^ 'O c o 0^a\0^0^0^0^0^0^ :c^a\0\ON - O ^ (L, •? O. . C o "3 «-'■ . C i< a; ri 4J O O 1- Jl- o ,. S "! . !fl 5 -r ^W ■5 u^ . v,Wc/iW 'oo -go g ^fto o o, t 2:i.-::.'=^_ O nj^ ftfe n JO ^C to en tc i; ^■2.^.2.2 §- Wn o3 rt CC -M ^ I-* o o s5 lis 'W ^^cSH^>.^>>^aoo^a^^g|S w MM- co^ rt 03 nj M TO t-i "] M „ ^„ ft-GU flj (1) r*i •— < ••-' '"7 '—' •— ' fl) rt» «-*-«. .'^'l^ni/iiX . " . 5. ^^'S-'S -- o^£2£gg^^Sggge2u WK'^^:z;<< o, X X w WWAt = ': ' \ i > __ - ^^ i ' • . : : ± j::: -li^: ■ t ' I Ss •^ T ft^^i^ ± _ ^^- ,' / ^ iS 1 - "i iM'F ' ■9" 5 _W t "■ "■ : X -^ s: ^ c n ti >L-« t ^« L - ^ ^"^irs ^ __ _ . __ _ a ^j^j. :i . .__ __ _ . s - -- - — -« -J^ \-i- _3S _^ _ IL ^ 1 _ _"^ X : ^ iz. ______ X_-I^ I -- : x — ^ it loa ^ ^S / ft « 1 "H, \ • illl>1llll1l III 44^1-44-4 426 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN shows that no bonding for schools was done for thirteen years and practically none for twenty years, 1887 to 1909. In the mean- time the city paid off nearly all its outstanding indebtedness, the amount dropping in 1908 to $126,000. It was in this year that the Board issued bonds to the value of $425,000 largely for high- school development. It followed by small issues in 1909, 1910 and 1911 and in 1913 issued again for $557,000. Table XCIX shows for what type of schools bonds were is- sued from 1887 to 1913. About two thirds of the issues were for new high schools, the remainder going to new elementary schools ($365,000) and to additions to old elementary schools ($97,000). It is quite evident from an inspection of the bond issues proposed and not yet issued, that the Board is taking up a plan for elemen- tary-school development. It must be recognized that the expenditures for the past five years have been emergency expenditures. Due to their size and •concentration within a short space of time it was perhaps neces- sary to finance some part of this building scheme from bonds. But it seems quite evident that the future annual building for some years to come required by the Board could be financed in the budget. The business department at one time studied the life of the buildings in Grand Rapids and came to the conclusion that the life of an elementary school of the type built prior to the re- cent construction of fire-proof buildings is about thirty-five years. Thus Grand Rapids will probably have to face the problem of building at least one elementary school each year. In addition to this it clearly will be forced to replace some of its older build- ings at a more rapid rate. Even the most modern type of fire- proof building, such as the architectural department is now put- ting up (e. g. the new Sheldon School) can be built for less than $100,000. If put in the budget this would mean an addition of about six-tenths of a mill. If occasion demanded, two or more such additions could be easily cared for. The bonds issued under the earlier regime were long-time bonds, generally of the twenty-year type. There has been an at- tempt in the issuing of bonds since 1905 to issue short-term bonds and to distribute the amounts and term of the bonds as evenly as possible. From Table C it can be seen that outstanding bonds maturing in any year plus those bonds already authorized but not issued are so distributed as to mature at the rate of about $100,000 a year. This can be handled in the budget without dif- ficulty. Thus, granted that the Board is forced by political conditions to get its additions to the school plant from bond issuep, it ap- COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 427 >.(U <-! .t; cz! -o *i- TSgO <^g 1-W o o^w fe° en >> §s. :5go *, ?e^ en 'o o fe2 ^ a ^ u s 3 > C t c^ :3 1^ en Wp en I— 1 3hH en o C3 O PQ rt O H 'u o o o o o o o o lo o" o" o u-j IT) CM o o o o o o IT) O O o ! O ! O : o o ; O I O i <=> o i c> i o i c5 o ; o ; o q^ i '=L i R i o in : lo : o lO ; csi i^ ! ^ o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o O i-« 4>t^O»-l«MU-)OOa\0»-ico bHcoo\a\0\ooor-ii-i.-i •^ ooooooooo\o\o\o\0\o\ 428 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN TABLE C Total Amounts of Outstanding- Bonds Maturing each vcar. 1916 to 1930.* Year — June 30 to July 1 Principal Interest Tolial 1915-16 $35,000.00 $41,935.00 $76 935.00 1916-17 t)3,uuu.uu 39,9i2 5U iu2'9i2 yJ 1917-18 75,UUO.OU 3/,U02o0 112,U02 5U 1918-19 75,UUU.OO 33,727.50 10o,7 2/.:.0 1919-20 75,000.00 30,3:,2.dU 1uj,3j2 dO 1920-21 75,OOU.OO 2o,977.50 101,977.50 1921-22 75,OUU.UU 23,602.50 9«,0U2 oO 1922-23 100,000.00 19,752.50 Ii9,7o2 50 1923-24 50,000.00 16,49o.OU 66,490.00 1924-25 75,000.00 13,702.50 88, 7u2 50 1925-26 70,000.00 10,440.00 80,440.00 1926-27 : 8,865.00 8,865.00 1927-28 64,006.00 7,425.00 71.425.00 1928-29 75,000.00 4,297.50 79,297.50 1929-30 .-. 58,000.00 1,305.50 59,305.50 Total Outstanding $965,000.00 $315,785.00 $1,280,788.00 Authorized — Not Issued 1920-21 $25,000.00 1921-22 25,000.00 1923-24 50,000.00 1924-25 9,000.00 1925-26 5,000.00 1926-27 75,000.00 1927-28 11,000.00 Total : $200,000.00 * Data from 1915 Report of the Board of Education. pears that the officers in charge are administering the raising of the money in an efficient manner. In this connection the relation between the time of issuing bonds and the completion of the contract for the payment for which they are issued is very important. Some cities have adopted the wasteful practice (sometimes enforced by statutor}^ requirements) of selling bonds months before the completion of the building contract, the funds in the meantime drawing a low rate of interest in the bank. This Grand Rapids does not do. Careful study of the procedure in its relation to building activity convinces one that the business department is handling these matters efficiently. There is an attempt to sell the bonds close to the time that they will be needed. The general administration of bonding on the part of the business department is to be com- mended. A condition of relative freedom from financial embarrassment does not justify a city in Grand Rapids' position in financing such outlay through bond issues. It is not difficult to justify the continued issuance of school bonds by a city if it is taking advan- tage of its capacity to make permanent improvements out of the budget. It is very difficult, on business principles, to justify the use of bonding methods if it has a large unused resource in taxa- tion. The most adequate treatment for the future could come COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 429 through legislation placing the taxing power in the hands of the Board of Education. As indicated above, to do so would bring Grand Rapids in line with the most progressive practice in the administration of school finance. The reorganization of the Board under the new charter 10 years ago eliminated political influences from the immediate administration of the Board's edu- cational and business services. The Board should look forward to a reorganization of taxing methods which will put the raising of school funds on such a basis that real use can be made of a scientifically planned budget. Section E. The Financial Aspects of Intermediate and Second- ary Education. 1. The Cost of the High School Subjects. A much discussed question the past few years is the cost of teaching the high-school subjects. With the rapid develop- ment of high-school departments, new ones constantly being added, the older ones have been brought on the defensive. Re- cently we have had emphasized in curriculum construction the purely financial criterion, namely — subjects shall be permitted in the secondary course of study if they do not cost too much. We must frankly admit, however, that we do not know how much the different subjects ought to cost. Is English expensive at $50 per 1000 student hours? Mathematics at $90? Should mathe- matics cost 80 per cent more than English? No one knows. We simply know in the case of a few communities how much theyf do pay. Again one is forced to use the criterion of common prac- tice. In Table CI the cost of each of the departments of the Cen- tral High School is compared with those of the same department of high schools in twenty-five other cities. The data are given for the two years 1914-15 and 1915-16, and to avoid the fluctuation due to irregularity in size of classes, the costs are averaged. It must be noted that these cities, with possibly three exceptions, are not in Grand Rapids' population class. The data are used here in this form merely because data on the cost of high-school subjects are not available for the cities that have been used throughout this study. It is merely affirmed therefore that com- pared with these twenty-five cities. Grand Rapids stands in the particular position noted. If it had been possible to get the data on the cities in question, we should have done so. Several facts may be noted from the table. The better es- tablished subjects, e. g. English, Mathematics and Latin, show slight fluctuations in cost for the two years for which they were 430 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN r;3 m w be 1.^ ^5 as 4;(M c3 a 150 VO t^O\ ^ ^ ^ ■^,-1 in 10 VO T^ VO £ 2 ^ON VO CAO t^ ID 0^ ro ro t^ 'sf a V OM-I 0\ 10 ro 10* cm' i-H tri o\ o-i Tt ^ « > t^ t^O VO 10 Ot^ VO \o On oa lO C/2 CO 3 j5 (— 1 Xi Hh u § OJ \r> ■* OVO VO 10 00^ CNI rx rx <: lO VOtH ■^ I-l \o OVO I-t !>. o\ t^ oq m ^ C^JO\ 00" ■^ ^ o\\d vd vd vd vd as MH 1 o\ o\ ooS \o 10 10 00 1^ t^ \o On 00 m H H W Ho S I w i gPw « a ^ rt a (u J3 c/3 Q « O p o _ Q W PlhO W t-1 ^ c/3 caj COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 431 computed. This means that the number of pupils electing the subject was relatively stable. The opposite is true of the newer subjects, domestic science and art, the commercial subjects. French and Spanish enroll but few students and slight changes in . enrollment affect the costs very considerably. The data on size of class, Table CII, help us to understand the costs of the different departments when compared with each other. On the average, English teachers teach 50 per cent more pupils than the other subjects (drawing excepted) with a size of class of 30. Most of the other departments have an average size of class of about 17 to 20. Judged by the practice of Grand Rapids' group, the English classes are large. Judged by the amount of detail entailed in teaching English, it might be ques- tioned whether they are not too large. (They are, of course, smaller than those in many cities.) Diagrams which were drawn to accompany Table XXXIX (taken from Dr. Bobbitt's study of High School Costs in the School Review, October 1915) show clearly where Grand Rapids is when compared with the twenty-five cities for which data are available. Dr. Bobbitt's diagrams are so drawn as to show very clearly two factors: 1. the absolute amount spent for each of the subjects; 2. the position of each city in group. TABLE CII Average Size of Classes in Central High School for year 1915-1916.* No. of Average DEPARTMENTS No. of Classes Pupils Enrolled Class Enrolled Commercial 20 339 17 Domestic Art 10 116 12 Domestic Science 6 81 14 Drawing and Art 5 65 13 Drawing and Shop 5 150 30 English ■- 46 1257 30 French 5 87 17 German 14 252 18 History 20 399 20 Latin 16 299 19 Mathematics 28 578 20 Science 23 509 22 Spanish 3 53 18 * Data from Official Program of Central High School and from Teachers' Semester Reports on Enrollment, Attendance, Etc. We can study graphically, therefore, the position of Grand Rapids in its teaching costs, when compared with these other communities. The diagrams show that in seven subjects (Mathe- matics, History, English, Science, Modern Language, Domestic Science and Art and_Commercial Studies) out of nine. Grand Rapids spends more than the median city in the group. Only in shopwork and Latin is it below the median. For English it pays almost exactly the median amount, $52. For mathematics it is 432 SCHOOL SURVEY. GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN admittedly paying a large amount, only three public high schools in the list paying more. Again it must be stated that these fig- ures are not thoroughly comparable because in most of these 'communities the salary schedules are believed to be lower than in Grand Rapids. According to our tables, the household oc- cupations are expensive subjects to teach, due to the very small classes enrolled. These data on departmental cost bear out the analysis made throughout this study that nearly all phases of education in Grand Rapids are expensive. The city is spending an unusual amount of money on its schools, on its high schools especially. It is providing small classes, thereby enhancing the ''probability" of good instruction. This study of costs emphasizes the need for a thorough study of the outcomes of high school instruction. Are the English classes doing efficient work under an average class of 30? Are the household subjects turning out a product up to the standard demanded by the very small size of class under which they are operating? Can the high cost of mathematics be justified? This part of the survey cannot answer these questions. The answer can come only through detailed analysis of the outcomes of teaching in each of the departments. The cost study can result in the following statement, however : Grand Rapids is providing a good high-school salary schedule (lower than the average of cities of its class, nevertheless) ; it is providing enough teachers in most of its classes so that the number of pupils per teacher is smaller than in most cities of its class ; it is paying more than the average for high-school instruction ; it is housing its high- school pupils munificently ; it is liberally equipping these school- houses with apparatus and supplies. In a word, it is giving a large amount of opportunity for the development of efficient high- school teaching. 2. The Cost of Intermediate Education. It has been pointed out in this report that Grand Rapids has committed itself to a complete program of reorganization in the intermediate grades, i. e. the seventh, eighth and ninth. Since the school year 1910-11, six types of intermediate education have been in evidence. These are: 1. The retention of the tradi- tional grade form of instruction in the seventh and eighth grades of many of the elementary schools; 2. The gradual de- COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 433 partmentalizing of one of these grade schools (Sigsbee) ; 3. The retention of the ninth grade work in the Senior High School ; 4. The segregation of the seventh, eighth and ninth grade work in the Junior High School (together with some lower work) ; 5. The inclusion of all grades of intermediate education in the Union School ; 6. The beginning of a complete six-year high school, extending from the seventh to the twelfth grade in- clusive. It was originally planned to make a comparative study of the cost of instruction in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades in each of these types of intermediate education. For this purpose five representative grade schools giving instruction through the 8-2 grade were selected, namely — Coldbrook, Hall, Lexington, Pal- mer and South Division. The semester costs of instruction per pupil enrolled were computed for these schools for the second semester of each of the years 1911 to 1915 inclusive, and for the first semester of 1915-16. These computations are believed to be valid and are reproduced in this report as Table CHI. They were computed from the teachers' salary rolls and the teachers' sem- ester reports on enrollment. (The figures for enrollment are used throughout this discussion because those for average daily at- tendance were not available.) The data were next secured from each of the high-school programs and semester reports for the ninth grade. This nec- essitated checking with the principal's office the program for each Iiigh school for each year. The amount of time devoted by each teacher to the various year-subjects she taught was prorated as accurately as possible. (No attempt was made to include music and physical education as the subjects and the classes taught were so mixed in grade-composition as to be un- analyzable.) It is believed that the ninth grade costs are fairly to be relied upon. Thus we can compare costs for instruction in regular seventh and eighth grades with ninth-grade costs in high schools, with but slight amount of error in our judgment. Table CIV gives the data. Similar data were desired for the seventh and eighth grade in the high schools giving instruction in those years. Programs were secured and an attempt was made to prorate the time of teachers to the different grades. In the case of the regular grade teachers it is felt that this was accurately done. With the special subjects arid teachers it was extremely difficult to do so. The 434 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN CM •* lO T-( ro i/-> 00 .-J -^ ^ to . 0\ O «0 CO *; o\ 00 d o d ^' ffiO t^ O CM CM CO CO j;3 CO •*_ >-J tN Tt- VO ^ ,-; (m" oi oa r-J d Dm 00 O l^ CM ■* o\ J;^ j;.iO O ^ d cm" -^ CO* cm' CO* bo .s IS S^;. „ K^ 0\ 0\ 0\ 0\ Ov 0\ be w T)- ID VO COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 435 matter was complicated by the fact that programs are built by subjects and not by years. Although the courses follow a certain grade order fairly well, the enrollments in them overlap. Furth- ermore, in the case of the Junior High School, programs were not available for previous years by which all time could be accurately prorated. The special teachers in this school could only divide their time by memory, an extremely insecure basis in any event. The result is that we feel that the figures for the cost of instruc- tion in the seventh and eighth grades in the two high schools (Junior and South) are to be taken as only rough indications of the tendency in the relative costs of intermediate education dur- ing these years and in these schools. The figures obtained for the Junior High School (1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916) and the South High School, first semester of 1915-16 are as follows: 436 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN o o o in (1h P3IIOJU3 iTdnu3a3j -jTQ jo aaqiunjsj; ooooo o o o o ^ in O "^"^*^ oj r^ 00 1^ o IT) f<5 ^ fj CO cam Tfirno ON 0\ On On On -g So rt := o +-« o Sh OS f^ rt ft h ^ ft "^ iS ft "^^ "*- rt ft >^ "^ ft ftti a si o 0.5 o u ><; o CO rt r, P Q& * -J- bi3 5 g^ >- 5 c ft 5 T cd cc f^ * •H-'O COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 437 Bearing in mind the limitations in the validity of the data, there are several outstanding facts of interest and importance in connection with this vital problem of the reorganization of the grades. First: The cost of teaching both the seventh and eighth grades in the traditional elementary schools is fairly well stand- ardized throughout the city. The cost d'oes not vary widely in any one grade in the five representative elementary schools sel- ected in any one year. (This is contributed to, no doubt, by the relative permanence of the teaching staff, most of the upper grade teachers having nearly reached the same salary limit.) There are certain exceptions to this statement in the data, but we have not the educational evidence at hand to trace the cause for their occurrence. Second : It costs one to two dollars more per pupil per sem- ester to teach eighth grade pupils than it does to teach seventh grade pupils. In twenty-two instances out of thirty in the above table, eighth-grade costs exceed seventh-grade costs. The amount of excess is relatively^ small, however. One may feel that in these representative schools of Grand Rapids the upper levels of the elementary; grades are being financed as a unit. Third. Allowing for possible errors in the data from which costs for the seventh and eighth grade instruction in the Junior and South High Schools were computed it may safely be con- cluded that the segregation of the upper grades in the so-called intermediate school means a very considerable addition to the cost of instruction. A semester's instruction in the regularly organized eighth grade, costs about $12.00 per pupil enrolled. A semester's instruction in the eighth grade as organized in the intermediate school costs very nearly $20.00. A regularly organ- ized seventh grade costs about $11.00 per semester; an ''interme- diate" or "junior high school" seventh grade costs very nearly $18.00 per semester. Fourth : It cost relatively little more for one semester's instruction in the ninth grades of the four high schools than it does for the eighth grades in the intermediate school. There is a difference of perhaps $2.00 or ten per cent on the average. Where eighth grade education costs about $20.00 per pupil per semester, ninth grade education costs about $22.00. The computations, even when regarded as but approximate in the determination of grade costs, point to the following con- clusion. The cost of instruction in the intermediate grades of the city schools is largely determined byf the t^pe of organization under which the administration operates. Seventh and eighth grades are being taught under two particularly different types 438 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN TABLE CV Semester Costs of Instruction per Pupil Enrolled for Various Special Classes.*^ • AUXILIARY CLASSES IN: Auxiliary School Straight School Widdicomb School -s •s t3 t5 -2 YEAR 4) o CO o w 2 to 4) Per Enroll >— ' u O— ' iSrt-^ . ft m S. iSrt-^ . ft M ft «rtT3 . a t^ft O 3 O 3 O rt'rt O 3 O 3 O 3 O 3 ! Hc/^p^ ^^ UPh Hc/2pS ;?PM UPh Hc^^p^ ^P. UPh ' 1901 $800 53 ■ $400 15 .... ,J 1906 1911 $15.09 $26.66 1912 1225 1725 58 59 21.12 29.15 400 425 18 20 22 22 i's 1913 21.25 $326.70 ^18.15 < 1914 1830 62 29.51 450 17 26.47 350.00 18 19.44 1915 1830 55 33.27 450 14 32.14 310.25 18 17.23 * Data from teachers' payrolls and semester reports. TAB LE C VI ^ Cost per Pupil Enrolled for Instruction in (1) The Auxiliary School; (2) Auxiliary Classes in Regular Elementary Schools; (3) The Oral School for the Deaf. The Auxiliary School Auxiliary Classes in Elementary Schools: Oral School for the Deaf Auxiliary Classes YEAR Straight Widdi- comb Cold- brook Junior High School Franklin School 1901 l'5.'09 20.77 29.15 29.51 33.27 26."66 22.22 21.25 26.47 32.14 18.15 19.44 17.23 22."66 60. ?1 59.21 30.00 51.85 60.34 40.00 65.38 19.'77 1906 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 21.43 TABLE CVII Semester Cost of Instruction Per Pupil Enrolled in 7th and 8th Grades in two Intermediate Schools. 1912 : 1913 1915 1916 (first semester) JUNIOR 7th Grade 8th Grade 24.10 15.93 15.66 16.80 22.23 24.05 15.67 21.83 SOUTH 7th Grade 8th Grade 14.03 18.96 COST OF PUBLIC EDUCATION 439 Junior High School Coldbrook School Franklin School Oral School Deaf for the 1 ^3 TS ii 13 t3 -2 •S (0 s s o "2 ^ Or:: o-z: o — rt rtT3 . a t^ a jS^-^ . ft m ft .2 rtTS . ft (/) ft - ?2 rt'tS . ft 1n'a O nJ rt O 3 O 3 O rt nl O 3 O nJ a! O 3 O 3 O'rt'cS O 3 O 3 Hc/Dp^ ;zif^ U^ HWp^ ^1^ UClH HcA}fL| ^^ UOh Her. PL, ^!^ UCk $850 14 $60 71 ;:;.;.;: .... 1125 900 1400 1750 19 30 27 29 59 21 30 Ul» 51 85 60 34 ?425 22 $19.77 1200 30 40 00 $375 17. $22.06 $450 21 $2i.43 1700 26 65.38 of organization. It is believed that the above data show that one is costing much more than the other. A previous section of this study has shown that the salary schedule increases with the in- crease of general level taught, that is; that junior high school teachers are being paid more than grammar grade teachers, and senior high school teachers are paid more than junior high school teachers. The above analysis is merely a financial one. It is not possi- ble to explain these costs clearly in this report by specific educa- tional evidence. Doubtless there are educational outcomes of the segregated type of intermediate education that will justify an increase in per pupil cost of sixty to seventy per cent. With such an important reorganization as is involved in the changes re- cently made in this school system, each of the administrative agencies should be brought to bear on an attempt to evaluate every phase of the problem. Among others, the statistical and financial departments could well make a detailed analysis of the problem of costs throughout all levels of education represented in the city system. The present diversity in types of organization under which the Grand Rapids school system is operating is fairly unique. The educational and business departments have an opportunity to carry on an instructional and financial inquiry that would result in a distinct contribution to the solving of a 440 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN very important problem. The accuracy of the analysis made in this report has been partly limited by inadequacy of historical data. The administrative officers could perfect the methods of collecting the data and would then be in a position to determine future procedure by pertinent experimental educational and fin- ancial evidence. Wholesale reorganization hardly should be un- dertaken without thorough experimentation on a limited scale which would in turn result in specific outcomes in the way of principles of educational and financial procedure. CHAPTER XV THE BUSINESS MANAGE- MENT OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS Harold O. Rugg General Organization There are two major departments in the administration of a school system : the educational department and the business de- partment. They both are phas-es of one educational scheme, the machinery of which has been set up by the city for the education of its children. Each department may keep its autonomy just to the degree that it necessarily makes a specialized contribution to the teaching of children. Grand Rapids administers its schools through a dual organi- zation. Its purely instructional and supervisory affairs are man- aged by a superintendent of schools. Its material and business affairs are managed by a business manager. Each major ofl'icer reports immediately to a committee of the board, the superin- tendent to the educational committee, the manager to the busi- ness committee. The superintendent also confers with the busi- ness committee. Diagram XCIV represents the distribution of general functions in the Grand Rapids school system. It shows that the educational and business matters of the board are being regarded as two distinct phases of school administration. It is very clear that there is no one executive officer over the whole school system who brings in review each week, each month or each year all the different types of activity contributing to the education of children. The business department of the public schools may be re- garded as a very essential organization to aid in the training of children. It can legitimately be regarded, however, only as 442 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN t I i I I I 1^ ft! II O^U — i«. 4 ^5 111 Si III ll 1 4 1^ 1 1 — ll iw Iti Ss^ ^ §*^ — III 11 — It _ III III — .^4 \) ^^ 1 BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 443 a subordinate part of the whole system; necessary, it is true, but subordinate nevertheless. Schools are established for the teaching of children. To administer schools, buildings must be built and equipped (hence we must have the school architect) ; buildings must be heated, ventilated and cleaned (hence the jani- torial staff) ; buildings must be repaired and kept in good condi- tion (thus the permanent repair gang) ; pupils must be provided with utensils and materials to work with (hence the supplies department) ; administrative officers, teachers, janitors, other employees, and all outside creditors must be paid (therefore the financial, bookkeeping and auditing department) ; the people, the Board of Education and administrative officers want to know how much education costs (so we have a cost accounting de- partment). These are all very necessary business functions that have grown up in the administration of public schools. It is believed by the Survey Staff that a dual organization in Grand Rapids does not contribute to the greatest school effi- ciency. That there was need of relating the work of the educa- tional and business departments the Board itself has recognized in the way in which it has organized itself. It has attempted to relate the work of the two departments by making the chair- man of each committee an ex-officio member of the other. This, of course, merely functions as a final review or check on the work of the two departments. There are several particular reasons for advocating a unit system of school administration in Grand Rapids. 1. The historical development of the system itself, during the past four years is indicative of the need for a more unified form of organization. The system has grown rapidly in size, teaching staff, types of educational work offered by schools, types of organization, etc. It has already been shown that the city is developing a new type of intermediate organization. At the same time, the business phases of school administration have broadened out rapidly, new departments have been added and centralization of operation taken place. On a purely commercial basis the business department has operated efficiently. There is little evidence, however, that there is complete co-operation between the educational and business departments in this ex- pansion of school activities. It is felt that large educational experiments have been undertaken without complete studies of cost contributed by the business department, e. g., the junior high school reorganization, development of special schools, etc. 2. The accounting methods of a school system should be organized primarily on the principle that they must contribute specific knowledge on particular phases of educational work. 444 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND R^VPIDS, MICHIGAN A statement of receipts and disbursements is not sufficient. It is shown in a later section that the funds and accounts are not so organized as to result in a desired statement of educational ser- vice rendered. It is true that a few types of educational cost are figured, but many very pertinent types of cost data are missing. This will necessarily hamper an educational administrative offi- cer who wishes to construct school policies and make definite recommendations on the basis of such. 3. The preparation of a school budget to be put before the Board of Education for approval should be the work of two departments brought together under one reviewing agency, able to judge of relative values from an educational standpoint. It is felt that the present type of organization makes this impossible. It seems clear to the Survey Staff that there is no single major officer in the business department intimately acquainted with school problems or principles of school administration. It may be questioned whether the school system is not being adminis- tered educationally by one officer on educational principles and from the business standpoint by another officer on business principles. A single major educational officer will supply the necessary "educational" insight to use the business organiza- tion in the improvement of school practice. ' (It is very true that the business department has worked out a thorough budget- ary procedure which is to be'commended on business principles.) 4. It has been shown elsewhere in this report that the Board has given a very large amount of attention to the physical and business aspects of the school system during the past few years. In this it has tended to spend slightly more for business purpoes than it has for educational purposes. It is believed that this is contributed to by the existence of a dual form of organiza- tion. Under the unit form of educational control if there is a tendency to emphasize business expenditures, it will be done with knowledge of the fact that in making the recommendations in the budget, complete account has been taken of the educa- tional needs of the system. 5. The present school report of the Board of Education is a dual report. One is impressed with the fact that certain costs, computed in great detail, are reported each year by the Business Manager with no educational use being made of them. It will be shown later that the detailed computation of the costs of heating buildings has not been used definitely in the improve- ment of heating school buildings. 6. The bureau of census and statistics, although primarily dealings with "educational" facts has been placed in the Business Manager's organization. It will be shown later in this report BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 445 that this has led to repetition of the work of the department of attendance and to studies of educational research being under- taken of which no application was made to improving school conditions. The Survey Staff is convinced that although the two departments (census and statistics, and attendance) are naturally one, there is no co-operation between them. It can be traced immediately to the fact that their superior officers are under separate heads of the organization. The problem of re-organi- zation is taken up later in another chapter. We shall now discuss the work of the business organization, dealing with the various departments separately. In addition to what has been said above it should be stated that the rules of the Board give the Business Manager complete supervision of the operation and maintenance and construction of the plant ; of the purchase, storage and distribution of supplies ; of the tak- ing of the census and of the manipulation of various school records ; of the bookkeeping and financial accounting of the Board. Within this department there is started the beginnings of a sound centralization of administration. I. MANAGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL PLANT A. General Organization. The Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds Diagram XCIV shows the general organization of the man- agement of the school plant. The business manager is made immediately responsible for the management of the school plant, and he is assisted by a superintendent of buildings and grounds. This officer came into the administrative organization under the rules of the Board of Education adopted in 1907. At that time under the title Foreman of Building and Grounds, this person was immediately in control of the heating, ventilating and gene- ral operating of buildings. His powers were, however, quite largely submerged in those of the Business Manager. In fact, the rules of the Board specifically made the Business Manager immediately responsible for all the duties the foreman was ex- pected to attend to. In 1913 the rules were revised, and the position of superintendent of buildings and grounds was created. It is pertinent to note, however, that the superintendent was created as an assistant of the Business Manager. (See Revised Rules of Board of Education, Articles 48 and 49). The Business Manager is made immediately responsible for all the regular duties of a foreman or superintendent of buildings and grounds. For example, he has charge of maintenance of buildings, repairs, alterations, etc.: has "direct supervision of the heating and 446 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN ventilating- apparatus," etc., "shall also supervise and direct jani- tors in all matters pertaining to the care and maintenance of buildings and grounds ; inspect and investigate the work of each janitor as frequently as possible," etc. ; have power to remove janitors, etc. The rules make the Superintendent of Buildings the inspectorial assistant of the Business Manager. The Board very properly permits the Business Manager to recommend the appointment of the Superintendent of Buildings. The latter, however, is not given specific power, except as it is delegated by the Business Manager, to carry out the principal functions of his office. For example, the selection of the janitors and engineers on this staff are made, according to the rules, by the Business Manager. In the actual conduct of the department, it has been true, of course, that the Business Manager and the Superintend- ent of Buildings have consulted on such matters and worked to- gether in carrying out the duties of the office. There is evi- dently, however, (as will be made clearer later) that the oper- ating force, being selected and recommended by the Business Manager, in a great many cases are reporting immediately to him and not to their proper superior officer. The Function of a Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds Proper principles of business management would suggest a more thoroughly co-ordinated department in charge of the man- agement of the school plant. The position of Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds of a large school system like that of Grand Rapids should be a major executive position. This officer at the present time has charge of two large departments: (1) the operation of school buildings and grounds, ( the janitorial force) ; (2) the maintenance of buildings and grounds (the re- pair force). This entire force at the present time totals nearly ninety persons. He should, it is true, report to and be under the immediate jurisdiction of the Business Manager. He should, however, be made independent within his own department. This means especially that he should select all the persons on his operating and maintenance staff and that they should report to him on all matters connected with his department. Careful study of the present administration has convinced the Survey Staff that there is a tendency among the members of the operating force to report directly to the Business Manager's office on all sorts of matters. This is probably enhanced by constant use of janitors as messengers to do errands between the Board of Education office and the various schools. (This matter is dis- cussed more fully later). It seems very clear that to put the operating and maintenance of the public schools on a thoroughly BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 447 business basis will demand a more completely worked out divi- sion of authority. The efficient working of the staff demands centralization of authority in the hands of the Superintendent and the more complete establishment of his prestige in the minds of his men. The position of Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds in Grand Rapids should be regarded as a major professional posi- tion. To impartial outside observers it is evident that the posi- tion has tended to become a minor routine position. A list of the actual activities of the present superintendent are impressive in this respect. They may be classified as follows: 1. Innumerable and unclassifiable calls at the superintend- ent's home for assistance, information, request for supplies to be made, for equipment, etc. Minor matters of the slightest moment occupy his attention. 2. Office work at his office in the morning from eight to ten o'clock. This office work is hardly of an executive or inspect- orial nature, but is largely made up of clerical duties. For ex- ample, he takes over the telephone, personally, thirty to fifty calls each morning and writes, by hand, work orders for repairs, orders for supplies, equipment, etc. 3. Checks over finished work orders with particular refer- ence to cost, labor, etc. 4. Requests prices on lumber and other materials ; confers on bids, and prices ; orders materials, etc. The superintendent is given power to order any material up to $25.00. Beyond that he secures the approval of the Business Manager. 5. Inspects playgrounds and fields. On occasions has had to personally supervise the cinder surfacing and rolling of ath- letic field. Looks after grading, seeding, sodding of lawns, etc. 6. Makes annual inspection of all buildings and grounds during February and March for an estimate of summer repairs. 7. Personaly looks after regulation, repairs to and handling of program bell systems in buildings. 8. Spends considerable time in detailed inspection of en- gineering plant; personally designs various parts of engineering equipment. 9. Superintends installation of electric lights, call bells, fire gongs, etc. 10. Has immediate charge of building of equipment, furni- ture, etc. 11. Designs and installs playground apparatus. 12. Purchases various supplies for power plant, for repairs and new equipment. 448 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN 13. Goes to buildings as requested by janitors and princi- pals for inspection and advice on special matters. The above items form but a partial list of the duties of this executive officer. It is complete enough, however, to give an adequate idea of the multiplicity of routine duties that he is forced to attend to. The Board of Education evidently planned that he should be primarily an inspecting assistant to the Busi- ness Manager. (Article 49 (a) of Rules). That he is not able to attend to these inspectorial duties is very evident. Interviews with the janitors and principals in over twenty buildings indicate that little or no inspection of buildings is done. The rules state that the Superintendent shall inspect each building twice a month. The Superintendent has not inspected the janitors in many of the buildings for several months. It is an open ques- tion whether such a rule is proper, whether such frequent in- spection as twice a month is necessary. It is evident, however, that a superintendent of buildings who has become largely a clerical assistant cannot find the time to do it. Somewhere in the administration of the school plant it sLould be possible to find a cost department. Its proper place is immediately under the superintendent of buildings and grounds. Due to the misconception of the proper function of this officer, no adequate system of cost records has been estab- lished. Although this matter will be discussed in more detail later, it is mentioned here in connection with the functions of the superintendent. Summary of Recommendation on the Management of the School Plant To sum up, then : 1. There should be one chief executive immediately over the operation and maintenance of plants, reporting to the Busi- ness Manager. 2. He should be made independent within his own depart- ment, selecting for appointment and recommending for pro- motion the men under him. 3. He should be supplied with adequate assistance to re- lieve him of much routine work that he is now handling per- sonally. (A specific suggestion along this line is made in con- nection with the repair force.) 4. His position should be made a major professional posi- tion, executive and inspectorial in nature. 5. There should be developed an adequate system of cost records, worked out and classified in such a manner as to con- BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 449 tribute to business efficiency and to a specific statement of operating and maintenance costs. B. The Operation of Buildings : The Janitorial Force The school buildings of Grand Rapids are being operated by a relatively stable janitorial force. Out of twenty-two janitors visited, none had been in the system less than three years, and many had served seven years or more. An attempt was made to secure from the records of the Business Manager and Superin- tendent detailed information on the tenure, previous training and experience of janitors. It should be emphasized that no such complete records are available. The only record on hand is a file of application cards for positions in the service. These cards ar^ seldom really used in determining the selection of new men, and are of no assistance in determining promotion. It seems clear that a complete system of records concerning the janitorial and repair force should be installed. The force being relatively stable, few new appointments are made in any one year. When these are made, however, no service records are at hand to aid the Superintendent and Busi- ness Manager in their selection. This is perhaps not of so much moment in the selection of new men as it is in the promotion of old ones. In the latter case unrecorded impressions of the men, supported only by the personal judgment of the principals over them, control the promotion to larger and better buildings. There is some evidence of a feeling on the part of janitors that the methods of promotion ought to be more impersonal and based on actual record and service. This is not possible unless the records of service are recorded. This in turn calls for more fre- quent inspection of buildings and more constant check on the work of the staff. When new men are employed, proper care is taken in in- troducing them to the janitorial work and the work of running the heating and ventilating plants. New men are first placed on the staff of one of the high schools as caretakers and are given an opportunity to fire under supervision before being put in sole charge of even a low pressure boiler. The precaution of the business department in this matter is to be commended. In the newer buildings having elaborate mechanical equipment, fan sys- tems of ventilating, etc., specially trained men were brought in to instruct the regular janitors promoted to the buildings. It is of interest to note that very many of the janitors have had boiler and firing experience prior to joining the operating staff of the school system. The staff in charge of the engineering plants in 450 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN the high schools are recruited from men who have had boiler and engine experience of some sort. Inspection of twenty-two buildings leads to the conclusion that the routine work of cleaning most of the buildings is being well done. The rooms are swept once a day, vacuum cleaners being installed in several of the buildings. From the standpoint of sanitation the use of cleaners can be justified. Figures ob- tained from one of the janitors who had kept a record of time required to clean buildings with and without vacuum cleaners, showed a reduction of time in favor of the cleaner of more than twenty-five per cent. The floors in a majority of the buildings have been oiled. The oiling is done twice a year generally and in case of some buildings is being carefully supervised. In others it is causing complaint from principals. Windows are washed between two and three times a year in most buildings of the system. Janitors' Salaries The buildings of the Grand Rapids school system are of all ages and sizes. The typical size is from eight to twelve rooms. There are but few elementary buildings larger than twelve rooms, however, and but few smaller than eight. In the assigning- of janitors to different buildings, assignment to the larger build- ings is regarded as promotion. This is due to the method of pay- ing janitors. They are paid on a basis of a .minimum number of rooms, $13.50 a week for eight rooms with an additional 50 cents a week for each additional room cared for. Extra pay at the rate of 25 cents a classroom/used is given for evening school and extra pay is given for social centers and branch libraries. These extra items enable the janitors in some schools to earn much more than the teachers in the buildings. The problem of how best to pay janitors is a mooted one, and a very difficult one to solve. The scheme used in Grand Rapids does not equitably distribute salary in terms of service rendered. It takes no account of the actual floor space (in rooms) to be cleaned, of window space to be washed, of halls to be cleaned (which are not included in the schedule and which in the older buildings form a very considerable part of the entire floor space of the building), of the lawns to be cut (which are of very uneven size throughout the city and vary widely in dift'i- culty of cutting), of sidewalks to be cleaned (which vary widely in area), of the age and condition of the building, floors, and heat- ing plant in the building. (These vary widely and always react to the disadvantage of the janitor in the old building). It is doubtless true that all of the above factors, which en- BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 451 ter into the efficiency of janitorial service, cannot be adeqnately taken account of in a salary schedule. It is believed, however, that all but those factors having to do with the age and condi- tion of building and equipment and type of grounds can be thoroughly evaluated in a schedule. Salaries could well be paid in terms of area of floors cleaned (rooms and halls), windows cleaned, lawns cut and sidewalks kept in order; heating could be paid for in terms of type of plant janitor is required to handle and, either cubic feet heated or number of rooms, taken as. a standard. Buildings could be classified and differentiated in the salary scale, operating in terms of type of heating and ventilating equipment and in terms of age and condition of buildings. It is evident that the business department should make a detailed study of this problem, finding out what is done in other cities of its class and effecting a thorough change in the manner of paying janitors. Several cities now have the sort of standardi- zation worked out which is outlined above and correspondence indicates that such a method can be administered satisfactorily. We append with this report an abstract of the methods employed in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Albany, New York, as illustrative of how other cities are attempting to standardize their building maintenance. We give herewith the approximate salary paid per month to janitors in nine cities, worked out on an eight-room basis. This enables us to compare the salaries paid in Grand Rapids with those in eight other cities. These data have been secured by correspondence with the cities in question, and although not absolutely comparable with those in Grand Rapids, have been reduced to roughly the same basis. In some cases (as in Scranton) the payroll was sent, in which case the median salary paid was computed. Table CVIII gives the complete data on this question. It can be seen that there is no agreed- upon standard in the payment of janitors. Our tabulations show. that, in terms of service, Grand Rapids pays a lower salary to janitors than all but two cities in the list. At the same time, it is recognized that in absolute amount paid, some of the janitors TABLE CIX Approximate Monthly Salary paid to Janitors; computed on an 8- room basis. Lowell : $80.00 Paterson 70.83 to 79.17 Kansas City _ 62.00 Scranton 60. 00 (median) Albany -..- 60.00 Bridgeport 58.33 Grand Rapids 54.00 Nashville 40.00 Richmond : 32.00 in the system may receive a much higher salary than that here indicated. In many of the other cities this would be true also, however, and it is believed that the data indicate roughly the position of the cities. These facts reinforce the view expressed above that there should be a complete revision of the methods of assigning buildings and paying janitors. M TABLE CVIII Data on Janitors' Salaries for Elementary Schools in 9 Cities.* CITIES Basis Salaries Number of Minimum Maximum 1 2 3 4 Lowell $840 $960 Paterson No standard unit Janitors $850 Assistant $700 Engineer $900 $950 $850 $1000 Kansas City 12 for first 4 rooms per room per month. Addi- tional rooms $3.50 a month each. $12.00 $24.00 $36.00 $48.00 Scranton No standard unit. $10 per month $125 per month Albany $66 per room (class, gymna- sium, manual training — any room that is re- gularly maintain- ed.) $60 $125 Bridgeport $50 per room per annum. $50 per year $700 per year $50.00 ( $100.00 per annu na $300.00 tn with f .es) $400.00 ur- Grand Rapids $13.50 per week for 8 rooms. $.50 a week extra per additional room. Nashville About $5 per room per month. Richmond $5 per room per month. Rooms less than 10 rooms $5 for each per month (year 12 months.) Data compiled from correspondence, reports, etc. BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 453 Repairs made by Janitors. At least four months of the school year a janitor has to pay relatively slight attention to the heating plant in his building. This and other causes have re- sulted in the janitors of the Grand Rapids school system making many minor repairs to buildings. These include repairing seats and desks, locks of doors, adjusting loose shelves, putting in v^in- Rooms Approximate Average Sal- ary Paid Per Month on an 8-room Basis. Remarks 5 6 7 8 8 12 1 10-16 ^■12 Ijrmore Assem- bly Halls $80.00 $70.83 to 79.17 ■ $51.50 $55.00 $58.50 $62.00 62.00 60.00 median 60.00 $1.75 per toilet room. $1.00 for care of uniform. Median worked from payroll. $550.00 $600.00 $650.00 $700.00 Added $50 per room Added $25 per room $2 per month Equal to 2 rooms at $25 each $6 per month 58.33 54.00 40.00 32.00 High-school hall consid- ered equal to 4 rooms at $25 each; High School rooms used for two ses- sions $5 per room an- nually. For 8-room buildings varies from $35 to $40 per month. Principal and teachers' rooms $3 each; kinder- garten $7.50; manual training $3 ; fireman $55 per month ; scrubwomen $25 per month. 454 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN dow glass, etc. Those who are trained to do so make the minor steam-fitting repairs. In this, the business department is ad- ministering its work efficiently. It is expensive to call a shop- man to make minor repairs which the janitor is able to make. The survey staff feels that this aspect of the buildings manage- ment is taking care of itself. Janitors and Principals do not approve or oversee repair work done in the building. When repairs are needed in the building, the usual procedure is for the principal or janitor to call up the repair shop and request the work to be done. The authority and responsibility here is divided; neither principal or janitor is made definitely responsible for ordering and approving the repairs. These repair orders are not generally followed up by written requisition as planned by the Business Manager. The same lack of responsibility is true in connection with the check- ing of the work done by the repair force, and the time spent on the job by the workmen. It could not be established that work- men report to the repair oft'ice on arriving at or leaving jobs. In this, from a few concrete instances, it is believed there is op- portunity for soldiering on the job which has been taken advan- tage of in some cases. Repairs by outside firms. Repairs to be made by outside firms are ordered in the same way, through the Superintendent's office. He in turn orders the work to be done by written requisition. It is quite common for estimates to be obtained from the outside companies although mau}^ times this is not done. No check is obtained on the amount of time spent on the job by the contractor's workmen. In most cases thorough inspection of the completed job is not given. Neither the jani- tors nor principals hold themselves responsible for this sort of thing. AVhen the bills come in, according to statement of prin- cipals, they are sometimes approved over the telephone and sometimes the bill itself is sent to them for approval. The Superintendent has given one instance in which an outside re- pair, billed at $14.00, was reduced to $8.00 on the matter being- checked up by him. Such instances point to the need of in- spection of outside repair jobs. Use of Janitors on Summer Repair Gangs. About five to seven weeks of the summer time of the janitors is put in on vari- ous permanent repair gangs. After selecting a few of the older men to care for the lawns and smaller repairs in the buildings, the balance are divided up into gangs of from three to nine men, carpenters, painters, steam fitters and plumbers, cement crew, varnish crew, etc. This practice on the whole may be com- mended as an economical means of getting the annual repair BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 455 work done. The Superintendent of Buildings should make a very careful study of the annual repair problem each year and build up a complete system of records, both of service of men, cost of labor, materials, etc., on jobs. The annual repair cost is a very considerable item. It should be studied critically from year to year. There are indications that the Superintendent has been undertaking this sort of procedure, but it is believed that fTom the cost standpoint it needs to be more thoroughly worked out. The handling of janitor's supplies has been taken over by the regular supply department of the school system. Methods of ordering by regular requisition have been put in and a system of office checking established. The janitors order their supplies for the next year in the spring on a thoroughly worked out, printed requisition. The purchase and distribution of janitors' supplies have been well standardized. Beyond this there is little check on the amount of supplies used, the condition of janitors' equipment, etc. Several buildings visited were found to con- tain a large collection of material. For example, in one building, eight large floor brushes were counted in the janitor's room, with pails and other janitorial equipment to match. As Avill be indi- cated in the discussion on the handling of supplies, there is a need for oversight of the handling of supplies in the buildings. It is felt that there may be considerable w^aste at this point in the school management. There is little regular inspection of janitorial service in buildings. As noted above, it is impossible for the Superintend- ent of Buildings to make the semi-monthly inspection required by the Board's rules. The condition of the janitors' premises in most of the buildings was found to be good by the visiting mem- ber of the Survey Staff. ■ The condition of some, however, was not up to standard. Methods of storing wood and coal and cleanliness of boiler rooms should be looked after in some cases. Janitors report that there is no attempt made to acquaint them with the cost of heating their building as compared with other buildings in the city. The business department figures the cost per room of heating each building each year. These figures are available for the past ten years, and supply some valuable data on heating costs. No evidence could be discovered that any use was made of these figures. Janitors and engineers are not checked up in their use of coal, and inspection of the heating equipment of buildings has not followed the computation of the costs. There is a great dioersit^ in the heating costs of buildings of the same type and size. Of the twelve-room buildings in the 456 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN city which do noi have fan systems of ventilation, the costs for Jutl per classroom in 1914-15 were as follows: $41.12 39.93 37.19 35.68 35.48 34.14 26.17 There are other more striking instances of diversity in cost of heating- buildings. To heat the Oakdale school during the past three years, it has cost as follows : $41.90, $54.26, $53.00, an increase of nearly $13.00 per classroom in one year. At the same time, there was no increase in the heating costs of half the build- ings in the city. The figures for the Stocking school were: 1912-13 , $36.62 1913-14 51.82 1914-15 37.93 Six Other buildings in the city showed an increase or de- crease in heating cost of at least $10.00 per classroom. Other striking cases of irregularities in costs could be enumerated from the Business Manager's Report. We believe it should be stressed that the computation of these cost data should be definitely followed up in the different buildings. Buildings of the same size and approximately the same type should not show such a diversity in heating costs. The same building should not show an increase of $10.00 per year per classroom when others show decreases under seemingly like conditions. It may be that most of the differences could be ex- plained by those in charge of the buildings. It has been definitely stated, though, by over twenty janitors that no such explanation is demanded of them and no attempt made to apply the cost data. The business department has developed a system of check- ing the cost of water, light and gas. Monthly statements are sent each building, comparing the cost of the three items in the current year with those of the previous year. This is to be commended as a step in reducing waste in such materials. Visits to the buildings have convinced the Survey Staff, however, that some of the janitors do not guard against the waste of water, light and gas. In several buildings the janitors do not shut off the water after school hours. This means a large loss in water rates. Other buildings were found in which conscientious care is taken of such matters, water being turned off between classes at noon and between the close of school and the opening of the evening classes. The writer of this report went into several elementary schools, on bright days, in which large electric lights BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 457 were burning in well-lighted halls. . On the whole it is felt that the great need of this iDranch of the business department is thor- ough inspection. C. The Maintenance of the Buildings: The Repair Force. The second largest division of the business department is the repair department. During the last ten years the business or- ganization has developed a permanent repair force. Prior to 1910 it was a small force hired primarily to attend to miscellaneous small repairs. It was a separate department reporting through its foreman directly to the Business Manager. In 1912-13 the general school plant was administered by a Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds (to whom the repair force was made re- sponsible) and a chief engineer over the engineering equipment. In 1913-14 a further centralization was effected, bringing all phases of the management of the school plant together under the Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds. In the meantime the repair force and its payroll increased as shown below: TABLE CX Payroll of Repair Force.* 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 Total Payroll $5,713.36 $8,576.79 $7,472.79 Force consisted of foreman, 1 carpenter, 1 painter, 1 steam fitter for above years. 1913-14 1914-15 1915-16 Total Payroll $7,910.67 $9,915.84 $12,475.00 In 1913-14 force consisted of superintendent (one-half time), 1 carpenter, 1 painter, 1 steam fitter, 1 helper, 1 shop man, 1 general man. In 1914-15 added 1 carpenter and 1 painter. In 1915-16 force consists of superintendent (one-half time), 1 clerk, 1 janitor, 2 carpenters, 1 steam fitter and helper, 1 painter and 3 shop men. * Data supplied by Assistant to Business Manager. Thus the force has grown in six years from a minor force of a foreman and three men to a force of a foreman and nine men, in addition to receiving a fair proportion of the time of the Sup- erintendent of Buildings and Grounds. It should be stated that one reason for the large growth of this force is the establishment of a policy of building school furniture, equipment and apparatus. During the year and a half following July 1st, 1914, the repair force built furniture and equip- ment to the value of $6,577. The Superintendent of Buildings and the School Architect made a comparison of the actual cost of building with the cost as shown by bids and list prices of outside firms. They estimate a saving in this connection of twenty per cent or $1,644. It is impossible to check completely the ac- curacy of this estimate of costs under the two methods of ob- 458 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN taining furniture, but it is believed that a saving to the schools has resulted. If the policy is to be continued definitely, there should be a very accurate comparative study of the cost of con- structing various types of furniture and equipment. This vs^ould put the buying and construction of school furniture on a sound cost basis. The procedure in ordering repairs has been referred to above. It v\^as said that orders are quite generally telephoned into the repair office where they are w^ritten down on a work ofder blank. This work order blank could well be redesigned wnth a view to more detailed listing of special items of repairs, cost statements of labor and materials, etc. A duplicate of this work order goes to the business manager who files it in his desk. It was found that the superintendent's work order file is not complete, even for the past two years. No adequate system of recording and fil- ing repairs-jobs-facts is to be found in this office. For example, the attempt to get a detailed statement of the time that elapsed between the ordering of a repair and the completion of it was unsuccessful due to the fact that a record is not made immediate- ly at the completion of the job itself. Furthermore, there is no written confirmation of a telephone request for repairs. This could easily result in repairs not being made for some time after the time requested. Examination of the work order file showed that it w^as common for ten to twenty days to elapse between the date of order of the repair and the completion. If it is the fault of the method of handling repairs, that should be improved. Emergency repairs to heating equipment, plumbing and steam fitting, etc., are evidently attended to promptly. The force in- cludes a plumber and steam fitter, and a fair division of skilled labor is represented in its make-up. Work orders are generally not investigated unless the job is unusual and something that cannot be adequately estimated and described over the telephone by the janitor or principal. On many small jobs this is of course not essential. On others it is very essential that a preliminary investigation be made prior to the workmen being sent to the job. It is believed that this is being handled satisfactorily. Transportation of Workmen and Materials. The cost of small repair jobs is contributed to by the item of transportation of men and materials. The school map indicates clearly that the location of the repair shop is not well planned from the standpoint of accessibility to the school buildings of the city. It is located in the abandoned Second Avenue School in the BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 459 first ward. Only one school in the city lies to the south of it. A glance at the school map makes clear its inaccessibility. No convenient cross-town car lines help out in the situation. Men are very largely transported to jobs by the car lines, and this necessitates a considerable expenditure of time away from the job. The Superintendent has an automobile on which a box has been placed to transport small quantities of materials. He is away from the office much of the time, however, and is seldom available to transport the men. Due to the necessity for con- stant movement from building to building it is clearly a wise expenditure to supply the Superintendent with an automobile. The question of transporting general supplies and materials for the repair has been discussed for some time by the business department. A plan. is under consideration of providing a light auto truck for the use of both the supply department and repair force. With the delivery of regular supplies organized as it is now, we believe this will be a wise expenditure. More will be said of this matter later in discussing the handling of supplies. Job Costs on Repairs. Somewhat recently the Superintendent's department has started a system of keeping job costs on repairs. To date, this has consisted of an estimate of the cost for labor and material, written on the back of the work order and filed by buildings. If at any time a special type of job comes up upon which cost data should be wanted, the discovery of this cost material is difficult. As noted in the discussion of the operating force, what the building department needs more than anything else is an ade- quate method of inspection and a complete system of records, both on the personnel and cost of the service. Following the installation of such a record system, it needs the appointment of a competent officer to keep it up. At the present time the Superintendent of Buildings has no regular assistant. He has a clerk, paid $6.00 a week, and a boy acting as janitor and general helper at $6.50 a week. The former position should be merged into a larger position for at the present time there is not enough purely routine work to keep such a clerk busy. It is believed that some combination of positions can be made in the stafif of the Business Manager which will result' in more efficient assistantship to the building executive. It is believed that the size of the school system and the larger expen- diture for operation and maintenance of buildings and grounds justifies the creation of a cost accountant somewhere in the business management. With the many excellent features of the 460 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN business administration of the Grand Rapids' schools, one aspect might well be supplemented : its cost accounting. Especially is this true of the operating and maintenance departments. The immediate officers of the system are the best ones to decide at what point in the organization to work out changes in the present scheme. That it is needed in the buildings department is evident. The suggestion is therefore made that any change effected in the whole organization take thorough account for the needs of new records and an adequate cost system in connection with the Superintendent's office. Monthly Statements to the Board. Recently the Superintendent of Buildings has begun the mak- ing of monthly itemized reports to the Board on repairs done and furniture built. In each case the statement shows the cost of labor and materials on specific jobs, listed by buildings. In the same report the outside repairs for the month are stated. This method of reporting is to be commended. The rules of the Board require, however, a report on the general condition of school buildings. This is not being made in the detailed form that is needed. The Business Manager has recently made a complete, annual inventory of school property. This, however, is not aimed at being a thorough inspection of buildings from the structural standpoint. The budgetary procedure is such that funds for making re- pairs are always on hand. The making of necessary repairs is not hampered by lack of funds for these purposes. Outside Repairs. The repairs made by outside companies form a comparatively small portion of the total repairs made. They consist largely of electrical, steamfitting and plumbing work that cannot be handled by the regular repair force. These repairs are ordered through the central repair shop, that is, no one is permitted to go directly to an outside company and order work done. As indicated in the discussion on janitors, there is a weakness in the lack of inspection of the repair work done and it is felt that some loss has come about. There should be some one responsible for approving repair work done by outside companies and check- ing the time spent on the job. Under the present organization the Superintendent of Buildings and his foreman of repairs have not the time to do this. The janitor could be made responsible for checking the time spent and some method of inspection should be worked out. BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 461 Annual Inspection and Summer Repairs. The larger repairs to school buildings are made in the sum- mer time by repair gangs, composed of janitors working under the direction of men from the regular repair force. It has already been said that Grand Rapids is bringing itself in line with good business practice in this connection. The city gets the services of the men in this work for from five to seven weeks. The first step in these summer repairs comes in the preparation by the principals and janitors of lists of needed repairs to their build- ings. These lists aid the Superintendent of Buildings and the Foreman of Repairs in determining what repairs to estimate on. These two officers visit the building during February and March and estimate the cost of improvements and recommend those that seem most needed. At this time the cost of each job is estimated by general impression and stated in round numbers. If any- thing, the estimates are generally made much higher than the real cost of the job. Complete cost records on such jobs are not available. These estimates are then compiled by buildings and itemized by specific jobs, mimeographed and sent to the Common Council and Board of Estimates for consideration with the pro- posed budget. This method of acquainting the Common Council with the purpose of each item in the maintenance fund is excel- lent and serves to prevent wholesale cutting of the budget. With the approval of the budget the business organization determines what repairs on the list can be made. The work is done in the surnmer by the gangs described above. In the mean- time no notice is sent to buildings as to exactly what repairs will be made. Principals and janitors do not know until the opening of school sometimes whether certain repairs are to be made or not. The need for study of costs on these summer repairs was spoken of above. On the whole, the procedure of the business department in handling annual repairs is to be commended. Summary of Conclusions on the Operation and Maintenance of School Buildings 1. The school buildings of Grand Rapids are being operated by a relatively stable janitorial force. 2. Detailed information concerning the previous training, experience, tenure and efficiency of janitors is not compiled by the building department. A complete system of records should be established and kept up to date. 3. Service records not being available, promotion is not sufficiently determined by actual service. 4. The building department safeguards the children by 462 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN training janitors in the use of heating apparatus prior to giving them responsible charge of school buildings. 5. The scheme used in Grand Rapids for paying janitors does not distribute salary equitably in terms of service rendered. The present room basis of payment should be supplemented by a schedule w^hich will take account of age of building, type of heating plant, floor, window, hall, sidewalls and lawn area. In- quiry shows that the city pays its janitors less than the average for cities of its class. 6. A considerable amount of minor repair work and summer repair work is done by the janitorial force. This is efficient use of the Board's employees. There is not a sufficiently well-work- ed-out scheme of inspection and supervision of repair work both by the Board's mechanics and by outside firms. 7. The routine duties of the Superintendent of Buildings prevents systematic and thorough inspection of janitorial service. The appointment of an Assistant Superintendent of Buildings is recommended. 8. The need for the installation of accurate cost records and the consistent following up of them is most evident. There are striking instances of diversity in unit heating costs among build- ings and in the same building over a series of years. 9. The buildings department has recently initiated the poli- cy of building school furniture and equipment. Adequate cost accounting schemes should accompany this innovation. At the present time it is not possible to determine from sound and com- plete records the wisdom of continuing this policy. TABLE CXI Payment for Years 1906-1916 to Outside x\rchitects and Engineers.* Robinson Wernette, Smith, and Bradfield Hinchmen YEAR Campau and Mead and Gryles Totals • 1906 809.64 284.37 1,094.01 1907 - 2,023.38 487.85 2,511.23 1908 - 2,439.42 572.87 3,012.29 1909 23,380.25 2,537.77 25,918.02 1910 - 2,099.42 2,616.01 4,715.43 1911 1,750.71 3,397.32 5,148.03 1912 4,058.19 336.01 123.19 4,517.39 1913 2,325.24 2,325.24 1914 5,959.95 2,514.17 13.50 8,487.62 1915 737.74 1,354.87 116.65 2,209.26 1916 155.35 155.35 * Data supplied by Business Department. D. The Construction of the School Plant. In the chapter on the financial aspects the establishment of a definite policy of developing the school plant was discussed. To BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 463 carry this through, the Board has gradually built up a depart- ment of school architecture. The large items of new construction undertaken in the past five years are (1) the Central High School ; (2) the South High School ; (3) the Lexington School ; (4) the Franklin School; (5) the Sheldon School. For the de- signing and inspection of the first two the Board has employed outside architects. The designing, drawing up of specifications and inspection in the latter three were done under the supervi- sion of the School Architect. The Board began its development of the School Architect's department by employing the present school architect for the designing of special school equipment. In the past six years he has gradually taken over all the architect- ural work for the Board. We give in Table CXI a statement of the money spent for professional services to architects and engi- neers since the beginning of the ten-year period of buildmg de- velopment. The large items in 1909, 1912 and 1914 to the local architects were for services in connection with the high schools. During the past two years no money has been spent for outside architectural services. In the meantime the three new element- ary schools were built. This work has added to the staff of the School Architect until now he has three draftsmen and part-time stenographic service. The writer of this report has made an inspection of the work of this department. He has examined the facilities for ana methods of getting out plans and specifications; he has studied the plans and specifications of the elementary schools built by the department ; he has made a careful examination of the type of work and inspection done in the building of the new Sheldon school ; he has collected cost records of school buildings both in the Grand Rapids system and outside. As a. result of this survey, he is prepared to commend hearti- ly the work of this department. It is working on a thoroughly . professional basis. The citizens of Grand Rapids can feel that their newest elementary schools compare favorably with those built in other cities. They are designed with regard for the best principles of school hygiene, sanitation and architecture. _ School architecture is a profession in itself. It is becoming evident in these days that the general practitioner in architecture is not so well equipped to work out the problems in this field as is the specialist trained in the field. We have no hesitation therefore in approving the type of work being done under the school architect's direction. A pertinent question arises in this connection. Granted that the new elementary schools are well planned and built, how does their cost compare with those of similar type built in other cities? 464 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN We give in Table CXII the data on cost of fire-proof elemen- tary schools in Grand Rapids and four other cities of its class; also in five cities in the largest population class for which com- parative data happen to be available. The data on the former four cities were obtained from the business departments of each of the cities. We believe they are comparable with those from Grand Rapids. There are three units employed in computing schoolhouse costs: (1) the cost per classroom; (2) the cost per pupil ac- commodated; (3) the cost per cubic foot. Let us compare the costs of Grand Rapids with those in these nine other cities for each of the three units. Table CXII gives the data in detailed and summary form. Judged by the standards of construction in vogue in the cities of its own class, the city is paying about an average price for new elementary schools. If the comparison is extended to in- clude the buildings built in the five larger cities the unit costs are proportionally much smaller in Grand Rapids. The city ranks second and third in the list of ten cities in unit costs. The table gives assurance at least that the establishment of a school archi- tect in Grand Rapids has not meant an increase in comparative costs. The South High School was built recently by local archi- tects in the city at a cost of fourteen cents per cubic foot, almost exactly the same cost as in the case of the three elementary schools. The overhead cost for professional services (plans, specifica- tions and inspection) on these buildings is an important question. Criticism has been made of the large overhead cost on school buildings under the present scheme of organization. To deter- mine the status of this question the cost of professional services were secured on three elementary schools, and Franklin, Lex- ington and Sheldon, and the two high schools built by outside firms. Comparative data are also available from seven of the cities included in the table. The data secured seem to show that it costs slightly more to design and inspect buildings under the school architect's department than it does under outside archi- tects. The achitect's fee on the two high schools was 3.5 per cent. Professional service on the three elementary schools ran to 5.46 per cent, 6.17 per cent and 10.03 per cent. Professional ser- vices in the five larger cities ran less than five per cent in all ex- cept Boston. The excessive cost in the case of the Sheldon school has been explained by the School Architect, by showing that a change in the plans of the Board of Education necessitated two complete sets of plans. It should be noted, of course, that much time actually given to the preparation of plans for fixed equip- BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 465 fe CO G joo^ 3iqn3 J3J 1S03 - t>. ro Ci 1 \ ^ - 2 1 -^ W UlOO-a SST313 1 1 J3J ;so3 i - II s vo 1 re S33IAJ3S |EUOTSS3JOJ(J Suipnpxg; ;oo j oxqn3 J9J ;so3 i 1 VO vo li") in ro ,-H O 0\ '^ O ro O 1-H T-H ,-H ^ ■ ■ ■ re O CM vo o S U o o o 1 o q lO in 00 in !^. CO ce o q in 00 re ■ § d o q. in vo" 1 d o o d re 00 o o i in m oo' ON On o CM VO Cost of „ Plan? Building Specifications, Inspection ! o o oi" 00 in 1 o o d in '^ vo' o q q^ o o Cvj o o vo re °° in § cm' ^, ocT o d o q. ON re CM CM ON ^' o re Tf y-i re tC o o 00 '^. CNJ" CO o 69- ID re ^. i« o q m o' 1-1 in 00 vo 00 o q vo in cvT OS ! § § q o CM o q CM o re ON oq 00 On^ 0:2 O O m lO o re in On o 2 lO vo o CJ :3 fo tyj -a vo c -^ frt a; OS O rt Q jj c 4_> *• ^o in 00 o\ 1 n- lo vo H Cv CM irj H ON CO Per Cent for Plans, Specifi- cations and Inspection VO CM VO ON CO o Average Cost Per Room Special and Class CM 1 CO vo CO vo CI O vo" Special Rooms for 20 Class Rooms 1^ "1 o CI vd CM *9- vo t^ On O CO d CM (U li o III ■69- s VO CM -Oh <; o\^ VO vo" M3 O CO 00 en O C PQ o C\ - t^ OS H 1 'c 1 1 c i c c BUSINESS A'lANAGEMENT 467 ment, making up the detailed estimates for furnishing- of new buildings, etc., has been prorated to the cost of these new build- ings. On the whole it is questionable if the actual cost has been any greater under the present scheme than under that which uses outside ai;chitects. Aside from the mere financial criterion, there is no doubt that the Board gets a sound return from its expen- diture in the way of specialized professional services. II The General Supply Department of the Schools. General Supplies. The supply department of the Grand Rapids school system handles an annual business of over twenty- five thousand dollars. To a certain degree the smoothness with which instruction proceeds depends on the efficiency of this de- partment. The successful manipulation of a business of this size demands a thoroughly co-ordinated organization operating on sound business principles. Important to the success of the administration of this department is the way in which its ma- chinery is planned to fit the instructional needs of the system. The business organization in Grand Rapids includes a very well-worked-out supply department. It is directly managed by the Supply Clerk, whose stafif consists of four persons, an office assistant, a receiving and billing clerk, a shipping or routing clerk and a delivery man who give a certain amount of time to the repair force. The Supply Clerk is selected by the Business Manager and reports to him for approval on practically all pro- cedure except routine matters. There may be a question whether the supply clerk should not have a little more independ- ence in his work. The Supply Clerk's organization appears to be working smoothl}^ in most places. The pvirchase of supplies in a big city school system needs to be standardized and safeguarded in the extreme. No supplies should be bought except through the central supply department. In this respect the Grand Rapids schools are in the lead. They are working out a safe and efiicient method of buying supplies. No supplies can be bought by teachers or principals. All must secure their materials through the central office. Furthermore no supplies are sent from the central storeroom except on writ- ten approval of the Supply Clerk or his authorized assistant. It is believed that this is a sound method of handling the matter. Supplies are bought annually on specifications which are being carefully worked out. Orders for all such supplies are sub- ject to bid. Bids are tabvilated and stock selected that best fits the needs of the department. This procedure throughout is to be commended as businesslike. The department is now working on the standardizing of specifications for various types of sup- 468 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN plies. Those include all stationery and various papers; pens and erasers ; pencils ; ink ; art and manual training materials ; blackboard material; cooking, hardware, paint supplies and dry goods. The Survey Staff feel that the v^^ork that is being done in this direction is in line with sound business practice. There have been some complaints from a few principals of the poor quality of pens, paper and ink. The supply department has initiated special studies of the standardizing of certain of these materials, and it seems to be improving the way in which its work its adapted to the efficiency of instruction. Records. The supply department is developing a system of records that will operate shortly as a permanent inventory. The records are so organized as to give charges against schools, and the purchasing records charge by item all supplies issued from the department. The former records enable the Clerk to check the quantity of supplies sent to any building against the amount ordered for the year, the amount previously used, and the amount used by other buildings. In some cases this record has been used to cut down needless ordering by principals. From the office end of the line, economy and efficient administration of supplies seem to be evident. Annual per capita costs for sup- plies are figured by buildings by the Business Manager's statis- tical clerk and reported in the Annual Report of the Board of Education. These computations show that there is excellent uni- formity in the per pupil cost of supplies in the different schools of the city. With the exception of the special schools and the very smallest schools, the cost is practically constant in all build- ings. With the high-school costs there is close agreement be- tween Central and Junior High School, but a much larger cost at the Union School. The Supply Clerk maintains two offices, one at the main busi- ness office in the City Hall and one at the central supply room in the North Division school, three blocks away. At the main office the clerk has an office assistant who takes care of all office routine, posts the purchasing records, attends to the correspond- ence, filing, etc. Her work the past three months has consisted largely in bringing the records up to date. That will be ac- complished very soon. With the records brought up to date, much of the time of this assistant can be put on other matters. If the Supply Clerk maintained his office at the storeroom, the time of this clerk could well be put in doing some of the clerical work that now has to be done by the routing clerk or driver. It is difficult to see the need for the Supply Clerk's maintaining two BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 469 offices, especially when he is away from his staff a major part of the time. The Storage of Supplies. All regular supplies of the Board are stored at the central storeroom in the basement of the North Division School. This is well located in a central position in the city and accessible from all points. The department long ago has outgrown its quarters, however. The Board should take steps to give the supply department more room. Materials are piled in such fashion as to mean a considerable waste of time and energy in handling. At the central storeroom the supply clerk has three assistants. During the ten weeks following July first, there is a rush season of inventorying, stock-receiving, and order-filling. During this time the department is especially hampered in its lack of facilities. Aside from the lack of room, the department seems to be caring for the supplies of the school system in an efficient manner. The Board has been considering plans for a central administration building which would include the supply department. It is clear that expansion of present quarters will be an imperative necessity soon. The present organization under the Supply Clerk is such that he is forced to take a hand in the manipulation of the stock only during the summer months. In thus being relieved of the routine clerical and manual duties of his office he is given time to improve ways and means for giving the schools better service. This is a step in the right direction. The Handling of Supplies in the Buildings. In this connec- tion, it seems evident that there ought to be more frequent in- spection of the handling of supplies in the buildings. At the present time there is none. Principals store their supplies in un- locked closets and in many cases both teachers and pupils have access to the supplies at all times. Several instances were found in which the supplies for the building were stored in an unlocked closet opening off the main hall. This is a method of procedure that ought to be corrected. The Supply Clerk could well spend some of his time putting in and keeping up a better system of handling supplies in the buildings. The Distribution of Supplies. The department has worked out a system of regular monthly distribution of supplies through- out the city. A regular schedule for each section of the system has been planned, and supplies delivered in accordance. Teach- ers and principals know exactly when to order and exactly when supplies will be delivered to them. For delivery, the department has an automobile on which a small box has been built. This is inadequate for the present size of deliveries. The proposition to get a half-ton truck for the use of both supply and repair de- 470 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN partments would seem to be a step in the right direction. The only question involved is one of administering to the needs of both departments. During the summer months the truck is badly needed by the repair gangs and in the winter by the supply de- partment. It would seem that it might be possible to use it ef- ficiently in both departments. The supply department has worked out an efficient scheme of ordering and receipting for supplies. Orders are made in triplicate and no goods are delivered without written receipt. The department has been able to safeguard the handling of sup- plies in this way. Complete inspection of this department leads to the con- clusion that its work is being done efficiently and with consid- erable regard for both business and instructional conditions. It is believed the supply clerk in the future should spend more time on the latter phases of his work. The department needs more room and it needs to develop the inspection of the handling of supplies in the building. The Purchase and Inspection of Fuel The Board of Education spends nearly twenty-five thousand dollars a year for fuel. To heat its buildings the past year it used about seven thousand tons of coal. It is possible to so standardize the specifications, method of purchasing, inspecting and accepting of coal as to result in a high degree of economy. It is pertinent to note that there is no real inspection on more than half of the coal delivered. With the close of Septem- ber the coal inspector goes back to his position as janitor of the East Leonard School and the only inspection given is the formal receipting for delivery done by the janitor. In a tew cases it was found that janitors take samples of the coal delivered to their bins and turn these in to the Business Manager who has them prepared for the test made by city engineers. These samples, however, are not properly taken according to the descriptions of the janitors themselves. During the seven months October to April 1915-16, nearly 3,900 tons of coal were delivered, over 2,000 tons in February and March alone. On this coal there was prac- tically no real inspection. In 1914-15 the coal received was of a very low grade. It was so low in fact that the coal inspector rejected sixteen carloads at one time. The coal annually delivered to the buildings was so poor as to cause great inconvenience and a very large amount of waste in the heating of buildings. This instance is referred to as an indication of what ma}^ well happen when the quality of coal BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 471 delivered is not inspected. At the same time, shortage in weight is not being checked up. To an outside observer the situation seems to demand yearly inspection of coal. A table of deliveries by months for 1915-16 taken from the records of the business office show^s that the average delivery from October to April was 500 tons. This means fairly constant hauling of coal throughout the winter and a need for nearly daily inspection. III. School Accounting in Grand Rapids. 1. The Organization of the Staff. The accounting and cleri- cal work of the public schools is done under the immediate sup- ervision of the Business Manager. To assist him he has a regular bookkeeper and an assistant to the bookkeeper, an assistant to the secretary and a statistical clerk. The assistant to the sec- retary takes care of the general correspondence, drawing up of contracts, drawing up of bond abstracts, and the handling of miscellaneous duties. Much the same could be said of the book- keeper. A long list of the functions of these two positions reveal something of a lack of clear definition of duties. For example, the bookkeeper spends considerable time ''waiting" on the public, teachers and janitors, (this is the legitimate work of an assistant office clerk), writing teachers' contracts and collecting institute fees, purchasing streetcar tickets, stamps, etc., reading proof and checking proceedings, monthly statements, etc., making copy of ledger "funds" for monthly statement of funds to be printed in the ledger, etc., etc. Would it not be possible to define the duties of the four positions in this office subordinate to the Business Manager with a view to more unified definition and classification of duties? It would seem as though the bookkeeper could well give his time to the accounting and bookkeeping phases of the work, leaving many of his miscellaneous and clerical duties to an assistant or office clerk. 2. The General Method of Accounting. The scheme of ac- counting employed in the business office may be described as a receipts and disbursements system. The journal and ledger bookkeeping is relatively simple and easy to manipulate. It results in specific statements of the standing of various funds at any time, and from the standpoint of commercial accounting it reports adequately all financial transactions. The moneys of the Board of Education are at the present time classified in 33 principal funds (which have grown out of the original 26 funds.) The system was planned originally so that the funds 1 to 9 were primarily educational funds and the funds 10 and above were business funds. The scheme as it stands today is not well adapt- ed to the needs of the educational department. The funds can 472 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN hardly be said to be organized so as to result in specific state- ments of the cost of educational service. Let us take an example. Fund 3 is a fund for teachers' sal- aries. Together with 3a it will total between $500,000 and $600,- 000 a year. The present scheme throws together the salaries of all teachers, principals and supervisors. The accounting methods thus do not result in definite costs expressed in pertinent edu- cational units. The scheme is not built to result in such state- ments. The educational officers are interested in a financial ac- counting system which will enable them to evaluate the costs of educational service, administration, instruction, supervision, operation of the plant, maintenance of the plant and outlay for permanent improvements in terms of kinds of schools and of buildings. As at present organized the business department can- not co-operate with them in this without much "digging out" of detailed data. At the same time that fund 3 is not analyzed, fund 4 (sup- plies) is subdivided into 34 subordinate funds, which are re- ported in monthly statements of the Board co-ordinate with fund 3. In the same way funds 5 and 6 are divided into 17 small- er funds. (It is true of course, that the necessity for reporting to the officers in charge of those specialized funds will necessitate keeping them itemized in the ledger.) First, then, we would criticize the general organization of the funds and the method of analyzing them. Second, the general accounting is not planned in accordance with the best school accounting standards available, namely those adopted by the National Association of School Accounting Of- ficers and the United States Bureau of Education. These stand- ards have now been adopted in many cities in the United States. The only reason given for not adopting the standard form of organizing financial facts in Grand Rapids is that the latter has not been absolutely standardized. It should be said, however, that relatively little change has been made in the form since its adoption five years ago. Each year the Business Manager reports to the United States Commissioner of Education the financial facts concerning the Grand Rapids school system, on this same standard form. To do so means the expenditure of considerable time in reclassifying from the records the information desired. It appears to the Survey Stafif that in the reorganization of funds there should be adopted the grouping agreed upon by the combined associations, in terms of educational service and kinds of schools. This would result in a specific statement of the cost of administration, supervision, instruction, outlay, each in terms of day elementary schools, day high schools, junior college, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 473 evening schools, special schools, etc. Grand Rapids is opening up many special types of education. Its accounting methods should take cognizance of them. The proposed changes do not mean a wholesale revision of accounting methods. They mean simply a closer analysis of certain funds, 3 for example, and the combining of others and regrouping of all so as to give a more adequate educational classification of them. In this connection we note the present methods of differen- tiating elementary educational costs between the fourth and fifth grades, resulting in grammar school costs and primary school costs. It cannot be found that this has any real educational sig- nificance. Salary schedules take no account of such a distinction in the lower grades and in the housing and organization of pu- pils the administrative officers pay no attention to such a scheme of grouping. Why should the financial reporting be done in terms of it? On the other hand the system is showing a very real dif- ferentiation between the lower six grades, the intermediate seventh, eighth and ninth and the upper three grades. The city seems to be committing itself to a six-six organization of the twelve grades of the public schools. If the business department is to co-operate fully with the educational department, might not its accounting methods be differentiated on some such basis as this? If any reorganization of "funds" is to come, this im- portant factor might well be taken into consideration. It was in- dicated above that the city now has six different ways of admin- istering intermediate education. This condition will naturally hamper any complete readjustment of accounting on the six-six plan for some time to come. In the meantime, thorough ways and means for studying the cost situation should be worked out by the business department. Methods of Recording School Facts in Grand Rapids : The Bu- reau of Census and Statistics. The business and educational departments of the school sys- tem have been run for ten years as two co-ordinate departments. It is a fair question whether the facilities of the business depart- ment have been directed specifically at contributing to the opera- tion of the other. In the matter of the recording of school facts, there is quite evident a lack of unification of methods. The sup- erintendent of schools immediately directs a general attendance department which takes care of truancy work in the buildings and visiting work in the homes. For its efficient operation necessary systems of records of attendance have been developed. At the same time, recently there has been created a bureau of census 474 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN and statistics. This has been placed under the direction of the secretary of the Board (the Business Manager in this case.) This scheme of organization is explained by the educational depart- ment on the grounds that the state law requires the secretary of the Board to take the census. The law states that the census shall be taken by "the secretary of the board of education or other reputable and capable person or persons employed by the board." There is therefore no legal requirement that the office of the Business Manager take the census and administer the sta- tistical department. The director of the bureau of the census and statistics has recently worked out a very excellent plan for a continuing census which is to be commended. The work of this census will contribute information that should be placed imme- diately at the service of the attendance department. It is a striking fact that an enumeration of the list of acti- vities directed by the bureau of census and statistics shows that with one exception these activities are primarily "educational" and not business or financial in nature, e. g., enrollment and attendance records of the superintendent ; the class records of teachers ; school extension records ; the activities of the vocation bureau, etc., etc. The work that is being done under the director of the bureau of census and statistics is closely similar to some of the work being done under the head of the attendance department. In fact, we have found evidence of duplication of records that should be eliminated. The activities of the two departments are such that they should be co-ordinated into one under one superior ex- ecutive officer. Since the outcomes of the operation of this gen- eral census, attendance, and statistical department are primarily "educational" and not "business", the department should be plac- ed under the immediate supervision of the superintendent of schools or his assistant. The city may look forward in a few years to the necessity of having a special assistant superintendent over all such activities — census, attendance, statistics and school research. There is still other pertinent evidence to show that it is dif- ficult to administer a school system efficiently under a dual organ- ization such as exists in Grand Rapids. Problems of educational research, such as studies of non-promotion, elimination and re- tardation pertain most directly to the work of instruction. For this reason, the head of the instructional department ought to have at his command all available research data. Studies of non-promotion in the grades recently made by the director of the bureau of census and statistics have been reported to the business manager who can make no educational or business use of them. BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 475 At the same time, the results of the research have not been re- ported to the superintendent of schools and made available for the improvement of school practice. • Treated from various points of view, it seems quite clear that the present methods of recording school facts should be com- pletely reorganized. It is suggested that one department of cen- sus, attendance, statistics and research be organized, reporting immediately to the superintendent of schools or to the assistant superintendent of schools. CHAPTER XVI ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION The Board of Education of Grand Rapids faces, as does every other board of education in large American cities, grave problems of organization v^hich grow out of the complexity of the school system. A city of the size of Grand Rapids has a number of different kinds of districts. It is, of course, theoreti- cally desirable that each of these districts should have equal school facilities. This would mean that all of the buildings ought to be equally well equipped and equally well built. It would mean that the corps of teachers in each building ought to be of the same quality. It would mean that the course of study ought to be equally advanced and equally well organized. The superficial view of this problem is that all of the differ- ent districts ought to be treated, in all the respects enumerated, exactly alike. For example, in the matter of the course of study, equal facilities for the different districts will be interpreted by some to mean exactly the same course of study. A more careful consideration of the problem, however, will convince anyone that the needs of the different districts are in many cases radically different. In some districts, most of the children are going to high school, while in others the great majority are likely to enter the industries directly after leaving the elementary school. The Board of Education and the school officers have, accordingly, the very delicate problem of providing school facili- ties that shall be equally well arranged but not identical in kind. Furthermore, it is almost impossible in a city system of the size of Grand Rapids to keep the building equipments uniform. School buildings erected twenty years ago are lacking in many of the improvements which appear in the newer school buildings. It is quite impossible to discard a building because it is falling somewhat behind in its equipment. The best efforts must be made to keep the building in suitable working condition. This ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 477 means in a system with forty school buildings a necessary dif- ference in material equipment. Finally, the distribution of the teachers is not a matter over which the Board has instant and absolute control. The services of a teacher who has faithfully worked in the system for a number of years are in many respects much more significant to the schools than any contribution which can be made by a younger teacher. Conversely, the younger teachers are coming in with recent training and with an equipment in subject-matter and in knowledge of the science of education which many of the teachers of an earlier generation never had an opportunity to acquire. There is no such thing as a teaching staff in a large city which is uniform throughout in character. When considerations of this type are frankly faced, it will be recognized that the school problem in Grand Rapids is enormous- ly complex. This complexity will be all the more vividly real- ized when one looks. into the details of the administrative ma- chinery which are necessary in a great school system. For ex- ample, let one consider the work of a school superintendent. In a city of twenty thousand inhabitants, it is easily possible for a school superintendent to do a large part of the supervising of the schools through personal inspection. He can in the course of a year spend a great deal of time in each of the classrooms in the schools. He can become intimately acquainted with the administration of each building by constant personal presence in each building. Not only so but he can oversee most of the pur- chasing of supples for the system and he can keep in mind the supplies furnished to each building. By the time the population has doubled, the difficulties in the way of personal supervision by a single superintendent be- come much greater. If he is more interested in methods of teaching than in business matters, it is probable that he will relinguish first of all his relation to the routine of securing sup- plies. If, on the other hand, he has a taste for business, it is probable that he will absorb himself in matters of material equipment and will leave the classroom work to take care of it- self or at least to be supervised by the different principals. In either case, the disintegration of the school system will threaten unless some way can be discovered of mastering the complexities of the growing situation. Anyone who has had the patience to read up to this point the details presented in this report will realize that the general statements just made are supported by the actual diversities within the school system of Grand Rapids. These diversities have been kept in check by good organization, but they are 478 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN present in impressive degree in spite of this good organization. Grand Rapids can not look for a solution of these problems in any legislation or in any form of organization which has been provided by the state. The fact is that state school legislation Has been formulated in very large measure to fit small towns and rural districts. There is a clear legal recognition of this fact in the habit exhibited by legislatures qf granting independent school charters to large cities. Grand Rapids must work out a form of organization which will fit its own needs. There is under the state law great latitude for such organization. Let us turn to several examples which will illustrate at once the kind of problem which faces the Board of Education of Grand Rapids and the type of solution which is to be advocated. The school Census Bureau furnishes an excellent illustration of the difficulty which the Grand Rapids Board of Education comes upon in defining and unifying the functions of its officers. Under the laws of the state of Michigan the school board is obliged to take a school census. The primary reason for taking this census is that the state supplies certain funds to the school system of Grand Rapids on the basis of the number of children in the city. The law also indicates that this work shall be done by the board through its secretary. In Grand Rapids the secre- tary of the board is the business manager of the board. The Bureau of Census was therefore organized as a part of the busi- ness office. The returns which are secured by the Bureau of Census would be of great value to the attendance officers and Avould also be of much greater value than now if connected di- rectly with the scholarship records which are kept by the schools on the cumulative card records made out for each child. Under the present somewhat inadequate definition of the relations be- tween various officers the connection between the Census Bureau and the instructional department is not complete or satisfactory. The Bureau undertakes investigations which are related primari- ly to instruction and the attendance department does not use the census results. Another illustration can be drawn from the experience of the schools in administering supplies. There is a central supply station which is evidently well managed. Supplies are distribu- ted to the school buildings where they come into the hands of the school principals. Some of these principals are careful and efficient in business methods and handle the supplies as they should be handled. Other principals do not handle these matters as they should. The question now arises as to how the princi- pals are to be trained in handling supplies and what system ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 479 shall be adopted to insure proper inventory and suitable economy from the point of view of the system as a whole. Business methods have grown complex in this case and the proper busi- ness supervision of each building in a great system comes to be a difficult task. The ordinary supervision of principals em- phasizes almost exclusively their instructional functions. Their conduct of business affairs is not under as strict scrutiny. Yet the systematic supervision of the business organization of each building is important because of the difference between the dift'erent buildings in the personnel of the staff, because of differences in the accommodations which exist, in the buildings themselves for housing supplies and because of the diff'erent kinds of children who make use of these supplies in the different districts. The setting up of a central supply office does not solve this problem. Another illustration can be borrowed from the chapters on tests. Again and again it has been shown in these chapters that the dift'erent buildings of the school system show dift'erent de- grees of efficiency in the different subjects of instruction. Some of these differences in achievement are inevitable because of the differences between the children who are in attendance in the various schools. The development of an administrative machine that shall distinguish between the differences that are inevitable and those that are due to variations in methods of teaching is a problem which has become acute in recent years not only in Grand Rapids but in every large school system in the United States, A final example may be drawn from the experience of the Board of Education itself. Much of the work of this Board is done by two committees, one of which has charge of instructional matters, the other of which has charge of finances. In carrying- on the routine of school management these two committees found themselves drifting apart with the danger before them of becoming virtually two Boards. Fortunately the danger was seen in time to remedy it. The expedient was adopted of having the chairman of one committee sit as a regular member of the other committee. If, as indicated by this experience, there is danger of decentralization within the Board, how much greater must be that danger when the large body of teachers, principals, and other school officers is involved. The fact that the business activities of the Board and its activities in considering plans of instruction are not fully co- ordinated appears in the annual report. This report is made up of two distinct and little related subdivisions. What can be done to meet these dift'iculties and hold to- 480 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN gether all of the activities of the school system? The answer involves two seemingly contradictory principles. First, the sys- tem must be administered in an impersonal way. This means that plans for future action must be based on evidence drawn from a study of the needs of the schools. This means further that there must be a candid measurement of results. It is more important that the schools should face their practices in regard to non-promotion than that there should be condemnation or commendation by any individual. In short, the schools must be unified by the facts. The kind of unity which will grow out of a study of results is the only kind that will be permanent. The second principle which seems at first hearing to conflict with the foregoing statement is that the school system should have a single responsible head in charge of all of the activities of the schools. This does not mean that the single head should be clothed with arbitrary powers. Just because the unity of the school system can be secured only through a study of the facts about the system, this central executive must organize his office in such a way as to collect and interpret the facts about the sys- tem. He must make his plans and recommendations with a clear view to the first principle that the system can be unified only by a study of results. The single central executive is needed in order that the impersonal facts may be focused on every school problem. It is just as essential in a school system that there should be a single central unifying executive as it is essential in a great business corporation or in government. The argument is not for the creation of one-man control. The argument is not for the creation of dictatorial powers. It has been shown all through this report that the factors entering into the school system are manifold. They must all be recog- nized and evaluated. They must be co-ordinated and balanced. The Board of Education must unify and promote a great and complex body of interests. How can it do this? Only through a consideration of plans and policies which have been brought together from all sources by a single central officer. Let us make this concrete. At present the business office is independent of the superintendent's office. The two offices should be united. At present the superintendent presents plans and asks the Board to sanction them without, in some cases, giving a detailed financial plan as a basis of action. The super- intendent should be required by the Board to submit for every project which he suggests a full and workable financial plan. The Board should not allow even its own members to inaugurate plans without an investigation of all of the facts involved. In the location of a building or in making a change in the course of ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 481 study, the Board should first seek the facts. It should direct its executive, the superintendent, to bring together the facts which should guide action. Or take another example, if the Board should decide to enlarge the Junior College, it ought to require of its executive a full plan showing the character of the institution projected, the financial outlay involved and the evi- dences that the organization is needed and the evidence from the experiences of other cities that the project can be made to suc- ceed. If extra help is required in the superintendent's office to prepare such a report, the Board could well afiford to supply it. The reason for some of the blind experimenting that has gone on in school systems up to this time is that there has been no provision for administration planning and reporting on a large scale. The plan which has been sketched in the last paragraph is not, as some may object, a plan for the increase of the superin- tendent's power to the point where he becomes the autocrat of the system. It is a plan for the control of everybody. Board, superintendent, and teachers alike, by facts and clearly formu- lated policies. It is unfortunately true that school systems have been conducted all over this country in a vague experimental way. Even teachers have been in doubt as to the kinds of re- sults they have been achieving and the kind of plans which they should make. It is little wonder that business men connected with boards of education have tended to magnify purely financial considerations. The amount of money spent could be ascer- tained with a good deal of precision. The educational results se- cured have been unknown. The future of the teachino^ activities has seemed to Board members somewhat vague. The future on the financial side has, of necessity, had to be clear. The result is that Boards have naturally come to emphasize financial con- siderations and financial organizations. The time has come when the educational side of school work ought to be cleared up. TTiere can be no doubt that schools are organized for the pur- pose of teaching children. Schools have to spend money but they were not organized as financial institutions. It seems ab- surd to think of the spending division of the system as inde- pendent of the teaching division. Put the matter in terms of the findings of this report. Grand Rapids has an excellent school system. It is comparatively com- pact in its organization, it has introduced some most intelligent modifications in school organization before these have become common in school systems the country over, it has a well-trained corps of teachers, it is achieving good results. These state- ments are in danger of attracting less attention than will the 482 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN one statement that the school system of Grand Rapids is ex- pensive. The criticisms made in this report where attention is drawn to the necessity of improving instruction in certain parti- culars are in danger of exaggeration because communities have not been trained in the careful study of educational results and do not know how to deal with a report that is critical in any detail. The Board of Education of Grand Rapids has an opportuni- ty to contribute to the inauguration of a new era in school administration. Let the Board continue the policy which it has adopted in organizing a survey. Let it demand of its officers a clear statement at frequent intervals of the results being at- tained in the schools. Let the Board insist that the statements of results be compared in detail with the statement of costs. Let tTie Board insist that the future be planned in detail and with the greatest explicitness. Let the Board make it its chief duty to pass on plans and keep before the people the results of its studies. Let every officer be subject to the demand that results be proved and plans be worked out in detail. There will in such a situation be no danger of unfair domination by anyone through his mere personal influence and there will be no danger that finances will sufifer. It has been suggested in an earlier paragraph of this re- port that the school board increase its supervisory staff. There ought to be in a city of the size of Grand Rapids some officer who should rank as an assistant superintendent and who would have as one of his important functions the study of administra- tive, and supervisory matters. Such an officer would in the long run be a source of direct economy to the Board. His work,. sup- plementing that of the present officers, would promote efficiency in all educational lines. The appointment of such an officer would balance to some extent the increase which has been made in recent years in the cost of financial administration. The fact is that in most American cities, as in Grand Rapids, the adminis- trative machinery has expanded more slowly than the other phases of school organization. Coupled with this increase in the agencies for educational work should go a very definite movement for an improvement in training the principals of the elementary schools. The obser- vations of the Survey Staff have convinced all who have worked in the schools that there is at present too great devotion on the part of principals to petty routine. In many cases there is a dis- tinct lack of knowledge of administrative matters and a lack of initiative in the study of school methods of a modern type. Controlling a school building is a large public responsibility. ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION 483 This responsibility can not be met unless the officers in charge of buildings know how to test results. Some principals resist any comparative studies because they know that their own or- ganization is vague. The city has a right to demand of princi- pals, as of its major officers, a clear, frequent statement of re- sults and of plans for the future. Every building should be fre- quently checked up in financial as well as educational matters. The principals should have large authority and should be held strictly accountable. It is recommended that principals be re- quired to report to the superintendent at frequent intervals, defi- nite evidences of progress in their schools. It is recommended that they be required to show that they are keeping abreast of current educational movements and that they are taking definite steps to improve the teaching corps in their buildings. SUMMARY OF THE REPORT OF THE SURVEY OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF GRAND RAPIDS Methods of the Survey During the winter and spring of 1916 twelve educational specialists made a survey of the schools of Grand Rapids. They made observations in the classrooms of both the elementary and the high schools. They also went over the records of the school system and compiled tables showing the organization of the teaching staff, the number of children in the different grades who are promoted and not promoted, the number of students in the various high-school classes who secure high grades, or fail in their work, and other matters of the same type. They examined the financial records of the Board for the purpose of finding out how expenditures are distributed over the different activities of the school system. All these matters have been reported on in detail in the various sections of the survey report. After collecting facts of the type indicated in the last para- graph, comparisons were worked out to show how Grand Rapids stands in relation to other school systems in matters of instruc- tion and expenditure. Furthermore, the various school buildings within the Grand Rapids system itself were compared with each other so that it is possible on the basis of the facts which have been brought together to pass judgment on the relative effi- ciency of the various schools and of the system as a whole. Survey Staff The following men constituted the staff which carried on the survey. The particular duties which they performed are also indicated in connection with their names. Professor Charles S. Berry, University of Michigan, prepared the report on special classes. Professor John F. Bobbitt, University of Chicago, pre- pared the report on the elementary school curriculum and on the school buildings. Dr. George S. Counts, Delaware Univer- SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 485 sity, prepared the report on arithmetic. Mr. John B. Cragun, University of Chicago, prepared the report on music. Professor Calvin O. Davis, University of Michigan, prepared the report on high' schools. Superintendent John H. Francis, Los Angeles Public Schools, reported briefly as indicated in the discussion of junior high schools on the work of that part of the system. Professor Frank N. Freeman, University of Chicago, prepared the report on v^riting. Dr. William S. Gray, University of Chi- cago, prepared the report on reading. Dr. Benjamin F. Pittenger, University of Texas, prepared a large part of the statistical ma- terial used in the chapters on teachers and promotions. Dr. Harold O. Rugg, University of Chicago, prepared the report on school finance. Mr. Matthev^ H. Willing, University of Chi- cago, prepared the report on composition. Professor Charles H. Judd, University of Chicago, organized the survey staff and edited the results, contributing the portions of the report not otherwise indicated. Introduction — General Characteristics of the City The survey report has a brief introduction which reviews the census tables and other information describing the city of Grand Rapids as a manufacturing and economic center. Refer- ence is here made to the fact that there are a number of parochial schools in the city which are not included in the survey of the public school system. Reference is also made to the fact that there are other educational institutions in the city which contri- bute to the life of the people. It would be very advantageous if the municipality as a whole would survey all of its social resources as the Board of Education has surveyed the schools. There are many forms of educational activity which apply chiefly to the adults in the community, such as libraries, churches and places of amuse- ment. These ought to be understood and the need for their en- largement is quite as great as the need for the enlargement of school facilities. As is shown in the report on the schools, Grand Rapids is a city altogether competent to provide its peo- ple with the best intellectual and social opportunities. These should be developed not only for the children in the schools but also for all classes of people at all stages of development. Chapter I — Teachers The first chapter of the report deals with the teaching staff in the schools. Their training and tenure of office are exhibited from the records of the Board of Education. The high-school 486 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN teachers are in the main college graduates, especially those who teach academic subjects, thus conforming to the standards of the University of Michigan and of the North Central Associa- tion. There are a number of older teachers in the high-school faculties who are not college graduates. A sharp distinction appears between the training and experience of teachers of academic subjects and teachers of special subjects such as man- ual training, drawing, etc. These teachers of special subjects are very much less experienced and have spent much less time in their training than the teachers of the traditional subjects. Many of them are not college graduates. As a result the newer subjects are put at a distinct disadvantage in school organiza- tion. It is only fair to say that exactly the same situation exists throughout the United States. If, however, these newer subjects are to be organized as well as the traditional subjects, they ought to be taken care of by teachers of the greatest possible training and maturity. The school authorities ought to continue the policy so far as possible of aiming at the same level of train- ing for teachers of both academic and non-academic subjects. Among the elementary school teachers it is the teachers in the middle grades who have the least preparation and experience> This again is in conformity with the practice of schools through- out the United States. There are some dangers in this distribu- tion of elementary teachers. It is always necessary for a school system to assimilate its younger and less experienced teachers by putting them somewhere, but the distribution ought prob- ably to be made somewhat more uniformally over all the grades. The training of the elementary school teachers is very good. Most of them are graduates of normal schools and some of them are college graduates. The kindergarten teachers are very largely trained in Grand Rapids and have only that experience which they have acquired in the city. The report recommends that the public schools as- sume in a much larger degree responsibility for the training of kindergartners. In point of tenure, attention is called to the fact that the teachers of Grand Rapids remain relatively long in their posi- tions, which shows that the organization of tile system in this city is stable in its relations with the teachers. The training and experience of the principals of the ele- mentary schools are made subjects of special comment. Many of these principals have been in the service of the Grand Rapids system for a long period of time. The record of their training, in many cases, does not show any evidence of their having specialized on the problems of school administration. Indeed, SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 487 many of them are unable to report any special studies during the recent years of their connection with the school system. This is a matter of grave importance to the school system. School supervision is not the same as class instruction and anyone who undertakes to supervise a school building ought to make a spe- cial study of the problems of organization. The principal ought to keep up with current educational literature, and this can be done only when the principal is vigorous in study and attendance on the many educational institutions which are now offering- special training of this kind. The practice in American schools has been to advance to the principalship the senior teacher in the school building. This practice ought to be discontinued. Spe- cial attention ought to be given to the kind of study which will qualify one to make tests of the work done in the school and supervise the teachers so as to set up and maintain the highest standards. For example, as will be shown in the next chapter of the report, the problem of promotions is a special administra- tive problem depending on principles that need a much more complete standardization than has been w^orked out in the Grand Rapids schools. Control of promotions is one of the major duties of the principal and where there is any irregularity in the standard of promotion the school system ought to look into the efficiency of the principal. Chapter II — Non-Promotions in Elementary Schools The second chapter of the report deals with non-promotions and failures in the elementary schools. Non-promotions are of crucial importance in the school system because they show the extent to which the work of the schools is not successfully com- pleted by pupils. Whenever a child fails the school is confronted by a serious problem. It used to be the habit of school authori- ties to assume that the child was responsible for his own failure. It was assumed that the course of study and the methods of instruction were fixed and that the children must conform to all of the standards thus set up in the schools. In recent years, on the other hand, it has been recognized that the school shares with the pupil the responsibility for a failure. It is recognized that the course of study ought to be modified so far as possible to meet the needs of individual children. Where the course of study cannot be modified special classes can be developed which will take care of the children who are not able to complete with success the ordinary course. Grand Rapids has done a great deal in its efforts to provide special classes for children who fail in the regular work. A separate report on the classes for defectives and retards is included in the survey and emphasis 488 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN will there be laid on the fact that it is a great advantage to an educational system to differentiate the pupils in such a way as to leave the regular classes free to work with children who are adapted to the course of study and who can in great proportion succeed with the work of that course. The record of non-promotions shows that there is a high percentage of non-promotions in the first grade. This is the common experience of all school systems. The children are trying to adjust themselves in the first grade to the work of the school. Many of them find this difficult with the result that they do not succeed. By the second grade non-promotions in the Grand Rapids schools are reduced to about ten per cent of the children. This is a better record than is exhibited in many school systems. The percentage is, however, high, and the teach- ers of Grand Rapids ought to be encouraged to make a careful study of this matter of non-promotions and find out its causes. Some of the causes can be discovered by making a detailed study of failures in particular subjects. Such a study was made by the survey and shows that the failures in reading are high in the early years of the school but fall oft' notably and steadily in succeeding grades. The failures in arithmetic, on the other hand, increase and are at a very high level throughout the school year. From the third to the seventh grades the failures in arithmetic average more than 19 per cent. This is a very high level of failures in a particular subject and indicates that the work that is expected of children in the grades is heavier than it ought to be. The report also contains tables and diagrams showing the failures in other subjects. Thus it is shown that the failures in the fifth and sixth grades in geography are at a very high level. The situation with regard to non-promotions is relieved in part by the fact that the Grand Rapids system has a plan of trial promotion. A great many children who fail in particular sub- jects are not held back for the whole grade but are allowed to go forward for one year on trial. This plan is to be commended because it saves a great many pupils from non-promotion who would otherwise be held back for a full year. The statistics for non-promotion have been put together in the report so as to show that the practices of different schools are very different. In the first place, when one compares suc- cessive grades it appears within the same school that the prac- tices of different teachers differ widely so that in two successive grades the level of non-promotions is altogether different. In some buildings the non-promotions are very high throughout all of the grades while in others they are relatively low. These facts SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 489 show that there Is great need of standardization of the practices of the different schools. Observations and Tests in Elementary Schools Chapters III to VIII describe in detail investigations which were made of the results of elementary school teaching. These results were observed by members of the survey staff. In addi- tion standard tests were used to discover the ability of children in each of the subjects. The most Important subject in the ele- mentary school curriculum is reading. A good deal of time and attention was devoted both by the survey staff and by the prin- cipals and teachers to this subject with the result which may be described as follows. Reading This study was carried on by means of systematic tests in oral reading and in silent reading, and by means of classroom observations. The tests were given to 4,066 pupils in 37 schools by the principals and their assistants. The material used in the tests consisted in short selections which had been used in similar studies in other cities. The distinction between these two types of reading is one of great Importance. In earUer days, oral reading received special emphasis in every class. At the present time it is emphasized chiefly in the lower grades. Experience has taught that this type of reading is very effective during that period when the pupil is mastering the fundamentals of reading. Even in the mtermediate and upper grades, a pupil is called upon frequently to read orally. On the other hand, a pupil soon learns to use reading as a means of securing ideas for himself and he substi- tutes silent reading for oral reading. During the greater part of his school life the progress of a pupil depends upon his ability to master the thought of the printed page during the periods of silent study. Furthermore, under most ordinary situations of life, one reads silently for the purpose of gathering ideas and not for the purpose of oral exhibition. With this recognition in mind of the very great importance of silent reading, it was quite clear that the quality of instruction In reading in Grand Rapids should be determined upon the basis of achievement both in oral reading and in silent reading. In oral reading, it was found that pupils In Grand Rapids stand very high. As compared with Cleveland and a number of other cities which had been tested up to that time, Grand Rapids holds first place. The classroom observations revealed 490 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN the fact that these commendable results are due in a large measure to excellent methods which many teachers in Grand Rapids pursue. The tests showed, however, that schools vary widely in their achievement in oral reading. It 'was, therefore, recommended in the survey report that a careful study be made of problems in teaching oral reading to the end that the excel- lent methods now used by the more skillful teachers may be ex- plained and demonstrated. The silent reading tests measured the rate at which pupils read silently and the degree to which pupils understand what they read. The results of the tests showed that Grand Rapids secures a relatively high level of attainment in rate of silent reading. This is a phase of reading, however, concerning which teachers should not feel satisfied with their results even though they are superior to other schools. Most schools are low in rate because there has been no recognition of the importance of rate. A careful study of the ability of the pupils of Grand Rapids to understand what is read showed that they are below the aver- age for thirteen cities which have been measured by similar methods. This is a phase of reading to which teachers of Grand Rapids should give increasing attention. The successful result^ are due to the keen interest which teachers are taking in teach- ing reading, to the large number of readers supplied to the teachers, and to the excellent methods developed by many of the teachers. The points where improvements can be made are brought out in the tests and the methods of making the im- provements are suggested by a careful observation of the classes which make high records. Arithmetic The next series of tests dealt with arithmetic. For some time past the pupils in the elementary schools of Grand Rapids have been using a series of practice exercises in arithmetic which were prepared by Mr. S. A. Courtis. The test which was given them was an elaborate test going somewhat beyond the exer- cises on which they had been practicing but covering in detail all of the work done in the elementary grades. The test in question is a spiral test. The fundamental operations of addi- tion, substraction, multiplication, and division appear in the early sections of this test in simple form. Through the remain- ing sections of the test the fundamental operations appear in more complex forms. The same test is given to all of the children in the schools and the results are tabulated so as to show how far children in the different grades and in the different buildings SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 491 are able to solve correctly examples in each of the sections of tlie test. Full tables are presented showing the success of the differ- ent grades in this spiral test. Furthermore, a comparison is made between Grand Rapids and Cleveland, Ohio, where the same test was used. In general, it may be said that the pupils in Grand Rapids are somewhat lower in the earlier grades than are the pupils in Cleveland but in the upper grades the Grand Rapids pupils succeed better. This would indicate that stress is not laid on the arithmetical processes in the early grades of the Grand Rapids schools as much as in Cleveland. The final suc- cess of the work seems to justify the method of postponing em- phasis on these arithmetical processes. One table which gives the general results for all of the schools in the Grand Rapids system is especially interesting be- cause it shows a very high degree of consistency in the work of the different elementary schools. Some further analysis was made of the standing of children of different ages with a view to stimulating types of study which will lead to the adaptation of the course to children of different degrees of ability and different ages. As pointed out in an earl- ier section of the report, the arithmetic course needs to be modi- fied in view of the fact that the failures in this subject are ex- cessive as contrasted with other subjects in the course of study. Penmanship The next subject of instruction in which tests were tried was penmanship. A few years ago the Board of Education of Grand Rapids found that the penmanship in the schools was unsatisfactory.. They accordingly introduced a new system and required each of the teachers to acquire a higher degree of skill and to adopt this system. The results of the test make it clear that the system of handwriting now in use in Grand Rapids pro- duces good results. Especially does it produce a high level of speed throughout all of the grades. The quality of handwriting in the lowest grades is not as good as the quality of handwriting in many other school systems, but under the system which is employed in Grand Rapids it is not expected that emphasis will be laid on form in the early grades. The satisfactory result which is obtained in the upper grades removes any criticism that might be directed against the work of the schools. Mr. Freeman in making his report on handwriting discusses at some length the desirability of introducing in the early grades the amount of arm movement which is now practiced. It is his judgment that the system ought to be somewhat modified in 492 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN these early grades so as to free the little children from the necessity of the type of movement which is there required. The study reveals further the fact that the practices of different schools in the system are very different in the matter of hand- writing. This is one of the subjects which it is very difficult to supervise unless one has definite standards and constantly checks up the results by a series of tests. The recommendation is therefore urgently made that in all of the school buildings super- vision of penmanship be worked out by means of systematic tests frequently applied to the grades. Composition A series of tests were made in composition. The children were asked to write on a subject carefully assigned and the re- sults were, compared b}^ means of a series of children's compo- sitions that have been graded by Mr. Willing in equal steps so as to constitute a suitable scale for evaluating the work of the children of Grand Rapids. Here again differences in the differ- ent schools were conspicuous. In the main the work was found to be good. It was superior to the results of a similar test carried on in Denver, Colorado. Since the Denver school system is a very good system it is fair to infer from this comparison that the work in the Grand Rapids school system would be superior if compared with the average school system of the country. Observation Supplements Tests Testing composition is a very fair way of getting at the gen- eral intelligence of the children because they are called upon to use a difficult medium of expression and to use it with a degree of correctness and fluency which exhibits their power to express themselves in all matters in later life. It is at the same time much easier to test composition accurately than to test the special subjects such as history and geography in which the school gives them training. Indeed the tests which have been described up to this point in the report deal only with those phases of school work which can be reduced to a definite quantitative basis. There are other phases of school work which can be judged only indir- ectly by these formal tests. It should be remembered, however, that each one of the members of the survey staff who performed tests had an opportunity through his visits in the classrooms to form a judgment of the character of the work in the schools. The classes are industrious and well organized. The teach- ers are for the most part efficient and successful in their work. The school system shows by the results of the tests and from SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 493 all of the observations a high type of organization and a high level of achievement. Music Turning from the regular subjects of school work to one of the special subjects, an investigation was made of the course in music. Grand Rapids has emphasized a number of the newer subjects which have been introduced in the course of study be- cause of the general training which the pupils acquire from these subjects. Music is such an addtional subject. The work that is commonly offered in American schools in music is not as well standardized as the courses which are offered in the traditional subjects. It is difficult, therefore, to give any definite compari- son which will show the success of the work in music in Grand Rapids. Mr. Cragun, who observed the work in music, passes a very favorable judgment oil all that he saw. He finds that the work in Grand Rapids is carefully systematized so that the children who have difficulty with music are taken care of in the early grades and the chief source of failure in school music is thus eliminated. He finds also that the educational aspects of musical instruction have been carefully worked out. The children know how to pay attention to musical intervals and how to recognize the rhythms which are part of their musical training. This favorable judgment of music is in a measure confirmed by certain tests which Mr. Cragun tried on the children. He has some material from St. Louis and the Elementary School of the University of Chicago, and this material all tends to show that the work of Grand Rapids is of a high grade and successful in its results. Mr. Cragun's conclusion with regard to the music in- struction in Grand Rapids is especially significant in view of the fact that Grand Rapids invests each year a good deal of money in special training. It is distinctly the view of the Grand Rapids administration that this type of training is socially important and of great individual significance. One of the reasons why the school system of Grand Rapids is expansive is that courses of this kind are introduced. Other New Subjects. We may assume that some of the other newer types of work that are less conventional than reading and arithmetic are also carried on in a successful way. There are no standards which make it possible to determine the degree of excellence of the work in drawing, but a number of the members of the survey 494 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIG;.:, staff in the course of their observations made favorable reports on the work in drawing and also the courses in physical training. Course of Instruction in the Elementary Schools.* The examination and discussion of the work of the element- ary schools in connection with the survey proved a pleasant task because of the fact that so much good work is going on within the city. The professional people are in. a high degree alive to the nature of current educational problems. They have been and are industriously and conscientiously grappling with those problems ; and like the progressive school people throughout the country, as they adapt and adjust the work year after year, they are solving the various problems. The best ideas already to be found in the work of the city in connection with the teaching of each of the subjects, where these subjects are taught at their best, cover about everything that we can recommend in the re- port of the survey. The primary duty of the survey therefore turned out to be that of selecting what is currently considered the best types of work as these are already developed by thoughtful and progressive teachers and supervisors in the city, and of rec- ommending that these best types of work found here and there through the city, be made general in all of the schools. In reading the instructional recommendations of the survey, school people and community should keep in mind one important fact and one equally important probability which amounts to practical certainty: (1) The character of the educational work found in the city is now far in advance of what it was twenty years ago : (2) The character of the work now found in the city probably falls equally far short in its quality of what it will be in another twenty years. Great pains have been made in the past. Equally great gains are yet to be made, innumerable beginnings of which are to be observed everywhere throughout the work of the city. As one points out improvements which need to be introduced, therefore, it is nort in any spirit of fault- finding criticism. One is merely co-operating in the development of a constructive program. One is simply attempting to reen- force the arguments and efforts of those now working within the system who are attempting to secure these very same im- provements. The reading work of the schools, to take one of the more important subjects first, is developing along good lines. In the buildings where it is best done, whether in primary or grammar grades, the children cover a large amount of reading material dur- ing the school year. Reading needs to be increasingly done for *This section of the summary was prepared by Professor Bobbitt. SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 495 the thought, the mental experience, and the general widening of one's intellectual and social vision. Covering so much ground, the children are trained to rapid reading. The conditions demand also training in thoughful silent reading. The schools are sup- plied w^ith a considerable quantity of supplementary books in sets. The city is, however, singularly fortunate in its library sit- uation. It is doubtful if any other city in the country has done so much to place at the disposal of every school such easy and complete access to a great city library. The degree to which both schools and community are taking advantage of the various types of library facilities is one of the signs of incalculable prom- ise. To the subject of history, Grand Rapids is giving only about half as much time as the average of fifty representative American cities. Practically all of this is placed in the last two grades of the elementary school. Since about thirty per cent of the growing generation in Grand Rapids drops out of school before complet- ing the work of the last two grammar grades, it follows that this large per cent of the population of the city does not have that fundamental training in American citizenship which comes from a study of American history. This deficiency in historical train- ing is serious. It is in part made up through the supplementary and library reading. While this is excellent, it seems that it should be taken care of more consciously. In a democracy, civic problems requiring a good historical background for judgment are very numerous, and are growing still more numerous. Civic instruction is mostly a mere addendum to history. It is, however, of immeasurable social value. The work now done within the city is of only a rudimentary type. No subject is more in need of conscious direction and development. Where the geography work in the city is at its best, the schools are well supplied with geographical reading materials, maps, models, pictures, etc. ; the teachers have learned the value of the geographic experience that is to be had in connection with these concrete modes of presentation ; and they have learned the superior value of problem-geography as compared with the old textbook fact-learning type of teaching. The good type of work referred to, found in certain of the buildings, needs to be made general throughout the system. This cannot be done, how- ever, until the various buildings are supplied with a larger quan- tity and usually a better quality of geographical reading mater- ials. While maps, pictures, charts, etc., are indispensable, good reading materials must really constitute the basis of teaching the subject. In arithmetic the schools labor under the serious handicap of 496 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN having a textbook which thej do not generally use. Major at- tention is given to skill, accuracj and speed in computation. Too much time, however, of both teachers and children is consumed in finding and copying problems out of books other than the text- book. On the one hand, the city is in need of a text that is adapted to the type of work that is being done ; and on the other hand, supplementary printed helps are also needed. These are in part already being supplied by the board in the shape of the Courtis practice material. When one inquires as to the grammar and composition, one early discovers the influential presence of ''The News Junior." By furnishing a wide reading public, this little paper vitalizes the written expression of hundreds and even thousands of the children. The plan is highly commendable and the schools in general seem to be taking a full advantage of their opportunity. Without going into further detail, it can be said of the other subjects that in all of them, somewhere within the school system, one finds superior work going on which points the lines of devel- opment to be followed in making this type of work general throughout the schools of the city. Special Classes and Schools In addition to these reports on the regular routine of ele- mentary instruction. Professor Berry of the University of Michi- gan prepared a special report on the various classes which are organized to take care of children who are defective or backward in their school work. This report opens with the comment that Grand Rapids has more children of this type in special classes than most other cities. This does not mean that Grand Rapids has more children who are defective but that the machinery for separating them from the rest of the pupils is more completely worked out. In fact, Grand Rapids has been more energetic than most cities in selecting these difficult cases and giving them the treatment which takes the form of separate classes and separ- ate schools. There are a number of types of special classes and schools for backward children of various types. Mr. Berry commends the system as successful in many of its aspects. He believes that it would be better to segregate these children earlier than they are now segregated. In making this recommendation it should be clearly recognized that a grave social problem is involved in sep- arating any children from the regular classes. Parents usually object to the removal of their children from the regular grades, and supervisors are anxious lest they should be guilty of mistakes in picking out children who will later prove to be normal. The SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 497 community ought to be educated to the point of recognizing the difficulty which the school here encounters and the necessity of providing whatever facilities are necessary for the proper care of these children. Society has a problem in defective children which is not merely an educational problem but a general social problem. If these children are not taken care of, they become dependent and very expensive in their later years. Not only so, but society suf- fers from their maladjustment to the social order in many other ways. At present the equipment for these special classes, while relatively good, is in some cases not as complete as it should be. Grand Rapids is therefore to be commended for what has been done on the material side along the lines of providing for these children, but is urged to go much further in elaborating the fac- ilities for treating these children. Mr. Berry has performed a number of tests to check up the work done by the regular officers who have these children in charge and finds that the supervision of these schools is in sat- isfactory condition. The devotion of teachers of special classes is to be commended and the general organization of this work is excellent. High Schools. A full report on the high schools is rendered by Mr. C. O. Davis of the University of Michigan. The report on the high schools can be divided into three sections. First, there is a sec- tion dealing with the junior high schools ; second, one dealing with the senior high schools or the regular four-year schools ; and finally, one dealing with the junior college organized at the Central High School. Junior High Schools. The junior high school represents an efifort to create a closer connection between the elementary school and the high school. In most cities the break between the eighth grade and the first year of the high school is so great that children have difficulty when they get into the high school in adjusting themselves to the methods of work and to the requirements of their instructors. Grand Rapids was one of the first cities in the United States to recognize the desirability of reorganizing the seventh and eighth grades so as to avoid so far as possible this break between the elementary school and the high school. The junior high-school movement has come in recent years to be one of the most sig- 498 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN nificant movements in American education. Grand Rapids pre- ceded other cities in organizing this kind of a school. There are three different types of junior high schools in Grand Rapids. The institution which bears the name ''Junior High School" is a separate institution in which the upper grades are at work by themselves. The South High School has a six- year course of study which includes both the junior high school and the work of the senior high school. The Union High School relates the work of the, junior high school somewhat more closely to that of a fully organized elementary school. In all of these institutions the course of study differs some- what from the course of study ordinarily administered in the seventh and eighth grades. Opportunities are given for special- ization on the part of those children who are going to go on in the languages. Other children who wish to specialize in the manual arts are given an opportunity to take courses of that type. The junior high school thus gives an opportunity to differentiate somewhat the courses of the different pupils. It is the contention of the report that this differentiation and modification of the courses ought to go forward even further than they have gone in Grand Rapids. Where the junior high school reaches its fullest possible organization the children in the seventh and eighth grades are allowed an opportunity to do some of the science work and some of the work in mathematics which has traditionally been regarded as high-school work. Without attempting to go into the details which are taken up in the report it may be said that the report urges a continuation and extension of the junior high-school organization. Senior High Schools. The senior high schools are undertaking a number of new lines of activity. Thus, the sixty-minute period has been sub- stituted for the forty-minute period. The various subjects in which instruction is given are being reorganized with respect to their material so as to make this material more appropriate to the students in the courses. In general it may be said that Mr. Davis finds the work of the senior high schools well organized and conducted in a thoroughly progressive spirit. There is a difference between the opportunities offered in the various high schools. The Central High School remains the best equipped and most completely organized high school of the city, Sooner or later the facilities in the other schools ought to be raised to the level of the facilities offered in the Central High School. In dealing with the organization of the work in the various SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 499 classes one finds that the different teachers evidently have stand- ards that differ widely from each other. This appears in the fact that the grades given to the students are very different and the number of failures in the different courses vary from each other by w^ide margins. There is less uniformity and systematization of the high school than there is of the elementary courses. These comments furnish an opporunity to suggest the desir- ability of a more definite effort on the part of the high schools to standardize their w^ork. This does not mean that the v^ork needs to be made absolutely uniform, but in all of those common char- acteristics of the high school there ought to be a clear conscious- ness of the necessity of offering an equal opportunity to all of the children and of administering these equal opportunities on the same general principles. Junior College The junior college constitutes one of the grave problems of school organization in Grand Rapids. It v^as undertaken in re- sponse to a natural demand on the part of the young people of the city v^ho expect to go to college for an opportunity to carry on the work of the early years of their college course as economi- cally as they can and as near their own homes as possible. Mr. Davis presents in very clear terms the arguments in favor of junior college work in the larger cities of the country. Wherever the community is large enough so that there are young people who can be more economically and advantageously trained at home it is in the interests of public economy that provision be made for them. These young people would go to the University of . Michigan if they did not have an opportunity in Grand Rapids it- self to attend a junior college, and the total expense to the com- munity of their higher education would be much greater than it will be if they are given junior college privileges in connection with the high-school course. On the other hand, it appears that the junior college is not at the present time in a flourishing con- dition. It is very little attended and it appears to be diminishing rather than increasing in registration. It is Mr. Davis' view that some encouragement of the organization would make possible a larger registration. At all events, the problem is clearly stated in Mr. Davis' report. The solution of the problem involves in some measure the at- titude of the University of Michigan. It is the attitude of the University that the courses which receive college credit shall contain only students who are candidates for college credit, that is, there shall be no mixture of college students and high-school students. It is also the attitude of the University that every 500 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN credit which is given must be approved in detail by the depart- ments at the University of Michigan. It is pointed out in a preliminary statement made by Mr. Judd that these limitations from the University of Michigan destroy entirely the spirit of continuity between the high school and the junior college which characterizes at every other point the school system of Grand Rapids. It is quite impossible to or- ganize a junior college economically unless the small elective classes which are open to advanced students in the high school can be utilized for college purposes. The solution which is here suggested is one which would perhaps encounter opposition from the state university, but the report urges that an experimental attitude be assumed toward the situation and that a genuine effort be made to bring about an adjustment which shall in- crease the registration and shall make economical the organiza- tion of the junior college. One conclusion certainly can be reach- ed. If the junior college cannot be improved, it ought to be abandoned. Professor Bobbitt visited the various elementary schools of the city. His report on his observations is as follows : Buildings and Equipment In any consideration of the school buildings, one must divide them into two classes: (1) those that represent the building policies of former boards of education; (2) the newer buildings which represent the present building policy of the board. The newer buildings, such as the Sheldon and the Franklin, are thoroughly modern in practically every aspect of construction and equipment. The school plant supplies the material facil- ities for a wide range of educational and community activities, classrooms, assembly room, gymnasium, manual training room, domestic science room, branch public library, cloak rooms, nurse's room, shower baths, moving picture and stereopticon facilities, social center room, teachers' rest room, teachers' lunch- room, a room for ungraded pupils, etc. Buildings are fireproof, well lighted, well ventilated, the air properly heated, changed, and humidified; and general sanitary and instructional arrange- ments are of the most approved type. Some of the older buildings represent types of construction long since superceded. They usually offer opportunity for but a limited range of community and educational activities. The writer was informed that when the present Board took charge of affairs, the building situation was in a deplorable condition. The city was years behind in its building program. At a time when the city was growing rapidly, the Board has had the double SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 501 problem of making good past deficiency, at the same time supply- ing modern provision for a rapidly expanding school population. Much has been done by way of modernizing all the older buildings that must continue to serve for years yet. New ven- tilation arrangements have been made. Modern toilet facilities have been installed. New windows have been cut in rooms that were too dark. Unused basement rooms have been made into playrooms, shops, and kitchens. Older heating systems have given way to improved modern ones. While the Board has done as much for the older buildings as its funds would permit, much yet needs to be done as rapidly as the community is willing to supply the funds. Briefly stated, the task is simply to supply for all the districts of the city, so far as is reasonably possible, the same variety of social and edu- cational opportunity that is now supplied with districts having the newer buildings. Sometimes this will mean certain further alterations in construction or equipment ; sometimes the building of an addition which ought in many cases to be but the first unit in the construction of a thoroughly modern fireproof building which is to take the place of the older building years hence ; and in a few cases the entire building ought to be replaced with a new structure as early as practicable. Financial Report The financial situation in the Grand Rapids school system is taken up in great detail by Dr. Rugg, who discusses the finan- cial organization of the system. A summary of his findings is as follows: The Cost of Public Education in Grand Rapids. Among the cities of 100,000 to 150,000 population, Grand Rapids is a city of average wealth. It ranks ninth in 19 cities of that size in real wealth per inhabitant. With this average wealth, however, it is supporting schools more liberally than all but two other cities, Springfield, Massachusetts, and Des Moines, Iowa. In general, it shows itself to be a leader in the extent to which it taxes itself for schools. Furthermore, although it spends less for general city departments than most cities of its class, it gives a larger per cent of its municipal revenue to schools than any other city of the same size. Forty-five per cent of its city revenue goes to schools, whereas it is common for such cities to devote twenty-five per cent for such purposes. Although the city has been liberal in its endowment of edu- cation, it can hardly be commended for the method by which it 502 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN has raised certain portions of its school money. Due to a long period of neglect of school buildings a decade ago, the Board of Education was forced to establish a thoroughgoing building pro- gram. Large sums of money were needed, and over two million dollars were spent for such purposes in the ensuing ten years. The larger part of this money was raised by bond issues, al- though at the same time the Board of Education had a large un- used taxing capacity. The law permits the Board to raise in any one year six mills on the dollar of assessable property for current running expenses, and an extra five mills for school buildings, grounds, additions, etc. This is an unusual privilege, for most such cities have to finance all their school work on 6 or 7 mills. Notwithstanding this legal power, the Board has never taxed the city for school buildings to a greater extent than about one-third of the possible 5 mills. Instead, it has been forced to sell two million dollars' worth of school bonds, using a method that school administrative specialists agree is not wise school business policy. The Board has been desirous for years of building its school houses out of taxation, but the Common Council and Board of Estimate have not permitted this. Thus we have a city which is extremely liberal in its support of schools in the position of handicapping its Board of Education in the carrying on of school business. "The most adequate treatment for the future could come through legislation placing the taxing power in the hands of the Board of Education. As indicated above, to do so would bring Grand Rapids in line with the most progressive practice in the administration of school finance. The reorganization of the Board under the new charter ten years ago eliminated politi- cal influences from the immediate administration of the Board's educational and business services. The Board should look for- ward to a reorganization of taxing methods which will put the raising of school founds on such a basis that real use can be made of a scientifically planned budget." The future revenue of the Board of Education seems fairly assured. The city has greater legal capacity for financing schools than many other cities of its class ; its assessed valuation is in- creasing very rapidly, having doubled in 10 years ; its taxes for schools increased in 10 years from 2.29 mills in 1906 to 5.30 in 1914. If property values increase during the next 15 years as they have in the past fifteen years the Board will face no imme- diate need for a revision of the taxing limits for general pur- poses. As pointed out above, the city should be prepared to give the Board enough to build its schools out of tax money instead of bond issues. Along with a rapidly increasing expendi- SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 503 ture for schools has gone a more rapidly increasing revenue with the result that the Board has been forced to borrow money but once in fifteen years to meet current expenses. This borrowing in 1912 was due to a change in the legal date for collection of state tax money, thus hampering the Board in Grand Rapids to the extent of $225,000. How does the Board spend the city's money? Investigation shows that the Board is, in the main, distributing the city's money to different kinds of school work fairly equitably. That is, it ranks first in 19 cities in its actual endowment of educational and business overhead charges (administration) and in the amount it spends for the instruction of each pupil in the schools. In its attention to running the plant and keeping it in good repair it spends more than two-thirds of the cities of its class. The Board has shown a tendency to give relatively more attention to non-instructional or business matters than to purely instruc- tional matters. This is due primarily to the fact that Grand Rapids has a two-headed system of school administration, a business manager over all business affairs, independent of the Superintendent of Schools who is in charge of only educational matters. It is the conclusion of the survey staff that this con- dition should be changed and that certain other departmental changes be brought about as recommended in the detailed report. The Board is paying better salaries to teachers than all but one city (Springfield, Massachusetts) of Grand Rapids' class. However, it has not developed the supervisory work of the schools as much as other cities. It is endowing both elementary and secondary schools better than all the other cities,, excepting Springfield, but gives- a much larger proportion of its money to its high schools than to its elementary schools. It should pay proportionately more attention to developing elementary educa- tion in the city. This large expenditure per pupil for secondary schools is caused by the fact that Grand Rapids has had a very rapidly developing high-school population. This has meant four things : a rapidly increasing secondary staff, a parallel decrease in the size of classes, a decided increase in the secondary pay- roll, a parallel increase in the salary schedule. Salary schedules for both elementary and secondary schools have been increased liberally by the Board. At the same time the high-school and grammar classes are small enough to provide ample opportunity for good instruction. The primary classes are much larger and it is believed that more attention should be given them. Within the past five years the Board of Education has de- veloped the junior high schools and the various special schools very rapidly. Inquiry leads to the conclusion that the expendi- 504 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN tures for these purposes are probably justified. It reveals, how- ever, that the business department of the schools is not working intensively enough in the accounting end of such activities. The Board never obtained a statement of the added cost of such acti- vities. The survey shows, for example, that it costs nearly twice as much to teach a pupil in the seventh and eighth grade when he is in the Junior High School as when he is in the regu- lar grammar school. This is due largely to larger salaries paid to teachers and smaller classes. This increased expenditure can very easily be justified by the increased benefit to the pupils. The whole problem of cost accounting in the public schools should be taken up more thoroughly. General Administrative Organization The last chapter of the report deals with the administrative organization. Under the Board of Education there are two divisions of school administration. One has to do with the in- structional side of the school's activities ; the other has to do with the business organization. The unity of these two organi- zations is secured through their common dependence on the Board of Education. Too much cannot be said by way of praise of the attitude of the Board of Education toward problems of administration. This body is free from political influence and is carrying on the schools in the most harmonious way. The efticiency of the school or- ganization, while it is to be attributed in large measure to the school officers who deal directly with the problems of the class- room, is also to be attributed to the spirit and temper of the general administration which does not interfere with these tech- nical officers but rather supplies them w^ith the equipment which they need for their work. A school board, whatever its spirit of administration, faces in a modern American city a most complex problem. This prob- lem includes buildings, teachers, and central administrative offi- cers. To hold all of these agencies and equipments together in such a way as to offer a like opportunity to all of the children of the city calls for the highest type of technical knowledge and technical supervision. Such technical supervision and unifica- tion of the school system can be provided for only when admin- istrative machinery is set up complete enough to include all of the interests that are at stake and impersonal enough to treat all of these interests with impartial justice. In the early days of American school organization, when school systems were small, the effort was made to direct these school systems through per- sonal observation, and the strong influence of a single individual SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY 505 was enough to guarantee a complete organization of the school. Today, when the conditions are so much more complicated, it becomes necessary to provide the school system with the means of scientific supervision. There must be a constant system of reports which will bring to the central office information re- garding the activities of each school. For example, the attempt has been made to show in this report that much closer super- vision of non-promotions is necessary than can be given under the present method of dealing with that problem. This closer supervision cannot be of a purely personal type. There must be a standardization of practice and there must be a careful anal- ysis of all departures from the standard practice. Scientific supervision means a more elaborate type of super- vision than is provided at the present time. This in turn means a more definite recognition of the dangers of the lack of unity. The grave problem which confronts a school board, therefore, is the problem of providing more agencies of supervision while at the same time it provides greater concentration of responsi- bility in the central office. The report offers several examples of present practices which show in the judgment of the survey staff the desirability of a union between financial administration and instructional ad- ministration. These examples are intended to make clear the recommendation of the survey staff that the Board ofr Educa- tion take steps to correlate the business activities of the Board's officers more closely with the activities of the officers in charge ol instruction. Conclusion The report in general shows that there is a very satisfactory condition of progress in the Grand Rapids school system. In- struction is of a high order and results are relatively superior. The detailed recommendations which have been outlined in this summary and are presented in full in the report would make for an improvement of a school system already well organized and carrying on its work in a very adequate fashion. Industrial Education Survey There is one general comment which is introduced at a num- ber of points in the report and may be made the subject of spe- cial remark. Grand Rapids as an industrial city has a problem of vocational education which has been solved only in part. There are now provided educational opportunities in the night classes for vocational training of adults. The relation of vo- 506 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN cational education to regular school work requires in Grand Rapids, as it does in most American cities, more attention than has been accorded to that problem in the past. The kind of reading matter which children have in the schools will undoubt- edly have to be modified in view of the use which they are going to make of reading in practical life. The science which they study would furnish a very interesting and useful introduction to a study of industries. Mr. Bobbitt's comments on the course of study and Mr. Davis' comments on the need of enlarging the manual opportunities of the junior high school, all point in the direction of a general problem which the Grand Rapids system ought to face, namely the problem of offering an opportunity for more industrial education to the young people of the city. Modi- fications in the course of study which are introduced in order to solve this problem ought not to be introduced rashly. The only intelligent procedure for any community is to find out what are its industrial needs and what are the relations of industry to school work. The complete and satisfactory adjustment of re- lations in this matter calls for a careful scientific study of the situation. This could be carried out in Grand Rapids by a sur- vey of the industries such as has been made in Richmond, Vir-, ginia, or in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is recommended by the present survey that additional investigations of this type be made so as to prepare the school officers and the community for an enlargement of the school work to include industrial educa- tion. INDEX Administrative organization .-. 476-483, 504 Administrative policies of Board " 419 Arithmetic 106-128, 490 Failures in 40 Grand Rapids and Cleveland compared 110 Instruction in * 186 Test 106 Assembly rooms 346 Auxiliary classes 311 Equipment 314 History and organization 311 Recommendations 325 Selection of pupils 313 Supervision *. 321 Teachers .-:-. 321 Training and instruction 315 Berry, C. S 13, 306, 484 Blackboards 357 Bobbitt, J. F 13, 155, 340, 484 Branch Library rooms 346 Buildings and equipment 340-360, 500 Bureau of Census and Statistics of the Grand Rapids Schools 50, 473 Business management of the public schools 441-475 Civics 178 Classrooms 348 Cleaning of buildings 357 Cloak-rooms 347 Commercial branches 241 Composition : 85-105, 492 Instruction in 190 Scale 86 Test 85 Conditional promotions 48-50 Cost, of high-school education 429 Of intermediate education 432 Of public education 361-440, 501 Counts, G. S. 13, 106, 484 Course of study. Grand Rapids, Mich 248, 254 Los Angeles, Cal 246 Solvay, N. Y 242 Trenton, N. J „ 247 Courtis, S. A 186 Cragun, J. B 13, 145, 485 Creswell, Mrs. Cordelia 306 Davis, C. O 13, 212, 485 508 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Defectives, elimination of ; Z7 Departmentalization of work 284 Diagrams Dyer, F. B 331 Elementary schools, failures in 36-60 Non-promotions in 36-60 Elementary science 240 Elimination, of defectives 2)7 Of pupils 262 English 231 Enrollment, high school according to subject 260 Junior College 267 Expenditures, Board of Education: Current expenses .' 382 Educational vs. business : 387 Educational services 392 Permanent improvements 382 Expenditures for school purposes: Grand Rapids 375 Experience, of grade teachers 31 Of high-school teachers ., 28 Of kindergarten teachers 27 Of principals 2)2) Of teachers of special subjects ■. 28 Failures 290 In Arithmetic 40 In elementary schools 36-60 In reading 40 Foreign languages 235 Foreign population 15 Fortnightly Club 330 Francis, J. H 13, 208, 485 Freeman, F. N 13, 129, 485 Geography .— 180 Grade teachers, experience of 31 Preparation of 25 Grammar 188 Grand Rapids Public Library 164 Gray, W. S 13, 62, 485 Greeson, W. A , 306 Gymnasiums 346 Handwriting, tests in 129 Harrington, Dr 332 Heating 349 High schools 497 Enrollment of „ 220 Location of 213 Organization of 214 Recitation periods of 221 High-school teachers, experience of 28 History 168, 237 Instruction of, m grammar grades 174 Household occupations 205 Industrial education 262, 505 Industries of Grand Rapids 17 Instruction in the elementary schools 155-207, 494 Judd, C. H , 13, 485 INDEX 509 Junior College 499 Grades 269 Junior high school organization 228, 497 Kindergarten teachers, experience of 27 Preparation of 25 Lighting 351 Manual training 200 Mathematics 233 Methods of the survey 484 Music 147-154, 493 Educational 148 Instruction in 199 Recreational 147 Nature study 194 New buildings 340 Non-promotions in elementary schools 36-60, 487 Investigation of 50 Percentages in various grades 39 Reasons for VJ Older buildings and equipment 344 Open-air classes 329 Open-air rooms 360 Oral reading tests 63 Organization of teachers 20 Parochial schools 16 Penmanship 129-146, 491 Physical education 196 Pittenger, B. F 13, 485 Playgrounds ., 359 Population, foreign 15 Preparation, of grade teachers 25 Of kindergarten teachers 25 Principals, experience of ZZ Training of 2iZ Promotions 290 Reading 62-84, 489 Comparison of in Grand Rapids and Cleveland 68 Failures in 40 Instruction in, in intermediate and grammar grades 159 Instruction in, in primary grades 157 Interpretation of 69 Methods 162 Recommendations 275, 302, 329, 334, 338, 448 Retarded pupils 307 Revenue, sources and amounts of 370 Rugg, H. O 13, 361, 441, 485 Secondary schools 212-305 Secondary school system as a whole 213 School accounting 471 School plant, business management of 445 Construction of 462 Maintenance of 457 Supplies 467 Seating 355 Senior high school organization 254, 498 510 SCHOOL SURVEY, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN Silent reading, quality of .'. 11 Rate of 74 Tests 74 Special classes 'VZ'...'Z ' 306-339, 496 Spelling ; 191 Summary report 484-506 Supervised study 223 Survey staff .13, 484 Tables Taxation for school revenue 365 Teachers 20-35, 276, 485 Academic, preparation of 21 Experience of 276 Qualifications of 251 Salaries of 276 Special, preparation of , 21 Time preparing w^ork 286 Training of - 276 Vacations of 282 Technical training of teachers 21 Tenure of teachers 21 Tests, introduction to 61 Training of principals ZZ Of teachers 276 Truant School 334 Ungraded classes 325 Vacation schools 226 Ventilation 349 Willing, M. H ....- 13, 85, 485 Woodruff, Dr 332 WHITE PRINTING COMPANY. GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.