Class ~/J^ 3 7 Book > u^»» &s £—1 o PRESENTED BY PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR BY PING LING A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and accepted on the recom- mendation of G. Stanley Hall in PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR BY PING LING A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and accepted on the recom- mendation of G. Stanley Hall 1919 All Rights Reserved University PREFACE The following pages represent an endeavor to study the effects of the war upon schools in other countries and especi- ally in the United States. The first four chapters deal with some specific problems of the public schools in connection with the war and were written when the great world conflict was still going on. They show the revolutionary changes which the public schools have made in adjusting themselves to the needs of the war, and suggest the unmistakable tendencies of our educational reconstruction which is yet to come. The last two chapters were written when the great war had just come to an end. In them the author has tried to show, in the light of the experience of many school systems in this country, how American public education can be reorganized in order to meet the needs of the coming new world order. It is the author's hope that they may be of some value to the general discussion of educational reform. In the course of investigation the author has sent out ques- tionnaires to hundreds of state educational officers, city and county school superintendents, and teachers of the elementary and high schools throughout the country for authentic informa- tion. It would be impossible for him to record his indebted- ness to all those who have made contributions to this study. But the author wishes to express especially his earnest appre- ciation of the valuable aid so frequently, willingly, and gladly offered by his leader and guide, President G. Stanley Hall, in the course of this study. Without his suggestion this work would not have been undertaken, and without his constant encouragement this work would not have been completed. The author wishes also to express his deep gratitude to his beloved teacher, Prof. William H. Burnham, for his very helpful suggestions and kind criticism, and to Miss Clara E. Schieber for her invaluable assistance in carefully reading over the manuscript and the proof and in making suggestions with regard to literary defects. P. LING. CONTENTS PAGE Chapter 1. Moral Training of School Children in War Time 5 Chapter 2. School Children and Food Production 26 Chapter 3. Military Training in the Public Schools. ... 46 Chapter 4. The War and the Teaching of School Sub- jects 69 Chapter 5. Reorgnaization of the Public School System after the War 89 Chapter 6. Reorganization of Public School Programs after the War 127 Summary 151 Bibliography 154 CHAPTER I MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME John Ruskin said in his Crown of Wild Olive: " When I tell you that war is the foundation of all the arts, I mean also that it is the foundation of all the high virtues and faculties of men. It is very strange to me to discover this, and very dreadful — but I saw it to be quite an undeniable fact. The common notion that peace and the virtues of civil life flourished together, I found to be wholly untenable. Peace and vices of civil life, only, flourish together. . . . " I found, in brief, that all great nations learned their truth of word and strength of thought in war, that they were nour- ished in war and wasted by peace, taught by war and deceived by peace, trained by war and betrayed by peace, — in a word, that they were born in war and expired in peace." In these times of unprecedented world struggle when the traditions of centuries are crumbling and all the ideals of civilization are being tested in the infernal fire of war, these words of a philosopher and a great lover of art are most chal- lenging. They are challenging, because they compel us to turn our thought from the present horrors of war to the possible future social order which may rise from the indescrib- able chaos of to-day. Looking from the dark side of the war, the world is in a period of great conflagration. Every human effort is being directed to the scientific inventions of fright- fulness and destruction. Every advance in science and engin- eering makes war more hideous and every advance in organ- ization and efficiency makes it more terrible. The shrieking of the drowning women and children on the high seas and the shelling of quiet homes seventy or eighty miles away are only a few of the examples of the terrors of modern war- fare. For the time being at least it seems that the whole world is going to come to an end. But looking from the bright side of the war we find that war has served as a great agency for the re-evaluation of life, for the advancement of civil virtues and for the enhancement of high moral ideals, despite all its destructive effects. Never before have we seen so many evidences of love and sympathy, of devo- tion to duty and consecration for service. Never before have we heard so much of the deeds of heroism and self-denial, 6 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR of bravery and discipline. Never before have we found so many examples of loyalty, co-operation, and the willingness of paying the last measure of devotion for a great cause. We have every reason to hope that this war will prove to be a great atonement for the world, that the heroic blood shall not have been shed in vain, and that a new social order shall be established which will for ever hold the brute in man in leash. It is upon this inspiration that I propose to discuss in this chapter the ethical values of war from an educational point of view, and particularly those object lessons which are exerting a profound influence on the character and inner life of children upon whose education and training the future of the world depends. The teachers of to J day are largely responsible for the world of to-morrow. They are training a generation not only for the wise maintenance of the coming peace but also for the just and faithful applications of the moral lessons we have learned from this war. Nations as well as indi- viduals will soon forget the truth and the ethics which have been brought so vividly and lucidly to light by the immediate conflagration, and let the lower passions of vain glory, petty jealousies, and selfishness again loom large in our national and individual life. But, lest we forget, we must never go back to the old order of things ; we must never let the war lessons so dearly and painfully learned be relegated to the place of oblivion, and, the most important of all, we must teach children these lessons so that the truths and the ethical virtues brought out by war may be incorporated in their moral fibre and may thus become a moulding force for the future. This is a great task, a task which requires vision and pedagogical insight to perform. Woe be unto the peda- gogues if they fail to comprehend their duty and responsibility to discharge it with faith, fidelity, sagacity and professional ability ! In discussing the problem of moral training of school chil- dren in war time the writer is fully aware of its immensity and complexity. In times of peace the ethical training in the public schools always proved to be a difficult thing, because there was a lack of paramount motives to hold the interest of the children. But in times of war the condition is dif- ferent. We can construct our entire method of moral train- ing around the main theme of patriotism. In patriotism the children will find motives in doing things and can learn many fundamental virtues through their actual participation in the war activities of the school. For this reason I shall present this subject in the following two sections; namely, MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 7 (1) the teaching of patriotism and (2) the training of patriotism. I. Teaching of Patriotism The first task the teachers must perform is the teaching of patriotism. It is not a new task imposed by the war, but the war has made it more important and necessary. To fail in stimulating the patriotic feelings in children would mean a failure in one of the main functions of the school. But how to teach patriotism in connection with the war is the question which we have constantly asked and to which we yet have no answer. To my mind, the fundamental solution of this prob- lem presupposes a clear conception of what true patriotism is. To conceive it in its highest and best sense, the teaching of it will be beneficial both to the individual and to the nation. To conceive it in a wrong perspective, the teaching of it, no matter how patriotic the teacher may feel, would be poisoning the minds of the children and doing a nation more harm than good. Now what is patriotism? To say that patriotism is love of country is begging the question, for the phrase " love of country " needs further explanation. Is the hatred for the enemy to be identified as true patriotism ? Is the exaltation of the nation's greatness to be interpreted as real love of country? With all emphasis we must say " no." To conceive patriotism in such terms would be nothing short of a horrible perversion. In an autocracy the conception of patriotism can not be any- thing other than the exaggerated national egoism and the con- tempt of other peoples, because the autocratic rulers must deliberately educate their people into such a frame of mind in order to further their imperialistic design. But in a democracy, we must conceive patriotism as an unqualified devotion to the ideals and institutions of the country which guarantees liberty and justice to all. It is upon this higher and nobler conception that we must formulate our principle of instruction. Avoid the teaching of hatred — Hatred for the enemy has no place in the teaching of the war. We have heard so much about the teachings in the public schools of Germany con- cerning her enemies, but we should not follow her example. Indeed, we should constantly guard ourselves against the temptation of introducing into the public schools any teachings which are not in harmony with the democratic ideals for the defence of which we are making the supreme sacrifice. America entered the war with no selfish purposes, so we must carry on the war without passion. The righteous indignation against the Germans which we feel at present must 8 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR never be degraded into simple racial hatred. We should not let our feelings blind us to our pedagogicar duty which is to educate, to train, and to prepare the children of to-day for the world-citizenship of to-morrow. Furthermore, to teach hatred would be to increase the demoralizing effects of war upon the inner life of children. Evidences are not lacking that numerous psychoses have developed among the children who, on account of their resi- dence near the fighting front, have been receiving the frightful impressions of death and destruction. Their emotional life has been profoundly affected by the great shell-shock of the war. They are developing cruel instincts and harmful habits which are definitely detrimental to the normal growth of their moral character. In view of this fact the true war- pedagogy is to find out the ways and means to counteract the evil effects of war and to obviate the dangers which may rise from the daily events of the struggle. On discussing the new educational duties of our time, Prof. F. W. Foerster has made the following statement : " A girl in her teens comes from a street-corner where the German naval victory off Chile is posted and says jubilantly to her friends, 'Have you read? Magnificent ! Fifteen hundred Englishmen drowned off Chile !' I do not consider such things harmless. For the stay-at-homes war can become a school of heartlessness and thoughtlessness if a very earnest counter-effect is not given at the right time. As a teacher, I would, on such an occasion — or even before- hand as a precautionary measure — say with great emphasis, ' Listen, whoever is not yet so fortunate in these war times as to be permitted to bind up wounds and nurse the wounded, shall at least think of the wounds which war inflicts and of the broken hearts and happiness of the thousands who thereby lose what is dearest to them — therefore, even in our joy over victory, there should always sound a minor note. Do you know what " Minor" means and how it can be expressed ? What a loss for us if the others should lose their ships, but you should lose your hearts !' m Such an admirable state- ment from a far-sighted German educator should serve as a grave note of warning to the teachers in this country who are encouraging their pupils to maintain a malicious, scornful and brutal attitude towards the enemy. To be sure, the grim realities of war have not come to the daily experience of the average American children. But the time is coming, if the war lasts, when the American heroes will lay down their 1 Prof. F. W. Foerster. New Educational Duties of Our Time; translated by Helen M. Downey. Pedagogical Seminary, March, 1918, p. 80. MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 9 lives on the fields of honor by hundreds or thousands a day, then their dear little ones at home will not fail to have some emotional experience which are appalling to their growing childhood. Is it pedagogically or psychologically sound that we should teach them to indulge in hatred and malice, which are not beneficial to the nation and decidedly harmful to themselves ? Avoid the Teaching of National Egoism — The undue ex- aggeration of the nation's greatness should be carefully avoided in the teaching of patriotism. The fundamental reason for which Germany started this world war is just because of her belief that she is the only nation in the world that is fit for existence. For many decades the German government has been using the public schools as the chief instrument for educating the people to belive in the doctrine of " Deutschland ueber Alles." In no country has the government more direct control over education than in Germany. In no other country has education been made so subservient to political aim which is to put the world under German domination. Everywhere in Germany the children have been taught to think that the Germans are the " Chosen People of God" to rule the rest of the world. Had the Germans been trained to respect the rights of others, this great catastrophe would have, been impossible. To teach children that their country is the best in the world in everything is not teaching the truth. No nation -is all good nor all bad. Every country has its shortcomings as well as its achievements. The great world civilization is just like a beautiful mosaic picture, each nation has made its contributions. Every nation has its own ideals, traditions, customs, morals and virtues, which may by utterly different from those of others ; yet it is upon these very differences that the advance and the enrichment of the world civiliza- tion depends. Teachers should lead children to recognize these differences between nations and help them to realize the deep underlying unity that binds all nations together. The great fundamental principle of a democracy is to allow the individuals to differ ; so the great democratic world must allow the individual nations to differ. America is devoting everything, man, money and resources, to making the world safe for democracy ; so the school teachers should assume the responsibility of developing a sort of corporate con- science in the younger generation in order to maintain the great world democracy which is bound to come. Their ac- complishment may not be so spectacular as that of the heroes in the field, but it is in no sense less important. 10 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR Furthermore, true patriotism does not consist of a romantic view of country. It must be sane and modest. It is of the same nature as the love which we have for our parents, as one writer puts it. We know that our parents are not perfect human beings ; so one must recognize the fact that his nation is not a perfect nation in everything. Nevertheless, one can love his country just the same, even though it is not perfect. As we must and we will defend our parents from violence, so one must defend his country from any foreign encroach- ment. Why should one insist upon the idea that his country must be the finest in the world in order to fight for its right and honor? The sentiment which expresses itself in the phrase, " My country, right or wrong," is not the kind of patriotism we should teach in the public school. It has the same meaning as " Deutschland ueber Alles." It is nothing but a projection of the selfish ego on a larger horizon. To carry the analogy a few steps further, we can say, " My country, right or wrong ; my state, right or wrong ; my county, right or wrong ; my city, right or wrong; my family, right or wrong; and finally, myself, right or wrong." It literally means that selflove recognizes no law, and patriotism knows no principle of jus- tice nor international obligations whatsoever. How absurd ! Teaching the National Ideals — The great democratic ideals, the ideals upon which the American Republic was founded, should never be lost sight of in any scheme of teaching patriotism. Since the declaration of war practically every city school system heard from has instituted some means in arousing the patriotic feelings in children, such as flag cult, pageantry, national songs, etc. Take, for example, the flag. In some cities, the pledge to the flag has been insisted upon for all children. With elaborate ceremony the chil- dren are made to take the following oath : " I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands : One nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." In other cities, children are made to salute the flag and repeat the pledge every morning when the school is in session with the deep solemnity appropriate to the occasion. The meas- ures are excellent in themselves, but the meaning of the flag and the national ideals, traditions, and inspirations that the flag symbolizes, should never be over shadowed by the excitement of showy exhibition. Patriotism is an abstract term. The spiritual significance of national principles can not be intelli- gently appreciated without maturity of mind and openness of heart. Children of school age can not be expected to grasp the abstract principles without any tangible and visible form. MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 11 Consequently flag salute is one of the means of teaching children what the country stands for. But it must always be a means, not an end. When it is conducted as an end in itself, then the flag becomes an object of fetish worship. This is quite obvious to every thinking person, yet this is the very thing which we are likely to overlook. Again, in connection with the teaching of national ideals the duty of citizenship should also be emphasized. The ideals which the American flag symbolizes are most comprehensively stated in the first clause of the Declaration of Independence : " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." But every one of these rights has its correlative duty. The right to life imposes the duty to protect the life of others; the right to liberty requires obedience to law ; and the right to happiness presupposes the obligation that the same right of others be not unlawfully interfered with. In other words, the right to citizenship enjoins the duty of serving the nation whenever the service is needed at whatever cost. In America the individualistic ten- dency has always been in ascendency. The rights of the indi- viduals have been over-emphasized while the duty to the nation often suffers neglect. Sometimes even the laws of the country have been flagrantly violated by the unbridled passion of the mob. Take for example, the mob laws, the lynching of the negroes, etc. America is fighting for the cause of democracy, so it is the duty of the American people to see to it that democracy is safe within their own national boundary. In this time of national crisis we need a new spirit of patriotism. Strike when the iron is hot. Now is the high time for the teachers to bring home clearly and forcibly to children the duties of citizenship.' They would perform a task of a very high order, if on the occasions of flag days, patriotic pagean- tries, etc., they would tell the children what they ought to do for the country instead of pronouncing eloquent eulogies on the nation's glory and success. In a recent publication the State Council of Defense of Connecticut has stated this prin- ciple very admirably in the following words : " This war is bound to have a deep influence on American life and thought, and we should be watchful to direct this into right channels. The country is shot through and through with the one-sided philosophy that the State is an institution to be leaned upon and filched from, but not to be served. The schools should train the children in the fundamental contact between citizen and State. The idea of mutuality should be developed. The 12 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR State owes duties to the citizen, but the citizen owes reciprocal duties to the State." Teaching the Ethical Values of Bravery and Self-sacrifice — Closely connected with the teaching of patriotism and war is the teaching of the ethical values of bravery and self-sacrifice. In this connection Prof. F. W. Foerster has quoted the fol- lowing letter from the front describing the scene in a hospital : "During the operation, which took place in a church arranged as a hospital, a bomb crashed through the church window above. Some of those assisting at the operation instinctively jumped aside, others disappeared under the operating table and others tried to save themselves by hasty flight into the sacristy or behind the altar. The shell-splinters and stones clattered through the church windows, and pieces of stained glass and of roof ornamentation rattled down on the reddish floor stones. 'Here we are operating!' said the surgeon un- concernedly; an energetic, 'Each one remains at his post' from the assistant quickly caused the people under the table and behind the altar to hurry forth. Calmly, as if we were in the operating room of a hospital, we worked ahead, looked for ducts, nerves, applied ligatures and sewed muscle after muscle to a useful stump. After the ligature the patient opened his eyes again soon, and murmured softly and con- tentedly, 'Ah, how well have I slept!' He would scarcely believe that he had already been operated on and that, in the meanwhile, almost the whole church had been destroyed. Astonished and amazed he looked at the ruined church win- dows. We laid him carefully on soft straw and while the hostile missiles thundering outside completed their work of destruction, He was already sleeping along toward recovery with deep, calm breathing." (42). Another story told about the heroism of a British officer in the Western front is equally inspiring. During one fierce engagement a British officer saw a German officer impaled on the barbed wire, writhing in anguish. The fire was dread- ful, yet he still hung there unscathed. At length the British officer could no longer stand the pathetic sight. He said quietly, "I can't bear to look at that poor chap any longer." So he went out under the hail of shell, released him, took him on his shoulders and carried him to the German trench. The firing ceased. Both sides watched the act with wonder. Then the commander in the German trench came forward, took from his own bosom the Iron Cross and pinned it on the breast of the British officer. These are two of the many hundreds or thousands of stories of heroism and sacrifice which teachers can utilize for moral MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 13 instruction. The heroic defiance of death in the fulfillment of duty and in the rescue of even an enemy who was in dis- tress, as illustrated by these stories, will sink deep into the minds of children in their most impressionable years. The sterile, cut and dried verbal method of moral instruction can be much vitalized, if the teacher can only have the vision, ability, and interest to do so. , II. Training in Patriotism So much for the teachings of patriotism. Valuable as they are, the war activities in the schools will have a greater effect upon the thoughts, feelings and emotions of children than mere verbal instruction. They give children a sense of reality in actually doing something for their country. They develop in children a feeling of pride and responsibility by the visible and tangible services rendered to a much larger object than the selfish ego. They tend to react upon the life of children in a quickened consciousness of personal and national ties, and a keener sense of common sacrifice and common duty. In other words, they furnish a kind of moral training based on the conception of patriotism which is dynamic, real and concrete. In Germany, as far as information is available, we find many war activities of the school chillren deserving our un- qualified commendation. One of the most interesting of all these activities which have been described is the collection of metals and cast away materials. In some places the school boys turned out in great numbers with bags, toy or larger wagons, botanical cases, and all conceivable receptacles in a house-to-house visitation on the street; sometimes the interest of the children was so intense and the enthusiasm so great that they would cry if refused. The parents had always been asked to consent in advance and they never failed to do so. Very often the men and women visited have allowed them to search cellars, attics, sheds, outbuildings and even dump heaps, for every kind of tin can, iron hoops, scraps of copper or brass, and many other cast-out things of every description. Occa- sionally they formed themselves into teams and had one or two teachers with them on the expedition. Those visited were always glad to be relieved of refuse and often entered into the spirit of the children with great enthusiasm, going through the house from attic to cellar and giving up discarded things of considerable value. The boys entered into this work with intense fervor of competition, vieing with each other in the amount of things thus collected. When these were shown, the other children were usually stimulated to bring from their 14 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR homes, or wherever obtainable, tiny things like buttons, pen- holders, etc., to enrich the school collection. What is the most important of all is that the children were always told with great detail by the teachers with regard to the uses of the things thus gathered and the stages of their transforma- tion into war materials. In England, although activities of the kind just mentioned have not been reported, yet the record of collections in money and of articles made in the schools for the troops at the front and in the training camps, for the hospitals, and for the prisoners of war in enemy countries is equally remarkable. From the report of the British Board of Education of 1915, we find a small village school in the north with 30 children on the roll collected in a short period 2,542 eggs for the wounded and made socks, mufflers, etc., in addition. In an- other east coast area the schools specialized for - particular purposes, one sending parcels to prisoners of war, another knitting sailors' gloves, another providing clothing for refugees in France and Holland, another collecting and sending candles to a battalion in the trenches. A school in the same area showed its war fund, with a total of over 85 pounds raised by concerts, bazaars, and collections, and expended for a great variety of purposes. The enumeration of similar instances can be continued indefinitely. Besides this collection of money and articles, work of a directly useful as well as of an educative kind has also been organized by the schools in connection with the manufacture of munitions or of hospital equipment. In a single secondary school in Breadford, more than 1,200 articles, including splints, crutches, bed-boards and rests, screens, rollers, trays, etc., have been made in the manual department during the school year of 1915. In another school in Midland county, hundreds of sand bags have been made by the children as well as a great variety of hospital requisites. Works of this kind can be found everywhere. They are largely spontaneous in character, springing from the initiative of individual teachers or pupils themselves. They elude classi- fication and cut across the formal divisions of curriculum. Yet who will doubt their educational value in the light of modern pedagogy? In France, we find the same activities as we find in Eng- land. For instance, liberal subcriptions from pupils to the national funds, participation in the collection of gold, the dis- patch of packets to soldiers, the donation of books to the chil- dren of reconquered Alsace, the help given to the orphans whom a school or class has taken under its charge, — these MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 15 and many other activities represent the war work in the French public schools of to-day. As The London Times says in this connection. " The most detailed enumeration would hardly exhaust the activities of education in the common cause." In Australia, we have the same story. Soon after the out- break of the war, the " Young Worker's Patriotic Guild " was organized. The members of the guild pledged to do per- sonal labor for the War Relief Fund. Any one who earns one pound by personal productive effort is rewarded with a certificate in colors signed by the Minister and the Director of Education. It was reported that thousands of these cer- tificates had already been issued. The most interesting feature of the guild is the kind of work in which the members engaged in winning the certificates. They have chopped wood, dug potatoes, milked cows ; they have gathered bones, fat, bottles, wool from the fences and scrub, iron, kerosene-tins ; they have snared and skinned rabbits, trapped foxes, caught fish, dug gardens, cleared tracks, done all kinds of odd jobs at home; these and many other activities represent the kind of efforts the boys and girls have put forth in helping the nation in a great cause. There are many stirring stories about the loyal services of the school children in raising the War Relief Fund, but only one may be mentioned here. In one school, in a very poor locality, a big lad took a job for the holidays. He earned ten shillings. When the school re-opened, he handed to his teacher all the money he had ever handled, tied up in a piece of rag. " I can't take it all, Jim," said the teacher, " give me half and keep the rest." " They want it more than me, sir," was the answer. By way of introduction to this section I have cited a few examples of what has been done by the school children in foreign countries. Now we may turn our attention to the war activities in the schools in this country. Junior Red Cross — One of the most significant movements in organizing school children for war service is the establish- ment of the Junior Department by the Red Cross. It has en- abled the school children to take an official part in the educa- tional work of the organization and served as an agency to coordinate all the civic and patriotic enterprises that claim the attention of the public school. When the Junior Red Cross movement was on foot last September, President Wil- son issued a special proclamation to the children of the coun- try. A portion of his message is as follows : " Our Junior Red Cross will bring to you opportunities of 16 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR service to your community and to other communities all over the world, and guide your service with high and religious ideals. It will teach you how to save in order that suffering children elsewhere may have the chance to live. It will teach you how to prepare some of the suplies which wounded soldiers and homeless families lack. It will send to you through the Red Cross bulletins the thrilling stories of relief and rescue. And, best of all, more perfectly than through any of your school lessons, you will learn by doing these kind things under your teachers' direction to be the future good citizens of this great country which we all love." This appeal from the President has expressed the pedagog- ical significance of the movement and in a large measure made its phenomenal success possible. By January 1, 1918, the enrollment was 860,741 pupils, in 2,531 schools, under 563 chapter school committees. Following the drive for member- ship in February, 1918, the membership grew rapidly until at the time of this writing, there are over 8,000,000 pupils under more than 3,000 chapter school committees. The exact records of the contributions made by the Junior members in the form of various hospital supplies and com- forts for the troops are not available. But we can safely say that there is no school in the country which has not taken up Red Cross work in one form or another. In Plainfield, N. J., the first school to become an auxiliary of the Junior Department of the Red Cross was a school for sub-normal children. So far as it is known, this school, which raised its own supply by a sale of articles made by the children, was the first public school in the country to organize on the national plan. In the State of New York, six weeks before the declaration of war by Congress letters were sent by the Commissioner of Education, John H. Finley, to school officials throughout the State, authorizing the sewing classes to do work for the Red Cross as a part of the regular class-work. The response was immediate ; and many schools had been at work and thousands of articles had been turned out long before the organization of the Junior Red Cross. In Los Angeles, California, where the public schools have been most efficiently organized for war service, Red Cross work was made a part of the regular curriculum. For the purpose of avoiding confusion and duplication of efforts vari- ous persons were appointed by the superintedent to supervise the work. According to the regulation no principal or teacher can use the pupils for any work of the Red Cross without the approval of the Chairmen who are in charge of the work. MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 17 It was claimed that under such organization it was possible for the teachers and pupils in the elementary and high schools to prepare a very large amount of products without sacrificing any educational value. A recent school report of that city shows that within seven months no less than $23,000 worth of articles for the use of soldiers and sailors was produced by the school children. These are only a few typical cases of what has been done in Junior Red Cross work. Taking the country as a whole, the amount of products turned out by this new organization must have been enormous in the first year of the war, and it will probably be increased by many fold as long as the war lasts. As an example of war work this is inspiring. It is, however, worthy of consideration whether or not these actvi- ties have any educational value with regard to the content and method of school instruction, In the first place, the Junior Red Cross work offers to the children- a practical knowledge in many things which the traditional type of instruction can not and does not provide. Up to the present it has been difficult to devise ways in which the classroom activities in manual training and sewing may afford the means of really teaching the boys and girls some- thing which will be useful to them when they are thrown into the world on leaving school. The cost of the material and the lack of means in disposing of the products have led to an artficial kind of classroom work. We are familiar with the cry of some teachers of manual training that the making of coat hangers, model joints, and book racks does not satisfy the boy because he does not see the use of making them. They are in most cases used for the purpose of school exhibi- tion and give no sense of reality nor pride of achievement to the maker. How very much more practical and useful will be the knowledge gained by makng various kinds of hospital equipment for the Red Cross ! Again, in the sewing classes the old types of instruction are still much in evidence. The pupils are usually made to labor over sample stitch cards, making a dozen long rows of various stitches, perhaps ten of which they will never have any use for. Then this is followed by making doll clothes. As the final stage of this sewing work the pupils may spend several months in making fancy graduation dresses. How much better would it be to give the girls a significant training in attaining speed and skill by makng similar articles in large quantities for healing the wounds and relievng the sufferings inflicted by war ? The Red Cross furnishes a justifiable outlet for the school products. It comes to the schools with a need of articles requiring no 18 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR less technical instruction and skill than the ordinary class- room work. It gives children a genuine sense of practical utility of their daily labor. In the scond place, the Junior Red Cross gives chil- dren a concrete opportunity for service. Service is the watch word of the day. It has become the yard stick by which human character is measured. The chief value of the Junior Red Cross in education lies in the fact that it demands of its members service, a service that is given with sacrifice. It makes the children feel that they are not the negligible units of the country and that they too can serve very effectively in the times of national distress and need. It helps the boys and girls to forget their own selfish interests in an endeavor to work for others. If this is not the best kind of mora! training, what better means can we have ? In the third place, the Red Cross study can be introduced as a part of the regular classroom work whenever the topic is being developed. Every kind of manual work has its cul- tural value, so has that of the Red Cross. In the public schools of Louisville, Kentucky, the study of the Red Cross organization has been carefully outlined for the regular in- struction in the classroom. The outline covers a great variety of common school subjects, such as Industrial Geography, Descriptive Geography, History, Civics, English, Arithmetic, and Art, and shows that in every one of these subjects the study of the Red Cross organization and activity can be in- corporated. Take for instance the Industrial Geography. The Outline suggests the following : " 1. Study of lumbering. A. The conservation of life in the lumber camp. A study of how the First Aid Department of the -Red Cross co-operated with lumber companies and the Bureau of Forestry to introduce First Aid Instruction among employees. B. Relief offered in times of forest fires, accidents, etc. " 2. Mining. The study to include : A. Instruction given to miners by the First Aid De- partment of the Red Cross. a. The extent and effectiveness of this instruc- tion. b. The co-operation of the railroads in this work. B. Relief offered by the Red Cross in times of acci- dents, fires, explosions, etc. MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 19 " 3. The rehabilitation by the Red Cross of places that have been destroyed by earthquake, floods, famine, fire, etc. For example : A. San Francisco. a. The disaster. b. The immediate relief. c. The permanent relief and rehabilitation. B. The Chinese Famine and Plague (1911-1912). a. Description of causes. b. Relief measures. c. The plans outlined by the Red Cross repre- sentative for preventing these floods. • C. The Messina Earthquake. a. The disaster and general relief. b. Relief work at Syracuse ; road making, shoe- making, etc." Schools which are bound up with red tape and tradition, and school teachers who continue to teach history, geography and other school subjects in the same way as their grand- fathers were taught, can have no sympathy with this Junior Red Cross movement, because it upsets the regular school program as the result of their inability to see things in a new light and to adapt their work to meet the new needs. ' But schools that are keeping pace with the modern trend of pedagogy will welcome this opportunity to vitalize their courses of instruction and curriculize such activities on the ground not only of patriotic service but also of pedagogical de- sideratum. The Care of French Orphans — One of the most unique incidents of the war is the financial help given to the father- less children of France by the school children in this country. The movement for raising the French War Orphan Fund was first started in Los Angeles and spread rapidly to other cities within the past few months. As early as June, 1917, an appeal was made by the Superintendent of Los Angeles to the teachers and pupils of the public schools to aid the fatherless children of France. This campaign aroused the greatest in- terest among children of all ages. Those who had money contributed very liberally to the cause. Those who had tender hearts but scanty means often denied themselves many things so that the unfortunate children in France might not go hungry. In one of the schools in that city, where the chil- dren bring a penny daily for milk, the children voluntarily went without their morning meal, then turned the pennies 20 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR into the school fund designated for such relief purposes. It was estimated that $36.50 per year would save the life of one of these children of France. The total amount contributed by the Los Angeles schools up to the beginning of 1918 ex- ceeded $20,000. Besides this French War Orphan Fund, American boys and girls have begun in ever increasing numbers to adopt war- cousins, furnishing small monthly or annual amounts of money to enable the French widows to raise their children in their own homes. The war-orphan learns the name of his young American benefactor and keeps correspondence with him. Thus a bond of friendship is formed between them which will prove to be endurable and unbreakable. In this particular kind of philanthropic work the Los Angeles schools have also done wonderfully well. Over a hundred of these children have been regularly adopted and the number has always been increasing. The most interesting features of these contributions were the letters sent by the benefactors to the little friends in need across the water. A few quotations may be made here. Los Angeles City Schools and the War. Bulletin No. 10, pp. 50-53.) One girl writes : " It is not strange that as soon as you receive my letter we are going to be chums. I won't ever for- get you, Jeanne, because I've already made up my mind what kind of a little girl you are. I would love to speak your language, Jeanne, my grandmother was French. . . ." Another girl writes : " I do not know you, but let us get acquainted with each other by writing often. I live in High- land Park, one of the suburbs of Los Angeles. It is a beau- tiful place, with its many flowers and delightful climate. In the distance are the mountains clothed in purple, nearer are the hills made green by the recent rains. The sunsets here are wonderful. I am sure you would become an ardent lover of nature as I am, if you lived in Southern California. " While we are not suffering from real Want, we are deny- ing ourselves to help feed the little French brothers and sisters of ours. " L will close, wishing yourself and your comrades God's protection." Another child writes : " I am writing to you to-day, June 29th, on the last day of school, thinking meanwhile that I do not know anything about you except that you are one of the five little French children who were adopted by the school. My teacher gave the names and addresses of the children and told us to write to one of them and I chose you. I am very sorry that you have had such a terrible war in your country MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 21 and hope sincerely it will end soon. You have my deepest sympathy and not only mine, but I think I am safe in saying you have that of every boy, girl, man and woman in the United States " Although this movement has not become nation-wide, a significant beginning has been made. The fact that many boys and girls in America are toiling and denying themselves to save the lives of many boys and girls in Europe will likely result in the creation of a new international spirit that will make the world a better, safer, and happier abiding place in the future. The world of to-day is to be the children's herit- age. These heart-touching manifestations of true interna- tional brotherhood between the members of the coming genera- tion are the most hopeful signs of a new international order which will forever make brutal warfare impossible. Liberty Loan Drives — With regard to the various Liberty Loan drives the school children have in no small measure helped in making each one of them a success. From the reports at hand we actually find that millions of dollars were subscribed either by the pupils themselves or by persons solicited by them. No attempt shall be made to enumerate the various devices of the campaigns carried on by the school children, but the work done in this connection by the high schools in Detroit can not be left without mentioning. Realizing the importance of enlisting the high school boys and girls of Detroit in the bond campaign, the Detroit Board of Commerce made, at the beginning of the second and third Liberty Loan drives, generous appropriations for the High School Committee. The Superintendent of schools, appreciat- ing the value of the services that would be rendered by the students and the benefits to be derived by them in an educa- tional way, authorized in each case all high school teachers of English to lay aside their regular work and make a study of conditions relating to the sale of bonds. Bulletins, which outlined the class activities and suggested the possible solu- tions to various problems, were prepared for the teachers and students. Numerous committees among the students were organized. Two-Minute Boys and Girls were selected. The weekly program of class activities during the period of the drive was systematically mapped out. The art of salesman- ship was carefully studied in the class room. And what is the most important of all is that a complete record of all the work done in the English classes was preserved by a collection of scrap-books and portfolios which contained materials of an intensely practical and patriotic nature ranging from salesman- ship talks and sales letters to plans of reconstruction after 22 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR the loans have been oversubscribed and final victory achieved. Each English class was required to present a scrap-book and a portfolio in an attractive and creditable form to the Head of the Department of English or to the Principal as evidence of the fact that it had continued its training in English and had accomplished other patriotic duties at the same time. The scrap-book contains newspaper and magazine clippings, circu- lars, posters, pamphlets, government documents, pictures, car- toons, advertisements, and a collection of stray odds and ends bearing the spirit of the campaign. The portfolio contains copies of patrotic speeches, selling talks, dialogues, detailed minutes of class programs, book reviews and digests of maga- zine articles, copies of advertisements and posters prepared by the class, sales letters, a final statement of the results accomplished, and comments upon the weakness that might be corrected in future campaigns. From among the scrap- books and portfolios presented by each of the class in the high school, one of each will be selected for exhibiting in the public library or other places accessible to the public at large after the drive is over. The whole system is so unique in even- respect that I have no doubt that the interesting docu- ments thus preserved will have a very great historic value for the future. War Savings Movement — This movement was first started in England. On May 5, 1916, the English Board of Education, at the request of the Xational War Savings Committee, issued a circular asking for the assistance of local education authori- ties in making known through the public schools the facilities for saving offorded by the issues of war savings certificates. With the co-operation of the authorities and teachers, special lessons were given on the subject and copies of a leaflet ex- plaining the purpose of the war savings associations were widely distributed to parents through the children. As a result of the campaign a large number of war savings associa- tions have been formed in direct connection with the schools, and hundreds of thousands of certificates were purchased bv their members. The following are some typical instances of this movement as reported by the British Board of Education. " In one large populous Midland County the great majority of the schools have established associations. Most of the vil- lage associations were started by the schools and have grown until they have gradually absorbed the village ; one association thus formed in a remote village of 245 inhabitants has 77 members and has purchased 556 certificates. In another Xorthern County some 70 per cent of the schools are taking part and there are nearly 10,000 subscribers ; 3,200 certificates MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 23 have been bought. In a large County Borough in the Midlands, with 50 schools, an association has been formed in every school; a smaller Borough in the West of England has 20 schools and 18 associations. Some striking examples of the success of individual schools are reported. In one Midland town a school of about 1,400 children purchased certificates to the value of 585 pounds in three months, of which one was a holiday month. In another school of 500 scholars in a Xorthern town every child wrote a letter to his parents asking permission to join the School War Savings Association, and the response was so good that on the next morning when the first subscriptions were received no less a sum than 234 pounds and one shilling was brought by the children. One school with 400 children, in a Xorthern County, has subscribed 1,557 pounds and 1,500 war certificates have been bought. A remote little school in the same county, with only 10 children on its books, has 10 subscribers to the association, has saved 35 pounds, and bought 43 certificates." (86). So much for England. Shortly after America's entrance into the war, a plan for two billion dollars of War Savings Stamps was put into practice. From all the answers to my questionnaire in this connection we find that members and officials of many school authorities, teachers and pupils have all entered into the thrift campaign with enthusiasm. In some cities the school savings banks have made special pro- visions to facilitate the purchase of War Savings Stamps by the children. In some others the principals and teachers are doing everything possible to encourage the children in this national undertaking. In still others, W. S. S. clubs have been organized among the pupils of some special classes. In other words, the public schools have responded very loyally to the appeal of the government in its endeavor of financing the war. Xow we may ask what is the significance of the movement from the educational point of view. In the first place, such a movement will serve as a great means for the inculcation of the habit of thrift among chil- dren. There can be no doubt in the minds of clear-thinking Americans as to the imperative necessity for thrift. America is the most prosperous nation in the world and is perhaps also ahead of all other nations in prodigality. Prosperity begets extravagance. Average people in America can earn money very easily. They are getting the highest wages in the world ; they have had the best opportunity in the world to save. But unfortunately, they are inclined toward improvident living and do not spend their earnings with wisdom and prudence. 24 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR According to a recent estimate the per capita savings in America are $50, while in Denmark and Norway the per capita savings are $70, in Switzerland $86, in Australia $91, and in New Zealand $98. It is quite apparent that the American people have not learned the lesson of thrift. The only way to remedy this condition is to teach thrift as a branch of public instruction. The schools must bear the responsibility of teach- ing the children not only how to earn, but also how to save and how to invest, and through children the public may also be enlightened. In the second place, the war savings movement may mitigate the dangers of war with regard to the children's moral welfare. In England, the cases of juvenile delinquency have increased 34% in seventeen large towns investigated. (See ref. 71.) One of the chief reasons for this increase is due to the " high wages earned by the children with absence of adult direction as to their disposal." As a direct result of the war, boys and girls have been largely employed at excessive wages. This earning power has developed a pseudo-independence which shows its demoralizing effect in a great many ways. This is one of the social problems England is facing to-day. In America the increase of juvenile delinquency has not been much in evidence. But with the scarcity of labor, the employ- ment of children, especially those of high school age, has given them an unprecedented opportunity to earn good wages. Since in childhood and youth instincts are strong and impel- ling for gratifictation, it is difficult for children to restrain themselves from yielding to attractive temptations on every hand, especially when they have plenty of money. The safest and surest way to safeguard their moral welfare is to create and foster in them a new interest and a new habit of thrift, so that they may invest what they have earned. The war savings plan seems to be a superb means for this purpose. In the third place, the training in thrift through the pur- chase of war savings stamps has a moral as well as a social value. The individual power of self-reliance must have thrifty practices as a foundation. Children who know what to do with their earnings, and who have a little savings in the bank, will feel augmented self-respect, widened mental interest, more sense of resposibility, and greater power of self-denial. The pride of really having earned something and the feeling of ownership give them a wholesome sense of self-dependence, upon the cultivaiton of which modern pedagogy can not lay too great emphasis. In conclusion, I may say that war has afforded a very great opportunity for direct moral instruction and training. The MORAL TRAINING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME 25 extraordinary demands of war service may in some slight degree disturb the ordinary school program, but such a dis- turbance may be a blessing in disguise. Every kind of school work may be motivated through the spirit of patriotism. Every kind of war service may augment the sense of loyalty and self-subordination in children. The educational benefit derived from the war activities may offset any real or fancied losses of school time. Will the public schools prove them- selves equal to this new opportunity and new task? CHAPTER II. SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION In view of the important part which school children can play- in food production, the writer has included in a questionnaire sent out to school superintendents in different parts of this country the following two questions : 1. How have your schools aided in food production (i. e., gardening, school or home) ? 2. Have you made any provision for exempting children in the upper grades and high school from school attendance for farm work, and if so, how many, under what conditions, and for how long? Did the result of such action seem to justify it, and what is the sentiment? The answers to these questions so far received are most suggestive as to what the schools have been doing throughout the country. In some places, school grounds have been plowed up and put under cultivation; garden clubs have been organ- ized; vacant lots in the cities have been planted; boys of the upper grades and high schools have given their assistance upon farms where help could not be secured ; — these and many other things are being done in practically every state of the Union. From Michigan in the north to Florida in the south, from Maine in the east to California in the west, letters have been received from local school authorities stating what they have done and what they expect to do along these two lines. For the convenience of presenting the subject, I shall treat the problem of children's part in food production in two sections, namely, (1) school and home gardens, and (2) school chil- dren and farm work. 1. School and Home Gardens No satisfactory statistical report can be made on this sub- ject on account of insufficient data. But enough has been received to show that there has been a nation-wide movement in school and home gardening since America entered the war. I shall introduce the subject by giving a few typical examples of what has been done in some states. California. — According to the statistical study made by Arthur H. Chamberlain, Chairman of the Committee on Thrift Education of the National Council of Education, there were 26 SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 27 2,625 acres under cultivation in the 37 school districts investi- gated. Besides this there were thousands, of school gardens and home gardens aggregating 800 or 1,000 acres. Schools in the hilly regions, in the large cities, and in the agricultural, fruit and dairying districts have in general all made their contributions toward food production according to the facili- ties at their disposal. , Connecticut. — In the city of Stamford, every school has been conducting a garden or gardens, beside many home gar- dens that were started because of school initiative. In the same city the high school had a potato farm cultivated by the students, and credit was given for the work done. In the city of Hartford, a Vacant Lot and Home Garden Committee was formed. School children had a large part in the work of this Committee which cultivated 1,400 vacant lot gardens and hundreds of back-yard gardens. In some cities of this state special supervisors have been appointed to supervise the gardening projects. For instance, the school authorities in the city of Waterbury appointed a special instructor to supervise the work of 2,500 pupils who had gardens. In the city of Meriden, 850 children had gar- dens which were cultivated under supervision. Illinois.— The work done in the city of Joliet is typical. The Rotary Club plowed all the available vacant lots in the city, and school boys and girls took charge of their cultivation. This work was done under the direction of the school authori- ties. The food products were sold and the receipts divided, half going to the owner of the land and half to the students who cultivated it. In another suburban community, 980 chil- dren out of a total of 3,000 cultivated home gardens. From the answers to my questionnaire on this subject, there is enough evidence to show that much gardening work has been done throughout the state. Indiana. — Very systematic work has been done in school and home gardens in this state. Indeed, the whole state has been organized for this purpose. From the state office we learn that more than 80 teachers have been employed to supervise boys and girls in their projects for crop production and food conservation. The county agents in each of the 42 counties have made definite plans for organizing and super- vising agricultural and garden clubs. Iowa. — Two typical cases may be mentioned. In answer- ing my questionnaire, the superintendent of Sioux City says: " We maintain regular garden work in the city during the summer. We have a garden supervisor who gives his whole 28 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR time to this work and has the help of several assistants. We maintained successfully somewhere near one thousand gardens during last summer, and produced about 40,000 dollars worth of food productions." From a rural school district, the superintendent writes : " School and home gardens were planned and carried out last summer under the general supervision of one of the grade school principals. In the fall an exhibit of the products from these gardens was held, and prizes were awarded for the best exhibit. This work will be carried out to a still greater extent next summer, as the interest in this work throughout the community is very general." Kentucky. — The statement from the superintendent of Louisville may be suggestive as to what is done in this state. He says : " Shortly after the declaration of war the Board of Education extended the school and home garden work. A director was appointed on an all-year basis and a number of assistants was provided. For this work an annual appro- priation of $3,700 has been made. During the past summer this work was very successful and plans are on foot for secur- ing more extensive results in 1918." Michigan. — In Grand Rapids, about 1,300 children were organized in the garden clubs and had home gardens. These were under the direction of the County Farm Bureau with with four district supervisors in the city. In Detroit the Public Recreation Commission has organized garden clubs to cultivate vacant lots. The work has been under the direction of playground workers. There were 1,200 gardens and 715 potato patch assignments. Potato patches were plowed and the seed furnished at cost. There were exhibits and competitions among the various classes and gardeners. In the city of Jackson, school gardens have been every- where encouraged. Besides the regular school gardens, there were 2,546 children, or 48% of the entire school enrollment that participated in gardening enterprises. New Jersey. — The schools of the entire state have been mobilized for food production. The Assistant Commissioner of Education heads the work of the Junior Industrial Army of New Jersey. This Junior Industrial Army consists of three divisions, agriculture, home gardens, and girls' service. People in different parts of the state are called upon to organize locally, and each county superintendent has been made responsible for the work of food preparedness in his own county. SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 29 Oregon. — There is a complete organization of boys and girls in each county under the auspices of the boys' and girls' club work. These boys and girls are carrying out the different projects of poultry raising, egg raising, growing corn, pota- toes, and canning and baking. The Home Guard Girls are doing a great deal of work along the line of gardening and planting potatoes. A committee in every town in the state directs all the work. I have tried to present a few typical examples of what has been done in school and home gardens in some states of the Union. Here I wish to emphasize that Gardening can no longer be considered only as a pedagogical measure, but must be regarded as a national necessity. The first school garden in the United States was started at Roxbury (now a part of Boston, Mass.), in 1890. From that time on the school- garden movement has spread very rapidly. According to the statistics collected by the Bureau of Education in 1916, we find that 1,220 out of 1,572 superintendents, or 78% reported that they were encouraging some form of school- directed gardening among the children of their schools. The great diversity in the organizations, systems and accomplish- ments in different parts of the country has been emphatically pointed out by the Federal Commissioner of Education. In some cases school and home gardening has become an integral part of the school systems complete departments of school and home gardening or of gardening and nature study have been maintained and separate appropriations set aside for the work. In other cities, school boards have been willing to provide instructions in garden work and the supervision has generally been left to principals and teachers who either offered their services gratis or were paid a small addi- tional salary for the extra work in the garden. In still other cities, encouragement in gardening has meant merely talks on gardening by teachers and principals or the distribution of seeds in bulk, and nothing more was done. These diverse conditions of gardening work in the public schools have also been confirmed by my recent investigation. But the result of my own inquiry has convinced me that, old as the garden- ing movement has been, the war has given it a new value and a new vitalizing force for its development. Neither the school garden as a part of school activity nor the home garden as an adjunct to the school is a new idea, but the economical and educational values of both are just beginning to be appreciated by the necessity of war. As President Hall says : " The war is a great shell shock to the world ; it shatters and transforms the old institutions and beliefs." It has taken 30 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR a great shock, like this war, to bring h6me to the schools in America, clearly and forcibly, the fact that gardening is one of the means of hitching the schools to the actual condi- tions of life. In general, the economical value of gardening has not been fully appreciated by the school men in this country. In- deed, quite, a few school superintendents have seriously ques- tioned the value of gardening in food production. Here I can say very positively, without fear of contradiction, that many million dollars worth of agricultural products, vegeta- bles, and fruits will be produced annually by the school chil- dren in the back yards of their homes and on available vacant lots, if gardening activities are encouraged, organized, directed, and supervised by the school authorities. Furthermore, the earnings from the garden activities will represent a clear gain for neither the land nor the labor would otherwise be utilized. Based on the Thirteenth Census Report we can safely say that there are about 12,000,000 school children between the ages of 9 and 16 in this country. Assuming that one-half of this number, or 6,000,000 pupils, should carry on garden work and that they should make an average profit of $50, the result would be a total profit of 300,000,000. This is by no means an over-estimation, both from the standpoint of the possible number of pupils who may undertake the work, and from the standpoint of the possible earnings. Reports at hand show that many city school pupils have made from $100 to $200 from their gardens. Under proper direction and with proper assistance, school boys and girls in the cities, towns, villages, suburban and manufacturing communities in the United States might easily earn $100 from their gardens annually. In this period of crying need for the increase of food supply, what greater contribution can the public schools make to the nation than by directing the surplus energy of their boys and girls into this kind of productive activity ! Besides this economic value, the educational value of gar- dening is threefold. In the first place, gardening gives the child the best kind of moral training at the period when the school closes its door in the summer for vacation. Statistics collected by the Bureau of Education show that about 85 per cent of the city children throughout the country remain at home during the long summer vacation, without proper em- ployment for any large part of their time. " Many of these children at the close of school wander about aimlessly and form themselves into gangs, and give outlet to their energies in ways that are not acceptable to other members of the com- munity or beneficial to themselves." Gardening is just the kind of work which will make a strong appeal to children's SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 31 interests and meet their needs. It gives them something to do ; keeps them off the streets and out of mischief when they are idle during the long vacation. It teaches them the private care of public property, economy, honesty, appreciation, con- centration, self-goverment, civic pride, justice, the dignity of labor, and love for the beauties of nature which they can never have any opportunity to appreciate in the alleys, gutters, and dirty and noisy streets. Prof. James said : "Manual train- ing is the most colossal improvement that ever came into the schools of America, because the boys learn to work together, to look at each others work, and to help each other work, and become co-operative instead of selfish little imps who are trying to get ahead of their fellows and crow over it." Gar- dening, school or home, if properly organized and directed, possesses all these advantages of manual training with the added ones of the employment of children when they need something to do, utilization of vacant places which would not be utilized otherwise, work in the open air which is most essential for the health of the growing child, and opportunities for appreciating the beauties of nature which are often denied the children in the city. In the second place, gardening gives the child a knowledge of things which can not be obtained in the class-room. What he learns in the garden is the knowledge of nature, of real life, instead of dead books which he can not comprehend. Here he learns the nature of the seeds, their growth, appear- ance of leaves, flowers, enemies of gardens, such as bugs, birds, worms, flies, weeds, etc., the nature of the soil, and the seeds that thrive best in it. He learns to use spade, rake, and other agricultural instruments by actually handling them. He learns business method by planning, managing, selling the products and recording the results of his work. He learns through his own labor and experience his own failures and successes. If " learning to do by doing " is the slogan of modern education, there is certainly no better means of realiz- ing it than gardening work. In the third place, gardening gives the child the best kind of physical exersice which is most conducive to his healthy growth. This may sound trivial and commonplace, yet it is one of the most significant principles which modern pedagogy can never over-emphasize. Exercise in the open air and sunlight has been regarded as a great health invigorator; indeed, it has always been recommended for tuberculosis, par- ticularly in its incipient stage. The garden affords an excellent athletic ground to the growing child, where he can utilize his surplus energy in a healthy and productive manner. After this brief statement of the values of gardening I wish 32 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR to offer some practical suggestions as to how it can be organ- ized and directed in a most practical and efficient manner. 1. A thorough-going garden survey should be immediately made by the school authorities. In practically every Amer- ican city there are vacant lots and back yards aggregating many acres of land which can be turned into productive soil. The school authorities must have a clear knowledge of the local possibilities before any extensive gardening program can be made. In making the survey I should also like to suggest that the outline on this subject prepared by the Bureau of Edu- cation sometime ago be closely followed. The following points must be carefully investigated and recorded; — the number of children in each home between the ages of 9 and 16 years, number of boys, number of girls, occupation of these children during the previous summer, income from their work, amount of land available, estimate of the value of the products that may be grown, character of the soil, amount of garden work being done, who cares for the garden, opportunities for raising fruit, means of securing the vacant lots from the owner, the amount of rent to be paid, means of securing agricultural implements, the probable amount of seeds to be purchased, etc. This is the first step which ought to be taken by every city school authority. 2. A special teacher with special training in gardening should be employed by every school having more than one hundred pupils of garden age. It is desirable that such a gardening teacher should not be expected to take care of more than two hundred children, and should be employed twelve months in the year, with four weeks vacation distributed in the four seasons. The salary of this teacher should not be less than $1,500 a year. When the school is in session this teacher should be expected to teach elementary science, nature study, and sometimes even manual training, and spend at least two afternoons a week, say, Wednesdays and Saturdays, in visiting the children in their homes and directing their work. During the vacation months he should spend all his time, six days a week, in visiting the children and giving them such instruction and help as they most need. He should arrange to meet all the chil- dren at least once a week during the summer in order to discuss with them problems which may arise. 3. An age-limit should be made for the children who elect gardening work. It is the writer's opinion that children below 9 years of age should not be drafted into the army of little garden workers, although some kind of encouragement should SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 33 be given to them for their productive activity along this line conducted in the form of high grade play. 4. A school exhibition of garden products should be held sometime in September in every city, and lectures on the achievements of the children should be given. It is at this time that the parents of the children and other people who are interested in this work should have a complete knowledge of what has been done and of what more is to be done in the future. Inexpensive prizes may also be awarded to the chil- dren who have done the best work. But the writer would hesitate to recommend the plan of giving prizes so profusely as was done in many places. No uniform program can be made for all the cities and towns in this country, but the above suggestions should be incorporated in any plan which any city may adopt. They are the general principles, while the detailed program must be worked out by the local school authorities in order to meet local conditions. II. School Children and Farm Work At the time of this writing about 150 answers to my ques- tion on this subject have been received from the county and city superintendents in different parts of the country. Prac- tically all school systems thus heard from have made some provision for exempting children in the upper grades and high schools from school attendance for farm work. The conditions under which the children were exempted were so different and the results obtained were so diverse, that it baffles any statistical treatment on the subject. For this reason I shall try and discuss some salient points of the problem on the basis of my inquiry. Age-limit Very few school systems which have made provision for releasing children for farm work have taken the problem of age-limit into consideration. Many cities as well as rural dis- tricts exempted children of the upper grades and high schools to work on the farm, without any regard to their age. Many others exempted children at the age 14; and still others even exempted children at the age 12. In the state of Kansas, the State Board of Education authorized the local boards to excuse children of any age, at any time, and for any length of time, by adopting a resolution which reads as follows : " Resolved, That superintendents and principals be advised that in view of the war situation and the food crisis, the State Board of Education will approve of granting a full 34 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR year's credit to pupils who have passing grades and who find it necessary to withdraw from school before the end of the school year either to enlist in the military service or actually engage directly in food production." The state super- intendent of Missouri took similar action with the exception that an age-limit of 14 years was specified. In a letter to the local superintendents, he said : " Excuse at once from your high school all boys over 14 years of age who will go to farms and work. Give them full credit for their year's work at the end of the school year, with the standing they have at present. Do not let any one impose on you, but have the boy who gets the credit give evidence satisfactory to you as to his work on the farm. Include boys who live in the country, and boys who will go to the farm to work. Extend the privilege to such girls where you deem it desirable." In the state of Penn- sylvania, the statement from the superintendent of the city of New Castle is very significant. He says : "Under the authority of the State Board of Education last year, children over 12 years of age, who had done satisfactory work, were released before the close of school for farm labor. . . . The farmers do not take to it. They were still clamoring for experienced laborers. The town people and the children, I fear, consider it somewhat of a lark." Action of the similar nature was taken by many other states. To my mind, such action is ill-advised. It is short-sighted patriotism which tends to exploit the children to their dis- advantage and that of the naton. England has learned many costly lessons along this line, and found that her policy of recruiting agricultural and factory workers from school chil- dren was a policy of mortgaging the future generation for the exigencies of the present. Great efforts have been made by the British Board of Education to check the continuance of such short-sighted policy and to put a ban upon the local board in exempting children from school attendance under 14. In spite of all these efforts, 15,753 children under 14 were reported as excused from school for farm work in Eng- land, in May, 1916. What must be the situation in some of the states in this country where no restrictions on exempting children was made? Suggestions to the effect that children under 16 should not be sent away from home to work on farms have been made by The National Child Labor Committee and the U. S. Boys' Working Reserve after a careful study. This minimum age requirement shoud be adhered to by all local school au- thorities whenever the problem of releasing children for farm work comes up for consideration. The reason for this propo- SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 35 sition has been very ably stated by William E. Hall, National Director of the U. S. Boys' Working Reserve. Thus he says: " W T e arrived at the decision to make the minimum age 16 for boys who left home for work on farms after a careful examination of all the conditions surrounding farm life. . . . After receiving the reports on the work done on the farms by boys during the year 1917, we believe that our decision was right. The U. S. Boys' Working Reserve deals almost entirely with the city boy who, in many instances, is leaving his home for the first time to live amid strange surroundings. It is most important that he be mature enough to take care of himself under all conditions and that he be strong enough to stand the rigors of hard work on the farms." Avoid Interruption of School Attendance In taking action on exempting children we must always bear in mind that to go to school regularly is both their duty and right. They are the assets of the nation. We can not afford to infringe their birthright of going to school under any circumstance. If the necessity of this terrible war compels us to let them work on the farms in order to save the crops, we must see to it that their school work is as little interfered with as possible. From the investigation made by the National Child Labor Committee on the causes of absences from rural schools in Oklahoma, we have come to know to what extent we have neglected the enforcement of school attendance laws in favor of farm work even in times of peace. In the state of Oklahoma the law requires children between 8 and 16 to attend school at least 66 per cent of the time it is in session. But the investigation shows that in some school districts only 66 per cent of the children met this modest requirement of the law. Of all the causes of absence from school, farm work was by far the predominating one. Furthermore, only 51.9 per cent of the farm-working absentees attended 66 per cent or more of the time. In other words, 48.1 per cent of them attended the school less than two-thirds of the time they should be there. This was the condition in time of peace. What special precautions do we have to take in time of war, when the exemption of children for farm work is everywhere considered as a measure of national necessity? Shortly after America's entry into the war, the State Board of Education in California was given power to reduce the school term to six months, with the approval of the governor, when necessary " for the planting or harvesting of crops or for other agricultural or horticultural purposes." In New York the Commissioner of Education was given power to 36 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR suspend the compulsory education law from April first to November first during the war, " for the purpose of aiding and performing labor in the cultivation, production and care of food products and gardens within the state." The majority of the cities and rural districts heard from in the course of my enquiry exempted children last year, 1917, from May to Oc- tober ; others from April 15th to October first; still others, from April 15th to November first. It is quite apparent that many children have suffered tremendously from an interruption of their course of school training as a result of such action. I do not hesitate for a moment to say that action of this kind is of doubtful wisdom, if we consider the welfare of the children and also that of the nation in the long run. No matter how great the amount of the increase of food supply might have been, this was too high a price to pay. In order to avoid serious interruption of school attendance and at the same time to meet the demands of the farmers when help can not be secured, the following suggestions may be worthy of our careful consideration. In the city of Watertown, N. Y., the school authorities have planned to postpone the Easter vacation to the first week in May, and to designate it " planting week." Instead of turning the high school boys onto the farms at the expense of school work, they have also planned to organize these boys who are willing to undertake farm work and run the high school from eight to 12 :30. In case of calls from the farmers, they can be sent out in the afternoons in automobiles into the territory where their service is needed. It is their contention, in which I concur, that ten, fifteen, or twenty boys under competent direction would do much in the afternoons, and still be able to continue their school work in the mornings. The Board of Public Education in Philadelphia is develop- ing a plan of organizing into two groups the high school pupils who are going to take up farm work. The first group will leave about the first of May and return for school the first of August. The second group will leave the first of August and return the first of November. This plan will of course necessitate keeping at least one of the high school buildings open during the entire summer. But if the school work of the pupils can be protected from serious interruption by this plan, it is certainly worth trying. In Madison, Wisconsin, the school authorities have planned to give subjects in the high school in two courses during the second semester. One course follows the usual procedure and the other will be given in a condensed and abbreviated form, to enable those boys who wish to go to the farm to SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 37 finish the work of the year by April 15th. During this same period some form of practical farm training has also been planned for these same boys. They will be sent on Saturdays to machinery agencies, to gardeners whose tracts are near the city, and to some of the best farmers in order to enable them to get some insight into the activities of the farm. In addi- tion to this, some few consecutive days may also be allowed to groups of boys who may desire to go to the country to make themselves familiar with actual farm operations. This is an excellent plan to meet the abnormal condition, but the writer can by no means agree to the proposition that the children should be excused as early as April 15th. He is quite con- vinced that there is no great necessity of sending the boys to the farms earlier than the middle of May. The fourth plan of avoiding the loss of school work will be to make vacation suit farm needs. It may be well to divide the vacation into two periods ; one covers the season of plant- ing and the other the season of harvesting. It has been said that California has already been making plans of this nature in order to shift the vacation from the usual time and adjust them to the necessities of agriculture. No one of the above mentioned plans can serve as a gen- eral solution of the problems which are peculiar to different localities. But they are very suggestive as to what may be done in meeting the difficulty. Plans may differ, but the aim should always be the same ; that is, to meet the demands of war without a serious interruption of the education which is building youth in the principles of manhood and of efficient citizenship. Scholarship Requirements The tendency to make school standing one of the condi- tions under which exemption would be granted was practically universal. The general form of this requirement was that children were granted the full year's credit, if their scholar- ship was passable at the time when they left school. This requirement is very excellent in itself, if it be strictly carried out. Unfortuately this was not done. Evidences are not lacking to show that many children in some places who did not have passing grades went to the farms in order to get credit and promotion. I can not resist the temptation to quote an amusing story about a boy in the state of Missouri and his effort to cheat the school and himself in this con- nection. The story runs as follows : " One boy whose father owned a farm told his father he was to leave school to work on the farm. His father said it was not necessary as he had all the labor he needed. The boy insisted and finally told his 38 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR father that his only chance for promotion lay in leaving school to do farm work." This story seems too amusing to be true, but undoubtedly many cases like this must have happened elsewhere. Teachers and principals of public schools should be aware of this kind of " camouflage " and see to it that no promotion be granted to any child under any circumstance unless he really deserves it. Furthermore, provisions should be made for the children who leave school early in the spring to make up their work in the fall before promotion is granted. It would be very unwise to give the children a guarantee of promotion before- hand. Make them work for it. The reason for this sugges- tion has been clearly and forcibly expressed by the statement made by the superintendent of Waltham, Mass. He says : " We are struggling with the problem this year when we are appealed to to release students for about three months. Senti- ment seems to demand it. But unless students will them- selves speed up and so make up the work which their classes will do, we do not see how we can restore them to their classes in the fall. While we recognize that the experience may be richly educative, we do not see how it can be substi- tuted for mathematics or science or foreign language so as to enable the student to keep step with his class. Honesty forbids us to assure students or their parents — as some would have us do — that a boy may eat his cake and have it too, even in war time." Quite a few superintendents have expressed this same feeling. Unless some provision is made to assist the pupils in making up the work they lose, I do not see how promotion can be granted to them when they can not keep step with their class work. Survey of the Demand for Farm Labor It seems to be a truism that schools should not excuse chil- dren from regular school work if they are not needed on the farms. But this simple truism was ignored by many school authorities who excused children from school without knowing where the children were going to work or whether they were needed. In New Jersey one camp of boys was organized last summer under the State's Junior Industrial Army and housed in a high school building. But there was not enough work in the vicinity to keep the boys busy, so they were found mowing lawns and trimming hedges on large estates or pulling weeds out of the city roads. In New Bedford, Massachusetts, 35 high school boys went to the farm, but their camp was soon broken up for the reason that there was not enough work to pay for keeping the camp going. In Watertown, New York, SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 39 high school boys were permitted to leave school for farm work. The expectation was that they would continue the work throughout the summer. But on the first of July most of the boys returned home and went to work in munition factories on account of not having enough work on the farm. Examples like this can be multiplied indefinitely. The edu- cational loss in these cases is enormous and also inexcusable. I can never over-emphasize the statement that such or similar conditions should never be allowed to happen again. We must be sure that there is need of child labor on the farm before we exempt the children. Failing to do this will greatly harm the cause of public education. Training Children for Farm Work In spite of the popular clamor for children on farms, quite a few superintendents have stated that farmers did not want to employ city boys as many people thought they would. This general testimony corroborates the findings of the investigation made by the National Child Labor Committee in the summer of 1917. In an attempt to find out the demand for child labor on the farm, the National Child Labor Committee sent out a questionnaire to all grange officers throughout the country asking if farmers in their vicinity wanted city chil- dren to work on their farms. Of all the replies, 72 per cent said ' no.' Some of the reasons given for this negative answer were as follows : (78) " City boys are not worth their keep on a farm." " The work is too heavy for children." " City boys do not understand how to drive a horse or handle machinery." " Horses are too valuable to trust to children." " There is nothing for children to do in this vicinity as we do our work by machinery." " It would take two farmers to one boy." " Tending small corn is a delicate business for a city-bred child, while haying and harvesting are too heavy work for one not accustomed to labor in the hot sun." " How would manufacturers like to have green hands come into their shops for a few days? The same question can be applied to the farmer in trying to work school children who would simply be under foot." From these sample statements one can clearly see that farmers do not want city boys who are not familiar with the farming operations or too young to undertake the heavy task that farm work often involves. But city boys over 16 years of age with good health and alert minds can learn the 40 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR rudimentary farming operations in a week or ten days, if proper training be given to them. The work accomplished by the Agricultural Cadets in the orchards and fields of Betsy River Orchard Company, Michigan, may serve as an excellent illustration of this point. When the superintendent of the company was asked to give his opinion about the work done by the boys, he made the following statements: (15) " The first week or so the boys were not much good. None of them had ever been on a farm before, and they didn't know a horse from a cow. But they were quick and eager to learn, and from the start they took a keen interest in learning how to work. . . . " When we sent them out to spray an orchard, Bob John- son, my Michigan Aggie man, would go along and teach them how to do it. He worked along with them until he was abso- lutely sure that they could be trusted to do the work right before he left them any work on their own responsibility, and even then he would go back every hour or so to see how they were getting along. We soon had them doing the more simple work, like hoeing potatoes and beans, but even there you would be surprised how much teaching we had to do — show- ing them the difference between beans and weeds, for instance. " Later, we had them doing more particular work like spray- ing, and of course, had to begin at the bottom to teach every time we changed jobs. It was noticeable, however, that we •rarely had to show them the second time. The boys learned very easily and quickly and really tried to do their best." The ways of training boys for farm work are many, but only two can be mentioned here. In the first place, an inten- sive farm training camp may prove very effective for the purpose. The most noteworthy case of this kind is the train- ing camp which is going to be established in Indiana. On a 640-acre farm loaned by Straus Brothers Company the U. S. Boys Working Reserve will build a farm training camp where boys between 16 and 21 will be mobilized and given a three weeks' intensive farm training in the rudiments of agricul- ture and actual farm operations. As a group of boys com- pletes its three weeks' training, it will be sent to different places to work. The whole plan is analogous to the officers' training camps. I have no doubt that such a plan will prove to be very valuable in increasing the efficiency of young farm worke'rs whose ingnorance of farming operations has con- stantly been a great embarrassment to their employers and themselves. In the second place, the plan of introducing a practical course of agriculture in the curriculum of high schools, as is SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 41 being done in Illinois, is by far the best one so far devised. Beginning the first of February, 1918, the boys in the state of Illinois enrolled in the U. S. Boys Working Reserve were made to speed up on their studies for the ensuing three months, and in addition were required to take the 25 Farm Craft Lessons which were prepared under the direction of Dean Davenport of the University of Illinois and which were designed to give them a practical knowledge of horses, livestock, dairying, poultry, seeds, fertilizers, farm tools, gardening, gas engines, crops, planting, and harvesting. Credits will be given for this special work done in school and for the practical work in the summer months. Beside this class-room instruction, practical work in the use of farm machinery, caring of the stock, harnessing and handling horses, etc., has also been provided, and the boys have been taken on field trips to stockyards, stock shows, farm exhibits and local agricultural fairs. This plan is unique in its character and practical in its scope. By this plan the schools are made to teach the pupils to play the real game of life of which city-bred boys are often grossly ignorant. What is being done in Illinois can certainly be done elsewhere with equal advantage and success. Organization, Inspection, and Supervision The problem of organization, inspection, and supervision of the boys at work is infinitely more complex than any one of the points so far discussed. Every locality has its own peculiar problem to solve. Plans which have been worked out in one place may be utterly inadaptable to any other place. Consequently discussions of this problem can be made only in very general terms. Taking the country as a whole, there are three main condi- tions under which the boys may work on the farm. First, one or two boys may be employed by a farmer and live with him. Second, boys or groups of boys may work on a nearby farm and live at their own homes. Third, boys or groups of boys may work on farms, many miles away from their homes, and live at farm camps. In each of these cases some kind of inspection or supervision must be provided by the local Board of Education in co-operation wifh other state or local agencies. In the first case, the most important problem is the place- ment of the child. The environment in which the child is going to live, the kind of work and the hours of labor which the child is expected to perform, and the wages which the farmer is willing to pay should be investigated before the child 42 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR is definitely placed. The farmer is just as likely to exploit the child as the manufacturer. Unless some definite agreement is made with the farmer beforehand, it will be unwise to leave the child to him for his exploitation. We must remember that to utilize boy-power for food production is to meet the present exigency of national crisis, not to supply the farmer with cheap labor. What was done in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is worth noticing in this connection. Last year about three hundred boys in the upper grades and high schools were carefully placed on the farms by the school authorities. The Board of Education employed a competent man to visit them and adjust their difficulties. This seems to be one of the many ways in which the school can safeguard the children from undesirable environments, over-work, exploitation, and neg- lect. In the case of boys or a group of boys working in the nearby farms and living at home, some kind of organization seems to be very necessary in order to secure satisfaction for all concerned. Just what kind of organization is necessary for any particular place is a question for the local school board or other social agencies to decide. But I shall describe the system which was worked out in Idaho, in order to throw some light on the question. In the southern part of that state there was a great need of labor to harvest the fruit crop and alfalfa last year, 1917. Appeal for help was made to the school authorities and many boys were permitted to go to the farms. They were orgaized into groups of ten. Every group elected its own captain in whom the power of discipline was invested. The captain's words were law during the work hours, whether in the orchard or in the hay field. In no case did the farmers deal with the boys directly. Everything was done through the captain. If they had any orders to give, they gave them to the captain, who, in turn, passed them to the boys. Now and then disputes arose over counting the boxes of fruit picked by the boys, but they were all adjusted through the captain. This squad organi- zation has proved to be very satifactory, both for the farmer and for the boys themselves. Furthermore, organization of this kind has to some extent solved the problem of transport- ing the boys Rack and forth between their homes and the places of their work. Through the co-operation of the business men in the towns of that state who volunteered the use of their machines, the boys were taken out of the cities and towns to work at 7 o'clock in the morning and taken back to their homes at night. One can easily imagine how such squad organization has helped in solving this transportation problem. SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 43 With regard to the organization of farm camps, there are three things which merit our attention. In the first place, a camp should not be established in a place where there is not enough work to keep it up through the summer. This seems to be a commonplace truth, yet many undesirable results have happened merely on account of ignoring it. In the second place, camp sanitation must be strictly observed in order to safeguard the health of the boys. In the third place, one camp supervisor for every 25 boys should be appointed and paid by the state. He should be a' man of character and initiative, a man who possess an insight into the nature of adolescent boys. A successful scout master will be just the person for such a task. These are only general principles. For detailed organization the service of the camp experts should always be sought. Education Value of Farm Work After this brief discussion of exempting school children for farm work we may say that there are difficulties yet to be obviated and problems yet to be solved. But we should not let these difficulties and problems blind us to the fact that farm work for city boys of adolescent age possesses an educa- tional value which can not be surpassed by any subject in the high school curriculum. In farm work city boys gain acknowl- edge of real things and of real life which they can never expect to gain in reading a few pages of Latin grammar or in working out a few puzzles in geometry. Far be it from me to minimize the educational value of farm work for boys of proper age, under proper organization, training, and super- vision. It would mark a great step of advance in modern pedagogy, if city boys between 16 and 21 were given an opportunity to be employed on the farm during the long summer vacation, in order to get in contact with nature, to appreciate the realities of life, to gain first hand knowledge of animals, plants, trees, and fields in an unsophisticated man- ner, to recognize the dignity of labor by actual participation, to increase their physical vigor by working in the open air and sunlight, and to shift their usual interest in gangs and in loafing at the street corners and gutters to productive activities which are both beneficial to the community and to themselves. But the writer strongly objects to any action of letting chil- dren out of school with the expressed purpose of supplying the farmer with labor without any consideration of their physical capability or incapability of undertaking heavy farm work, without any knowledge of where they are going or how they are to be employed, without making any provision for them to make up the school work they lose in order to 44 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR enable them to keep pace with their classes, and without any definite plans of organization, inspection, and supervision of the boys at work, to safeguard their physical and moral well- being. The children of to-day will be the citizens of to-mor- row. If the function of the school is to train children for good citizenship, then it is the duty of the school masters to see to it that the children's interests — interests which are most vital for their physical, moral, intellectual, and spiritual growth — are carefully protected. In addition to the protective measures to be adopted in connection with exempting children for farm work, there is one more suggestion I wish to make, that is, a course in prac- tical farming should be made a required subject of study in every high school throughout the country. It is absurd to preach the dignity of labor to children and yet not consider the elements of labor worth the dignity of being taught in the school. If farm work is expected to be taken up by boys of proper age, in order to increase the food production of the nation, then a practical farm course should certainly have a place in the school curriculum. What has been called Farm- craft Lessons introduced in Illinois high schools should be adopted by all the high schools in every state of the Union. Subjects like the feeding, care, driving, and working of the horse, the care and milking of the cow, the care of cattle, pig, and sheep, the process of raising poultry, the handling and the care of wagon and plow, the use of manure and artificial fertilizer, the use and care of shovel, spade, hoe, rake, pitch- fork, and other tools, the recognition of weeds and their de- struction, the harvesting of hay and grain crops, the operating and care of farm machinery, the ways of building fences and gates, etc., should be taught to every boy who passes through the door of the high school. Knowledge of this kind is both prac- tical and useful and possesses a fascinating nature to the boys, urban and rural, rich and poor, alike. Pedagogues who have been in the habit of reducing everything introduced into the school to scholastic hypermethodic form can not and will not appreciate the educational value in planting potatoes, in picking fruits, or in operating a harvesting machine in the grain field. But their conservative view must be changed. The value of school subjects is being tested by this world war. The simple, plain, and sun-clear reasons given by farmers for their unwil- lingness to employ city boys on their farms should give the pedagogues some food for thought. High schools have always been a stronghold of conservatism. We have been teaching the general principles of drawing, mathematics, physics, chem- istry, etc. ; but the physics and chemistry of nothing in particular. SCHOOL CHILDREN AND FOOD PRODUCTION 45 We have been teaching botany, zoology, and other natural sciences, but they are to be studied by sections through a microscope. The knowledge thus gained by the boys is most fragmentary in nature. They lose sight of the unity in the subject itself and its relation to civilization and social weal. Can we wonder why city-bred boys can be of so very little ser- vice on the farm and the farmers do not want them ? If the war has compelled us to utilize boy-power on the farm as a national necessity, can we advance any argument that practical farming operations should not be taught in the schools ? Conclusion In conclusion, I may say that gardening is not a movement started by the war, but war has made us appreciate its value. Under proper organization and direction, it helps to increase the agricultural output of the nation and serves to vitalize the school curriculum. What we have done under the neces- sity of war must be continued in time of peace. Farm work for boys of proper age is a real education in itself. It should be encouraged, organized, directed, and supervised by the school authorities, war or no war. But to exempt children from school attendance for farm work is a war measure and can only be justified by the real needs of war. It can only be done under the most carefully regu- lated conditions. Let me repeat the slogans now prevailing in England : " The child is the nation's greatest treasure," and, " We have no right to handicap these children because of the State's necessities of the moment." CHAPTER III. MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS The problem of military training in the public schools is a question which involves a great diversity of opinion among those who have been giving serious thought to it. The term military training is very elastic in its meaning and can be con- ceived by different people to mean different things. It is used alike by those who would like to turn the public schools into actual military camps and by those who would advocate the policy of giving the boys a broad physical education so as to enable them to become efficient soldiers later on when such general training is supplemented by technical military drill. Most of the pros and cons on this important problem are due to the different conceptions of the term rather than the uncompromising attitudes of those who discuss the two sides of the issue. The difference of opinion centers on the means and methods by which military training should be provided rather than its aim — which is to prepare the youth for efficient citizenship in peace or in war. In collecting data on this important subject the writer has included in the questionnaire referred to in a former chapter the following question : Have you military training in the high school, and if so, what, and how much time is given? In addition to this questionnaire the writer has also endeav- ored to collect all the laws enacted or any bills being con- sidered by the different state legislatures on this problem. At the time of this writing very few states in this country have had any law concerning military training in the public schools, and only one state has made such training compulsory for able-bodied boys of certain age who are now receiving free public instruction. But from the returns of my question- naire we find that in practically every state of the Union there are at least some cities which provide an elective course of military instruction for a sufficient number of students who wish to take it. The kind of instruction offered and the amount of time devoted to it are of such diverse nature that it would be impossible to present them in full without greatly lengthening this chapter. For this reason I choose to present here only the salient features of the laws aud practices which we find in this country. 46 MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 47 I. Laws and Practices of Military Training in Dif- ferent School Systems Roughly speaking, the laws and practices of military train- ing in different school systems can be classified according to the narrow and broad interpretations of the term military training. When it is taken in its narrow sense, it means that kind of training which consists of a few drills in each school week in the manual of arms and close-order formation. The kind of military training which we find in the public schools is very commonly of this type. When military training is taken in its broad sense, it means that kind of training which may not include military drill and yet whose main purpose is to give the youth such an all-round physical, moral, and mental development as to make him capable of rendering service to his country, either as a private citizen, or, after a short period of intensive drill in the training camp, as an efficient soldier. It is upon this distinction that the discussion in this chapter will be based. 1. Laws providing military training in the public schools: With only one exeception the laws of the different states con- cerning military training are based on the narrow meaning of the term. Arizona — A law providing for the organization, control and equipment of the state normal and high school cadet com- panies was enacted last year, 1917. The law provides : a. The male students of any state normal or high school having thirty or more such students, fourteen years of age or over, shall be organized into a cadet company or companies. b. The cadets shall be drilled in accordance with the drill regulations prescribed by the United States army. c. Target practice shall constitute a part of the instruction to be given. d. The training shall not exceed one-half hour each day. e. For the organization and supervision of this work a Normal School and High School Cadet Commission shall be created. Indiana — In March, 1917, the State Legislature passed a law regulating the system of military training but making no specification of the kind of training to be given. The two main points of the law are as follows : a. Whenever a high school in the state institutes a system of military instruction, it shall be authorized to receive arms, ammunition and equipment from the United States govern- ment and pay out of the special school fund all the necssary expenses. 48 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WA1? b. No system of military training or education shall be instituted or carried on in any school, unless the same be under the supervision of an instructor detailed for that pur- pose by the federal government, or a competent person cer- tified by the state board of education. Louisiana — An act requiring the teaching of military science and tactics in all the high schools was passed by the- state assembly in July, 1916. The law reads : " Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Louisiana, That, in addition to the branches in which instruction is now given in the public schools of the State of Louisiana, instruction shall also be given to the male pupils thereof whenever practicable in all grades higher than the eighth grade in the principles and practices of military science and tactics, especially with reference to the duties of the sol- dier and object of general military interest. " Section 2. Be it further enacted, etc., That in all grades of the public schools of the state higher than the eighth, at least one hour a week shall be devoted to instruction, study and practice of military science and tactics." Michigan — The Act requiring the establishment of an optional course of military training in all high schools in the state reads as follows : " Section 1. Hereafter is shall be the duty of all boards of education or boards of trustees of school districts main- taining one or more high schools within their respective dis- tricts to establish a course of military training for such high school or high schools, such course to be optional with the students of such high schools : Provided, That nothing herein contained shall apply to cities or villages having less than five thousand population. . . . " Section 2. Hereafter it shall be the duty of all boards of education or board of trustees of any school district to maintain a course of military training, as provided in this act, shall subject said board to removal from office, after a hear- ing with proper notice, by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction." New Hampshire — A law was passed last year, 1917, which authorizes the public schools to include military drill and physical exercises in the courses of instruction. But what kind of instruction and how much time should be given were entirely left to the discretion of the local school boards. Oklahoma — The state law authorizes the local school boards to provide for military training, athletic contests between MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 49 schools, and physical examination of pupils. The boards are also authorized to accept assistance from the war department of the United States and the National Guard of the state for the purpose of military drill and training. The law- further provides that a Board of Control, consisting of five members, shall be created for the carrying out of these pro- visions. Oregon — The state law only recognizes the military train- ing in the public schools as lawful, but makes no further provision. The first and the only state which has enacted a law on military training in its broad sense is the State of New York. In 1916 the state legislature passed the so-called "Welsh- Slater " bills, making military and physical training com- pulsory in the secondary schools of the state for all boys above 16 and under 19 years of age. The essential points of the law are as follows : The Military Commission — The law requires the establish- ment of a military commission composed of the Major Gen- eral commanding the National Guard ex-officio, a member to be appointed by the Board of Regents of the university, and a member to be appointed by the governor. The duty charged to the Commission was that it shall " recommend from time to time to the Board of Regents the establishment in such schools (elementary and secondary), of habits, customs and methods best adapted to develop correct physical posture and bearing, mental and physical alertness, self-control, disciplined initiative, sense of duty and the spirit of co-operation under leadership." Compulsory Physical Training — The law also requires the instruction in physical training and kindred subjects for all male and female pupils above the age of eight years in all elementary and secondary schools. The kind of physical training shall be determined by the Military Training Com- mission, and the time spent for it shall be not less than twenty minutes in each school day. The private schools in the state are equally responsible for the giving of such courses as prescribed by the Commission. If any private school fails to establish and maintain such courses, attendance upon instruction in such school shall not be deemed substantially equivalent to instruction given to chil- dren of like ages in the public school or schools of the city or district in which the child resides. Compulsory Military Training — With regard to military training the law requires that every able-bodied boy between the ages of 16 and 19 must receive military instruction in or 50 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR outside of the schools. For the boys who are in public or pri- vate schools or colleges, the periods of military instruction are to aggregate not more than three hours in each week during the school or college year. For the boys who are outside of the schools, the periods devoted to military training are to aggregate not more than three hours in each week between September first of each year and the fifteenth day of June next ensuing. Summer military training camps covering a period of not less than two or more than four weeks are to be established for the training of all the boys under the scope of the law at the expense of the state. The law further pro- vides that any boy who is lawfully employed in any occupa- tion for a livelihood is exempted from this requirement unless he volunteers. Critics of the bill advanced arguments against this last pro- vision on the ground that it introduces a miserable class dis- tinction in a public school system, for it associates military affairs with the people of leisure and means and per- petuates the idea that military life is not the business of a wage earner. Acting on the force of such arguments the legislature amended the law in the spring of 1917 in such a way as to include all boys of the said ages to be drafted for the service of the state. The amendment provides that the requirement for technical military training may be met in part, in the discretion of the Military Training Commission, " by such vocational training or vocational experience as will, in the opinion of the Commission, specifically prepare boys of the ages named for service useful to the state, in the main- tenance of defense, in the promotion of public safety, in the conservation and development of the state's resources, or in the construction and maintenance of public improvement." The significant point of this amendment is that it provides for the defensive training of the soldier on the one hand and encourages the vocational training of the boys on the other. For the purpose of investigating and organizing the military equivalent services, a special Bureau of Vocational Training was established. It has been reported that the Commission is doing its best to carry out the provisions of the law both in letter and in spirit. 2. Kinds of military instruction in different school systems: So much for the school laws enacted by the state legislatures or special actions taken by the local school boards, now let us turn oUr attention to the actual practices of military train- ing which have been in vogue for sometime in some places. The kind of military training which narrows itself down to a few drills a week with or without arms has been very MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 51 common wherever such training is given. As an illustration, the training program for the high school cadets of Salt Lake City may be worth noticing. " Three drills are given per week. The drills are fifty min- utes long, from 2 :40 to 3 :30 p. m. " The school year, October first to May thirtieth, is divided into three periods. " First Period, October first to November thirtieth. " First year boys — School of the soldier, school of the squad ; manual of arms, port and right shoulder, only. " Ten minutes of each drill period is devoted to double timing and calisthenics with or without arms. " Second year boys — School of the soldier, school of the squad, school of the company; manual of arms; competition in manual; some extended order. " Second Period — December first to February twenty-eight. " First year boys — Manual of arms ; school of the squad and company ; care of and cleaning rifle ; calisthenics with and without arms. "Second year boys — Review of first period; pointing and aiming drills ; extended order. " During this period lectures are delivered to all organiza- tions on the following subjects: First aid; outline of an army ; military preparedness in the United States. " Third Period — March first to May thirtieth. " First month — Target practice ; school of the company and battalion, close order ; school of the company ; extended order ; compulsory combat exercises. " Second and third months — Battalion parade and review ; combat exercises, battalion ; target practices ; Governor's review." Among the many schemes of providing a system of broad military training for the school youths the so-called "Wyoming Plan " has been widely hearlded by newspapers and highly recommended by educators and military experts for its adop- tion elsewhere. The plan was originated in 1911 under the direction of Lieutenant E. Z. Steever at Cheyenne. The main feature of the plan is that it offers military training in the form of games. It takes the old lockstep, routine work out of military instruction and introduces into it the principle of competition, co-operation and play based on the natural tastes and instincts of adolescent youth. It utilizes competitive in- stinct without narrowing competition to the success or failure of any single individual. It develops the spirit of co-operation with ample opportunities for the development of initiative 52 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR and individuality. It emphasizes the elements of play, yet the serious side of the training is never lost sight of. The whole system is so unique in its nature and so practical in its method that it may not be out of place here to describe some of its essential points in detail. Training not Compulsory — Military training in Wyoming high schools is not compulsory. Indeed, Lieutenant E. Z. Steever does not believe that compulsion is necessary,. because the fascinating nature of the military games will not fail to secure a large enrollment. The only regulation for this elective course is that, once a boy has selected his course for the year, he must finish it within that period. There is no other expense for the pupil, except the pur- chase of a uniform. The State of Wyoming has appropriated a sufficiently large sum to assist the pupils in purchasing the uniforms at almost half of the original price. Upon receiving such state aid, the recipient must sign a certificate agreeing that he will refrain from the use of tobacco in any form. System of Training — The aim of Wyoming system of mili- tary training is not to make soldiers out of school boys, but to prepare them in such a way as to enable them to become the worthy defenders of the nation when they reach man- hood. For this reason great emphasis has been laid upon physical development and skill in military activities, such as wall-scaling, field firing, etc., and the ordinary routine drills have been reduced to the minimum. Beside the regular prac- tice of the different competition units, instruction in sanitation, cooking, woodcraft, simple field engineering, scouting, patrol- ling, etc., is also given. Organization of Competition Units — According to the Wyoming plan, all cadets are organized into competition units. These are, wall-scaling, infantry drill, troop leadership, scholar- ship, field-firing, and other camp and field activities. In con- trast to the common practice of ordinary school foot-ball or baseball teams, of the selected few of the entire student body, the Wyoming plan of organizing these competition units provides an opportunity for the participation of all who elect the course ; each unit being made up of an equal num- ber of strong, medium, and weak boys. Take the instance of wall-scaling. The last two men over the wall must be the strongest for they have to help the others over and go over themselves unaided. But no unit is composed of cadets who are all of the " Last-man-over " type. Suppose there are ten competition wall-scaling squads in the school, the twenty strongest students are selected from the cadets at large and only two of them are distributed to each squad. In the MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 53 same way the next twenty strongest are selected and dis- tributed, and so on down to the twenty of the weakest. When the squad wins, everybody in the squad receives the same kind of reward and shares the glory of victory with equal pride and honor. In case of inter-school competition no school is allowed to group its strongest men in one squad and let this little group be the heroes of the day. Each school is required to send a list of all its cadets classified according to their ability to the office of the State Superintendent, and the latter assigns the cadets to different squads in accordance with the prin- ciple just mentioned. In case several squads are formed in one school, then they can compete among themselves. The winning squad of this intra-school competition will have the honor of representing the school in the big inter-school tournament. It is quite obvious that the distinctive feature of the plan does not altogether lie in the system of military games, but in the way the games are played. It allows the weak as well as the strong to play the game and they all have an equal chance to win. The whole system of competition does not consist of marching one squad against the other as in ordinary school athletics, but it encourages one squad to excel the other in team work and accomplishment. One cadet's gain is not another's loss ; when one unit wins, some other one does not go down in defeat. Yet each game requires all the energy, ability, skill, team-play and dogged determination of all the participants in order to score a victory. It was reported that once a cadet leader of a scholarship unit visited the other members of the unit night after night for the purpose of coaching them, and that finally his unit won the glory of an unqualified success. Such spirit of loyalty to the group, co- operation among one's associates, and indomitable will to excel others in achievement, are an inspiring illustration of the value of such a system. Another interesting character in the organization of com- petition units is that the cadet leaders are selected by the vote of the older cadets at the beginning of each year. The leaders are chosen on the basis of ability and genuine leader- ship rather than on that of popularity. In case of the election of a popular but inefficient leader, the mistake will be effec- tively punished by the failure of the unit. The trust in real leadership is thus developed coincidentally with the spirit of self-subordination to the will of the group. This kind of civil training is not possible in any other military organization. 54 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR II. Military Drill versus Board Physical Education of Semi-Military Character In the last section I have tried to make the distinction between military drill on the one hand and the broad military- training on the other. Now we should like to ask a very- fundamental question : Which one of the two possesses a greater value both from military and educational points of view ? John Milton has denned " a complete and generous education as that which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war." What kind of military training will best accomplish this educational aim is the question we must care- fully consider. In answering this fundamental question the writer is pre- pared to say very definitely that he is opposed to the introduc- tion of military training in the public schools if such training means only a few perfunctory drills a week. This view seems to have also been held by the majority of educators in this country who have made a careful study of the problem. The reasons for this view may be briefly stated as follows : In the first place, mere military drill does not prepare a youth to become an efficient soldier. Through the ordinary military drill we may teach the boys to wear their uniforms properly, to keep their shoes shined, to march with 30 inch steps and with a rate of 120 steps per minute, to make proper movements when the orders of " Squad Right " and " Squad Left " are given, and to attain a fair degree of proficiency in the manual of arms. But none of these things are the essential part of a soldier's training. They are fragmentary and elementary in nature. They formed the most important part in the historic military drill practice, but have no func- tional significance in the modern war as now waged on the battlefields of Europe. Take, for example, the training in the manual of arms. How much practical worth has the proper execution of the " Right Shoulder Arms " or " Left Shoulder Arms " to a soldier when the battle is on ? How much value has the training in the different classes of firing for the defense of a trench system when machine guns, grenades and other horrible weapons of war have to be used to meet the on-rushing foe ? Take another instance, the matter of marching. Of what use is the training in the close-order formation when reinforcements have to be brought up to the threatening point through the communication trenches or in the dark? We can, indeed, be sure that all these kinds of training have very little military value in trench warfare, or in open field battle, or in the hand-to-hand struggle. At the MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 55 Winnie of the European War, it was reported that most of he Belg a who answered the call of their country had no mmtary training whatsoever before they were sent to the "S who wLld say that they have not made the most heroic defense at the most tragic hour? However I do not want myself to be misunderstood on this ooint Is saving that the simple military drill is absolutely Sess and futile from the standpoint of military efficiency. I do noffoi a moment deny the necessity of such drill for the prel minary training of a soldier. It gives discipline. It also be learned very rapidly and readily. The proficiency fthemanualof arms and marching movements can be acquired by any person with normal intelligence wihm a short STt? substantiate my contention I may relate a ewe of a verv recent date. On the 1918 anniversary of the battle of ISng on twenty Chicago high schools were represented bv over 3 200 members of their military training classes in a simple milftary marching competition. Not a. single company ST drilled more than four periods with their rifles and the maximum time drilled by the oldest company .both with and without arms, was less than twenty ^V**™^ oorted "Every lithe, young body was erect, every neaa St to the^ront; every rifle carried just so; every fort in step- every boyish heart set on putting over a win for his company Ind his school." (Maj. E. Z. Steever and Ma] J. L Frink-The Cadet Manual, p. xii.) Whatever other value military drill may have, its introduction into the public school curriculum can not be defended on military ground. In the second place, a few military drills a week do not give sufficient discipline so as to instil the habits of obedience fn an adolescent youth. Captain L. C. Andrews has stated hat the precise movements of the manual of arms and close- order formation are not for the purpose of learning how to let about on the battlefield-they will hardly be used at ail- but they are for the object of training the mind and body of the soldier into habits of precise unhesitating obedience to the will of the leader. The drill-master commands Right front into line," not because he wants his men in line espe- cially but for the purpose of exercising them in an exact per- formance of that particular movement, of habituating them to 56 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR move exactly as he has ordered them. So the chief object of the simple drill is to make the obedience to command implicit and automatic. When this object is effectively accomplished, the difficulty in controlling the military units even under the stress of battle will be reduced to the minimum. This is a very brilliant explanation of the object of the drill. But mili- tary discipline is not and can not be maintained through drills alone. The habit of obedience can be made automatic only after a long process of training. The soldiers in the training camps live under military discipline in every waking hour of the day and seven days a week. Can the public schools exer- cise such military discipline over all the boys who are under their care? Obviously not . The schools have no control over the boys after the school hours. The most the schools can do is to require military discipline throughout the school day. But such a policy has not been adopted by any public school in this country, as far as my knowledge goes. I would like to be convinced that the habits of obedience can be incalculated by a few drills per week and by a system of discipline which begins and ends with the drill hour. Granting that this can be done, but whether or not the habit of obedience formed during drill hours can be trans- muted into other fields is still a question open for investiga- tion. Surely enough the boy learns to obey orders during drill hours, if the drill-master is a good disciplinarian. But he learns to obey orders of a specific kind and under a specific circumstance. Psychologists in recent years have generally denied the doctrine of formal discipline and agreed that the transference of training in one subject to the learning of another is very slight. How much can the specific habits of obedience to military commands be transferred ■ into general obedience to law and authority is a question which can not be answered offhand. The New Jersey Commission on Mili- tary Training in High Schools has in its report made a very definite statement on this point. Thus it says : " The dis- cipline of the schools aims, not at isolated acts of obedience under special circumstances, but at the habit of obedience to elders and persons in authority. It is a psychological fallacy to suppose that obedience to military authority, obedi- ence exacted under any peculiar circumstances, may auto- matically be translated into the general habit of obedience." Even though such a statement does not represent the whole truth, it certainly gives us some food for thought. Furthermore, military drill as conducted in some public schools has failed to maintain strict military discipline even during drill hours. There are many reasons for this, but the MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 57 chief reason is the incompetency of the military instructor. Superior knowledge is one of the essential qualities of real leadership ; and so of the drill-master. He must know his business, if he wants to command the confidence and respect of his men. He himself must know every movement and its proper execution of the drill before he can give the orders correctly and exact unhesitating obedience to them. This is too simple a truth to need any proof or illustration. But let us ask : How many schools are fortunate enough to secure competent men to conduct the military drill? With few ex- ceptions city schools having military training have placed the responsibility of such instruction in the hands of the physical directors. Very few of these directors have proved them- selves equal to the new task. They themselves never had the proper military training. They themselves even do not know exactly how the movements they order are to be exe- cuted. How can we expect them to be good disciplinarians ? One can not fool adolescent boys. Once they find out that the instructor does not possess " the stuff in him," dis- cipline is hopless. General Baden-Powell has once said : " Unless you have specially good instructors, amateur military discipline is apt to spoil the boy for standing the real thing when he goes into service." Shall we " drill the schoolboy and spoil the soldier?" In the third place, mere military drill does not develop a boy in physical prowess, alertness and endurance. Practically all experts on physical training have come out very strongly against military drill as a means of physical development. Abundant testimonies on this point can be cited, but I shall quote a 'few of the statements made by those whose opinions based on practical experiences and pedagogical insight should merit our special consideration. Dr. Ehler, of the University of Wisconsin, says : " Military drill is an enthusiasm-killing, contempt-develop- ing treadmill. Preparedness involves, primarily and fundament- ally, the possession of vitality, endurance, integrity of struc- ture, and function of every organ, alertness, bodily skill, self- control, hardihood, courage ; in other words, the fullest de- velopment of the physical, mental, and emotional powers, the result of real physical education. Let us not confound drill with training, nor substitute military drill for physical edu- cation." Dr. D. A. Sargent, of Harvard University is strongly opposed to military training and states his opposition clearly and forcibly in the following words : " Our principal objection to military drill as a physical 58 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR exercise is that it does not to any extent meet the physiological demands of the body. In other words, it is not of sufficient interest as a means of physical development to arouse any moral earnestness and enthusiasm on the part of the boys. The exercise of the manual is not performed with sufficient force and rapidity to insure the energetic contraction of the muscles employed. It is essentially a one-sided exercise, bring- ing into excessive action the elevators of the right scapula, the deltoid, biceps, flexors of the forearm, wrist, and fingers of the right side ; while the other muscles, excepting the legs on parade days, do not get sufficient employment to keep in good condition. It does not increase the respiration and quicken the circulation to a sufficient extent to secure the constitutional benefits that should accrue from exercise." For those who think that the course of military drill has not been fairly represented by the experts of physical educa- tion, the opinion of Captain H. J. Koehler, instructor of physical training, West Point Military Academy, is specially noteworthy. Thus he says : " The use of the musket as a means of physical develop- ment for any one, be he man or boy, is more than worthless. It is, in my opinion, positively injurious. I deny absolutely that military drill contains one worthy feature which can not be duplicated in every well-regulated gymnasium in the country to-day. A thorough physical training develops all the necessary soldierly qualities to the greatest degrees and it does it without injury. If we have athletes, we shall never be without soldiers." Experiments have been made in a public school of London, England, for the purpose of determining the relative value of physical education and military drill, and the results are decidedly in favor of the former. Thus Dr. W. E. Darby, of London, says: " It (physical training) should not be military, and for the following among other reasons: Because as a method of physical training military drill is both inadequate and injuri- ous. Experiments, which were conducted in a public school, with a view to ascertain the relative value of gymnastics and of mere drill, showed that the average results yielded by the former were more than three times as great as those yielded by drill alone. Relatively, therefore, this method of physical culture is inferior. . . ." Not only has military drill been condemned as a means of physical training, but it has also been shown as being actually harmful in its effects on boys who are too young to handle the real weapons and undergo the rigors of adequate instruc- MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 59 tion. Sir William Ailkin, professor of pathology in the army medical school of England once said : " Boys given military training at 18 make soldiers who are less robust and efficient than men with whom this training was deferred a few years, remaining in civil life until after their bones, heart, lungs, liver, etc., were more matured and developed. Recruits at 18 show physical immaturity which results only too frequently in their ending in the hospital or being discharged as invalids. Recruits of 18 require two years' special training." Finally, military drill in the public schools has been defended as a means of teaching patriotism. Now does it or does it not? To my mind, true patriotism can only follow the intelli- gent appreciation of national and community life, and of one's duty to the welfare of the group. To think that the simple military drill will cultivate in a boy a virile spirit, an ability and willingness to endure hardships, and a keener sense of duty to serve the community, the state, and the nation is nothing short of a great pedagogical illusion. The love of country and the esprit de corps can never be aroused by having imitation military drills with broomsticks for rifles, and school basements or small gymnasium floors for the drill grounds. If military training has any contribution towards the development of one's sense of responsibility, duty, and self- sacrifice, it must be real, it must be broad in scope and prac- tical in nature. The technical drill which is the smallest and the least valuable part of a soldier's preparation can never accomplish this object. In the above few pages I have endeavored to show that military drill alone has no great value both from the military and educational points of view. It can not be the means of character building and physical development. What we need to-day is not the " Shoulder arms " and " Forward march " sort of drill in the public schools, but a broad program of physical education of semi-military character for all the youths of the land, so as to develop in them the physical qualities of health, vigor and endurance, the mental qualities of acumen, control and alertness, and the moral qualities of courage, co- operation and self-sacrifice, in the widest and best sense. All these qualities are at the foundation of good citizenship as well as of practical soldiery. Schools can not and should not be expected to perform the task of training soldiers in the strict military sense. But schools can and should train the youths in a broad and general way so as to make them physically, morally and mentally fit for fighting the battles of the nation when their service is needed. This task can 60 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR be accomplished far more effectively by a well-devised system of vigorous physical training under discipline than by mili- tary drill. Before we discuss the content of such broad program of physical education in the light of its practical value as a soldier's preparation and of its adaptability as a part of the public school curriculum, we may first direct our attention to the means and methods by which the European nations have been training their school youths under military age. "Military instruction, of the exact nature and to the same extent as that given to soldiers, is not found in the schools of any country of Europe except the special military schools." In those countries where the system of universal military service exists the public schools often include military gym- nastics in the course of physical education. But in no case have they ever attempted to substitute military drill for the well-established systems of physical training. We may take Germany, France and Switzerland for our illustration. (74). Germany — In Germany military drill was introduced into the city schools of Prussia as early as the beginning of the nineteenth century. But shortly after the Napoleonic wars, a thorough system of military preparedness for all males was adopted, and the matter of military training in schools was made no longer necessary. It was not until the outbreak of the European war that an emergency measure was undertaken by the schools to prepare the youths approaching the military age for their early service in the army. In 1914 a joint decree was issued by the Prussian ministries of war, ecclesiastical and educational affairs, and the interior, requiring that all boys over 16 years of age, not yet in active service, should receive preparatory military training for the duration of the war. In response to this decree many schools have introduced military instruction in connection with gymnastics as a part of the prescribed program. The time allotted to this work averages two hours a week. Before the war, the German school youths could obtain military instruction only from voluntary organizations which have been in existence outside of the school. Among these organizations the federation of Jungendwehren (juvenile mili- tary organizations) is the best known. The chief purpose of this organization is to train the boys in long marches, field exercises, and maneuvers, as well as exercises in the activities of auxiliary corps of the army. It does not limit its member- ship to the school boys, but the great majority of its members are the pupils of various schools. Next to Jugendwehren the organization of Pfadfinder (path- MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 61 finder) has had a very rapid growth in Germany. In 1912 the federation of pathfinders had a membership of 24,000, with 600 field masters. The training program of this organi- zation is essentially the same as that of the Boy Scout. Jungdeutschland (Young Germany) is another organization which tends to prepare boys of school age for military duty by means of exercises of a direct military character. It was organized by General Field Marshal von der Goltz in 1911, and its activities comprise drills, gymnastics, bicycling, march- ing, field exercises, patrolling, small feats of military engi- neering, etc. France — Since the disastrous defeat of 1870 France has paid special attention to the preparation of her youth for military service. As early as 1880 physical training including military drill was made obligatory in all public schools. In the primary schools, the prescibed programs of military instruction are as follows : " Middle division — Exercises in marching, alignments, for- mation of squads, etc. Preparation for military service. " Higher division. — School of the soldiers without arms. Principals of the several steps. Alignments, marches, counter- marches, and halts. Changing the direction." In higher elementary schools, the " preparatory military exercises " consisting of advanced drills and maneuvers are added to regular gymnastics. However, this system of military training as a component part of the prescribed course of physical education has not been approved by the leading educators in France, although it has been recognized as preparatory training for military service. Thus one authority says : " Military training in- volves serious inconveniences with regard to hygiene. It implies rigid discipline, which is condemned by true pedagogy. Outside of that it produces results that are only partial, lim- ited and special." Switzerland — Among all the systems of universal military service the so-called " Swiss System " has been highly recom- mended for its adoption in this country. The essential feature of the system is the provision of a short period of actual mili- tary training and the requirement of all public schools to give " Preparatory Gymnastics." In an Act for the military organ- ization of the Swiss Republic, it was required that the cantons should provide for a course in calisthenics for young men during their attendance in the public schools, and this calis- thenic exercise should be administered by instructors trained for the work either in the normal schools or in the schools for physical training. The law also provides that the Con- 62 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR federation should encourage all associations and all efforts toward the bodily development of its young men from the time for their leaving school until incorporated in the army. In accordance with the provision of this Act, the preliminary military training is conducted in two forms : ( 1 ) compulsory preparatory gymnastics for all the boys during the entire legal school age; and (2) voluntary cadet corps; such corps for drill with arms, corps for drill without arms, and corps for target practices, are greatly encouraged by the government in various ways. Military training as we find in some school systems in this country does not exist in the public schools of the Swiss Republic. Enough examples have been cited from European countries. We may now take a few examples from some of the pro- gressive states in this country in this connection. New Jersey — Acting on the recommendation of the Com- mission on Military Training in High Schools the State Legislature passed a very comprehensive law in March, 1917, for the establishment of a state system of physical education in all the public schools. The general provisions of the law are : 1. A course in physical training shall be established and made a part of the courses of instruction in the public schools. No pupil can be excused from taking such training except those in the Kindergarten. 2. The time devoted to such training shall aggregate at least two and one-half hours in each school week. 3. Such course shall be adapted to the ages and capabilities of the pupils in the several grades and departments and shall include the following points: a. Exercises, calisthenics, formation drills, instruction in personal and community health and safety and in correcting and preventing bodily deficiency. b. Instruction in the privileges and responsibilities of citi- zenship, as they relate to community and national welfare, with special reference to developing bodily strength and vigor, and producing the highest type of patriotic citizenship. c. For female pupils, instruction in domestic hygiene, first aid in nursing shall be added. 4. At the discretion of the state board of education, military training may also be included in such course. In case the said board decides not to include it, any local school board may submit the whole question to referendum vote. California — The state legislature enacted a law concerning the organization and supervision of courses in physical educa- MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 63 tion in the elementary, secondary and normal schools of the state in May, 1917. The law includes : 1. The board of education of each county, and city shall prescribe suitable courses of physical education for all pupils in the day elementary school and the board of high school district for all those in the high school. 2. The aims and purposes of such courses are : (a) "to develop organic vigor, provide neutro-muscular training, pro- mote bodily and mental poise, correct postural defects, secure the more advanced forms of co-ordination, strength and endur- ance, and to promote such desirable moral and social qualities as appreciation of the value of co-operation, self -subordination and obedience to authority, and higher ideals, courage a[nd wholesome interest in truly recreational activities; (b) to pro- mote a hygienic school and home life, secure scientific super- vision of the sanitation of school buildings, playgrounds and athletic fields, and the equipment thereof." 3. A State Supervisor of Physical Education shall be ap- pointed by the State Board of Education. He shall exercise general supervision over the courses of physical education and all the athletic activities in the public schools of the state. Maryland — A law enacted very recently requires that all public schools must establish and maintain a course of physical education and training for pupils of both sexes during the fol- lowing minimum periods : (a) in the elementary schools at least fifteen minutes in each school day and also at least one hour of directed play outside of regular classroom work in each school week; and (b) in public high schools at least two hours of directed play or athletics for all pupils outside of class work in addition to the one hour gymnastic exercises in each school week. For the purpose of carrying out this provision a State Supervisor was also provided. Beside these three states, the General Assemblies of Rhode Island and Delaware have also enacted laws with regard to this important problem. But they are much less comprehen- sive and specific than those just mentioned. In addition to these state legislations, a movement is now on foot to secure federal legislation for the establishment of a universal system of physical education throughout the country. It is safe to predict that such national legislation will meet the unanimous support of the educators of the nation. From all the evidence at hand we may safely say that the general tendency in this country is towards the introduction of a broad system of physical education into the prescribed school curriculum instead of military training in its narrow sense. This is the only sensible thing for the schools to do, 64 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR because they lack the time, the means and the professional ability to provide a genuine and real system of military train- ing comparable to that given to soldiers. Now we may ask : What kind of physical education should we adopt in order to achieve the purpose of preparedness? Copious literature has been written on this problem in the past two or three years, and many valuable suggestions have been made. In some places the measures of health examina- tion, provision of healthful environment in home and school, and instruction in health problems have been included in the program of physical education. Broad as this conception of physical education is, I wish to suggest the incorporation of the program and methods of the Boy Scout in any scheme of physical training which may find its place in any school system. This is not the place to discuss the Boy Scout pro- gram. But from the military and educational points of view, we may see what contributions scouting education does have to offer. In the first place, scouting offers the very best training in the military sense to the adolescent youths. Experience teaches us that modern military training is an exceedingly complex affair. A good soldier must have not only strong physique, great endurance, and knowledge of military tactics, but also practical ability in doing many things upon which the efficiency and success of an army depends. He must know how to build roads, put up his tent, and take care of various kinds of motor machines. He must know the principles of personal hygiene, first aid, and camp sanitation. He must know how to take care of himself, such as what to do about a blister and how to cook a simple meal. All these and many other things are the fundamentals of a soldier's training; and these are the very things which the scout program includes. As an illustration of this point, the introductory statement in the Boy Scouts' Handbook (1917) is very noteworthy. " A Scout ! He enjoys a hike through the woods more than he does a walk over the city's streets. He can tell North or South from the moss that grows on tress and East from West by the shadows that trunks and branches cast. When matches are forgotten he laughs and proceeds to kindle a fire by rubbing two sticks together or by strikng steel on flint. The fire once started, what a breakfast, dinner, or supper he can prepare out there in the open! Does he enjoy the meal? Just watch him and compare his appetite with that of a boy who lounges at a lunch counter in a crowded city. " A Scout does not run away or call for help when an acci- MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 65 dent occurs. He devotes all his strength and energy to assist- ing those who are in need. If a person has been cut he uses his first aid knowledge in stopping the flow of blood, gently and carefully binds up the wound, then, if necessary, he seeks other assistance. If a person has been burned his knowledge tells him how to alleviate the suffering. If any one should be dragged from the water unconscious, a Scout at once sets to work to restore respiration and circulation. He knows that not a minute can be lost. " A Scout can talk to a brother Scout without making a sound by signaling with flags ; or by tapping on a log he can imitate the click of a telegraph key, and in either manner he can spell out words and sentences. " A Scout can tie a knot that will hold, he can climb a tree the ascent of which seems impossible to others, he can swim a river, he can patch a tent, he can mend a tear in his trousers, he can tell you what weeds are poisonous and what are not, he can sight nut-bearing trees from a distance ; if living near ocean or lake he can reef a sail and take his trick at the wheel, and if near any body of water at all he can pull an oar or use paddles and sculls ; in the woods he knows the names of birds and animals; in the water he tells you the different varieties of fish." In the second place, scouting education offers the very best means of character building. Dr. James E. Russell, in com- menting on scouting education, once said : "As a teacher, I take my hat off to Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the genius who in a decade has done more to vitalize the methods of character training than all the schoolmen in this country have done since the Pilgrims landed on the New England coast." In the public schools we teach the precepts and neglect the practice. We preach the virtues but lay no emphasis upon participation. We know fully well that mere instruction is ineffective in character building, yet our indolence has always made us follow the line of least resistance. But scouting education just reverses our common practice. It teaches the boy to translate the Golden Rule into concrete deeds and thus enables him to incorporate it into the fabric of his moral life. On becoming a tenderfoot every boy must take the scout oath ; " On my honor, I will do my best ( 1 ) to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the scout law; (2) to help other people at all times; (3) to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight." This simple oath has a very significant meaning to the boy. It means the solemnity of the occasion on becoming a scout. It means that he must do something to fulfill his duty. This oath is further rein- 66 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR forced by the twelve commandments stated in positive terms. The scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Each one of these laws sounds a bit grandiloquent, but it is illustrated by the simplest and most concrete duties of a boy's life. The scout's duty is to do a good turn daily, but he does it on his own initiative and of his own free will. In con- trast to the military discipline, which is always mechanical and autocratic, the scouting program seems to be so nicely adjusted and so evenly balanced as to inculcate the spirit of self-subordination and the habits of obedience on the one hand and to provide ample opportunities for the development of originality and leadership on the other. In the third place, the means and methods of scouting edu- cation appeal to the boy's interest and are adapted to the boy's nature. The boy in his early teens is essentially a savage. He has an abundance of energy and a great variety of interest. He is a great explorer. He loves adventure. He seeks opportunities to give expressions to his inner crav- ings and instinctive desires. School is exceedingly irksome to him, because pedagogues are often short-sighted and pin- headed and do not know how to supply his psychic needs. From this psychological point of view we find the secret of success of the Boy Scout movement. It gives the boy a chance to make use of all his powers, physical, mental, and moral. It directs his interests into the right channel and to the right ends. It makes him self-reliant yet obedient, courageous yet restrained, virile yet courteous, aggressive yet always respect- ful for the right of others. Most of the scouting activities are in a form of play, and most of the play is to be had out of doors. There the scout may play the part of an Indian, or a frontiersman, or a cowboy, to work off his wild spirit in the most wholesome manner. There he learns about the stars, the moon, and the sun, about the frost, snow, rain, clouds and winds, about the trees, flowers, birds, and insects. There he explores the country and finds out every path and by-path. There he learns to use properly his eyes, ears, nose, and senses of taste and touch. There he is taught to deal with various accidents — ice-breaking, electric shocks, drowning, run-away carriages, and so on. There he must prove that he can make a' fire with or without matches, cook a hunter's stew, skin and cook a rabbit, or pluck and cook a bird. There he acquires the knowledge of scores of other activities which are susceptible of direct and immediate application to everyday life. The best thing about this whole scheme of training is that " every task MILITARY TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 67 in scouting is a man's job cut down to a boy's size." It appeals to the boy's interest because he wants to " behave like a kid, but be treated like a man." If the interest of the children should be the first consideration of modern education, the means and methods of scouting seem to be well-nigh pedagog- ically perfect in every respect. From the standpoint of preliminary military training and sound pedagogy I have praised the scouting program and method and urged the incorporation of scouting activities into the school curriculum. But with regard to the entire system of broad physical training the following general outline may be offered. 1. The school day must be greatly lengthened. Seven or eight hours a day and six days a week should be a possibility. 2. For the children between 6 and 12 years of age, at least one-third of the school day should be given to physical exer- cise and organized play. 3. For the children between 12 and 16 years of age the program and method of the Boy Scout should be adopted. The physical director should be the scout master, and every boy should be made a " good scout." At least from 15 to 18 hours a week should be given to the activities of scout- craft. Two whole afternoons a week (perhaps to include evenings too), say Wednesdays and Saturdays, should be made available for long hikes, trips to swimming places, etc. Week-end camping may also be possible, 4. For the boys between 16 and 18 s years of age, the Wyoming system of military training may also be included in the program in addition to those activities just mentioned. Summer camps covering a period from four to six weeks should be established at the expense of the State, and their attendance should be made obligatory to all boys. In these camps intensive military training should be given and strict military discipline should be maintaned. In this connection the program carried out by the Military Training Commission of New York State last summer should be worthy of adoption. In conclusion, I may say that (a) the kind of military drill which we find in some school systems in this country has no place in the public school curriculum. It is a sheer waste of time, and has no value, either military or educational, (b) A genuine system of military instruction, of the exact nature and to the same extent as that given to the soldiers, can not be provided by the school for lack of time, means, and profes- sional ability. It has not been found in the public schools of any country in Europe, (c) A broad program of physical edu- cation of semi-military character should be adopted by all the 68 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THF WAR schools in the country. It may necessitate the reorganization of the systems of school administration and school instruction to some extent. But we should spare no effort in putting it into practice, if it is workable. " Better citizenship " is the educational slogan of to-day ; and a good citizen can never fail to be a good soldier. CHAPTER IV THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS In my endeavor of collecting data concerning the teaching of the war in connection with the school subjects I have sent out 400 copies of the following questionnaire to the teachers of the elementary and high schools in fifty large cities through the cooperation of the superintendents. The question reads as follows : " Do you teach the war in connection with your subject or have you modified the instruction in it in any way on account of the war, and if so, just how? Kindly state the grade of your class and the most used outside aids in the way of texts, special exercises, etc. How do your pupils react to this work and what is your own opinion of it?" At the time of this writing over two hundred answers have been received. They have come from more than forty cities with 25,000 population or more and covered practically all the subjects in the ordinary school curriculum, such as history, geography, civics, English, hygiene, drawing, arithmetic, etc. Although the authors of these answers represent a very selected group of teachers in the country, yet this fact does not in any way affect our discussion that is to follow, because we are not primarily interested in the statistical aspect of the question. Indeed, the contents and methods of instruction employed by the teachers in the readjustment of their work on account of the war are so fragmentary and diverse in character that they defy any attempt of systematic presenta- tion. What I propose to do in this chapter is to discuss in general terms the teaching of some school subjects in con- nection with the war with a few illustrations drawn from the material thus collected. History Among all the school subjects history lends itself most readily to the teaching of the war. Judging by the returns of my questionnaire it is' also the subject whose instruction has been greatly modified with regard both to its content and method since America's entrance into the war. Out of all the answers received nearly sixty-five per cent have come from the history teachers. Practically all of them have been teach- 69 70 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR ing the war in connection with their regular class work. Some have drawn comparisons between the past and the present as far as the subject-matter permits. Some have spent one period a week or fifteen minutes every day in the history class exclusively for the teaching of the war events. Still others have devoted most of the history periods to the study of the war problems and noted the events of the past with only a hasty and cursory consideration. I shall introduce the dis- cussion of this subject by giving a few typical examples to illustrate the extent to which the modification of history instruction has been affected. Thus one teacher writes: " Since the outbreak of the war my aim in teaching general history in the seventh and eighth grades has been to instill American spirit and ideals into the pupils, the majority of whom, if not foreign born themselves, are the children of foreigners. I have tried not only to teach these children, but through them, also reach their parents and neighbors. With this in mind we have organized " Paul Revere Societies," each member pledging himself to carry the message to as many people as he can reach each day. "As each day's lesson includes a study of current events, assignments frequently include articles in the daily newspapers. The Liberty Loan, Thrift Stamps, Conservation of Food, War Gardens, Red Cross Work, all are subjects for attention." Another teacher writes : " The war is not being taught in a formal way in my classes, that is, it is not made a part of the course, nor is it a considerable part of the recitation, nor are students held responsible for a knowledge of it. Yet scarcely a day goes by in which some allusion is not made in one or more of my ancient history classes to the great war, gen- erally in the way of a comparison of ancient times with the present. Excellent opportunities arise for comparing military affairs of ancient times with those of the present. This is of course not important from the standpoint of teaching history but is a way of modernizing ancient his- tory which is always popular among young people. It is a part of history teaching, I 'believe, to show that this present struggle between autocracy and democracy is a repetition of what has already happened many times in the past, that it is not the first struggle that has been brought about as a result of land hunger and a deliberate THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 71 attempt of a people to thrust their civilization upon an- other unwilling people . . . Great war constiutes an excellent supplementary material for my classes." The above examples show clearly the general tendency of history teaching in the public schools. Now let us turn our attention to some of the specific tasks which the history teach- ers should be expected to perform when the great world his- tory is in the making. In the first place, history teachers should teach the truth It is a commonplace truism that history must stand for truth if it stands for anything. But this commonplace truism can never be over-emphasized at the time of national crisis when the slight distortion of truth is often considered as an ex- pediency of patriotic duty. The temptation of exaggerating a nation's success and achievements and overlooking its weak- ness and shortcomings is very great. The danger of fostering in children an unwholesome idea of national egoism must be recognized and guarded against. Never was there a greater opportunity for the teachers to inculcate in their pupils the habit of distinguishing fact from opinion, conviction from in- ference, truth from falsehood, than in the teaching of the war. Never was there a greater need for history writers and teachers who can " see the thing fearlessly and see it whole " than at present. Any attempt at hiding the truth on the ground of patriotism would be a flagrant violation of profes- sional ethics and a recreant to intellectual honesty. In the course of my investigation of this problem I came across a German text-book entitled " Der Weltkrieg 1914-'15 in der Volksschule." This little book was designed for in- struction in the peoples' schools concerning the causes and the events of the great war. The author stated the deeper causes of the war in a manner and blamed the enemy nations for starting this world struggle. But his deliberate distortion of facts is more clearly marked by the account of the battles of the war. He started the account with the glorious conquest of Belgium and stated the capture of Rheims on September 4th without fighting because evacuated by the French in the face of the overwhelming pressure of the victorious Ger- man army. Then the author continued with the description of the first battle of the Marne in the following week with a very remarkable passage. Thus he says : " Unmolested our army crossed the Marne and gave battle to the enemy. A violent fighting occurred at the line of Meaux-Vitry on Sep- tember 10th. The left wing of the French army tried to out- flank our right wing, so the later fell back. The battle line 72 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR was thus transferred to the Aisne and the city of Rheims fell into the hands of the French again." In the resume of the great events of the war the author made no mention what- soever of the first battle of the Marne. The summary runs partly as follows : August 26th. The fall of Namur. August 27th. The great defeat of the French and Belgian army near Namur. September 28th. The first attacks on the outer forts of Antwerp occurred, This characteristic teaching of the war in the German schools may sound a little bit humorous. But errors of similar nature may perhaps not be entirely absent from the school in- struction in this country. It behooves every teacher to care- fully guard herself against such temptation. She must not be afraid of facing the actual facts and telling the truth. In the second place, the war has imposed upon the history teachers a new task, that is, to teach the cause of the great war. To be sure, this is a subject on which the historians of the world have not agreed and will probably not agree until a few decades after the war. We can not expect the history teachers of the elementary and high schools to pronounce their final judgment on such a vast and complex problem, nor can we expect them to give to their pupils an extensive view of the political history of the world and a knowledge of the history of the different governments in Europe, of international law and diplomacy, of economical and political philosophy and of many other things which lie at the foundation of the present struggle. What we expect and what we have reason to insist upon is that the teachers should not confine their instruction to the subject-matter of the text-book and teach the old matter by the old methods. Business can not be as usual in the time of war, teaching must likewise be altered to meet the needs of the hour. Great emphasis should be placed upon the subjects immediately or remotely connected with the war, such as the industrial and commercial development of Germany in the past forty years, the Franco-Prussian war, the colonial rivalry among European nations, the formation of the Triple Alliance and of the Triple Entente, the epoch-making movements in the Near East, the Mittel-Europa scheme, the assassination of the Austrian Archduke, etc. The knowledge of all these and many other things is indispensable for the understanding of the cause of the war. The authentic facts of every one of these are now available. History teachers must familiarize themselves with them. Whatever may be the cause which set the whole world afire with terrifying suddenness, it is their THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 73 duty to teach these facts and enable the pupils to form their own judgment. In the third place, the war has created a demand for in- struction in national patriotism, and this demand the teachers of history are in a unique position to meet. We have had newspaper accounts of the " morning hate lessons " of the Germans, and we have heard so much about the story of a class of German children, who, in responding to the query what country they hated most, replied, "England." This kind of jingoistic patriotism has no place in our school instruction. What I wish to suggest here is that the detailed story of American life and of the development of American ideals and institutions should be emphasized, so that the children may understand that the rich heritage of a democratic civilization has been won by long struggles in the past, and is therefore worthy of preserving and defending. Prof. Walter B. Davi- son has recently in an article entitled " The History Teachers' Patriotic Opportunity " pointed out the chief defects of present history teaching, and some of them are (1) lack of appreciation of history as the throbbing record of the thoughts and feelings of people, rather than a mere chronological out- line of facts, dates and empty names; (2) too much depend- ence on text-books; (3) Text-books over-emphasized political phases of life to the neglect of other very important aspects of the real life of the people; and (4) text-books neglected the westward movement. (27). If these are the defects of history teaching, then it is quite clear that the way to remedy them is to make the history of American life in all its past phases, such as the life of the colonists, the struggle between the white men and the Indians, the life of the western cowboy, etc., the chief material for class instruction, so the children can see and understand and can re-live " the struggles, the sor- rows, the hardships, the dangers, defeats and mistakes, the joys, the victories and the works of achievements out of which the present has come." This is particularly important because the large number of children of foreign birth or parentage in many cities may thus be Americanized and made to feel that their unquestionable allegiance is due to the coun- try of their adoption. When the history of a nation is taught in such vivid and picture-making detail, it will not fail to pro- duce a generation of patriots who will love in one, think in one, and act in one in the common cause and for the common good. By way of practical suggestion the curriculum and method of a history course followed in the Philadelphia public schools can be recommended for general acceptance. The program 74 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR covers the entire eight grades of the elementary school. The instruction runs through three cycles. The first cycle in- cludes grades one and two, and takes up stories of Indian life and American holidays and festivals. The second cycle includes grades three, four and five, beginning with hero stories of legend and history, stories of great explorers, stories of local history and an informal survey of American history through biography. The third cycle includes grades six to eight beginning with a general account of ancient and mediaeval life and the age of discovery. This is followed by the history of America down to 1815, and in the eight grade the century from 1815 to 1917 is treated. It is to be noticed that in the lower grades, emphasis is placed upon the biographic aspect of American history. The biographies of men and women who have served their country in both times of war and peace by devoting their energy, talents, time, fortune, and even life to the public welfare have been selected and studied. This plan is pedagogically sound because it has made the moral aim of teaching history supreme. As President Hall says : '* The one fact that towers above all others in the teens is that nature then sud- denly endows youth with about all of her most precious gifts and gives us our psychic capital of heredity for life. This donation comes like a spring freshet that, if its floods are stored, irrigates every crop the soul can bear and brings all to harvest, but if not, speedily passes away leaving only gullies, canons, and desert wastes behind, so that life is arid, desiccated and not fertilized." The pictures and tales of heroism, courage, determination, and unselfish devotion to duty of the makers of American history will make an indelible impression upon the minds of the young, will awaken the moral stuff of their soul, and will arouse their spirit of self- forgetfulness, and desire for service. In the higher grades narrative history is in order. The pro- gram places the emphasis upon the development of democratic ideals and institutions as a result of long centuries of stress and struggle. The stories concerning the organization of the United States, the attainment of national unity, the abolition of slavery, the extention of franchise, the provision of free public education, etc., can be told with a fresh interest and a new meaning at the time when the conflict between auto- cracy and democracy is at its maximum height. The knowl- edge of the past struggle will beget a genuine appreciation of the present heritage, and the appreciation of the present heri- tage will inevitably produce an intelligent patriotism. Con- sidering the plan of the whole course, it certainly represents THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 75 a high degree of pedagogical insight and a significant endeavor of meeting the present needs. Those school systems which are still having difficulties in planning a new course of history study in the elementary schools shall find many valuable sug- gestions in this Philadelphia program. In the fourth place, the war has made the study of the history of other nations more important than ever before. It becomes more important, because the understanding of other peoples has become more necessary in order to cultivate the international spirit in distinction from the narrow and pro- vincial kind of patriotism. The ideals of nationalism and internationalism are not antagonistic but are really comple- mentary to each other. The cultivation of international spirit does not mean " less loyalty to one's own nationality, but more sympathetic understanding of nationalities and national ideals different from one's own, combined with a recognition of the fundamental interests, material and spiritual, which unite them to each other." The more one understands the ideas and ideals of other peoples, the better one can appreciate the civilization of one's own country. America has taken arms in the defense of an international order against the Prussian creed of national egoism. So it seems quite imperative for the American youth to study the history of other nations in order that he may appreciate the great cosmopolitan truth — " above nations is humanity " — which lies at the foundation of modern society and of community of nations. Finally, we must not forget that the war events have given the history teachers an unprecedented opportunity to modern- ize and vitalize their instruction in those subjects which are often dull and uninteresting to an average child. There is a veritable host of material connected with the war, which history illuminates and which illuminates history. The dead antiquarianism of the historic items in the ordinary school text can be reduced to the minimum if the connection with the present is made. Take for instance, the methods and agencies of destruction employed in the present war, as Prof. E. M. Violette pointed out, can furnish us with some very interesting material for comparison when we approach the study of the wars in the past. The aeroplanes and submarines have come to play a very important part in modern warfare for the first time. New types of explosives and guns have been introduced. Various kinds of poisonous gases have been used with the most brutal effectiveness. All these and many other aspects of modern warfare have proved to be entirely different from the wars in the past. " Suppose we should 76 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR take up this problem in connection with the Punic Wars, the campaigns of Caesar, and the Napoleonic wars," said Prof. Violette, " we should not only see Hannibal crossing the Alps, Caesar pursuing the Gauls, and Napoleon humbling the Austrians, but we should become acquainted with the methods of making war that were characteristic of these men, and would thus get a new view of the times in which they lived. Furthermore, if some sort of an effort was made to study the arms and armament used, not in just one or two wars, but in the various wars from the earliest times to the present, we would be able to trace the evolution of the science of warfare from the simple stone hatchet of primitive times to the complicated machinery of destruction used to-day. In tracing this evolution we should see how in the long drawn- out series of conflict one type of weapon displaces another, how a new weapon demands a new means of defense, and how this new means of defense produces the necessity of a new method of offense. The method of procedure would add to our opportunities to discover the principle of continuity in history, which is one of the most desired ends to be attained in the study of the subject." (112) So far I have discussed the subject on general principles. Now I wish to mention a few specific methods of connect- ing the study of history with the current events. History taught as story, lecture, or otherwise, needs a wealth of devices. The old cry for the need of carefully planned and executed charts that make persons, events, customs, costumes, occupations, modes of life, real and objective, graphic curves, colored schedules for the presentation of statistics, maps of many kinds, and reference books of great abundance, has an increasing importance. The history teacher must have all the necessary equipment for instruction. But the war has imposed upon him a new task, that is, to teach the progres- sion of war events from day to day without waiting for them to be compiled and crystalized in any book form. In per- forming this task he has to rely very largely, beside the ordi- nary class-room equipment, upon daily newspapers, magazines and periodicals for his material. This means more work for him. This means greater preparation over a wide field of subjects. There can be no excuse if he fails to do this important work with all seriousness of purpose. We have often heard that the chief function of history teaching is to develop historical-mindedness — that is, to weigh the evidences and postpone the judgment — in children. I wonder whether that is too much to expect from children who are still in their teens. However, some independent work THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 77 of an elementary nature can be insisted upon them in order to develop such a desirable quality. From the Report of the British Board of Education (1914-'15) we find that in one city school a weekly diary of the war has been made by the children in a systematic manner. Clippings from newspapers are brought by the children and handed to one of the six " sub-editors." Each sub-editor is in charge of a war zone, namely, (1) the Western front, (2) Eastern front, (3) Bal- kans, (4) the Italian front, (5) war in the air, (6) naval affairs. The duty of each sub-editor is to paste his clippings on loose sheets and write notes and descriptions of the pictures. The sheets are bound together into a volume and suitably de- corated. At the end of the week the notes are discussed in the class with the teacher. The children borrow the volumes in turn and take them home for reading. Some thing of similar nature has been introduced in the high school at Brazil, Indiana. The plan is somewhat as follows : A given class is divided into four or five committees so that each pupil serves on some committee. To each group is given the responsibility of keeping the rest of the class informed on a certain topic. For example, to one committee will be assigned the Russian Revolution, to another the events in submarine warfare, another may have as a subject peace talk, etc. On the day assigned for the study of the war each com- mittee reports on the progress of events in its field during the preceeding week. Beside this report each committee must keep a carefully written note-book to be inspected by the teacher at any time, so the pupils have visible evidence for their work. Furthermore, the topic of each committee changes once in five or six weeks, so as to keep up the pupils' interest and broaden their view of the war. In the same high school war pictures have been extensively used for the study of the war. In a period of a few weeks last year over two hundred pictures were collected by the pupils. For the most part these were colored prints from photographs dealing with war machinery, conditions at the front, etc. The pupils classify them and paste them. on large heavy sheets of paper or cardboard for the use in the class- room. Not only are these pictures very valuable in the study of current war events, but they have also proved very useful in the ordinary history course. As Emmett A. Rice writes : "When the ancient empires of the east were studied the pupils had pictures of the late operation of the British on the Tigris River. When the Crusades were spoken of, pictures of the British advances in Palestine were available. When the study of the Gothic architecture was taken up, pictures of the Gothic 78 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR churches ruined by the shell fire in the present war were ex- hibited. When mention was made of the historical import- ance of the Alps, pictures representing the great difficulty which even a modern army experiences were shown." (88). It has been claimed that this method has been a source of great satis- faction to the teacher and through it the pupils have obtained a knowledge of the war that could not have been obtained by reading alone. All these devices are very ingenious and adaptable to both elementary and high schools. They help the pupils to acquire the newspaper and magazine habits, to learn where to find authorities and sources, and to know how to evaluate the ma- terials they gather and, in some cases, to draw their own conclusions. This may sound a bit prematurely academic, yet these devices are the best means of approaching the training in historical-mindedness. They are essentially a laboratory method. We have been urging the use of the laboratory method in teaching elementary sciences, why not use the same method in teaching history. Of course, it should be understood that these devices are not to be used by the teachers as a means of shirking their responsibility of preparation. They should make more extensive preparation over a wide field of subjects in connection with the war in order to be able to direct their pupils to read intelligently and systematically. If they expect the pupils to work hard, they themselves must work harder. The present situation offers a great opportunity for moderniza- ing and rejuvenating the traditional way of history teaching. When this opportunity is fully utilized by the teachers, history will awake from the dead. Geography Next to history, the study of geography evidently bears a very close relationship to the study of the war. Indeed we can not understand the causes of the present war unless we know the geographical situations of the belligerent countries; nor can we follow the events of the war printed daily in the press with any tolerable intelligence unless we familiarize our- selves with the peculiar topographic conditions of the fronts at which the battles occur. E. H. Reisner thinks that the causes of the war are largely geographical in the wider mean- ing of the term, and the conditions of world-peace are to be largely geographical as well. Prof. D. W. Johnson of Columbia University has in his recent book entitled " Topo- graphy and Strategy in the War " pointed out in a very mas- terful manner how the surface features of Europe have con- trolled in a large measure the issues of the various campaigns, THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 79 contributing to success in one field and imposing failure in another. Prof. Samuel B. Harding of Indiana University thinks that " at bottom it is geography which has enabled Great Britain to maintain her supremacy over the surface of the seas ; it is geography that has forced Germany to attempt her challenge of that control by means of submarines and air- craft; and it is geography, in the main, which is so seriously hampering the efforts of the United States to bring to bear in the war its great potential resources ; and . . . it is geography — in the form of colonies, spheres of trade and in- fluence, control of lines of transportation, and considerations affecting the present and future sufficiency of the sources of food-supply, together with those of iron and coal so vitally important to an industrial nation — that makes up the essence of the German demand for 'a larger place in the sun' which caused the present war." Considering every phase of this great world struggle, geographical knowledge is absolutely indispensable for any intelligent appreciation of the situation. Very unfortunately the geography taught in elementary schools has not given the youth the necessary knowledge that is of help in understanding the conditions as they exist. It has largely consisted of locational studies, as jE. H. Reisner stated, such as the positions of the states, the location of the principal cities, mountain ranges, lakes, rivers, plains, and coastal identations, together with some attention to climatic conditions and a very limited consideration of the influence of climate, topography, and natural resources upon the occu- pations and ways of living of mankind. This is the way the geography of the United States has been taught, while the geography of the world has received only a very limited con- sideration. The worst thing of all is that this information type of geography teaching has relied too much upon the text- books. Pupils study the geographical facts almost entirely from the printed pages which usually do not give them any unity of knowledge, and the teachers on the other hand fur- nish them no means to facilitate their comprehension. What they have learned by heart is soon forgotten, because they never understood. This sad state of affairs was clearly shown by the result of a test recently given to a Freshman class of 250 students in the University of Wis- consin. (114). Among the questions asked in the said test was this one : " Give your estimate of the approximate area (1) of your own state, (2) of Japan, (3) of the United States, (4) of the British Isles, and (5) of Germany." It was stated by Prof. R. H. Whitbeck, the examiner, that the chief pur- pose of this question was to discover whether the students 80 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR really had any basis for intelligently estimating areas of im- portant countries. But the answers showed such a surprising ignorance of the students in geographical facts as to be un- believable. For inctance, one student said the British Isles had an area of 1,000 square miles, while another one thought that they had an area of 10,000,000 square miles. One student estimated the area of the United States at 15,000 square miles, another at 15,000,000 square miles, another at 75,000,000 and another at 110,000,000. One student esti- mated Japan at 750 square miles, another at 10,000,000, and another at 40,000,000. In the same test another question was asked concerning the estimate of the approximate distances between certain large cities. The answers again showed a remarkable degree of variation. One student estimated the distance between Chicago and New Orleans at 210 miles, while another estimated it at 19,000 miles. One student esti- mated the distance from New York to Liverpool at 600 miles, another at 20,000 miles. Similar incredible variations were also recorded throughout the answers to other questions. Prof. Whitbeck thinks that the cause of this ignorance on the part of the first year college students is due to the inherent defectiveness of geography instruction in the elementary school. As he says : " The fact is that elementary geography is, almost of necessity, a study that appeals mainly to the memory, and the facts of geography learned in the grade school are soon forgotten. The pupils are immature when they learn these facts and do not appreciate their bearing or relation- ships. They have not the experience or general knowledge to grasp the real meaning of most of the geographical information which they temporarily possess." Whatever may be the cause the rejuvenation of geography teaching is certainly a matter of pressing necessity. Now, this war has offered a great opportunity for such rejuvenation. In connection with the war, the world has been studying all phases of geography, political, economic, and physical, as never before. It has been said that the present generation has learned more geography in the past four years than all the preceding decades combined. The whole world has been seeking the explanation of the war in geography. The source of the world's coal and iron, its oil and wheat fields, its trade routes, together with the racial elements and political boundaries of the belligerent countries have become the subjects of serious consideration among every thinking people. Now, why not connect the geography instruction with the epoch-making happenings of to-day? In doing so, we shall accomplish two definite purposes, the modernizing THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 81 of geography teaching on the one hand and the teaching of the war on the other. To my questionnaire referred to at the beginning of this chapter only a few answers have come from the geography teachers. I shall reproduce two or three of them in order to show how the modification of geography instruction has been made. One high school teacher writes : " I teach the war in connection with geography and modify my instruction because the geography condi- tions of the nations at war have been important factors in the struggle. . " This is the time to develop the ability to use maps and atlases, and such ability is absolutely necessary for intelligent reading to-day. The location of the can- tonments in the United States, the ship-building plants, ammunition factories, and the European places that have come into prominence during the struggle, have afforded an excellent opportunity for teaching the war in connection with Geography. Another high school teacher writes : " I assign current topics with each subject taught in these classes (Commercial Geography A. and B.), and the main discussion is how the war has affected the country we study. For instance, how the war has deprived France of her chief mineral resources, or why we must increase our wheat yield next year. We teach loca- tion of the different war regions, and how the trans- portation of the entire world has been changed to meet the conditions brought by the war. . Such are the specimens of the work of those teachers who are trying to readjust their class-room work to the need of the present. Such efforts are highly praise-worthy and should in every way be encouraged. By way of suggestion I shall mention a few things which may be of some help to those who are administering the subject. It goes without saying that geography is one of the most complicated subjects in the school curriculum. It contains a little bit of every essential topic of human concern, but nothing is stated in an exhaustive way or in a systematic manner. President Hall thinks that " school geography is contemporary world-lore for the masses. . . . It is made up of small but varying elements of the following topics : astronomy, climatology, meteorology, mineralogy, geology, 82 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR paleontology, botany, zoology, anthropology, and history. It tells something about the sky, air, clouds, storms, the sea, rivers, the earth, soil, trees, plants, crops, or the flora and fauna generally, agriculture, manufacture, and commerce, all classes and races of men, from the Kaffir in his Kraal up to the latest arts, inventions, discoveries of modern man, government, finance, forestry, navigation, railroads, exports, imports, maps and their making, industries and occupations, clothing, food, health and disease as affected by locality, architecture, hydrography, sociology, etc." Its content is of encyclopedic nature and its instruction can not be reduced to any hypermethodic form. No attempt shall be made here to suggest any specific content or method for the teaching of it with reference to the war. What I am going to suggest is largely along the line of shifting the points of emphasis on certain phases of geographical facts. In the first place, some special emphasis should be placed upon the political and economic aspects of the countries now at war. Very recently I read a lesson plan in geography re- lating to Germany as it was adopted in a 6B grade in the Robert Treat School, Newark, N. J. It impressed me that the author has achieved a distinct success in her effort of connecting her instruction with the study of the war. The first six of the ten lessons were built upon the main problem : " Are Germany's resources sufficient to support her during this war?" It first dealt with her location and showed how her geographical situation had helped her to obtain food sup- plies from her Allies, from neutral countries, and from conquered lands ; then with her natural resources, her industry, her commerce, and her exports and imports ; then with her wheat supply and its deficiency; and finally came to the conclusion that " the Germans are now suffering from a shortage of many necessities, but are not starving . They can still fight on. No one knows how their final defeat will come." The next four lessons were confined mainly to her government system, her school system, and her relations with the northern neutral countries. The whole plan has a unity of purpose and covers a great many important subjects. Indeed, it has been so carefully planned and skillfully executed that it may serve as a model of how the belligerent countries may be similarly studied. School geography, if rightly taught, should be the most interesting subject in the curriculum. It should train the imagination as well as the reasoning power of children. Never was there a greater opportunity in achieving such a pedagogic purpose than the study of the political and economic geography THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 83 of the belligerent countries. The meaning of " ironless France," the starvation policy of the English Blockade, the audacious scheme of the Berlin-Bagdad railway, the ambitious program of Mittel-Europe dream, the combined resources of the Central Powers and of the Allies, and the possibility of a trade war against Germany in case her militarism is not crushed, can all be discussed in the geography classes in the higher grades and in the high schools with the most fascinat- ing, inspiring, and humanistic interest, if the teachers only have the willingness and professional ability to do so. In the second place, some special emphasis should be placed upon the problem of the world food supply. We have been asked to conserve wheat for the Allies, but just why? We have been told that there is a world shortage of food produc- tion, but just how? All these burning questions must be answered and the geography teachers are in a unique position to answer them. It is their patriotic duty, and they have no excuse for not doing it. So much for the content. With regard to the method of instruction, nothing specially new can be said. Map reading can not be too much emphasized for the young. Graphic curves and colored charts for the statistical study of the natural re- sources of different countries are wanted. War maps, war pictures, cartoons, periodicals, magazines, etc., are indispen- sable. Text-books are, of course, needed, but they are not enough. Perhaps we need some new kinds of text-books which will give all the necessary information desired at present. Finally, it should be taken for granted that we need more than ever before those highly trained, intelligent, and resourcesful teachers who can adapt the materials and methods to the child. . Civics Only a few answers have been received from the teachers of civics in the course of my investigation. One Civics -teacher writes : " In civics the work has been greatly modified. The text-book has been to a great extent discarded and the daily papers and magazines have taken its place. " The change in the work of our government, the power of the President, the question of the development of a democratic autocracy all have engaged our attention. " I find that the pupils are more alive in the work than heretofore, they seem to realize that the questions that are now arising will need to be solved in their manhood and they are anxious to be ready. 84 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR " The city questions which have arisen because of the war have also called for discussion. Care has been taken to get the pupils not to judge without knowledge." This is one of the answers so far received on the subject. Taking the country as a whole, the signs of the day are un- mistakable that the formal instruction in civics which was introduced into the school curriculum soon after the Civil War, in the form of a clause-by-clause memorization of the Federal Constitution, interspersed with salaries and terms of office of government officials is rapidly losing ground, and the new civics which tends to train for good citizenship is gradually taking its place. To go into the detailed discussion on the theory, content, and method of this widely heralded new civics is beyond the scope of this chapter. What we are specially interested in is the problem of how to teach civics to meet the present needs. It seems that instruction in civics should have two objects: first, to mitigate the intense natural egoism of childhood; second, to inculcate in children certain fundamental civic vir- tues, such as obedience, truthfulness, courteousness, etc., which are the prime requisites of a good social order. The way to attain the first object is to develop in every child the moral sense of service. This is coming to be, as it should be, the supreme goal of all pedagogical endeavor, and the standard by which all the other educational values are measured. Children are by nature selfish. To check their growing selfish interests by developing in them the spirit of service and devotion to duty is certainly an audacious task. But it is the special province of the teachers of civics to shoul- der this task. They should teach the child the meaning of inter-dependence between the individual and his community. They should emphasize that the duty of a good citizen is to conduct himself with proper regard for the welfare of the social group of which he is a member. They should also bring home to the child that supreme manhood and womanhood is to give not to get, to serve not to be served, to live and die for the welfare of the nation not for themselves. To be sure, these abstract principles are quite beyond the comprehension of the average child, yet the teaching of " Community Civics" as recently proposed by the educators in this country furnishes us the very best means in achieving this great pedagogical purpose, if the teachers know the right way of approach. In this connection I must mention the new program of civic training recently inaugurated in the public schools of Phila- delphia. (12). The program covers the entire period of the elementary school. In the early grades the fundamental civic THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 85 virtues are inculcated by the use of stories, songs, games, memory gems, and dramatization. Then follows the study of community services rendered in a personal way or by cor- porate agencies, such as the plumber, the policemen, the fire- men, etc. Then the work of the last two years is devoted to the study of various elements of community welfare, such as health, education, recreation, transportation, etc. Finally, at the end of the eighth grade, the organization and function of government are discussed very briefly so as to differentiate between city, state, and nation. When the community civics is presented to the child in such a systematic and progressive manner, we have every reason to expect that he will not only learn many facts about his community but also understand the meaning of his community life and his particular relation to it. So much must be the gain. Furthermore, the various war activities, as I have discussed in the chapter on moral training, should have a direct rela- tionship with the civic instruction. The important part played by school children in the campaigns of Liberty Loans and of War Saving Stamps, the war gardens, the work of the Red Cross, the pledges of food conservation, all these and many other activities tend to enhance in the child group con- sciousness and sense of common duty. They are practical civics, although some teachers may not recognize them as such. The problem of accomplishing the second object of civics teaching, namely, to inculcate fundamental civic virtues, is a difficult one. Civics teachers may think that this task rightly belongs to the domain of moral instruction and it is not their business to deal with it. I wonder what is the aim of teach- ing civics. If it is only to give the child a knowledge of the organization and function of the government from the text- books, this attitude perhaps has its justification. But if it is to train for good citizenship, can the teachers of this virile subject shirk the responsibility of this moral instruction? To me, civics is synonymous with applied morality. Civic virtues are the bases of good citizenship. The mental horizon of a good citizen must be much larger than himself. If instruction in civics is not to make the children of to-day better men and women of to-morrow, then the time spent for it in the school would be a sheer waste and should be devoted to some other subject which will do the most good. Now, this time of civic awakening caused by the war con- stitutes a pedagogic opportunity too valuable to be lost. There is a new social consciousness centered around patriotism as its core, the sentiment of which is each for all and all for 86 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR each. Civics teachers can inculcate the civic virtues in the child on the ground of patriotism. To-day is a day of hero worship. The young man in khaki looms very large in the mind of the child. Tell him that the first duty of a good soldier is to obey orders, so a good citizen must obey the law and the authority made and chosen by the people them- selves. Tell him that a good soldier must be truthful, courte- ous, clean in speech and prompt in action, so a good citizen must do likewise. My belief is that all these simple virtues taught in a high spirit and in a virile manner will not fail to make deep impression upon the child. The present is the most precious psychological moment for civic training and instruction. English Judging by the answer to my questionnaire we find that language instruction has been modified by the war. In English composition work we find many examples of writing on war subjects, such as thrift stamps, war gardens, food conservation, Red Cross, etc. Quite a few poems written by the school pupils have been received. The following written by a seventh grade girl of Detroit public school may be considered as typical. " Empty your plate and empty your platter, And save more meat, but waste no batter. You can eat fruit, and save the wheat, You can eat fish and save the meat, By saving wheat and meat, You can provide for our country's fleet." English literature, one teacher writes : " I teach the war in connection with literature by suggest- ing books an magazine articles about the war for out- side reading. Every month I take one of the class periods for a discussion of what has been read during the month. . . . " The commendable attempts made by the teachers of Eng- lish in teaching the war are clearly shown in the above ex- amples. Here I wish to offer one suggestion on the subject. This is that the children's reading on war subjects should be carefully directed. Since the outbreak of the war, thous- ands of books in the form of stories, fiction, poems, diaries, treaties, have been published on the different phases of the war. These are new books on entirely new subjects. They represent not only a great many varieties, but also a long scale of degrees of excellency. It seems to me that there is no THE WAR AND THE TEACHING OF SCHOOL SUBJECTS 87 other problem which looms larger for the English teachers than the problem of selecting from the vast and growing flood of war literature the suitable books for children to read. We have heard the appeals made by the educators that literature teaching should be ethical and inspirational rather than ana- lytical, and that it should be the power that makes for spirit- ual quickening. We know also that, although only in general terms, boys like action, adventure, and run to what is sensa- tional and even truculent, whereas girls like domestic and emotional literature; but we have not made very much head- way in our attempt to guard and direct the reading of the children whose souls have " just taken their flight into book- land." Now the outpouring of voluminous war literature has given us a new problem, that is, what should the children read in order to get proper understanding and correct information about the war? In Germany, the Jugendschriften-Warte of Berlin, founded by Ziegler in 1893, the official organ of the association of German committees for the criticism of children's books, has in a very large measure controlled the reading of the young in that country. This association undertakes the selection of suitable juvenile literature and establishes certain stand- ards, below which books for children are not permitted to circulate. Each book must be read independently by at least three members of the committee, who write their verdict with their reasons. Should all approve, the local committee adopts the book and it is sent in to the headquarters and the verdict is published. Through this process of control thousands of children's books have been placed on the approved lists pub- lished by the association. As President Hall says : "The work of the association has been a sentinel of children's literature and has been most beneficent." In this country we have noth- ing comparable to this association, although some excellent work has been done by the children's departments of different libraries along this line. Now, I suggest that some thing similar in nature to the work of this German associaiton be undertaken at present concerning the war books. I believe the American National Education Association is an organization eminently fitted to undertake such work. If a committee consisting of twelve or fifteen psychologists and educational experts be organized to go over the vast amount of war literature and recommend a list of books which are suitable for the young people to read, it will be a great help to the teacher and an inestimable value to the child upon whose education the future of the country depends. It goes without saying that in the course of 88 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR selection the children's interest should always be the first consideration. Books of various subjects, ranging from the description of the operations of aeroplanes, zeppelins, sub- marines, the stories of the parts played by dogs and pigeons in the war, and of the heroic deeds of Red Cross nurses, up to the treatises on the future world-peace should be selected, so that the interests of both sexes and of different ages can be appealed to. There must be no jingo patriotism or com- monplace moral sermons. I should like to see that every war book published from now on be examined, commented on, and recommended by the committee, before it is placed in any of the children's libraries in the country. This may sound like an audacious task, but I see no reason why this can not be done. In conclusion, I may say that some resourceful teachers have modified their regular instruction on account of the war, although more might have been done. In my judgment this modification has been a change for the good. It has modernized and vitalized many traditional school subjects and made them more real to the interest of the child. Many of the suggestions made here with particular reference to the teach- ing of the war may also be applied in times of peace. May we never go back to the old order of things after the war is over! CHAPTER V REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AFTER THE WAR The foregoing chapters have dealt with some specific prob- lems of the public schools as caused by the war. What the effect of this war is to be on the minds of men and on civilization, in general, is not yet entirely clear, but we do know that this greatest crisis of the world's history can not fail to effect a new conception of the meaning and purpose of public educa- tion. It does not take the eyes of a prophet to see that after the war we shall live in a changed world ; and in this changed world we are quite certain that public education will be the most important and the most effective agency for restoring and rebuilding civilization. Students conversant with the history of education in this country have often said that the school has been the bulwark of this great republic. But the school of to-day has acquired a new significance and a new meaning. It shall become a steering gear, as it were, of a new democratic civilization that is struggling to be born out of the convulsions of these most critical times of mankind. We are forced to ask ourselves the question : What sort of an educational program is capable of performing this new function or rather specifically, what kind of a school system is needed in this country in the coming new world order? To answer this question is the task which the writer sets for him- self in this chapter. 1. Nationalization of Public Education Education as a community affair was the early conception in this country. At the time when this great Republic was founded, the community interests were so large, the state in- terest so meagre, and the national interests so indefinite that the instruction and the training of the children were con- sidered merely as a local undertaking to meet the local needs. Education as a national unifying agency did not lie within the field of vision of the founders of this country. The Federal Constitution made no mention of any form of education for the people. The terms of the Tenth Amendment of the Consti- tution definitely state that " the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." 89 90 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR Education was one of the unmentioned powers, therefore it has remained in the hands of the states ever since. Neither national supervision of education nor a national system of schools has ever been considered as important. In the days when life was simple, population was homo- geneous, industry was in its primitive stage, commerce between states was still of rare occurrence, this neighborhood concep- tion of education had its justification. Indeed, the early com- munal interest was so limited in its scope that the need for education and for the knowledge of reading, writing and ciphering was a relatively minor one. But this narrow con- ception of education could not long endure in the face of the increasing demands of a growing civilization. The gradual development of industry, the introduction of machinery, the extension of manhood suffrage, the growth of urban popula- tion and many other factors of social revolution have all tended to awaken the demands for tax-supported schools under the authority and the partial support of the state. It has become necessary for the state to assume the responsibility to see that every child born within its borders must have the guaranteed opportunities of education and training. The principle that the wealth of the state must be utilized for the education of its children has gradually been brought into the focus of attention. With the growing facilities of the means of communication, the great movement of population from one locality to another has brought the thinking people face to face with the reality that the burdens of ignorance, incapa- bility, dependence and degeneration, resulting from the neglect of the state to care properly for the children and youth, rest upon society in general rather than upon the community that produced such conditions. State control, direct or indirect, was inevitable. Hence the state laws of compulsory attend- ance, state support, state supervision, and inspection which were considered as unimportant and unnecessary have been established in the period of a few decades. But the development of public education did not and can not stop with the state support and state supervision. Education in a democracy for the upbuilding and advancing of demo- cratic civilization must be universal and efficient; and the problems of universal and efficient education are too com- prehensive and too far reaching in their consequences for any individual state of the Union to deal with them adequately without calling for the cooperation and coordination of all the forces found to exist in both the states and the nation. Since the last half of the past century, it has become clearer and clearer that the questions of training for citizenship, and the REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 91 maintenance of public prosperity and improvement are ques- tions of the United States rather than those of the separate states. With the enlargement of population by. immigration, with the increase of illiteracy, and with the growing lack of homogeneity and social sympathy, it has been quite evident to students of education and statesmen alike that some sort of national aid, encouragement and guidance of education must be instituted even if it is to some extent contrary to the original notion of the function of the state. The Federal Gov- ernment has been steadily moving in the direction of more and more participation in educational matters. The time- honored theory that education is under the exclusive control of the state has been gradually losing its strength in the face of national demands. The Federal Government, while exercising no general con- trol over the state systems of education, has by legislation and the appropriation of money carried out several measures that concern the educational policy of the separate states. The first was the Morrill Act. Through it and the measures that followed it Congress has made large appropriations for the support of agricultural and mechanical colleges in all the states. The administration of these appropriations was left to the states themselves and the Federal Government exercised very little control over the expenditure of this money. In 1914, Congress passed the Agricultural Extension Act for the purpose of giving instruction and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home economics to persons not attending the State agricultural colleges. The Act provides an initial sum of $480,000 to be equally distributed among the states the first year and also an additional annual appropriation until the total sum of $4,580,000 is reached. The Act further provides that no payment out of the additional appropriation shall be made in any year to any state until an equal sum has been raised by the state for the maintenance of the cooperative agricultural extension work. It is significant to notice here that the federal aid serves as an inducement for the educa- tional effort of the states. The second Act on the part of the Federal Government for the purpose of educational efficiency and unity was the crea- tion of a bureau of education under a Commissioner of Educa- tion. This office was established in 1867, but the function of the bureau has been limited to the work of a statistical agency dealing with the various existing educational conditions in this country and abroad. The Commissioner has no responsibility in directing and supervising the educational systems of the states. 92 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR The third Act towards a constructive and systematic national direction of education was the Smith-Hughes Act passed by Congress February, 1917. This Act provides that Federal grants shall be made for the purpose of cooperating with the states in the promotion of vocational education. By this Act, one-half the cost of the salaries of teachers of trade and home economics and of teachers, supervisors, and directors of agricultural subjects and one-half the total cost of the preparation of vocational teachers are paid by the Fed- eral Government up to the limit set for the Government appro- priation. The state or the local community or both must meet all the other expenses of the school, including site, plant, equipment and operating expenses, together with the salaries of teachers of academic subjects. The most signifi- cant feature of this Act is the provision that the Federal Board of Vocational Education may withhold the allotment of Federal money to any state if the provisions of the Act are not complied with. Thus both Federal support and Federal control are provided Beside these Acts, the nationalizing tendency of education has been manifested in a few other movements. The first is the movement of providing Federal grants for the elimination of illiteracy. The attempt was first made by the Blair Bills of 1881-1887 which proposed to make a national educational grant to the states in proportion to the number of illiterates in each. The Senate of the Forty-eighth, Forty- ninth and Fiftieth Congresses passed the bill three times in succession but it was found impossible to pass it through the House, and the attempt to secure legislation was then abandoned. Since America's entrance into the war, the problem of illiteracy has again loomed large in the minds of the thinking people. In a letter to the President and the Chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Education, Secretary Lane of the Interior has called attention to the urgent need of edu- cation for the illiterates. The essential facts presented in the letter are as follows : There were in the United States, according to the 1910 census, 5,516,163 persons over 10 years of age who were unable to read or write in any language. At present, there are nearly 700,000 men of draft age who can not read or write in English or in any other language. Over 4,600,000 of the illiterates in this country were twenty years of age or more. The percentage of illiterates varied in the several states from 1.7% in Iowa to 29% in Louisiana. More than 10% of them were in 13 states. Over 58% were white per- REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 93 sons, and of these 1,500,000 were native whites. The letter further estimates the economic loss arising out of this con- dition. If the productive labor value of an illiterate is less by- only 50 cents a day than that of an educated man or woman the country is losing $825,000,000 a year through illiteracy. The Federal Government and the States spend millions of dol- lars annually in trying to give information to the people in rural districts about farming and home-making. Yet 3,700,000 or 10% of the country folk can not read or write a word. Following this appeal a bill known as the Smith-Bankhead Bill was introduced in both Houses of Congress, authorizing the Commissioner of Education to devise methods and co- operate with the states for the elimination of illiteracy. At the time of this writing, this bill has received unanimous en- dorsement of the educational committees of both Houses and will very likely be carried through. Again a bill for national aid in physical education has been recently proposed by the Bureau of Education. The purpose of the bill is " to provide for the promotion of physical edu- cation; for cooperation with the states in the preparation and payment of directors, supervisors, and teachers of physical education ; and to appropriate money and regulate its expendi- ture." The most significant features of this bill, from the standpoint of national control are: (1) the Bureau of Edu- cation shall be responsible for the administration of this act; (2) for each dollar of the Federal money expended for any purpose under the provisions of this Act, the State or local authority or both shall expend not less than an equal amount; (3) the Commissioner of Education shall make or cause to be made studies, demonstrations, investigations and reports with particular reference to the organization and conduct of physical education in elementary, secondary and normal schools. Although this bill has not been introduced in Con- gress, yet it has already had the approval and support of the leading educators of the nation. Enough instances have been cited to illustrate the increas- ing tendencies toward nationalizing public education. The signs are unmistakable, but the existing situations still point to the task yet undone. We have realized that in a dynamic society the highest and best education for all the children is not only a local necessity, but a national affair and a national demand. We have also come to realize that the separate States can not carry out a program of education adequate for the nation. But we have no central agency to assume the leadership of direction, encouragement, stimulation, cooper- ation and supervision in the field of educational endeavor. 94 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR The movement for the establishment of a national department of education has been started decades ago, yet nothing tan- gible has been accomplished in that direction. Now that we are facing a new task of social reconstruction, it may be well for us to reexamine this question. The chief objection which has been raised against the estab- lishment of a national department of education is based on the preservation of state rights. Since education is one of the unmentioned powers reserved to the states according to the Federal Constitution, it would seem at first sight to be an usurpation of the state function on the part of the national government if it establishes some sort of national direction and national supervision over popular education. But such is not in reality the case. Popular education is an indispens- able agency for the preservation and advancement of demo- cratic civilization and no instrumentality less universal in its power and authority than the national government can secure the equality of opportunity for the training and education of all individuals within the nation. During the eighteen months of war, the government has taken over the management of rail- roads and other means of transportation, the administration of food and fuel and the control of many other industries which supply the necessities of life. All these actions are for the efficiency of management and for the equalization of con- ditions for the welfare of all the individuals concerned. Why not popular education? The efficiency of school management and the equalization of conditions for individual development are indispensable for the maintenance and success of a free government. We have the Inter-state Commerce Commission to regulate the conditions of commerce between States. Why should we not have a national department of education for the support and regulation of popular education? Commerce is important. Education is certainly just as important as com- merce, if not more. Arguments based on state rights furnish no justifiable ground against such a movement of national importance. Another objection raised against centralized control in the matter of education is that it tends to bring forth undesir- able national uniformity. People who raise such objection have advanced argument that educational systems are less important than education and that a central government office tends inevitably to value systems and uniformity which may deaden local interests, stiflle local initiative, and eliminate local responsibility. This objection is a very important one. We must concede that the fundamental principle of school ad- ministration is to develop in the individual and in the com- REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 95 munity the local feeling of responsibility in order to insure the progress of democratic education. Centralized control does tend to take away this local feeling of responsibility and thus may defeat its own purpose. But this objection points merely to a possible danger of centralized control, not an insurmountable difficulty. We can take cognizance of such danger by limiting the powers of the central office. We can check the undesirable conditions of uniformity by having strong local bodies capable of interpreting local needs and conditions and preventing the imposition of mere prescrip- tion from above. The central government can lay down general policies, such as those concerning the age of com- pulsory attendance, provision of industrial and vocational education, continuation schools, consolidation of rural schools, the minimum course of study, etc., and leave to the States or local communities the power to choose their own tools to carry out the national purpose. In connection with this discussion the recent Education Act passed by the British Parliament is very much to the point. The Act establishes a national minimum with regard to compulsory attendance, child labor, physical welfare of the children, and continuation schools, below which no local community is permitted to fall. The Act further provides that each local authority shall prepare and submit to the Cen- tral Board of Education a comprehensive scheme of educa- tion for its own area. The Central Board considers each scheme and makes suggestions where suggestions are desir- able. When a scheme is approved, it will be carried out by the local authority, acting largely in independence of the Board, and half the cost will be paid by the central govern- ment, leaving the remaining half to be met by local taxes. We can see very clearly that the distinct feature of this Act is the provision of the local control under national direction. I am quite convinced that most of the attendant evils in con- nection with the creation of a national department of educa- tion can be avoided, if the principle of uniformity in general policies and diversity in details is recognized as the keynote of national control. In brief the advantages of creating a national department of education may be stated as follows : (1) It can serve as the chief agency to study the national problems and needs of education, not only in the way of col- lecting and publishing statistics, but also in assuming the re- sponsibility of formulating definite and practical programs. The bureau of education has already done some valuable work under the circumstances in issuing annual reports and various kinds of publications concerning the existing conditions and 96 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR progress of education in this country and abroad. But this country must do something more definite, active and practical for the education of all its citizens than simply to distribute facts and advice through the Commissioner of Education. We need a national leadership in education, and this leadership can be secured only through the creation of a special depart- ment for the purpose. (2) The national department of education can insure an equal educational opportunity for all the children of the nation. It can make a minimum standard which every State and every local community must try to reach. It can initiate new policies to meet certain special educational needs. It can help the separate States to solve their particular educa- tional problems by national grants and, if need be, can compel action on the part of the backward States. Education is the birthright of the child, and it should be the chief duty of the natonal department of education to see to it that no child shall be unfairly handicapped because he happens to be born in one district rather than in another. Take for instance, the problem of rural schools. As a rule the country children have not been provided with educational opportunities equal to those of the city. On account of the lack of adequate financial support the rural schools are poorly equipped and the teachers are often of very inferior grades. In recent years the Bureau of Education and other educational agencies have been making campaigns for the betterment of rural schools but with relatively little success. Now, if a national department of education is created and is invested with cer- tain power of national control and supervision, it can compel the rural schools to consolidate, it can provide the rural dis- tricts with financial help in the process of consolidation, it can withhold the state and national appropriations from any community that refuses to consolidate and it can also give expert direction with regard to the plans and procedure of consolidation, if such direction is needed. Thus the whole problem of rural schools may be solved in a few years. This is one of the possibilities. Many other educational problems can be solved in similar manner, if such a central agency exists. (3) It can place the national resources at the disposal of the States in equalizing their educational burdens. Children are the assets and liabilities of the nation no matter where they live. In educational matters, we have to think in terms of the nation. It is not just to let the poor States bear greater educational burdens than the rich ones. According to the recent data available we find Georgia spends annually 6.3 REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 97 mills of the assessed valuation of its real and personal prop- erty on its public schools, while New York State spends but 4.7 mills; and a great variation has also been shown among the other states. Again, economic disparities between States are very great. California, for each child between 5 and 18 years of age, has property to the value of $15,000; Mississippi, $2,100. Consequently California is in a much better finan- cial position than Mississippi to spend more money for popular education. Further, the school population in proportion to the population in general varies also greatly between States. For each 100 children, Nevada has 180 men of 21 years and over. South Carolina has 58. Therefore the latter, on account of its large percentage of school population, has to provide more money than the former for public schools, if an equal educational opportunity is provided. These are the actual conditions existing to-day. If a national department is created, it can equalize by Federal grants the burdens that must be carried for the benefit of the whole nation. Such are the few typical advantages of the creation of a national department of education. Taking the country as a whole, the sentiment has been overwhelmingly in favor of such a movement. The National Education Association has been working on the problem for many years. The Association of College Presidents has also taken an active interest in it. And the most important of all, the American Federation of Labor has recently adopted a comprehensive program at the St. Paul meeting and instructed its executive council to " take measures to secure the creation of a Federal Department of Education headed by a Cabinet officer." It seems to me that the time is ripe for the inauguration of this national educational leadership. Action must take the place of debate. It has been urged that the American people must develop an international mind in the world politics, so it is not a high- sounding idealism to say that they must have a national mind in education. II. State, County and City School Administration In the last section I have pointed out the desirability of national supervision and control of education. I have also tried to indicate the limits of power which the national de- partment of education may exercise. The principle that the department should confine itself to the formation of the general educational policies and let the separate states have a large degree of freedom in carrying out the national puropse should be considered as fundamental. National supervision should never be exercised in such a manner as to produce national 98 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR uniformity. Now we may turn our attention to the functions of the separate states in the field of school administration. As I have already said that education was tacitly regarded by the framers of the Federal Constitution as a power to be reserved to the states, so in the development of American public education, the state has always been the unit. Although the states in the early days delegated the power of establish- ing schools to the districts, or counties or townships, yet these political units are the creation of the states. The states created these subdivisions and endowed them with powers in the mat- ter of education for the purposes of local administration. In practically all cases the power delegated by the states to the local units was so large that state oversight and control was never very much exercised until a few decades ago. In the pioneer days when the need of education was relatively unimportant, many of the state legislations concerning educa- tion were purely "permissive measures." They merely granted to the local communities the right or organizing schools, but laid down no mandatory requirement. The principle of tax- supported schools was not firmly established until 1850. The movement for the unification and control of the local school systems on the part of the states was not well on its way until the eighties of the last century. The state superin- tendents have long been mere collectors of statistics and dis- tributors of state funds to the local school districts and have done little in the way of formulating constructive and practical policies of public instruction. In other words, the evolution of education in the different states has been gradually mov- ing towards state control, yet many things desirable have remained unaccomplished. Now, in our discussion of the possible reorganization of public education, we may examine the direction which the state administrative organization should take. 1. The position of the chief state educational officers should be raised to a place of greater importance than heretofore. Its function should not be confined largely to statistical and clerical work. It must be one which requires professional and constructive leadership in its performance. The chief officer must be empowered to exercise his educational states- manship and to carry out educational policies of the state with an authority commensurate with their importance. The method of selecting the chief school officer for a state on a basis of partisan nomination and election, of limiting the choice to citizens of the state, must be discarded. The best prepared men for such office will not be likely to enter into a political race with the uncertainty of election and with the REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 99 possibility of great humilation in case of defeat. They do not wish to lower their professional dignity and to sell their service in an open market. In order to secure the best men and women for such office the method of selection must undergo a great change. According to the prevailing opinion of students of school administration, the best form of state educational organization is to have a small board consisting of five or seven members to be appointed by the governor. Appointment to such board should be made on the basis of one's ability and fitness to serve the schools of the state without reference to party affiliation, religious connections, or occupation. This board should consist of the best representative citizens of the state. The main duty of this board is to select the professional expert as its chief executive. This board shall have the re- sponsibility of general educational control and exercise only the legislative function, while the executive work shall be entirely left to the chief executive officer, the " State Com- missioner of Education," or the " State Superintendent of Education " or by whatever other name he is called. In other words, the position of the chief state educational officer should enlist the service of the best men and women and should be powerful enough to put into operation the policies based on a careful and an intelligent study of educational conditions and administrative needs. 2. The state department of education in conformity with the general educational policies of the nation, should establish a minimum standard for all local school units. The educa- tional system of a nation should provide the utmost measure of variety and elasticity, but nowhere should it be permitted to fall below the minimum requirement which is necessary for fitting the children for the duties of life. This is a principle upon which the national control is based; and this is also the principle to which the state department of education must try to conform, although in a comparatively limited scope. In matters like the length of school terms, the nature of instruction, school equipment and provisions, the local unit of administration, the sanitary requirement of school build- ings, and the rates and forms of taxation to be imposed, state regulation is indispensable. The state can lay down the minimum and compel the backward districts to meet the requirement. If any community is financially incapable of meeting the requirement, then the state must assume its obligation in helping such community by way of state aid. 3. The danger of undesirable uniformity may also occur in case of the unwise exercise of state power. Uniformity 100 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR and standardization are very likely to take place in the cen- tralized control because they tend to make the administra- tion easier. The state can establish the minimum standards, but must also allow the progressive communities to exceed the minima if their financial ability permits them to do so. And these minima must be raised from time to time in order to keep pace with the increasing demand of a progressive society. Local initiative and local interests are the founda- tions of democratic education. We must by all means keep them alive. Next to the state, the county should represent the natural local unit for educational organization and administration. But in the existing situations this is by no means the case. In over one half of all the states in the Union the expensive, inefficient and unprogressive district system still persists, and in a number of other states, the town or township system prevails. As a means of providing for the establishment of schools the district system, as Professor E. P. Cubberley has pointed out, has rendered its service but the new social con- ditions with their attendant new educational demands have made such a system of school administration obsolete and inadequate. "It leads to a great and an unnecessary mul- tiplication of small and inefficient schools; the trustees (that is, district-school trustees usually consisting of three mem- bers each) frequently assume authority over matters' which they are not competent to handle ; it leads to marked inequal- ities in the length of school terms, and educational advantages ; and it stands to-day as the most serious obstacle in the way of the consolidation of rural schools." (23, p. 52). Take for instance, in New York state, there are now 15 schools with only 2 pupils each, 116 with 3 each, 357 with 5 each, 600 with less than 7, and 3,800 with less than ten in attend- ance. We all know that it is absolutely impossible to main- tain in any district of this kind a school which comes any where near approaching an institution worthy of the name school and that the one room and one teacher with one un- graded class school in the rural district can not and will never be able to furnish to the children an educational opportunity adequate to meet their needs. Since the last decade, students of school administration have loudly preached the necessity of reorganizing and consolidating rural schools, but the district system has always stood as a stumbling block to such con- structive effort. In the face of reconstruction and redirec- tion of rural and small village education, the district must be replaced by a larger and better unit of organization and administration, that is the county. In discussing the county REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 101 system with its consolidated schools, Professor Cubberley says : " With about twenty such schools (that is consolidated schools) to a county, instead of a hundred and fifty little ones, or somewhere near two thousand consolidated schools instead of fifteen thousand district schools to an average state, the whole nature of rural life and education could be re- directed and revitalized in a decade and life on the farm could be given a new meaning. Such a change would also dispense with the need for the service of from five to six thousand of the cheapest and most poorly educated of the rural teachers as well as of some twenty-five thousand dis- trict-school trustees, both of which would be educational gains of great importance and significance." (21, p. 255). With regard to the office of the county superintendent, it must be raised to the position of professional leadership. The prevailing practice of electing the county school superinten- dent by popular votes among the electorates and on short terms can not secure the best man for the office. According to the recent data available, we find in twenty-nine of the forty-one states having a county superintendent he is elected by the voters of the county; in eighteen of the tweny-nine states he is elected for two-year terms only ; and in two of the eighteen he is prohibited from holding the office for more than four years. Under such restricted conditions no one with professional spirit will be likely to run for such a political job, nor can he exercise his professional ability for the interest of the community within such a short tenure of office. The best way of reform will be to have a small county board of education elected by the people and this board will in turn select the best man for the money from the country at large as its chief executive officer. The latter must be endowed with power commensurate with his responsibility, and his tenure of office must be long enough to enable him to carry out the educational policy to a successful completion. Unless this is done the reorganization of rural education will be impossible. After this brief discussion of the rural school organization we may now come to the problems of city education. For the student of school administration the city school system in this country furnish a very unique and interesting study. In many respects they present some very different problems from those of the rural district. But the fundamental principle of school administration which the writer has in mind should have the same application; that is, the employment of an expert service under democratic control. As a rule, the city schools represent the very best systems 102 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR of popular education in this country. Most of the progress made along the line of school organization and adminis- tration in the past fifty years has been started in the city. Considering the geographical situation which the city occupies this is quite a natural consequence. The city is the wealth center, so it can easily afford to have better school equipment, better teachers, and better educational opportun- ities than any rural district can provide ; and it can afford to try the experiments of new educational theories and practices which are beyond the financial possibility of the rural districts. For- tunate as this situation is, yet, from the standpoint of school efficiency, we must not be blind to its common defects and neglect to note its possibilities of improvement. First of all, let us examine the organization of the school boards. In commenting on the diverse organization of such boards in the different cities, Professor Cubberley says : " There is no generally established method for the creation of such boards, some being elected by wards, some elected at large, and some appointed by the mayor or some other appointive body, and some owing their existence to special charters. Many boards are large; some are small. Some still retain the old committtee system in full strength; some have only a few committees ; while a few have abolished standing committees entirely. Some are both legislative and executive bodies, the superintendent of schools being much in the nature of a clerk to the board ; some divide the exec- utive functions to a greater or less degre with this official; while a few cities have clearly separated the executive from the legislative functions, and entrust all of the former to paid experts, the board acting entirely as a board of control for the school system of the city district." (23, pp. 85-86). This diversity of organization and function of the school boards speaks well for the characteristics of a democratic institution, but also suggests the need of redirection and new adjustments. In the light of the experience of may cities, the tendency has been to reduce the size of the board and to eliminate the standing committees within the board. The board should not be so large as to be unwieldy and its members should conduct the duties of their office on strictly business prin- ciples and with ordinary business economy and efficiency. The large board is not only incoherent and incapable of hand- ling the public business with effectiveness and dispatch, but often serves as a chief source of corruption and local political conflict. Experiences have clearly shown that a school board of from five to nine members, varying according to the size REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 103 of the city, is more efficient that a board of forty or fifty. Instead of having many standing committees, the board should also work as a committee of the whole in transacting all busi- ness of the office in order to avoid the duplication of effort, the multiplication of activity and the creation of small fac- tions within a large body, or as it were, of wheels within wheels. This is a common-sense principle of modern business manage- ment. Why not introduce it into the management of public education which is in every sense the greatest and the most important of all municipal undertakings? Along with this reform, the problem of having a board either appointed by the mayor or else selected by popular election should also be settled. Some of the leading edu- cators in this country have advocated the elective rather than the appointive plan because the latter often leads to bureau- cracy and to the mixing of city politics with the affairs of the school. As far as the political conditions are concerned, there is an element of danger in the appointive system. The mayor may make the appointments with particular reference to his party interests and may thus bring disastrous results to the school. But this possible danger does not weigh very heavily in favor of the elective system. The mayor is elected by the people and is responsible to the people. The appointive sys- tem lays a very heavy responsibility upon him personally and officially. For his own personal interest as well as for the interest of the community which he represents he must select the men with great care and with his best judgment. By his personal invitation he may be able to secure the services of the best representative citizens which may not be obtained by popular election. We must always remember that service in the school board is a distinct honor not a political stepping stone to something else. It is for this reason that the ap- pointive plan can secure better men for the board than popular election. Closely connected with the organization of the school board is the function of the school superintendent. We no longer question that the office of the superintendent has a very great potential importance. He must be a careful organizer, an able executive, and a sympathetic supervisor of the entire school system of the city. He must be the chief executive to carry out the legislations of the board ; he must be selected by the board from the country at large. His salary must be large enough to attract the best man available, his tenure must be long enough to enable him to solve some of the per- plexing problems, and the most important of all, he must be endowed with power compatible with the importance of 104 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR his service. All these points in connection with city super- intendency have been advanced by the educators in the past ten or fifteen years, yet in many cities they are still the main features which remain to be desired. In this and the above section I have tried to point out how an educational system can be organized in order to secure expert service with democratic control, and to preserve the local freedom in educational matters and at the same time to promote the efficiency of the organization. Democracy and efficiency are not antagonistic to each other. The real problem of school organization and administration is not how to destroy the initiative, interest and responsibility of a local community, but how to develop them under national or state direction. If what I have said are not the best ways of solv- ing the problem, it behooves us to have no rest until we find them. III. Reorganization of the Elementary Education So far I have confined my discussion to the problems of administration, supervision and control of education. Now we may come to another important problem, that is, the re- organization of the elementary school itself. In this connec- tion I venture to point out certain considerations which seem to me to be essential as forming the ground work from which the improvement and progress of public education must pro- ceed. Compulsory attendance — First of all, the age limit for compulsory attendance should have a uniform increase. From the annual report of the Commissioner of Education, 1917, we find that the compulsory school attendance laws of the different states vary to an amazing degree. The following table may illustrate this point. PRESENT NO. OF AGE LIMIT STATES 7-12 I 7-13 I 7-14 9 7-15 3 7-i6 4 8-12 2 8-14 8 8-15 6 8-i6 ii 8-i8 i 9-15- •• i No compulsory law I Again, the minimum period of compulsory attendance also shows a great degree of diversity, from 12 weeks in Virginia REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 105 to the requirement of a full school year in more than 30 states. But this does not tell the whole story of the various con- ditions of compulsory attendance. The length of school terms, the average days attended by each child from 5-18, and the percent of attendance for school population are all different in different states. The average number of days in school term, 1916, varied from 108.5 days in South Carolina, to 194.3 days in Rhode Island. The average days attended by each child between 5 and 18 varied from 55.5 in Louisiana to 126.6 in California. The percent of attendance for school population varied from 41.18 in Louisiana to 76.09 in Montana. The following summary table illustrates the existing conditions in the different parts of the country: States Average number Average days Per cent of of days in school attended by attendance term, 1916 each child for school 5-18 population Continental United States 160.3 91.7 57-21 North Atlantic Division 181. 7 105.5 58.06 North Central Division 167. 1 104. 1 62.26 South Atlantic Division I35-I 71 -6 53-00 South Central Division I35-I 67.4 49-91 Western Division 167.7 107.7 64.22 These are the actual conditions of to-day. From the stand- point of equal educational opportunity for all children, some kind of national initiative and unification can no longer be postponed. England has awakened to the importance of this problem. She has established a national system of education by an Act which provides that all children are to attend school to the age of 14, and local authorities may raise the age to 15, and that no child is to be employed for wages if under 12, and above that age no child is to be employed before or during school hours of after 8 p. m. The other provisions of the Act, such as the establishment of nursery schools for children under 6, and continuation schools for boys and girls between 14 and 18 who are in employment, are all calculated to increase the educational efficiency of the nation. America is the richest country in the world. Would it be too high a standard to maintain if the central government established a minimum school-leaving age of 16 years as a national re- quirement? To permit children to leave school before 16 is both an educational short-sightedness and an economic waste. It is an educational short-sightedness because children of adolescent period need special care and training. It is an economic waste because they break off their education sud- denly before its results have had time to be fixed in the mind. Shall we let this short-sighted and wasteful policy continue ? 106 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR However, this increase of compulsory school age will have a very great obstacle which calls for careful consideration. It is easy to make a law, but it is far more difficult to enforce it. Compulsory education is desirable. But the practical ques- tion we have to face is : Is it right to take a strong healthy boy between 14 and 16 years of age from money-earning employment and force him to attend school while by so doing his destitute family may be compelled to suffer from the lack of the elemental ncessities of life? The only answer to this question, consistent with the policy of compulsory education itself, is the proposition that the state should com- pensate the family with adequate financial assistance. This may sound very socialistic yet this is the only way of solving the practical problem. Another problem connected with compulsory attendance is the question of age for school entrance. Children do not grow with equal rate. Chronological age is not a reliable index for physiological development. It would be a peda- gogical folly to make a hard and fast rule that all children of six years of age must attend school, because many chil- dren of six are not mature enough to receive formal instruc- tion with profit. Sometimes too early entrance into school may do children more harm than good. To solve this prob- lem I should like to suggest that some specialists or medical experts be employed by every local community to determine the physiological age of the children before they are required to enter school. This is only a general principle. Detailed plans for carrying out this provision remain to be worked out. With regard to the establishment of kindergartens, I am of the opinion that this question should be left to the dis- cretion of local educational authorities. The function of the child is to grow. For those children who have a wholesome environment for growth, the kindergarten is entirely unneces- sary. For the city children whose homes are unsuitable for their normal development, the kindergarten will be a com- prehensive child-welfare institution of great importance if it is not conducted in a highly pedagogized manner. In any case it is the duty of the local authorities to see to it that such local needs are provided. Six-three-three Plan — Next to compulsory attendance, the problem of reorganizing the elementary and secondary edu- cation on a six-three-three plan should merit our considera- tion. The plan calls for an organization of a six years ele- mentary school, three years intermediate school or Junior high-school and three years high-school. If one examines the educational literature of the past few years, he will find REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 107 that few problems have received as much attention as this one. Now, let us see what are the arguments for this new plan. The first argument for it is based on psychological ground. Boys and girls of twelve years of age are beginning to enter the period of early adolescence. Their inner psychic change seems to be very sudden and abrupt at this time, and therefore calls for a radical differentiation of education in order to meet their psychical needs. Thus in his discussion of Junior high-schools, Professor Charles H. Judd says: "If we turn from worn-out European tradition to scientific studies of human nature, or even to observation such as a sensible teacher can make, we find that it is the twelve-year-old child who is putting away childish things in the first flush of adolescence. The twelve-year-old child begins to look into the larger world. He begins to think of his duties to society and himself. When he is fourteen or fifteen he will be half through the critical period of adolescence. If you want to influence an adolescent in a large way, you must begin at twelve, not fourteen." (64, p. 253). Again, Professor C. O. Davis of Michigan says : " The present mode of organizing and administering educational work is ill grounded. The adolescent period begins usually at about the age of twelve years. With the dawn of this new period come most notable changes in physical form, structure, and function, and most decided concomitant psychological changes. At this period self-consciousness is born. The in- terests that formerly held dominant sway are cast aside. New motives stir, new aspirations fire, new goals beckon. Con- scious logical reason begins to proclaim itself. . . . The beginning of adolescence is most emphatically the beginning of the period of secondary education. As our schools are organized to-day this fact is ignored." (61, p. 69). But this kind of argument is not free from objection. Grant- ing that the theory of sudden psychical change in adolescence is correct, granting that the beginning of secondary education should coincide with the beginning of adolescence, yet the great variability of the age at which puberty comes would make any homogeneous grouping very difficult, if not im- possible. The very fact that the time of the onset of pubes- cence differs, for boys and girls and also for the members of the same sex would preclude any attempt to organize second- ary schools on this basis. (See 59). The second argument for this plan is that the early ending of the elementary education would facilitate the provision of vocational education for those children who do not attend school beyond the compulsory age. Thus Henry Suzzallo 108 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR says : " The compulsory education law under our present organization gives society control of the child only long enough to guarantee the ablest child eight years of general training. It can not guarantee him the additional years of vocational education required to make him an efficient, self-supporting and self-reliant citizen. To shorten the elementary school to six years without impairing its efficiency is to guarantee every child who does not go to the high-school some voca- tional education." (See Bulletin No. 38, 1913, U. S. Bureau of Education). But the validity of this argument depends upon the defini- tion of vocational education. If vocational education is to be identified with the various forms of " practical arts " educa- tion which does not result in a definite manner of vocational efficiency, this argument is essentially sound. But if vocational education is taken to mean that form of education which tends to fit an individual to pursue effectively a recognized profitable employment, this argument has no value in the light of modern pedagogy, because boys and girls of twelve years of age are too young for specialization, and further- more, vocational education should be given in special voca- tional schools, not in such Junior high-schools as we are planning to have. (This problem of vocational education will be further discussed in a latter section of this chapter.) The third argument which seems to have the most weight is that the Junior high-school as a school unit would furnish an opportunity for the enrichment of the courses of study and for the introduction of an elective system which the pupils in the ordinary high-school enjoys. The uniform course of study for everybody, the traditional material and method of instruc- tion, and the promotion by grades instead of by subjects can no longer satisfy the children in the upper two grades of the elementary school. By the time the child enters the seventh grade his individual personality begins to express itself. He has become acquainted with the rudiments of knowledge. He has access to the rich-world of history, geography and elementary science. His tastes, desires, aspirations, and out- look upon life are different from those of his classmates. In other words, he is growing into an individual. School work becomes irksome to him, because he can not see what it leads to. What he gets he does not want and what he wants he can not get. Can we blame him for dropping out of school permaturely? The only remedy under such circumstances is to provide for him ample opportunity in getting the kind of education he needs under careful direction. " Equal oppor- tunity for all must cease to mean the same curriculum for all." REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 109 To accomplish this the traditional type of elementary school is hopelessly inadequate. We must reorganize the system of instruction in the seventh and eight grades ; and the Junior high-school seems to be the logical consequence of this re- organization. The fourth argument for this plan is based on the improve- ment of the relations between elementiary and secondary education. Considering the existing conditions of to-day, this argument is also sound. The prevailing gulf between the eighth grade of the elementary school and the first year of the high-school must be condemned. Any agency which tends to make this transition easier would be a great step of ad- vance. The suggested six-three-three plan has proved to be of important service in this much desired improvement. In brief, the chief advantages of the six-three-three plan may be stated as follows: (1) In shortening the elementary education to six years it tends to eliminate the duplication of work and the waste of time. (2) The Junior high-school offers to the pupils of adoles- sence the freedom of the choice of studies. (3) It effects a considerable change in the traditional con- tent of subjects and methods of instruction. (4) It offers opportunity for prevocational work. According to the investigation made by C. O. Davis we find that in the 17 states of the North Central part of the country there are 300 schools which have consciously sought to take steps looking to the modification of the eight-four plan of organization in harmony with the Junior high-school idea; 175 of these have already incorporated enough of the commonly accepted characteristics of a Junior high-school to be entitled to bear that name; and 75 have made good be- ginnings. For better or for worse, the six-three-three plan merits an intelligent examination. All-year School — The All-year school is another pertinent question in our discussion of the reorganization of elementary education. The annual school term in most of the American cities after deducting holidays is not more than 180 days. In many cities and towns and in practically all rural districts the number of actual school days is still less. This means that children who are never absent attend school less than half the days of the year. Is this tradition worthy to be pre- served? In condemning the institution of long vacations, President G. Stanley Hall says : " During the long vacation of from two and half to four months or more, children's 110 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR ' forgettery ' of their school work is in very active opera- tion demolishing their acquirements, so that their progress is not unlike that of the fabled frog getting out of the well who climbed up three feet each day and fell back one or two each night." (50, vol. 2, p. 595). Every school superintendent knows that a month is usually taken at the beginning of the fall term to review pupils in the work of the preceding grade. Every fall the children must be reacclaimed, as it were, and readjusted to school. Is this in harmony with the principle of the economy of time ? Furthermore, vacations are most demoralizing for children and especially for those in the city. In the rural districts where the older children work on the farm during the sum- mer, long vacations are not objectionable. But even then the younger children should not be entirely free from the influence of the school. For those children who live in the crowded cities, long vacations are harmful both physically and morally. Physically because during the hot summer days their home environment is not always hygienic, their good health habits acquired in school are broken up, and they are beyond the influence of the school physician and the school nurse. Morally, because they do not have anything to do. They loaf at the street corners, they organize boys' gangs, and they often give trouble to the city police and become a nuisance to the community. Is this the way to care for the children? In recent years school officers and the people generally have begun to feel that there is no need for the very lofhg summer vacation and that something should be done for the moral and physical welfare of children. In many cities this has resulted in the establishment of summer schools. In a bul- letin (No. 45, 1917) published by the Bureau of Education entitled " Summer Sessions of City Schools," we find that there are 109 cities having summer high-schools and 211 having summer elementary schools. In a great number of cities the summer session is open to any pupil who desires to attend; in other cities, only to those who have failed or to those who are exceptionally bright. The most frequent length of the summer session is six weeks. The school day is shorter than in the regular term. With regard to the all-year school, there are only a few in this country. At Eveleth, Minnesota, the all-year school has grown out of a summer school that has been successfully conducted for the past six or seven years. In Newark, New Jersey, two all-year schools were organized, 1912. In com- menting on these two schools, W. S. Deffenbaugh, the author REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 111 of the above mentioned bulletin, says : " These two all-year schools (the Belmont and Seventh Avenue) proved so suc- cessful in every way that two other schools were organized on the same plan in the summer of 1915, one of these being the boys' industrial school. The other schools are located in the congested tenement districts where there is nothing for the children to do during the summer but loaf and fall into bad habits. Experience shows that under ordinary con- ditions all the habits of industry established during the regular school term are broken up and must be formed again at the beginning of the next term, which is a slow process and involves a waste of time. Common sense demands that chil- dren be kept profitably employed during the long summer vacation. The problem of street loafing in the tenement dis- tricts of Newark has very largely been solved by these all- year schools. Several policemen report that they have had very little trouble with gangs of boys since the establishment of these schools, and that there are fewer accidents in the streets." Based on the experience of many cities I wish to offer the following suggestions on this question : 1. All city schools should be conducted on a four-term basis, with twelve weeks each. 2. All children should be required to attend the summer term unless they show evidence that they will be employed on the farm, or their parents make special request for exemp- tion. 3. The instruction periods should be shorter in the summer term than in any of the other terms. More time should be given to garden work, manual training and organized play. 4. In the rural districts some schools should at least be organized on the same plan, so that children who are too young to do farm work can be brought under the care of the school. 5. As has been mentioned in a former chapter, the school day should be lengthened to seven or eight hours a day and six days a week. At least one-third of the school day should be devoted to physical exercises and organized play. These are the possibilities and I am confident that they are workable. Elimination of the Lock-Step System of Promotion — One of the most perplexing and most discussed problems of public education is the system of promotion. The prevailing lock- step system of annual, semi-annual, or even quarterly pro- motions is unsatisfactory, because it ignores the fundamental 112 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR principles of human nature, namely, the principle of indi- vidual differences. The belief that all pupils are exactly alike was the belief of bye-gone days. The study of human nature has forced upon us a new conviction and this convic- tion is that children are not born alike nor are they going to be alike. The present class system of instruction and pro- motion has been designed for the average child and to a limited extent it has been successful. But under such a system the gifted as well as the dull children are the chief sufferers. The gifted children usually do not find enough to do and thus acquire listless, low-pressure habits of work, while the dull ones can not keep pace with ordinary school progress and are often made to repeat a whole term's work if they fall somewhat behind in one or two subjects. This system be- comes more absurd when we think of the defective children who are receiving an education personally conducted and carefully fitted to their individual needs and abilities in special institutions while the super-normal and normal children are educated in a mass and have little personal care. Should we be justified in saying that our special sympathy and care for the defective have been wasted? I do not mean that the metally defective children should not be taken care of, I do mean that the gifted as well as the normal ones should re- ceive more personal attention and care, because upon their education and training the progress of the world civilization depends. Many attempts have been made to work out a practical solution for this problem of promotion. Let us see what they are. The Batavia Plan — This plan was worked out by Superin- tendent John Kennedy of Batavia, New York. This plan provides that, in classes of fifty or less, one-half of the teacher's time should be free from recitation work and be devoted to helping the pupils in their studies. The essential features of this plan are the decrease in the amount of class recitation work and the increase in the amount of individual study and assistance. Consequently the dull children are singled out for help on account of their need. North-Denver Plan — This plan is very similar to the Batavia plan. But the brighter children, instead of the dull ones, are given special help. Elizabeth Plan — This plan was originated at Elizabeth, New Jersey. It divides the eight grades into three or four sections, each progressing as fast as it is capable, and pupils are constantly transferred from one section to another, accord- ing to the teacher's judgment, without examination. Thus REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 113 each pupil is kept at work to his full capacity and is pro- moted as far and as fast as his progress warrants. The Cambridge Plan — This is so-called double-track plan, because the essential feature of it is the provision of two- parallel courses. One is called the eight-year course for the average children and the other is a six-year course for the gifted ones, so the latter are given an opportunity to finish the eight-year work in six years. But this plan does not make very satisfactory provision for the dull children. The Santa Barbara Plan — This is a differentiated course plan which provides three parallel courses, all taking the same length of time but with varied content. Course C, the lowest groups provides just the minimum essentials of subject-mat- ter for the slow pupils ; Course B is an average course for the average pupils ; and Course A with very rich content is provided for the most gifted pupils. Portland Plan — The entire course is divided into fifty-four parts with eighteen terms of five months each, three-terms work making a cycle. The standard rate is three parts a term for the slow and four for the fast division children. The Pueblo Plan — This plan makes instruction almost en- tirely individual and ungraded. Small classes and small groups within classes are used. Every pupil, even though in a high-school, recites in a class by himself. The program of studies is made very flexible and elastic. The teacher goes from desk to desk and each pupil recites his lesson in a brief way to satisfy the teacher that he has studied the lesson. Thus Superintendent Search says : " The fundamental charac- teristic of the plan on which the schools are organized is its conservation of the individual. The pupil is placed purely with reference to where he can get the most good for himself. He works as an individual, progresses as an individual, is promoted as an individual, and as is graduated as an individual. . . . In brief, the school is both graded and ungraded; graded in so far as applies to its plan of work, but ungraded in its accommodation of the individual." (97). San Francisco State Normal School Plan — This plan has been in use in the San Francisco State Normal School for the past few years and has three distinctive features: (1) Pupils are promoted by subjects at any time of the year when they finish a half-grade's work in any subject. (2) Self- instruction bulletins written by the members of the normal- school faculty are given to the children in connection with their text-books so that they can study the texts without waiting for the lengthy elucidation from the teacher. (3) A well- developed system of group discussions is used for oral expres- 114 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR sion work. These groups are different for each subject, so that a child discusses with a group which consists of his approxi- mate equals in the particular subject under discussion. His geography discussion group might, or might not, be totally different from his dramatic group; his music group would be still another. (113). The mere mentioning of these plans indicates the com- plexity of the problem. Its solution would probably lie in the direction of individual instruction, promotion by subjects, and the departmentalization of the courses of study. But its detailed plan has to be left to the ingenuity of school officers and teachers to work out in the practical field. IV. The Teacher. In our discussion of this new educational program we can not neglect the problems of how to secure a competent teach- ing force. Indeed, the teaching force is the very foundation upon which the efficiency of the school can be built. What goes into or goes out of the program of studies will make but little difference if the teacher is unequal to his task. No plans of reorganization of public education can be worked out independently of this factor. Thus Commissioner Clax- ton says : " The great function of democracy is to train teachers, as what shall be done in a school depends on a teacher. If teachers are not strong, the machinery is no good and money is wasted." Now let us see what are the problems we have to face. The Training of Teachers — It is quite obvious to every student of education that the chief defect of the American public school is the lack of professional training among teachers. Nearly one-fourth of all the boys and girls in the elementary schools are being taught by teachers with little or no professional training and with little general education. The reasons for this lamentable condition are numerous, but two of them are fundamental. The first is that teaching has not been considered as a pro- fession. On the average, the school teachers remain only four or five years in the exercise of their vocation and very few indeed who enter the vocation expect to make it a life work. Most of the new recruits in the teaching army are girls in their teens just out of high-school. They take up teaching positions not because they have interest in the work, but because they can not find any other thing to do. They do not appreciate the need of training for it because they con- sider teaching as provisional and as a make-shift for some- thing else. This is the general condition throughout the REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 115 country Unless we can make teaching as truly a profession, unless we safeguard it as law and medicine are beginning to be safeguarded, unless we raise it to the permanence and dignity of a life work, we can never hope to advance very, far in improving the teaching force. The second reason for this lack of trained teachers in due to the inadequacy and inefficiency of the training institutions now existing. There are two kinds of teachers' training insti- tutions in this country, namely, state normal schools and city training schools. The former are supported and controlled by the state while the latter are established by some large cities as a means of insuring that the new teachers entering the elementary school shall have had some professional training for the work. According to the last annual report of the Commissioner of Education (1917), there were in the year of 1915-16 234 state normal schools in the country with a total attendance of 104,714 students and a total number of 23,437 graduates. They differ from each other very widely in organization, in admission requirements, in courses of study, and in the modes of instruction. (65). Some make the graduation from a four-year high-school as an entrance re- quirement, while others require practically nothing- more than the eight-year elementary education for admission. Some offer three-year courses of both academic and professional training, while others limit their curricula to a maximum of two years. Some have tried to develop themselves into de- gree-granting colleges, while others have loudly announced their objections to granting degrees and confined their activi- ties rigidly to the training of elementary teachers. All these divers conditions prevent us from making any general state- ment, but on the whole we may say, according to the investi- gations made by Professors Judd and Parker, that their organi- zations are inefficient, their equipments are poor, their teachers are underpaid and over-worked, their courses of study are inadequate, and the number of their graduates is far from being sufficient in meeting the country's needs. On account of this inadequate supply of teachers by the state normal schools, a number of the large cities has estab- lished a local city normal school or training course, where the high-school graduates who desire to teach in the elementary schools of the city may first be given some professional pre- paration for the work of instruction. From the recent avail- able data (73) we find that all cities, with the exception of Minneapolis, having a population of 300,000 or more, and four-fifths of those having a population of more than 100,000, maintain normal or training schools as a part of their public- 116 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR school system. The annual enrollment in these schools is more than 7,000 and the number of graduates each year is about 3,000. Most of the new teachers in the schools of these cities are taken from the ranks of these graduates. Some of the criticisms made against the State Normal Schools also find their application here. But the most serious objection raised against the city training school is the inevitable evil of " inbreeding." On account of the pecular local concep- tions as to the filling of places, the " home girls " are usually taken into the service in preference to the experienced teachers from outside. Dr. Edson, in his recommendations concerning Bridgeport, writes*: " There can be no greater misfortune to any school system than to have a steady inbreeding of home talent. The board of education should insist upon the select- ing of at least one-third of the new teachers each year from outside the city limits of from other training schools than the Bridgeport City Training School." (U. S. Bureau of Education, Bui. 47, 1914). . Again a very emphatic statement has been made in a recent Newark report. It is as follows : " I have always regarded the rule adopted by the board many years ago, that prefer- ence in appointment, whatever the relative excellence of can- dates, must be given to local graduates, as not in the interests of the school system. . . . Only upon the assumption that the local normal school can take any material and work it up into a finished product that is superior to the best pro- duced elsewhere could such a preference be morally or econom- ically justified. ... I am hoping that a more modern, rational, and business-like policy will sometime prevail when individual efficiency will become the sole test in selecting teachers. Now a normal-school pupil realizes that if she does fair work only — not her best — she is sure to graduate in good time and to get a position when her turn comes, ahead of all outsiders. Competition with other schools or with brighter or harder working pupils is out of question. I am trying to make this as plain as I can, unpopular though it may be in some quarters, because I feel that the children of the city of Newark deserve the best teachers that can be got for the salaries paid, utterly regardless of their nativity or place of abode or of the particular normal school wherein they have been educated." (U. S. Bureau of Education, Bui. 47, 1914). Here is the difficulty. What is the remedy? The following few suggestions may be offered toward the solution of this problem. 1. The Federal government should take over the control REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 117 of all teachers' training institutions of the country. When we come to realize that public education is a national neces- sity we will immediately see the anomaly existing at present in retaining the normal school as a state institution. The Federal government through its proper agency can lay down the minimum requirement for teachers' training, can make general regulations regarding teachers' appointment so that no untrained person is allowed to teach, and it can provide national support in training men and women for this impor- tant national service. This is fundamental. Unless this is done, no marked improvement can be expected in the immediate future. 2. Teaching should be raised to a genuine profession by adequate compensation and recognition. 3. All normal schools should be placed upon a strictly col- legiate basis and their entrance requirements should permit no admission of students who have not the general education as given in the secondary schools. 4. The normal-school curricula should be reorganized on a four-year basis and the complete course of studies should be so adjusted as to include " (a) a thorough mastery of those subjects which the candidate will be expected to teach, (b) a knowledge of those technical facts, principles, laws and ideals which furnish insight into and guidance in the pro- cesses involved in teaching, and (c) the acquisition through actual practice of some degreee of skill in the application of educational principles and in the technique of the teaching process." (115.) The Selection of Teachers — No less important than that of training is the problem of the selection of teachers. In some cities the selection of teachers is placed in the hands of the superintendent with the approval of the school board, while in others the school board usurps the right of appointments without even consulting with the superintendent. Usually the school board has no definite standard to follow. Appoint- ments are often made with special reference to the candidates' residence, party and church affiliations, and family condi- tions. Not frequently many disreputable conflicts of local politics have taken place in exercising this function which rightly belongs to the expert executive officer of the school system, namely, the superintendent. The measures of reform in this connection are two: First, the selection of teachers should be placed in the hands of the superintendent. He is the one who is in the closest con- tact with the local conditions of the school. He knows better than any member of the school board what kinds of teachers 118 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR are needed. He is more competent than the school board as a whole, no matter how it is organized, to select the fittest among many candidates for the teachers' positions. He is morally and officially responsible for the efficiency of the school so he is not likely to be influenced by local politics in making the appointments. Considering the interest of the school and the walfare of the children this is the only proper solution. Secondly, a professional standard should be established as the guiding principle for selection. For elementary school positions the candidate should possess the complete course of training given in the four-years normal school organized under the new plan. Experience in the practical field should be given the first consideration. For secondary school posi- tions the candidate must possess both professional and academic training from some accredited universities and must be a holder of at least a Master's degree. In the light of the educational progress in this country, I do not believe this standard is too high to maintain. The Salary of Teachers — We have increased the require- ment for training. We have raised the standard for admis- sion into the teaching profession. But we can not hope to get something for nothing. We can not induce any promising young man or young woman to take up the teaching profes- sion unless we are willing to pay the price. The present salary scale for teachers is wretchedly low and too low compared with salaries in other fields. There are nearly 800,000 teachers in the United States. The average salary for them is considerably less than $600 a year. Thus, " The average teacher's salary at Oswego was $483 ; at prosperous Watertown, $525 ; at Geneva, a college seat, $549 ; and at Elmira, $561. By removing to Poughkeepsie, the teacher could command an average sum of $693 ; in Albany he could obtain $757 ; and in Buffalo the average rose to the dazzling sum of $931. In New England, always jealous of its schools, the average salary at Plymouth, Massachusetts, was $542, and at Lawrence, Massachusetts, $723 ; in Manchester, N. H., it was $851, and in Concord, N. H., $625. At Chester, Pa., the average teacher, counting his annual stipend of $478, can go down to the shipyards and watch workers who earn as much in ten weeks with their hands. Teachers at Spartan- burg, South Carolina, have reason for regarding the sacrifice of joining the army lightly; their salary average $426. At Charleston it was but $550. At Newport, Rhode Island, $633 was paid. The average salary paid in Philadelphia the third city of the country and one proud of its school system, REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 119 was $859." (See School and Society, vol. 8, pp. 52-54). Do these figures represent fair wages in comparison with the high cost of living at present? It is true that many cities have made increases upon their salary scales, but the increases are far too insufficient to meet the increased cost of living. According to the investigation of Dr. J. M. Cattell the editor of " School and Society," only one-half of the larger cities and four-fifths of the small cities reported increase. Some of the largest cities did not make any increase at all. When an increase was made it was approximately 9 percent in the large cities and 12 per- cent in the cities of medium size. In a general way it seems that about one-half the teachers in the cities of the country had received increases in salary amounting on the average to about 10 percent. The average increase in salaries for all the teachers was consequently about 5 percent. This increase is too small in comparison with the increase in the cost of living which, measured by the prices of standard commodities, has doubled since the war began. How can we expect any capable man or woman to remain in their teaching positions while many other kinds of work are open to them, with much greater remuneration and with much less responsibility? The natural consequence of such condition is that hundreds of experienced teachers, men and women throughout the country, are resigning their positions for places in banks, in the government service, in the various mercantile and industrial pursuits, where they can get a higher pay. From " The School Board Journal " we learn that the state of Ohio is facing a shortage of teachers estimated at between 2,500 and 3,000. Rural teachers are especially scarce and there are many openings for teachers of manual training, agriculture, science and mathematics. Michigan is also 10 percent short of its normal supply of teachers according to State Super- intendent E. L. Keeler. A list of former teachers who had volunteered for service was utilized, but was exhausted be- fore school opened. All schools are short of instructors and some have been prevented from opening because there were no teachers. President J. C. Brown, of a Minnesota normal school, has written to all parts of the country and received evidence of " an alarming scarcity of teachers, especially for the grades and rural schools;" it is most acute in the Middle West, but is felt everywhere except in New Jersey. Furthermore, this shortage of trained teachers will con- tinue, if no remedy is in sight. Fewer pupils are entering 120 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR the high-schools and there is a decided falling off in the num- ber of high-school pupils entering the training schools for teachers. President Brown has ascertained by a canvass of normal schools that the shortage will be accentuated by the failure of the ordinary increments ; for 73 such institutions furnished him figures showing a loss of 16.9 per cent of the enrollment, or over 5,000 students, in the last year. We may hope that the return of peace may change this present condition, but this fond hope can only mean that we are incapable of coping with the difficulty and of making the necessary fundamental change. What is the necessary fundamental change? It means to me that the change does not lie in the sporadical increases of teachers' salaries here and there. What we need to-day is to have a minimum salary scale for all the teachers in the country. This scale should be high enough and with necessary graduations so that every teacher wherever he is, is guaranteed a minimum salary which will enable him to live decently according to his social position. I believe the Federal Government is the only central authority to take such a great step of reform. We have been trying to have minimum wage laws for all the industrial workers of the country. Now, let me here sound a note of warning. When we have minimum wage laws for the working men we must not forget the teachers. It is true that we have never had a downright general strike on the part of the teachers. But such a great educational upheaval will come, if we continue to regard the teacher's service as a commodity to be purchased at the cheapest price in the open market. V. Vocational Education and Continuation Schools Another perplexing problem which demands our special attention is that of vocational education. This is a problem which has been directly created by the modern commercial and industrial development. We deplore this sudden rise of commercialism and industrialism. We often speak of them as if they were something of which we should apologize. But whether we like them or not, they have come to stay. We can also be quite sure that their development will be accelerated after the re-establishment of peace. The prob- lem which concerns us to-day is how are we going to adjust our school system so as to meet our economical and indus- trial needs. Before discussing this problem in this country, I should like to mention very briefly the attempts at its solution which, have been made in Germany, France, and England. I men- REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 121 tion them not because I believe that the educational theories and practices in those countries can be transplanted to America. They can not. Every nation must educate its own people in its own way and for its own ends. I men- tion them, because I think that they may throw some light upon the problem with regard to the adoption of means to an end. Let us see what they are. Germany— In Germany the boy in his last year of the ele- mentary course is given some kind of technical training either in the workshop attached to the school, or in other ways. At the same time he is encouraged to choose a voca- tion. Once the choice is made the authorities will see to it that he is apprenticed to a master workman of his pro- fession. Then he has to continue his apprenticeship for four years before he can get a journeyman's certificate. The system of continuation schools is common throughout the 26 states of the Empire. In 14 of them, attendance upon such school has been made compulsory. This local legis- lation was again fortified by an imperial legisla- tion adopted by the Reichstag in 1911 which provides that employers must, when necessary, grant regular leaves to those of their employees, under 18 years of age, who attend a con- tinuation school recognized by the local authorities or by the state. The law also includes institutions in which instruc- tion is given in feminine occupations and domestic work. As A. T. Smith points out: "The German system of con- tinuation schools is instructive to all other nations by reason of three principles which have been worked out gradually but effectively; it is universally applied: attendance is com- pulsory for all boys after the completion of the elementary school and for a large proportion of the girls; employers are obliged to cooperate with the state in carrying out the provisions of the law." 018). France — The modern movement for vocational education of the industrial class had a very early start in France. It was included in all the educational plans of the revolutionary leaders, but no marked achievement has been made. " In normal times about 648,000 children in France annually reach the age of 13 years. Of this number not more than 48,000 continue under instruction. Recent estimates give 1,614,000 as the number of boys between the ages of 13 and 18 years. Of these it is stated only 150,000 were prepared for definite industries." (118). To remedy this condition a bill has been introduced in the French Chamber of Deputies which pro- vides compulsory continuation education at public expense 122 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR for all young people who have completed the required term of elementary education. The term of continuation education is divided into two periods. The first extends for boys to the age of 17 years, inclusive, and for girls to 16 years. During this period the minimum course of study is 50 hours for general education, such as lessons in the French language, history, and geog- raphy, 150 hours for technical training — such as lessons in the sciences applied to agriculture, commerce, navigation, or domestic economy, and 100 hours for physical training. The second period covers the ages 17 to 20 for boys and 16 to 18 for girls. During this period the obligatory subjects are the French language, history, geography, civics, common law, political economy, gymnastics, and military exercises for boys and the French language, history, geography, domestic economy, manual work, and practical exercises in hygiene, care of the sick and infants for girls. The minimum amount of time for this instruction is 200 hours. It is significant to notice that no provisions were made to bring pressure upon the employers in the enforcement of the law. England— The new Education Act provides that all boys and girls under 18, except those who are under full-time instruc- tion or who have been educated full time to 16, must attend continuation schools in the daytime of 280 hours in each year, and their employers must release them from industry for the purpose. The curriculum in these schools is not to be voca- tional in a narrow sense, but must include literature, history and other subjects of general educational value. In comment- ing on this Act " The London Times " says : " It opens not only a new era in education but a new era in England." So much for the leading European countries, now we may come back to the United States. In the past ten years or so, there has been a wide spread movement in this country look- ing toward the development of industrial and vocational edu- cation. No one who knows the industrial and educational conditions of America can doubt the importance of such a movement. Educational statistics tell us that only half of the children who enter the city elementary schools remain to the final elementary grade, and only 1 in 10 reaches the final year of high-school. On the average, 10 percent of the child- dren have left school at 13 years of age; 40 percent have left by the time they are 14; 70 percent by the time they are 15; and 85 percent by the time they are 16 years of age. (87). There are two million children between the ages of 14 and 16 out of school in this country. Most of these have left school before the seventh grade and have never attended REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 123 school thereafter. Their general education is very limited and they are thrown upon the world at the most critical period of adolescence. Considering these general conditions, there can be no doubt that the need of a system of vocational edu- cation and continuation schools is imperative and immediate. This general movement has borne out its fruit in three ways: (1) in the legislation of some state laws concerning this special branch of education, (2) in the establishment of vocational secondary schools in some cities, and (3) in the introduction of vocational subjects, in the ordinary high- schools. With regard to state legislations, quite a few states have already enacted laws which provide state aid for a more or less state-wide system of vocational education. Indiana, Mas- sachusetts, and Wisconsin have laws which make attendance upon continuation schools compulsory for children between ages 14 to 16 with 5 hours per week. Maine, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have laws requiring the estab- lishment of continuation schools but the attendance upon them is entirely voluntary. According to the investigation conducted by the committee on vocational education of the National Education Association, 1916, there were 2 states at that time in which it was proposed to pass laws bearing directly upon vocational secondary edjuqation; there were 9 states which had already passed laws aimed directly toward the introduction of vocational secondary education ; there were 16 states in which the existing statutes would make the intro- duction of vocational secondary education permissible; there were 21 states in which there were no laws on the subject. Taking the country as a whole, the effort along this line has been sporadic, scattered and disharmonized and the work has not been very satisfactory. Beside the state legislation, the Federal Smith-Hughes Act has tended to unify and strengthen the disjoined efforts at vocational education of the different states. As this law is not yet in its full working order, its effect still remains to be seen. The second result of this general movement for vocational education — that is, the establishment of vocational secondary schools in some large cities — may be best illustrated by a number of technical arts high-schools, such, as the Indiana- polis Manual Training High School, the Crane and Lane Technical High Schools of Chicago, the Cleveland Technical High School, the Boston High School of Commerce, the Wash- ington Irving Technical High School for Girls of New York City, and the Boys' Trade Schools of Worcester. The organ- 124 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR ization and the curricula of these schools are all different from each other, but their general aim is to prepare youth, boys and girls, for a definite vocation and for industrial citizenship. (See 61, pp. 420-422). Another slightly different type of vocational high school is found in the part-time high schools of Fitchburg, Beverly, and Quincy, Mass. The first use of the part-time plan in this country was by the Engineering Department of the Uni- versity of Cincinnati in 1906. It has since been put into oper- ation in the high schools of the above mentioned cities. The essential features of this plan may be briefly stated as fol- lows (1) The complete course is four years; (2) the first year is entirely devoted to high school subjects; (3) in the following three years the work alternates between shop and school; and (4) the boys are paid the wages of an apprentice for the time spent in the shop, being 10 cents an hour the first year at work, 11 cents an hour in the second year, and 12 cents an hour in the third year. It has been claimed that this plan has worked very satisfactorily both to the boys and their employees; the boys who complete the course are both practical and theoretical machinists, and the employers, on account of the increased interest and efficiency of the boys at work, find that they do not lose by allowing two boys to take turns at the job. All these plans are well and good. The only limitation of them is that they are adapted to those who can afford to go to the four year vocational secondary school, either full time or half time, and to those whose only trouble is that they are uninterested in regular academic work. For those who have to leave school as soon as the compulsory attendance law can not hold them, these plans can offer them no help. Yet they are the very ones for whom continuation education must be provided. The third result of the vocational education movement as manifested by the introduction of vocational subjects side by side with the ordinary or academic course in the high schools is open to many objections. In the first place, no real vocational education can be effectively given in the ordinary high school. The aim of vocational education is to fit an individual to pursue effectively and efficiently a recognized calling, and thus its means and methods should be so selected as to meet all the requirements of the occupa- tion itself. Suppose a boy wants to be a machinist, his voca- tional education should not only consist of learning the theories of the special mechanical work he is going to pursue, but also of the practical training which will enable him to become REORGANIZATION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 125 a master workman. The school shops should be organized on a basis that will approximate very closely the commercial shops and their work should be made as largely productive as possible. This involves equipment that goes entirely be- yond the usual school-shop equipment. High-schools as now organized do not have the ability nor the means to give ade- quate training for different vocations, and thus turn out skill- ful workmen for every trade. He is a poor student of edu- cation if one thinks that vocational efficiency can be attained from the study of nicely bound books in the class-room of a democratic high-school. Professor John Dewey in his "Moral Principles of Education " has related the following story to illustrate the absurdity of the bookish vocational education. Thus he says : " There is a swimming school in a certain city where youths are taught to swim without going into the water, being re- peatedly drilled in the various movements which are neces- sary for swimming. When one of the young men so trained was asked what he did when he got into the water he laconic- ally replied : Sunk." High schools which try to give vocational and general edu- cation at the same time can not do better than this kind of swimming school. In the second place, vocational training will inevitably decrease the efficiency of the general education which should be the chief aim of the high-school. Broadly speaking, the high-school in a democracy is the " people's university " and should be conducted as such. Its principle function is to train for citizenship, not for workmanship, to train for in- telligence and character, not for narrow industrial efficiency. Subjects, such as manual training, domestic science, etc., should be taught as a part of the general education, not as a preparation for any special form of employment. To try to do two things at once would mean a sure failure for both. We must have the aim and purpose of a high school clearly in mind in our selection of means and method. Vocational public schools for each and every one of the many hundred vocations now existing, we must have, but we must not sacrifice the proper function of the high-school for a half way compromise. Perplexing as this problem is, yet according to the plans suggested in this chapter for the reorganization of the ele- mentary and secondary schools, I venture to make the fol- lowing suggestions towards its solution. 1. A broad program of industrial arts education should be offered in the intermediate school or junior high-school, so 126 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR as to enable the pupils to find out their own interests, aptitudes, and abilities along different vocational lines. This study of industry should be a part of the general 'education and should be adapted to both the pupils who expect to enter industry and those who do not. The general nature of this study should be to provide opportunities for developing dexterity, for cultivating ability of handling tools and machines, and for unfolding the innate interest which each individual child may possess. 2. Special vocational public schools should be established for those who expect to leave school as soon as they reach the age of 16 and to enter upon a wage-earning employment. The curricula, the methods of instruction and the length of training of these schools must be worked out according to the requirements of the vocations to be taught. This inten- sive vocational training should take place during the last year of the compulsory age. Under this system no boy or girl can leave school without learning a trade. 3. The attendance upon continuation schools should be made compulsory for all boys and girls in actual employment be- tween ages 16 and 18. The employers should be required to release their juvenile employees for such attendance with- out reducing the regular pay. The curricula of such con- tinuation schools should not be based upon narrow vocational lines, but should be broad enough to include physical and general education as well as vocational training. The recent British Education Act and the French Education Bill offer ample illustrations on this point. In concluson, I may say that we are in the dawn of a new day, and in this new day we must depend upon the public schools not only for reorganizing and restoring what we had, but also for building and establishing a new civilization consist- ent with the coming new world order. In a word, the func- tion of the public school it not to duplicate old successes or old failures but to mark a new era in the training of youth. If there is any prejudice with regard to the public school administration which ought to be banished, let us banish it right now. America is leading the world in international politics, will she assume the responsibilty of leadng the world in the field of public education? CHAPTER VI. REORGANIZATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR Next to the reorganization of the public school system, to which the last chapter was devoted, the problem of reorganiz- ing the public school programs should also merit our intelligent examination. Indeed, the success and the effectiveness of our educational endeavor can not rely upon the efficiency of our school system and administration alone without carefully formulated programs, or courses of study, based on a sound educational doctrine. Nor can we advance very far in our educational reform without giving a definite answer to the often asked question: What should the school teach? To answer this question is the main theme of this chapter. I. Guiding Principles of Program-Making • The guiding principles of program-making are two-fold. First, a good program must meet the needs of the child. Everything in the entire system of instruction must be con- ditioned by the nature and needs of the child, instead of adjusting the child to the school. Secondly, a good program must meet the needs of the society. In educating the child, society determines its own future in determining that of the child. Since the child of to-day will become the citizen of to-morrow, his activities must be so directed and his instruc- tion and training must be so safeguarded as to be in harmony with the best interests of the social group of which he is a member. From the naturalistic point of view of education, these two principles are antithetical. They oppose each other, because one emphasizes the natural development of the in- dividual and the other social efficiency. But in reality this is not the case. The function of education is to provide a wholesome environment for the unlimited, free, complete and harmonious development of all the powers within the indi- vidual through participation in those activities which have a direct bearing upon social progress. If this definition of education can be used as a working hypothesis, then natural development and social efficiency are the two factors which have an intimate connection with each other. They are two sides of the same shield, as it were, and can not be separated 127 128 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR without making the function of education incomplete. The lack of the one means the one-sidedness of the other. No one can attain the fullest development of all his capacities without contributing to, and participating in the rich and various experiences of society ; nor can he be socially effici- ent in the strict sense of the word without having a continuous and normal growth of his natural endowment. The separation of the two as the two goals, or aims, or ends of education is fatal to democracy. Now let us see what are the reasons for this apparent antithesis between natural development and social efficiency and how a reconciliation between them can be effected. In the first place, the antithesis between these two aims of education rests upon the fallacious conception of natural development. Naturalism in education was originated as a protest against the conventionality and artificiality of the scholastic method and the formal, false, hypocritical, super- ficial, and selfish life under the cloak of civilization of the eighteenth century. It has done a noble service to the cause of education by giving a wide meaning and great significance to the doctrine of " education according to nature ;" but we would commit a great error if we make nature as an end in itself. Rousseau was absolutely right in saying that we receive our education from three sources, nature, man, and things, or in modern phrases, the development of innate abil- ities, the influence of the teacher, and the influence of the environment. When the training received from these three sources is not harmonized, the individual is badly educated. Only when these three kinds of education are consonant, cooperative, and make for the same end does adequate develop- ment of the individual occur. But he was unquestionably wrong when he applied his negative and naturalistic prin- ciples to the education of an imaginary pupil by the name Emile " from the moment of his birth up to the time when, having become a mature man, he will no longer need any other guide than himself." To him nature is both a con- dition and an end of individual development, and harmony in education is obtained by subordinating the education of man and of things to that of nature. The fallacy of this point of view is obvious for two reasons. First, it eliminates the most precious social heritage which every young member of the society shares in common. Rousseau would have a child to be in no contact with civilization whatsoever, because civilization itself is an unnecessary evil. The child may do any thing that his natural instincts dictate. He is to have neither instruction nor training because both instruction and PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 129 training imply the conscious and careful direction on the part of the adult. In other words, every young savage must remain a savage except what his natural" impulse may lead him to If this view is correct, why should a child be taught the rudiments of learning, such as reading, writing and cipher- ing for they are the products of civilization. Secondly, this point of view takes for granted that natural development can attain its fullest degree without the social environment which directs, enhances, and accelerates the normal growth . This essentially ignores the laws of use and disuse and the laws of learning. Man is a social being. In a democratic society he is a unit in himself, but is still a part of a larger unit, the social group. His complete self-realizaiton can only be achieved through the process of socialization which in- volves participation in the activities of the social group to which he belongs. Thus Prof. John Dewey says : (31, p. 133) "As a matter of fact, the native activities develop, in contrast with random and capricious exercise, through the uses to which they are put. And the office of the social medium is, as we have seen, to direct growth through putting powers to the best possible use The natural, or native, powers furnish the initiating and limiting forces in all edu- cation; they do not furnish its ends or aims. There is no learning except from a beginning in unlearned powers, but learning is not a matter of the spontaneous outflow of the unlearned powers." Nor was Rousseau right in saying that "everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Author of Nature, but everything degenerates in the hands of man." He thinks that the natural man is complete in himself and he is always good if he is uncontaminated by social civilization, while a civilized man always lives in a state of slavery. This point of view has no validity in the light of modern psychology. First, man is what he becomes. He is neither good nor bad by nature, but he may be good or bad according to the en- vironment in which he happens to be born or according to the kind of education he happens to receive. Secondly, the original nature of man is not anti-social or non-social. Man as a solitary animal is unknown to us. Modern psychologists have told us that the herd instinct is a primitive and funda- mental quality in man, second in importance only to food and sex instincts. The very existence of man depends upon his gregarious instinct. His mental and spiritual being can never become complete if he detaches himself from the activ- ities of his social group. Social arrangements are not the external expedients by which one can live in order and peace, 130 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR but they are the chief agencies through which one can attain his self-perfection and complete self-realization. The second reason for the antithesis between natural de- velopment and social efficiency is due to the narrow and nationalistic conception of the latter. According to this con- ception social efficiency means literally the complete subordi- nation of the individual to the superior interest of the group which is represented by the modern state. The individual as an individual means nothing and the state is everything. Education is merely a kind of civic function which perpetu- ates and strengthens the institutional ideals of the state. It is a disciplinary measure by which the selfish and egoistic individuals may be subordinated, and molded according to the pattern furnished by institutions, customs and laws. An individual is only a cell in a body politic, a bee in a hive, in which he lives, moves and has his being, so his education must be such as to crush his individuality for the sake of the state, which is omnipotent and all-mighty, and embodies all that is good, beautiful and true. But this peculiar concep- tion of social efficiency can hardly fail to call out a protest. Indeed, it has been tried and its result has been extremely pernicious to world civilization. When I say this, I have a typical representative of this ideal particularly in mind, that is, Germany. Immediately after the Napoleonic war, the German states felt that their best means of salvation was education and they hoped that through their systematic atten- ' tion to education they would be able to achieve political and industrial regeneration. Throughout the past century they have deliberately carried out their ideals of the state into their educational system with an amazing degree of success. Now what is its result ! From the example of Germany we can say that to realize the nationalistic conception of social efficiency as an edu- cational aim will at least yield three dangerous results. First, it inevitably considers man as a cog of a machine and treats him as such. He must be trained to do his work. He must be industrially efficient to earn his own living. Con- sequently, the aim of such an educational system tends to promote the physical well-being of the individual, but this is done at the expense of his spiritual being as a free man. Civilization thus created is exactly the kind which justifies Rousseau's scratching condemnation, when he says : " Civilized man is born, lives, and dies in a state of slavery; at his birth, he is sewn up in swaddling clothes, at his death, he is nailed in a coffin ; so long as he preserves the human form he is fettered by different institutions." Secondly, such an ideal of social PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 131 efficiency tends to create social classes living and moving in different planes. One's development is not conditioned or determined by his native capacity, but by the social posi- tion in which he is born. If he happens to be born in a poor family, he is very likely to remain as a member of a laboring class. He has very little opportunity to attain his complete development and to better his position. In other words, his education and training are largely determined by the accident of birth. To some extent, he is given quite an adequate industrial training, but such a training is merely a means of carrying out the comprehensive state purpose. Thirdly, such an ideal also tends to accentuate national egoism. Since the state is made supreme, and every individual has to subordinate his own interest to that of the state, it is quite natural for the state to justify any means for an end which is its own welfare- and well-being. According to such a political ideal the function of education is to supply patriotic citizens, soldiers and officers to carry out an aggres- sive policy of expansion at the expense of any other nations or peoples. All these defects of the extreme conception of social efficiency have been amply illustrated by the example of Germany, and we have no reason to encourage their per- petuation. We have seen the reasons for the apparent antithesis be- tween natural development and social efficiency, and we have also seen that the extreme view of either one of them is not only unacceptable as a sound educational doctrine, but also detrimental to a democratic civilization, if it is carried out to its logical conclusion. To leave everything to nature means the negation of the very idea of education, because it is to trust the bringing up of the young according to the accidents of circumstances. On the other hand, if we conceive social efficiency as a mere subordination of the individual in order to attain social coherency and stability, we are likely to consider education as a means of social control and impose an artificial standard or limitation upon the indi- vidual development. With this in mind, the reconciliation of these two aims of education is not far to seek. Educa- tion, to use the Kantian phrase, is a process by which man becomes man, a social man. Complete self-realization is impossible, if one remains in isolation from his fellow-men. Nature furnishes the germs of personality, and it is the function of education to develop and perfect them. The process of development and perfection is not to be found in the realm of nature on account of the imperfection of our social civilization, but in the active and efficient participation 132 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR in the social activities which are themselves in the process of perfection. Social efficiency in its broadest sense means nothing more nor less than the ability of sharing and enriching our existing civilization. The one who is completely social- ized is the one who is completely developed. Natural develop- ment and social efficiency are inseparable in our conception of education. The pursuance of the one to the neglect of the other is inconsistent in logic and impracticable in practice. Similarly, the antithesis between cultural and scientific aims of education seems also more superficial than real. Accord- ing to the common usage of these terms, the former values classic scholarship, while the latter values industrial train- ing; the former emphasizes the study of ancient languages, while the latter emphasizes the study of modern sciences ; the former prepares the child for the life of leisure, while the latter prepares him for vocation in an industry. The conflict between these two aims has been long and serious. But according to the definition of education as described above, the existing educational tradition which opposes the study of natural sciences to the study of " humanities " has no justifiable ground. The studies of science and literature are merely the means of education, not education itself. The quarrel between the representatives of the two interests is largely due to the narrow conception of culture and their ignorance of the larger aim in education. In the first place, a genuine cultural education is much broader than classic scholarship. To set classic studies in opposition to the study of science is to limit the scope and to hamper the progress of liberal education. There is no greater folly in the educational practices than the identification of the " humanities " exclusively with the knowledge of Greek and Latin. To know the classical languages of the Greeks and Romans well enough as to be able to appreciate their civilization, such as philosophy, science and arts, from the original sources constitutes a liberal education of a very high order. But to regard Greek and Latin as par excellence the humane studies is nothing but a proof of pedantry or classical obsession in the highest degree. The elements which now enter into culture are very different from those of the Re- naissance. The men of the Renaissance had to return more or less exclusively to the civilization of the Greeks and Romans to study and to emulate, but our cultural achievements have advanced enormously in the past few hundred years. " New literatures have developed to vie with those of the Greeks and Romans ; the arts have been perfected beyond the dreams PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 133 of the imagination of those ages ; the new sciences have been created and there now exists a knowledge of nature and of her forces that in comparison with the interpretaton of pre- ceeding centuries seems most exhaustive and positive." We need a new humanism. A mere knowledge of the classical languages constitutes a far too narrow and inadequate cul- tural education. In the second place, the knowledge of sciences, natural and social, is an indispensable factor in the culture of our modern times. Science is organized and tested human experience. The history of natural scienses is the history of the con- quest of nature by human intelligence. The content of the social sciences is the written record of the complex activities, interests, and forces of modern social life. To know some- thing about them is a knowledge, no matter how superficial it may be, which is thoroughly humanistic in quality, and which is even more humanistic than the mere knowledge of classical literature. In the third place, even modern vocational education is not inconsistent with the ideal of liberal education. Any kind of education is liberalizing, if we always bear in mind that " the educational center of gravity is in the cultural or humane aspects of the subject." The great body of. facts, laws, and principles of any vocation are of both humanistic and occupational value, not to say that vocational education often involves the training of the senses, the hands, and the coordi- nation of the muscles, which is an essential part of a sound general training. Furthermore, the broad outlook and the vast surface of contact between each calling and the life of the community and the world are the things which proper vocational education provides, but which classical education neglects. In a word, vocational studies, if properly conducted and organized, have an intrinsic liberalizing value in them- selves. Considering education as a process which enables an indi- vidual to attain his complete self-realization as a social being, we can see very clearly that there can be no cultural and scientific aims of education distinct from each other. The studies of science, and of history and literature are merely the means of realizing our educational aim. They all tend to orientate an individual into the realm of broad human interest and to help him to appreciate the significance of human activities and relations. They supplement, rather than oppose each other. They are reciprocally interdepend- ent rather than contradictory. Therefore, an education that constitutes a liberal preparation for present life must include them both. 134 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR Coming back to our guiding principles of program mak- ing ; I have already said at the beginning that a good program of instruction must meet the needs of both the child and society, and I have also endeavored to show, although very briefly on account of lack of space, how the ideals of natural development and social efficiency are not opposed to each other. Our next problem is : How shall we know the nature and needs of the child and how shall we adjust our school programs so as to develop him as a social being? The answer to the first part of the question is that we must study the child and find out what he is. We must go back to first principles to find the solution of the most funda- mental problems of human nature and character. We must understand the psychic life, the deeper springs of human be- havior, of the child in order to adjust our pedagogic means. Thus psychology and higher pedagogy are one and insepar- able. Our knowledge of the child will be the best safeguard against many of the possible errors of education. The movement of child study in this country was first started by President G. Stanley Hall about thirty odd years ago. He has approached the problem from a genetic point of view and tried to coordinate the development of child- hood and youth with that of the race. He has held that the child and the race are each keys to the other and pinned his faith on the conviction that only through the genetic study of human nature can we hope to find " true norms against the tendencies to precocity in home, school, church, and civiliza- tion generally, and also to establish criteria by which to both diagnose and measure arrest and retardation in the individual and the race." In an address delivered at Pittsburg, July 4th, 1918, in commeration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Child Study Department of the National Education Asso- ciation, President Hall says (46, pp. 316-317): "From no other standpoint has it been so clear that in the study of child- hood is the key to all our knowledge of human nature. To understand the psychic life of the child is first of all to under- stand all the deeper springs of activity in adult life, even those that make men and women great or make them criminal or insane, for here human nature is laid bare to its roots. Again, the child is the key to the study of primitive man and savages. Much of the most important literature in the whole field of genetics in recent years has consisted in point- ing out the childish traits in savages and the savage traits in children. Even our forebears who dwelt in caves lived their lives, were wise or foolish, good or bad, sound or un- sound in soul according to these rubrics. Indeed, even the PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 135 higher animals in their fundamental instinctive activities can be thus better understood. In this field, too, are to be found the very best psychological explanations of war, its causes and the basal impulses that it unleashes. In fine, the more clearly we see that the unconscious or racial factors of the human soul are older, vaster, stronger than the conscious, just to that degree do we realize that the psychology of the future is to be genetic ; for the best definition possible of anything in the world -to-day is a plain description of the stages by which it has been evolved." This somewhat extended quotation gives President Hall's view of psychogenesis more clearly than would a similar amount of exposition. Child study tends to trace human nature to its beginnings and it is therefore inseparable from the study of the childhood of the race and of the primitive man. In the past few decades the psychogenetic study has already revealed to us many psychic mechanisms which lay the foundation of character and conduct of later life. The very fact that the mainsprings of human behavior are to be found in the first triennium or quadrennium of life gives us hope that the long-hoped-for science of man may be finally established by the synthetic study of the early childhood. It is a promised land of research. It is a very important branch of knowledge which any true student of pedagogy can ill afford to ignore. Another line of study which has made notable contribu- tions to paidology is psychoanalysis. In the past decade or so thousands of clinic cases have been studied by the ana- lytic method and it has been found that many of the mental disturbances could be traced to infantile years. The psy- choanalysts have told us that the infantile in us is the uncon- scious and the unconscious includes most of what we call instincts, feeling^, sentiments and emotions which largely determine our character and career in the adult life. To be sure, most of the psychoanalytic studies have been made upon abnormal individuals of different ages, and we should have a very grave doubt about the desirability and possibility of applying the same method to the study of normal childen. Yet our knowledge of the various kind of mental abnormal- ities has thrown much light upon the nature and needs of the child, to which all the school activities must be adjusted. The third line of approach in child study is the develop- ment of the so-called intelligence tests. Since Binet-Simon published their mental tests for children in 1908, scores of revisions and new tests have been developed. Accordihg to the claims of the representatives of the intelligence-tests 136 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR school, we can now talk with a very large degree of definite- ness of the psychological age, or intelligence age, or intellig- ence quotient. But the study of this kind is a study of aver- ages, a method study which tries to measure the individual child by an artificial standard or norm. Even the word " in- telligence " has not been clearly defined. What the intellig- ence-tests test we are by no means certain. Granting that intelligence can be taken to mean the general ability of adap- tation, we may still doubt whether or not such general ability can be studied in such a mechanical manner, not to say the psychic life of the child which is far beyond the possibility of the intelligence test to reveal. Finally, the fourth line of child study is the development of many scales, standards, and tests of proficiency in the different school subjects, such as Thorndike's hand- writing scale, Trabue's completion tests, and various kinds of arith- metic scales, etc. All these represent a good deal of statistical skill and ingenuity. They give us a pretty accurate knowledge of the attainment of the child tested in certain school subjects at a certain school grade. They help classify the child with regard to school promotions according to his scholastic achiev- ments. But their value is limited to the measurement of school products only. They serve to test the efficiency of school instruction, rather than to study the psychic life of the child. So much for the various attempts of child study. With regard to the problem of adjusting school programs to the needs of the child as a social being, the following general factors may be briefly indicated. 1. School education must lay special emphasis upon the hygiene of the child. Throughout the entire period of child- hood no need is greater than that of a wholesome environment for health and growth and no branch of education is more important than the inculcation of hygienic habits. Hygiene is the " religion of the body." It is a thing of which every school man knows its importance for the child, yet for which little has been done. Prof. William H. Burnham says : " If we can not agree on the aims of elementary education, let us make health as an aim, for no normal development can be had without special care for the health and vigor of the body." 2. School education must recognize the factor of individual differences. Children are not born equal in natural gifts. Their interests, tastes, and capacities are all different, so education must adjust itself to meet their different needs. In condemning the scholastic method, Rousseau says : " Each individual is born with a distinctive temperament PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 137 We indiscriminately employ children of different bents on the same exercises ; their education destroys the special bent and leaves a dull uniformity. Therefore, after we have wasted our efforts in stunting the true gifts of nature we see the short-lived and illusory brilliance we have substituted die away, while the natural abilities we have crushed do not revive." 3. Education must supply the stimuli which will enable children to do their very utmost. We know very well that our latent capacities as individuals are far beyond our regular achievements and, as a rule, we remain far below what we can do. Ordinarily we use only a very small fraction of our energy and excuse ourselves by suggesting the imaginary factor of mental fatigue and our incapability of further exer- tion. We very seldom have the opportunity to experience the phenomena of second breath and have always kept our re- served energy intact. Our happy-go-lucky attitude towards work is largely the product of our early training. Once a sluggish habit is formed, we often find it difficult to eradicate. Heaven only knows what we would be able to do, if we could tap our reservoirs of energy which nature gives us ! To my mind, it is one of the chief functions of education to train the will-power, to inculcate the habit of hard work in the child, so that the best in him may be utilized and developed. 4. An ideal education must teach the child the right thing in the right way at the right time. Interests wax and wane. Capacities bud and bloom with a great degree of irregularity. We must strike when the iron is hot. In a normal child there is at about every moment of its life some special disposition or diathesis which is just ripe for the development of perma- nent interest. Education would do wonders, if the school man could only make the most of every dawning power of the child at the proper season. Growth, mental as well as physical, is never general. It is the fortunate duty of the school teacher to recognize and utilize the dynamic value of the enormous differences of natural growth and make education most effective. 5. An ideal education must meet the demands of society by adopting its means and methods to the changing needs of a progressive civilization. Man is a being whose experi- ence is social. Education is not to make him unsocial but more social. The more socialized he is the better. His social- ization does not lie in the passive receptivity of what society has to offer, but in the active participation of social experi- ence which needs constant modification and enrichment. He must be a good citizen, an independent and self-supporting 138 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR citizen. Through his individual contribution the life of the society will be made richer and fuller, no matter how small his contribution may be. It is through this kind of cumulative individual efforts that social) progress, change, and development are made possible. Hence an ideal education must acquaint the child with his material and social environment, in order that every avenue to knowledge may be opened to him, and his ability to discharge his duties and to enjoy his privileges may be fully prepared. 6. An ideal education must provide training for both voca- tion and avocation, or, in a still more common phrase, for labor and leisure. The basis of our modern civilization is economic, and we must have trained and skillful industrial workers in order to maintain and to promote the material prosperity of the nation. Consequently vocational training, or, training for labor, is absolutely essential in our modern education. But, on the other hand, if we set vocational train- ing and liberal learning in sharp antagonism to each other, we tend to create two distinct classes, the industrial workers, or the people of labor, and the " educated proletariats," or the people of leisure, in our social order. To avoid this social danger is a baffling problem for education. In my opinion, the solution lies in the middle ground. For those who are preparing for some special callings of life we must see to it that a sound general training is provided so as to enable them to gain and to enjoy leisure ; while for those who are prepar- ing for a higher intellectual life we must provide ample oppor- tunities for the training of their motor powers, so as not to permit them to escape the discipline and advantage of labor. Vocation without avocation makes work itself a drudgery, while avocation without vocation will do the individual infin- itely more harm than good. II. Content of a Good School Program In the last section I have dealt with the guiding principles of program-making, and I have also indicated six main factors which are of fundamental importance in an ideal education. Bearing these points in mind, we may now discuss some of the most essential subjects which must be included in the curriculum. Hygiene Instruction and Training. I mention this first, because this is the most important part of education for which the public school must bear a greater share of the responsibility than any other educational agency of the country. Without normal physical development, health and vigor, education is PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 139 but an empty word. That the ill-fed, under-nourished, and physically defective children can not profit by instruction is a commonplace truism, yet many school men do not realize the importance of this fact nor appreciate the serious con- sequences of neglect in this matter. The very fact revealed by the organization and training of the national army that an undue proportion of the young men of drafted age was unfit for military service on account of ill-health or physical defects shows very clearly the failure of public education in the past and the task yet to be done in the future. Now let us see what are the measures of remedy. First of all, special emphasis must be placed upon the in- struction and training in personal hygiene. Copious literature now exists concerning the importance of inculcating health habits in the child during his impressionable and plastic period of life. This is important, but it need not be repeated here again. What I wish to mention in this connection are the one or two things which have not received adequate attention commensurate with their significance. These are: 1. Sex-hygiene. — That this is the most important, delicate, and at the same time the most neglected part of hygiene in- struction, no one can doubt. It is important, because it con- cerns the most vital interests of the individual and the future of the race; it is delicate, because social conventionality has compelled the individual to conceal the facts in this field and its instruction requires a good deal of hard and strenuous common sense; it is neglected, because parents, in most cases, are not intelligent enough to tell the children anything about sex-life, clergymen do not wish to say anything about it, and school teachers are often not permitted to teach it. Silence in this matter has been the policy in the past and is still the policy of to-day. Shall we continue this policy of reticence? According to the conception of education discussed at the beginning of this chapter, the instruction in the department of sex— hygiene can no longer be tabooed, because it is the need both of the individual and of the society. It is the need of the individual, because sex is the most imperious and all- pervading instinct in man. Ignorance of sex life has often led to the creation of many cases of neurosis, psychosis, and other kinds of mental disturbance in the adolescent youth Thousands of clinic cases which have been studied by psy- choanalytic method are traceable to the abnormalities of early sexual life. Some people think that the study of sex organs and functions should begin in plants, and that thus the desire of learning is stimulated and sexual curiosity given an intel- lectual direction. Others think that young people should not 140 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR remain mystified by sex and build their own air castles, be- cause secret brooding in this matter forms an effective in- cubation of morbid impulses. Whatever may be the reason, no one who has made a careful study of child life would question the importance of such instruction. Silence can not solve the problem, for no one can keep real live children from getting sex knowledge from the vulgar and undesir- able sources. Prof. Bigelow in his recent book on sex edu- cation has related a true story to illustrate this point. Thus he says : " A few years ago the mothers of a group of little girls in one of the best managed private schools felt that with careful supervision both in school and home there was no danger of forbidden knowledge reaching the children. But one day a new pupil innocently exhibited to her mother a miniature notebook with unprintable notes on sex topics. The resulting investigation revealed a secret club organized by the pupils for the purpose of passing to each member through notebooks all newly acquired information, which had a peculiar value because it must be kept secret from teachers and parents. That club had been in existence during two school years. This is only a sample case of many which have proved that if children are allowed the freedom that developing individuality demands, their mothers must not feel to sure that their darlings are protected against knowl- edge of life, and perhaps of life in its most degraded aspects." (13, pp. 13-14). Love and hunger are often called the two master instincts of life. It has been said that two-thirds of the total psychic processes of adolescent youth are for years concerned with sex directly or indirectly. It would seem utterly absurd to think of the fact that instruction of sex, and particularly of its hygienic aspects in public schools has often been considered as indiscreet and indecent. It is a social need because of the prevalence of social diseases which must be eliminated. The organization of the national army has revealed the existence of venereal diseases among the civil population of the United States, both urban and rural, to a [degree which is mortifying td every thinking people. They have affected all classes of people, and it is appalling to see the social vice suddenly stand out in such a glaring light. The War and Navy Departments have under- taken measures to treat such diseases within the army and navy and to iprevent their spreading. To a certain extent their efforts have been successful. But [the fundamental cause of such social danger is ignorance. The most effective means of permanently reducing the spread of venereal diseases is education. Shall we let the children of adolescence be clearly PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 141 informed of the importance of sex-hygiene, or let them take their chance in ignorance, the results of which may be dis- astrous to the individual welfare and dangerous to the public health? 2. Hygiene of Eating. — Next to sex-hygiene, there is prob- ably no branch of human knowledge which has received less attention in public school instruction than that concerning the relation of food to growth and health. According to the psychology of appetite, we find that nutrition is the back- ground of everything. Our body may be conceived as a machine for the conservation, distribution and transmission of energy, and every single organ in the body is a digestive organ. Even thought is a digestive function. Man is what he eats (Mann ist was er isst), and what he does with it. But we must not forget that it is not so much what he eats as what he digests and how completely he digests it. Pleasure and pain or euphoria and dysphoria are very closely linked to the digestive process. This is the first step of philosophy where a sound pedagogy should begin. If we feel well we pass over the earlier stages of growth, which is better than education. The maximum of utilized food should be our goal. The stages of recapitulation are accelerated by proper feed- ing, lacunae avoided. So is arrest and still more, degenera- tion. Some psychologists have even speculated that good cooking would play the most important role in education, because it affects both physical and psychical processes of man. Whatever may be the truth of this speculation, no one can deny the fact that the hygiene of eating is the most im- portant factor in physical development and well-being. I believe now is the high time for the teachers of elementary physiology and hygiene to rejuvenate their traditional methods of instruction and teach something more worth while. Instead of burdening children's memory with the technical names of bones and muscles, they can teach the quantity and quality of food desirable, the relative values of food, and the general system of our digestive processes. Subjects of this kind are far more beneficial and comprehensible to children than the material which we commonly find in the elementary text- books of physiology. One of the chief objections in teaching food values to chil- dren is the hopeless incomprehensibility of the technical language used in the copious literature on the subject. The only way of measuring and determining the amount of food we need is by the caloric method. But the word " calory " is utterly unintelligible to children. Not only children, but also lay people, as a rule, have very little conception of what 142 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR is meant by a calory. Not only lay people, but also many physicians have a very hazy idea of what is meant when they say that an individual should have 2,200 or 3,000 calories a day. We would commit a great pedagogical error, if we asked children to remember by heart that so many grams of a certain food are equal to so many calories, and so many grams of another kind of food have an equal amount of caloric value. Children of elementary schools can not visualize the amount of food measured in grams, nor can they translate the caloric value of food into terms intelligent to themselves. JBut what are we going to teach and how are we going to meet this difficulty? Dr. William Emerson of Boston has reduced the common unit of 100 calories (which was first introduced by Dr. Irving Fisher) into most familiar terms such as teaspoonfuls, cup- fuls, and so on, so that common people or even children can understand. For instance, two table-spoonfuls of lima beans equal 100 calories; one ripe banana equals 100 calories; one roll equals 100 calories; and so you can go through the whole list of common foods which are found on the ordinary family table. (See 69). Beautiful charts have been made on this basis. It has been said that by this method Dr. Emerson has been able to teach dietetics to delicate children of even seven or eight years of age with regard to the amount of calories they have taken a day and the amount they still need to make up their quota. It seems to me that a great advance has been made in dietary instruction by translating the number of calories into familiar measurements. It is both practical and useful for teachers of physiology and hygiene to make use of such material on the ground of bringing instruction close to the children's interests, if for no other reason. They can not expect to be excused or for- given for neglecting instruction of this kind. Furthermore, instruction on food values is of paramount importance for the protection of the children's health. Many children from wealthy homes are being overfed and still more children have a harmful habit of excessive indulgence in eating candy. In one school, which was investigated, it was found that the boys were each receiving about 5,500 calories daily and in addition were getting about 500 more outside in the form of candy. There is no doubt that they were tremendously overfed. The evil result of over-feeding is just as bad as, if not worse than, that of under-feeding. We have been trying hard to have free school lunches for the destitute children. Have we done anything to enlighten the overfed children so that their vital organs may not be overburdened, by the unnecessary amount of food ? PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 143 Besides the elements of personal health, a knowledge of public health should also be a part of the intellectual equip- ment of every child who leaves the public school. In modern society one can not be a good citizen unless he knows some- thing about the causes and conditions of certain common contagious and infectous diseases and the measures of pre- venting them. Would the public, which supports popular education, ask too much if it demanded that every graduate of an elementary school know something of all, if not all of any one, of such topics as the importance of clean milk, good water supply, sewage disposal, vaccination, pure food, the destroying of the house-rat, house-flies, mosquitoes, and other insects, the necessity of quarantine measures against the transmission of various diseases, and the knowledge of First Aid, etc. ? Here we have a list of subjects which might be infinitely extended. This is practical physiology, bacteri- ology, and hygiene, or whatever other name you may call it. This is supremely important for the safety of the individual and for the protection of the community. Can we consider the public schools as having performed their function, if they merely feed the child with a certain amount of book knowl- edge without teaching this highly practical and useful side of education? Again, a well organized system of physical training should be an indispensable part of a good school program. The medical examinations of the young men drafted for the national army have revealed the fact that many of them are unfit for the work of either a soldier or a sailor on account of their physical defects. Most of these physical defects are remediable either through early treatment or corrective exer- cises. When the accepted men were brought together in camps, many of them were stooping, crooked, stunted, slouching, and awkward in appearance. Usually weeks or months were devoted in the training camps to the setting-up exercises in order to produce in the new draftees an adequate muscular development and a desirable carriage. Does this fact give the school men some food for thought? Had the schools pro- vided a complete course of physical training for every child in the country, such a deplorable condition would not have happened. It seems to me that people who advocate military training as a part of general education for the youth should not fail to insist upon a suitable course of physical training to be provided by the public school, because it is the founda- tion of military training and the proper function of popular education. Further, proper physical training is one of the indispens- able conditions for mental development. Dr. Francis Warner 144 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR in his book entitled " The Study of Children " has laid special stress upon the benefits to be derived from good physical training. Thus he says: (119). "Evidence is available from comparision of reports on children seen in schools, where good physical training was provided, in contrast with a large school, where no such training was given. In the school with- out physical training the proportion of both boys and girls with abnormal nerve signs was higher, and a larger propor- tion of the boys were reported by the teachers as dull pupils. This can not be attributed to the developmental cases or to low nutrition, as their proportion was lower than in the other schools; it must, I think, be ascribed to the absence of phys- ical training It may be inferred that physical training tends to improve the brain condition of children, preventing or removing disorderliness in motor and in mental action, and promotes healthy activity in both directions ; this applies not only to children perfectly well made in body, but also to those in some slight degree below normal." Dr. Warner's statement has been corroborated by many investigations since, so the necessity of a good course of phys- ical training for every child admits of no controversy. We must realize that most of the physical training given in the public school is not worthy of the name. We can not expect much from ten minutes exercises once or twice a day, given by untrained teachers and often under very unfavorable con- ditions. If we are going to have physical training at all,, it must be adequate and effective. From fifteen to twenty hours a week of physical training and organized play should not be considered as too much. (See chapter on military train- ing). If we can incorporate some of the most important features of Boy Scout into the system, so as to provide dis- cipline and opportunity for spontaneous activity at the same time, it will prove as an important part both of general edu- cation and of pre-military training. Intellectual Instruction and Training. Generally speak- ing, the subjects for intellectual instruction and training in the public school program may be grouped under three heads, namely, science, history, and literature. We may discuss them separately according to the order mentioned. Science. — As a rule, scientific instruction has been too much mechanicalized. We try to lay too much emphasis upon definitions, laws, rules, formulae, and mathematical propo- sitions of the most abstract nature, rather than to connect the facts of physical sciences with human experiences which are within the intellectual grasp of the pupil. Sciences are taught as mere " technical bodies of information and technical forms PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 145 of physical manipulation." They are considered as subjects which deal exclusively with nature and have nothing to do with man. The philosophic dualism between man and nature has created an unbridgeable gulf between the studies of natural sciences and the studies of human interests and human activities. But, as I have pointed out in the last section, this separation is very unfortunate. Sciences are the means of promoting human happiness and well-being. The knowl- edge of sciences should be the chief agency to emancipate human intelligence and to broaden human sympathy. Science for science's sake may find its justification with the specialists, but it is an absurd notion for the beginner. So the conditions of reform in science teaching are two: First, it should be " humanized," and secondly, more practical sciences should, be introduced into the curriculum. The problem of humanizing science teaching is to " de- mathematicalize " it. For the average pupil in the public school, scientific symbols are far less important than the intimate relationship between scientific evolution and social progress. To make him memorize the symbolic expressions of science without understanding their meaning is to create in him intellectual indigestion. Take the study of physics and chemistry as a concrete illustration. Atoms, molecules, theories, and mathematical equations are all necessary parts of such sciences, but their meanings are incomprehensible to the mind of the immature youth, if they are detached from the objects of daily acquaintance. We must teach the child how scientific facts have been obtained and what methods have been used to reach the conclusions. We must make the child more alert, more open-minded, and better understand his environment through scientific instruction. We should not try to feed the child with an enormous amount of undi- gested and undigestible subject matter simply to cover so much ground within a certain time-limit. The history of such sciences should be taught, because it shows how the progress of human society from savagery to civilization has been de- pendent upon scientific inventions and discoveries. Railways, steamboats, areoplanes, are the familiar means of communi- cation of to-day, but they have not come into existence all of a sudden. They have reached their present stage of per- fection through countless failures and less sensational dis- coveries in the past. To teach the child how the knowledge of physics and chemistry has helped mankind to control nature will inevitably open his mind to the possibilities of human achievements in the future. If the freeing of the mind from its present confinement constitutes the most essential part 146 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR of education, the proper method and humanistic content of scientific instruction are too important for us to ignore. With regard to the introduction of practical sciences into the curriculum, the writer has agriculture particularly in mind. Agriculture is allied with such subjects as botany, zoology, biology, bacteriology, horticulture, etc., and, indeed, they are its component parts. To teach agriculture in its practical way would mean to teach all these subjects in their most concrete form. Furthermore, agricultural education gives excellent training to the senses of sight, hearing, and touch, to the ability of using tools, and most important of all, gives a concrete demonstration of the dignity of labor. (See chapter on School Children and Food Production). Thus President Eliot says (37) : " The boy on a farm has admirable opportunities to train eye, ear, and hand, because he can always be looking at the sky, and the soils, the woods, the crops, and the forests, having familiar intercourse with many domestic animals, using various tools, listening to the innumerable sweet sounds which wind, water, birds and insects make on the country- side, and in his holidays hunting, fishing and roaming." So the organization of school children for gardening and farm work as necessitated by the war should forever be perpetu- ated as a part of general educaton in times of peace. Besides physical sciences, the so-called social sciences, such as economics, and sociology, should also have a place in the sec- ondary school curriculum. In a democratic society, the people are the captains of their own destiny. They have to decide many of the crucial questions which may affect the interests of the entire nation. The political problems, such as the tariff, the income tax, the inheritance tax, the government ownership of the railroads and telegraph wires, the control of corporations, the housing of the industrial workers, the conditions of employment, prohibition, woman suffrage, child labor laws, and many others, are alf to be decided directly or indirectly by the voice of the people. But they are problems which can not be decided off-hand without any knowledge of economics and sociology. The foundation of a democracy is its intelligent citizenship. Otherwise the people will be at the mercy of the political bosses. Shall the public school undertake the responsibility of training the child to exercise his rights and privileges as well as to discharge his duties when he reaches his manhood? History. — I have discussed the problem of history instruc- tion more or less in detail in a preceeding chapter entitled "The War and the Teaching of the School Subjects." Some of the suggestions made with special reference to the teaching PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 147 of the war, such as the teaching of patriotism and of truth, the study of the history of other nations, and the use of the present events to illustrate those of the past, should also find their application in the time of peace, But there is one more important point I wish to mention, that is, the study of primitive man. History deals with the past and the past is the history of the present. We must have some knowledge of our primitive ancestors in order to fully appreciate our social civilization of to-day. We have a very rich social inherit- ance, but such social inheritance has been made possble only by the most severe struggles of the ages past. The doctrine of struggle for existence can never be more clearly illustrated than by the history of primitive life. It offers a direct avenue of approach to the realization of man's successes and failures in his struggle with nature. The basis of our existence is economical. So the history of the human race is the history of the struggle for food, clothes and shelter. President Hall thinks that the struggle for existence should be taken to mean " striving for existence," and that if we could concentrate all our efforts to the conquest of nature and to the turning of natural energies for the use of mankind, war between nations would be unnecessary. The German translation, " Der Kampf urns Dasein " has been more or less responsible for the German belief that the chief condition of existence is war, and thus it has made Germany a militaristic nation. If we can teach the young through the study of primitive history the fundamental truth that the history of human civilization is the history of man's progressive adaptation to his environment and of his successes in dominating over nature, we may open their minds to the unlimited possibilities of future scientific accomplishments, and direct the efforts of the best talents of future generations to the study of the sciences. In the course of time, we may hope that one of the great causes of war, the economical struggle, may thus be eliminated. Literature. — On this subject two points may be briefly dis- cussed. First literature should be studied more extensively than intensively, Emphasis should be placed upon the con- tent which literature expresses rather than upon philosophy. Modern literature should take precedence to that of ancient, so as to enable the individual to keep in touch with the spirit of his time. Modern languages, such as French and German, should also have a place, because they are the keys to the vast richness of culture and scientific truth. To drop Ger- man from the school curriculum is an indication of chauvin- ism rather than true patriotism. Secondly, ancient languages, 148 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR such as Greek and Latin, have no place in our modern school. The writer reaches this conclusion with full recognition of the fact that we can never wish to dispense with classic studies on account of the tremendous influence of classical traditions in our modern culture. To study Greek and Latin to a point to be able to appreciate drama, philosophy, oratory, art, and institutional life of the Greeks and Romans constitutes a liberalizing study of first-grade importance. But such literary appreciation of the classics is unattainable in the public school. To claim that a secondary pupil can better under- stand the Greek and Roman civilizations by his acquaint- ance with the elements of their languages is preposterous. Nothing of that kind can be expected. To make the pupil in the public school spend his precious time in studying Greek and Latin for the sake of culture is an educational waste, because the time devoted to such languages may be best spent on some other subjects which have direct and practical value for the youth. In order to enable the pupil to understand the civilization of the ancient times, ancient history will be enough, not ancient languages. Religions Instruction and Training. In discussing this ques- tion the writer is fully aware of its immensity and complex- ity. Yet this is the very problem we can not ignore. Religious beliefs, sentiments and feelings are a part of the human psyche, no observer of human nature will undervalue their signific- ance. D. C. Brinton in his " Religions of Primitive Peoples " says : " The religiosity of man is a part of his psychological being. In the nature and laws of the human mind, in its intellect, sympathies, emotions, and passions, lie the well- springs of all religions, modern or ancient, Christian or heathen. To these we must refer, by these we must explain, whatever errors, falsehood, bigotry, or cruelty have stained man's creeds or cults ; to them we must credit whatever truth, beauty, piety, and love have glorified and hallowed his long search for the perfect and the eternal The fact is that there has not been a single tribe, no matter how rude, known in history or visited by travellers which has been shown to be destitute of religion under any form." Indeed, without religion our civilization would be unintelligible. I would not like to think what our civilization would be if our history, philosophy, literature and arts were stripped of all the religious elements. Again, genetic psychology has shown us that in the child's soul there are rudiments of all ancient religions, such as the worship of rocks and stones, trees, and animals, sun, moon, thunder, fire, water, and many other natural objects and PUBLIC SCHOOL PROGRAMS AFTER THE WAR 149 natural phenomena. They exist in the faculties that the child inherits from his ancestors in the different stages of civili- zation. President Hall thinks that he or she who has never been a true child in religious matters will never become a full- grown man or woman, so "a complete religious education on the recapitulatory theory would be to give the child a touch of the best in every religion through which the race has passed from the lowest to the highest." (See 50, vol. 1). Nicholas Murray Butler thinks man's spiritual inheritance is fivefold, science, literature, art, institutional life, and religious beliefs, so the education of the child must include knowledge of each of the five elements named. The triangular symbol of the Young Men's Christian Association has expressed the pro- found truth that it takes three factors — body, mind, and spirit — to make a complete man. To omit any one of them in the education of the young would make its results hopelessly incomplete. Important as religious education is, yet we exclude com- pletely the religious elements from public education. On account of the separation of state and church, and of the long standing antagonism between different denominational theologies it has been considered impossible to allow in the free schools, which are supported by general taxation, any of the religious teachings or practices into which the denomi- national prejudices would inevitably enter. In some states, even Bible reading is prohibited in the public school, because the Bible itself has been considered as a sectarian book, so the teaching of it would mean a violation of the liberties and rights of the non-Christian portion of the community. This complete secularization of public education may be re- garded as a sort of compromise, or a kind of political expedi- ency in getting out of the difficulty. To my mind, this complete elimination of religious teach- ing from the public school represents a distinct educational loss rather than a gain. Nor is it advisable to advocate the reversal of the present educational policy in this matter. What we can do at present is not to introduce into the school the teachings of religious dogmas, creeds, observances, rituals and rites, for they are worse than nothing, but to find the psychological equivalents of religion and to inculcate in the youth those ideas and ideals which may be properly called religious, yet take on no religious form. President Hall says : (50, vol. 1, p. 144). " The most imperative voice in the world is the inner oracle of conscience. We approach the Divine by self-communion and intuition. There are no sacrifices save those of the baser elements of our own nature, and no 150 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR objects of worship save the best that is in man. There is no litany or ritual save good thoughts, feelings, deeds, and good will. Thus, we reach the insight that the only true religious growth is inwardization." If we take this most advanced view of religion, it may not be very difficult to find the psychological equivalents of it. The war has taught us many lessons, and the most profitable one of all is that great reservoirs of psychic forces of millions of men, such as loyalty, fidelity, courage, and self-discipline, have been tapped and that men who were living for petty and selfish ends have come face to face with ultimate realities and found something good, beautiful, and true, for which to live, and labor and die. Thousands of young men in the army who had never been connected with any church before the war have developed in the presence of hardships, horrors and dangers of war moral qualities which are thoroughly religious. Take for instance, when a French peasant marched from the south to the north of France, and was so impressed by the beauty of the country, that he wrote to his mother that he would consider it as a great privilege if he were counted to die for such a glorious fatherland. Another peasant soldier vowed to keep himself pure in body and in soul in order to be worthy to make the supreme sacrifice for his country. Such a sense of patriotism is superb in its moral strength and is tinged with a deep religious conviction. Again, religious tolerance and sympathy among the fighting men is beautifully illusrated by an often repeated story of the three soldiers who laid down their lives for the great cause. The story runs as follows : Of " soldiers three " who went over the top, one, a Protestant, was fatally wounded at the barbed wire before the enemy's trench and called to one of his comrades, a young Catholic priest, to creep out if he could and administer the last sacrament before he died. The priest went over in response to the request and was shot just when he extended the crucifix over his friend. The third soldier, a Jewish Rabbi, seeing the situa- tion, crept to the dying man, seized the crucifix and gave the dying man absolution. When the ceremony was just about to end, this young Rabbi was also shot. Stories of this kind can be multiplied in great numbers, but it is enough here to show that the difference in creeds and faiths can furnish no barrier between the hearts of men when they face the ultimate realities of life. We have often been told that the soldiers in the fighting fronts were intensely loyal to their comrades, ever ready to share whatever they had with a chum, and extraordinarily generous and chivalrous if any one was in trouble. They believed whole-heartedly in unselfisness, SUMMARY 151 generosity, charity and humility, although they might not have connected these moral qualities with the profession and prac- tice of Christian religion. What a splendid manual of religious education can be written, if the religious ideas of the soldier can be gathered and clearly stated without any mixture of church creeds or dogmas ! In this connection I may quote President Eliot's recent utterance on this matter. Thus he says : " Some line officer who has been intimate with his men when in hospital or in their resting places, or some chaplain who has shared with the privates their hardships and their dangers, and written letters home for them as they lay wounded or dying, ought to prepare a manual of the religion of the thinking soldier in this war for the freedom and secur- ity of mankind. It would contain no dogma, creed, or ritual, and no church history ; but it would set forth the fundamental religious ideas which ought to be conveyed in the schools to every American child and adolescent in the schools of the future. Such teaching would counteract materialism, pro- mote reverance for God and human nature, strengthen the foundations of a just and peace-loving democracy, and con- firm to Micah's definition of religion : ' What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?'" (38). In conclusion, I may say that we are in the crucial period of civilization. No time should be lost in facing the problems of education. It is not enough to say that we are going to have a new world, but we must make a new world. Of all the means at our disposal, public education is the most effect- ive. Unless we can make boys and girls now in the school be- come better men and women in the future than those of the present, we can not hope that there is any kind of international organization which will guarantee peace on earth and good will toward all men. SUMMARY. In summary, the main points as presented in this thesis may be briefly stated as follows : 1. It has been shown that war has afforded a very great opportunity for direct moral instruction and training. Teach- ers who have felt that verbal instruction in ethics tends to be uninteresting and inefficacious can now base their teachings upon the broad conception of patriotism and personal sacrifice which can be amply illustrated by the heroic deeds of the soldiers on the battle fronts. Never before have we seen so many evidences of love and sympathy, of devotion to duty and consecration for service. Never before have we heard so 152 PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE WAR much of the deeds of heroism and self-denial, of bravery and discipline. Never before have we found so many examples of loyalty, co-operation, and the willingness of paying the last measure of devotion for a great cause. All these virtues developed in the war should be carefully and systematically taught to the members of the younger generation. So the task of the American school is not to arouse in children vague emotions of a patrotic flavor, but to give them a new view of social and civic responsibility. The extraordinary demands of war service may have in some slight degree disturbed the ordinary school program, but they have also given children an excellent training in public service and good citizenship. The educational benefit derived from the war activities may offset any real or fancied losses of school time. 2. The war has taught us the value of gardening work by the school children. Under proper organization and direction, it helps to increase the agricultural output of the nation and serves to vitalize the school curriculum. What we have done under the necessity of war should be continued in time of peace. 3. Farm work for boys of proper age is a real education in itself. It should be encouraged, organized, directed, and supervised by the school authorities, war or no war. 4. It has been shown that the kind of military drill which we find in some school systems in this country has no place in the public school curriculum. It is a sheer waste of time, and has no value, either military or educational. Public schools as they now exist have not the time, means and pro- fessional ability to provide a genuine system of military in- struction for the immature youth. The author suggests that a broad program of physical education should be adopted by all the schools in the country and strongly urges that some of the chief features of the scouting program and method be incorporated into such a program. A well-balanced system of physical education under military discipline will furnish a splendid pre-military training. 5. From all the evidences at hand we find that some re- sourceful teachers have modified their regular instruction on account of the war. On the whole this modification has been a change for the good. It has modernized and vitalized many traditional school subjects and made them more real to the interest of the child. The author urges that the old order of things should never be allowed to come back again. 6. Based on the experiences of many school systems, the author suggests that the entire system of public education SUMMARY 153 be reorganized. Some of the concrete suggestions made, such as the creation of a national department of education with the power of formulating the general educational policies and making the minimum requirements in public education for the entire nation, the reorganization of the state, county and city school administration, the increase of the period of compulsory attendance, the adoption of the " six-three-three plan," the ways of training and securing better teachers, the provision of vocational education, etc., should be immediately realized. 7. With regard to the reorganization of public school pro- grams the author has shown that the antithesis between natural development and social efficiency, between cultural and scien- tific aims of education is more superficial than real, if we think of education as a provision of a wholesome environment for the unlimited, free, complete and harmonious development of all the powers within the individual through participation in those activities which have a direct bearing upon social progress. The author can not over-emphasize the importance of child study, because an ideal education must meet the needs of both the individual and the society. We must go back to first principles to find out what human nature is and then adjust our school program to meet its needs. Suggestions concerning the content of a good school program, such as the necessary provisions for physical, intellectual, and religious instruction and training may sound too idealistic, yet they are essential and practical. 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