-i * o o Author Title Imprint. 16 — imT.-'i OPO BULLETIN OF THE EXTENSION DIVISION, INDIANA UNIVERSITY Entered as second-class mail matter at the post-office at Bloomington, Indiana, under the act of August 24, 1912. Published monthly, by Indiana University, from the University office, Bloomington, Indiana. Vol. I BLOOMINGTON, IND. No. 4 f^/^^mx INl \o] /VERITAS^ The Community Schoolhouse Bibliography, Notes, List of Lantern Slides DECEMBER, 1915 Wono^rapn University Extension Division ■ The Extension Teaching Service of the Indiana University Exten- sion Division includes correspondence-study, class-study, club-study, and lecture courses. These activities are designed to offer some of the advantages for culture and instruction within the University to persons who are not enrolled as resident students. The Public Welfare Service of the Extension Division includes col- lecting and lending package libraries, exhibits, and lantern slides; compiling and publishing informational circulars and bulletins; organ- izing and directing institutes, surveys, conferences, discussion leagues, and extension centers; and giving cooperative assistance to clubs, civic societies, public boards, and to other community agencies. Visual Instruction. Lending lantern slides, motion pictures, art collections, and topical exhibits is a part of the work of visual instruc- tion of the Public Welfare Service of the Extension Division. Circulars of information descriptive of the material of visual instruction with rules for borrowing will be furnished on request. It is aimed to develop the work of visual instruction so as to fur- nish an increasingly varied and valuable equipment for the use of schools, libraries, and clubs whenever they require illustrative mate- rial as a supplement to regular instruction or as a part of a program of entertainment. This aim recognizes the desirability of extending the instructional facilities of schools and other organizations to include materials not easily obtainable by them individually, and the desirabil- ity, also, of contributing to the growing tendency toward community provision for non-commercial entertainment. Just as maps, illustrations in textbooks, and various kinds of speci- mens and instruments in laboratories are necessities in well-conducted schools of the present day, so the time is coming when lantern slides, motion pictures, paintings, and topical panel exhibits will be common as necessary instruments of regular instruction. So also community organizations, aided by the University and other public agencies, will increase their efforts to secure concerts, dramatic productions, illus- trated lectures, travelogues, and other entertainment for the common benefit. Such tendencies working for the enrichment of community life may well be encouraged. It is hoped that the material of visual instruction provided by the Public Welfare Service may help in the improvement of both school instruction and community entertainment. Address all communications to the Extension Division, Indiana Univeesity, Bloomington, Ind. D^ of ^^.^ APR 2 1917 Contents PAGE Prefatory Note 4 The Community Schoolhouse: Lecture Notes 5 SufiGESTIONS FOR StUDY — Definition of community centoi- . :'. 16 Origin of the social center 16 The need of community centers 17 Specific functions and activities of centers 17 Principles of foundation 17 Organization of community centers 18 Indiana school law 19 Community center buildings 19 Results of community center activities 19 Bibliography 20 Prefatory Note This bulletin is offered as a suggestive aid to those who are inter- ested in the "social center" movement in Indiana. It is not intended as a lecture to be read to an audience, but is meant to indicate how the set of lantern slides listed may be made the basis of lectures by local social workers. The notes were purposely written as explana- tions of the individual slides, consequently they do not constitute a coherent lecture. Borrowers may rearrange, add, or subtract to suit the. purpose of their own lectures. The slides will be lent for one week free of charge to any school, library, or club in the State. Borrowers are urged to study carefully the sources of information given in the bibliography, to familiarize themselves with the illustrations, and to prepare the lecture so as to be independent of the printed notes. The Extension Division has two other sets of lantern slides which have a bearing on the community center idea: "Playgrounds" and "The Social Center". The latter set was arranged by Edward J. Ward, author of the well-known book on that subject and a pioneer in the movement. The suggestive lecture which accompanies the slides was written by him. The Community Schoolhouse: Lecture Notes' By W. S. BiTTNER, Secretary of Public Welfare Service It has been said that education is the foundation of democracy. If citizenship in a democracy means full personal and social develop- ment with real freedom in "the pursuit of happiness" there must be a wide interpretation of the fundamentals of education and an exten- sion of the methods in school procedure sufficient to enable every per- son to acquire that education which fits him for broad living. Our scliools should serve to liberate the best community forces, develop community resources, and foster social unity. In the light of such a broad purpose, physical training, inculcation of morals, edu- cation in civic duties, and education in recreation are as legitimate functions of the school as is vocational training or the teaching of the three R's. The "prime purpose" of the school building or grounds cannot be arbitrarily designated in terms of past experience and antiquated laws; it must be reasonably determined with reference to all the exigencies of a rich community life. Certainly if one reason alone could justify the use of schools as community centers, it would be that no single community agency has undertaken generally the task of providing education in recreation and in practical civics, — in tlae intelligent use of leisure, in thoro training for practical citizen- ship. The community center movement aims to make the school serve the neighborhood and the nation in the broadest and completest sense. Says Mr. H. R. Knight: "Young people go wrong during their leisure hours. While at work or at study their thoughts and actions are controlled by their tasks. When free to do what they will they may or may not make the right use of their time. The state undertook the support of schools in order to insure the upbringing of moral citizens. Free schools have been in existence over a century and a half and now people are beginning to question their ability to inculcate morality. At a teachers' convention in Al- bany, Dr. Lyman Abbott said: 'Crime in the United States is growing faster than the population, in spite of our puhlic school education.' The school session does not cover that period of the young person's day when his character is being most actively formed. That is the rec- reation time. 'The boy without a playground is father to the man with- out a job,' said Joseph Lee. I believe it is equally true that the girl without a social center is mother to the woman without a home. Today we may have grafters in our common councils and dishonest men in our city oflnces because years ago our municipalities did not see to it that all the boys and girls played the games of youth in the proper way." 'Some of the lantern slides and explanatory notes were furnished by Mr. H. R. Knight of th Russell Sage Foundation. 2—5837 (5) 6 Bulletin of the Extension Division Education is a public function in a democracy. Social center activ- ities can be made important factors in education. Recreation is recog- nized as an essential factor; accordingly community recreation be- comes community business; it cannot be left to individuals. Few fathers can provide their sons with playgrounds. Many mothers fail to make social centers of tlieir homes for their daughters. Just as it is beyond the ability of the average family to give its children the right kind of schooling at home, so is it beyond its power to provide them with the right kind of recreation. The free school has provided formal schooling for the children; it is now coming forward with a provision for social education for both the young and old. The free school is broadening its scope to include social centers. On account of its location the schoolhouse is a nat- ural and convenient center of a neighborhood. When the neighbor- hood is properly organized, the schoolhouse social center brings the whole family together for its recreation, for intelligent use of its leisure time. Nearly all large cities, hundreds of small cities and towns, and numerous rural communities are developing social centers, and an ever-increasing number of school boards are now extending their wise direction over the plai/timc of young people. The lantern slides in this set are selected from photographs taken in places widely scattered over the United States. In New York City the Board of Education maintains evening recre- ation centers in several scores of school buildings. If you should go into one of the main centers you would be likely to find groups play- ing games and training for athletics, and perhaps see a crowd of young men and boys watching a boxing match between two well-trained athletes. Li. 169. New York, N. Y. — Recreation Center (Public School No. 41.) Boxing and similar exercises not onlj' develop the body but leave permanent effects upon the character. They promote persistency of purpose and bodily control. In the New York school centers the young men devote considerable time to basketball. Ij. 72. Chicago — Basketball. Kindergarten Room. In this picture the young woman is referee. She is also a social center director. The city which maintains sports like these is setting up a powerful counter-attraction to street loafing, to sa- loons, and to inferior commercialized recreation. S. A. 120. Chicago Field House — Swimming-Pool. Every schoolhouse should have a swimming-pool. Several In- diana towns of only a few thousand population have swimming- pools and other bathing facilities in their schools. About one-third of the New York centers are devoted to the exclusive use of the girls. The girls also play basketball, but the activity into which they enter with the greatest enthusiasm is folk dancing, the old-world combination of rhythmic movement and music in which the girls arrange themselves in parallel lines to step and glide thru simple and complicated figures. The Community Schoolhotjse 7 "Folk dancing represents the maximum of benefit with the mini- mum of expense. Exliilarating, sociable, imparting grace, exercising all the muscles, quickening the important bodily functions, requiring small space per person, and economical of teaching material — its in- troduction has changed the aspect of life for thousands of girls and it may be preparing heritages of rhythm and color for unborn gener- ations." (Clarence A. Perry, department of recreation, Russell Sage Foundation.) > , 90. New York — Evening Recreation Center (Folk Dance). An important member of the staff in every girls' center is an instructor in this delightful and invigorating art. Besides the more lively games, the girls, as well as the boys, are able to enjoy the less strenuous but more sociable amusement furnished by chess, dominoes, authors, and similar games. , 146. Boston Games Club — Community Schoolhouse (Quiet Games) . In the classrooms, meeting-places for clubs are afforded. Both the boys and the girls have their own literary, athletic, and debat- ing societies. The club director and organizer is kept busy going from room to room assisting in the preparation of programs and giv- ing instructions in parliamentary practice. Only young people above school age are admitted to the New York centers. One exception to this rule is made. If the child comes bringing some books and a study card signed by a day-school principal he is admitted to a class room up-stairs. , . 83. New York — Evening Recreation Center (Girls' Study-room). Here under the supervision of a competent teacher who answers legitimate questions, school children are afforded a well lighted and comfortable place to study, conveniences which many of them are not able to obtain at home. The roofs of many of the New York schools are also play centers during the summer evenings; the boys play indoor baseball or basketball, while the girls dance and sing from 7:00 until 10:00 to the music furnished by a band of five pieces. The wider use of the school plant is bringing about a change in the school structure. This is illustrated in the plans of the Emerson School at Gary, Ind. This edifice was planned with a view to having it used by the community. In the basement there are not only domes- tic science and manual training rooms, but also a swimming-pool and two gymnasiums, one for the boys and one for the girls. On the first floor is a large auditorium so placed that it can be entered without passing the classrooms. The hall will seat 824 persons, and can be used for lectures, dramatics, and other community purposes. The stage is equipped with footlights and drop curtain, and all its ap- pointments conform to the Chicago fire ordinances. The Emerson school is a good illustration of the modern school- house built to serve not only children but adults as well. Its capa- cious domestic science rooms are large enough for banquets and other occasions expressing neighborhood sociability. 8 Bulletin of the Extension Division li. 50. Gary, Ind. — Emerson School (Juniors Entertaining Seniors). The manual training work is arranged so that the boys can make, in the shops, the boats, aeroplanes, and other toys which they use in the well-organized playground work. Besides the six-acre play- ground at the rear of the school and the two gymnasiums, the school is also equipped with a swimming-pool which is used not only by the children but by adults as well. In such a rich environment it is not strange that the regular school work which is carried on there should overflow into delightful evening playlets which entertain the whole family. L. 144. Boston, Mass. — Minstrel Club (High School). Few Boston schoolhouses have as large a stage as the Emerson school, but amateur dramatics flourish. The stage of the auditorium in the Gary schoolhouse is exceptional as are most of the appoint- ments of the building. The community is so well satisfied with the Emerson building that it has now put up another of the same type, the E'roebel School, equipped with two swimming-pools, two gym- nasiums, and an eight-acre playground in the rear. In schoolhouses not built to provide for social center activities, makeshifts are resorted to. Every city cannot have the wonderful buildings Gary has — not for some time to come — but that need not prevent social center development. Most old school buildings have spaces which can be made available by the use of cheap chairs in halls, offices, and classrooms. S. O. 41. Rochester, N. Y.^ — Civic Club (Adults). The fixed desks and seats in the classrooms of the old-fashioned schoolhouse are frequently not large enough for the adults and older boys and girls. Fixed desks are uncomfortable for adults. Such desks as these make it hard to utilize the classroom for social cen- ter purposes. In Rochester where the social center movement reached such a distinctive development, a new school seat has been contrived which does away with these difficulties. The use of the Moulthrop Movable School chair which is not fixed to the floor, and which has a drawer for books under the seat, facilitates the proper sanitation of the room. These chairs can be rearranged in one minute. The school work itself takes on a new flexibility and variety in a classroom equipped with these chairs. If the substitution of movable desks and seats entails too great an expense, the old desks may be mounted by fours on skids. This arrangement makes it possible to clear a room with little difficulty. The space set free can be used for all sorts of social center activities. S. O. 25. Rochester, N. Y. — New Citizens' Banquet. This picture shows how a gymnasium may be put to good use in in a novel way. The guests at the banquet were immigrants who had obtained their final citizenship papers. S. C. 26. South Bend, Ind. — Civic Club. This view shows how a school hall may be made to serve as a meeting place. Tpie Community Sciioolhousb 9 S. C. 40. — Louisville, Ky. — Girls' Club. Here is a photograph of a meeting under difficulties. The rooms in the building have been cleared of fixed seats and space has been made available for groups of various sizes. The following slides show some of the social center provisions for boys. L. 28. Philadelphia, Pa. — Woodwork Club (Social Center). Even a one-room rural school can supplement the ordinary cur- riculum with play and interesting handwork. The farmer's boy takes to woodwork as readily as the city boy if he is shown the fun of it L. 38. Pueblo, Col. — Newsboy's Club (School Center). Carrying newspapers is often dangerous work for boys. A social center club may safeguard them in many ways: it binds them together around their common interests; it provides for co- operation and for interest in things more wholesome than the temp- tations of the street. L. 104. Columbus, Ohio — Boys' Games (School Center). Idleness, running the streets, confinement to the "yard" after school, imposition of unsuitable tasks, — all result in harm to the growing boy. In the afternoon and the early evening the school- house should offer a place for work and play under supervision. L. 71. Chicago- — School Center Reading-room. Classrooms should be used continuously and not merely for reg- ular work. N. E. 89. Meadow Township School, Iowa. Tlie boys of this rural school have regular competition with neighboring schools. The center carries on numerous activities for patrons as well as pupils. N. E. 90. Iowa Consolidated School — Manual Training. A rural school can secure extensive equipment if the community realizes its value. The shops should be used freely, not limited to class work. Ij. 106. Columbus, Ohio — Boys' Club (Parliamentary Practice). Preparation for public speaking and civic discussion should be- gin early. N. E. 93. Silver Township Special School, Iowa. These boys had all left school for various reasons. A special agricultural class was organized for them and they were also brought into the general social activities of the school center. N. E. 102. Richmond Rural School, Iowa. The school holds regular fairs. These products were collected and arranged by the boys' club. L. 64. Jersey City, N. J. — Social Center (Physical Training). 10 Bulletin of the Extension Drision N. B. .153. Diagram — Food of Common Birds. This slide is part of a chart prepared for use of a boys' bird club in a Chicago social center. It has been used in the same way in Pennsylvania and Iowa. Nature study may be made both interest- ing and profitable. The following slides suggest some social center provisions for girls. L. 32. Philadelphia, Pa. — Polk Dancing at Social Center. Folk dancing is a combination of physical and aesthetic exercise. It develops bodily grace and poise and stimulates the imagination. Lf. 56. Detroit, Mich. — Capron Community Center (Cooking Class). There are several consolidated schools in Indiana which have even better domestic science equipment than the Detroit schools. Some of them give extension courses to young women not attending school. L. 37. Pueblo, Col. — Riverside Social Center ("Tea"). Group education, training in social activities, exercises in the give and take of numbers occupied in common interests — such "so- cialization" is essential to the process of making good citizens. L. 67. East Boston, Mass. — Social Center Sewing Club. Club work for girls avoids the usual formality of domestic science in the classroom; it makes possible the free plav of interest. In training for homemaking it must not be forgotten that the home is more and more coming to include the neighborhood, the city. State, and nation, and that women must "mother the community". For' instance, home cannot be clean unless the city is clean; there- fore city functions like street cleaning, garbage disposal, medical and sanitary inspection, sewer construction, water supply, and so on indefinitely, must be the concern of the homemakers, the women. Moreover, the spirit of the home must be made to dominate the entire community; mothers and daughters must know community needs, share in the improvement of city conditions, and introduce into the common life of the citizens the spirit of generosity, kindli- ness, charity, interdependence, and cooperation. Consequently social center activities for girls should be sufficiently comprehensive to include not only domestic science but community civics, just as the activities for boys and young men should include a rich range from manual training to practical politics. S. C. 96. Salt Lake City, Utah — Woman Election Clerk. Training for citizenship should begin with the children; only thru such training will they grow into capable women. The following slides suggest social center activities for young men. L. 46. Chicago — Young Men in a Drill (School Center). With the shortening of work hours has come an increase of lei- sure; young men require interesting avocations to keep their poise and to increase their efficiency as members of the group. Physical The Community Schooli-iouse 11 exercise is the most popular avocation, especially when it can be taken in company with others and under adequate direction. The social center makes these conditions possible. N. E. 138. Wisconsin Breeders' Association — Inspecting Guernseys. This is a view of a Pure Stock Club connected with a rural com- munity center. Practical organization of this kind is a valuable function of a community schoolhouse. L. 68. East Boston — Social Center Dramatics (School Center). There is a growing realization of the possibilities of dramatics as a socializing factor. The drama gives opportunity for team work of a high order; it develops respect and consideration for others, and interests widely divergent groups in a neighborhood. Ti. 175. Louisville, Ky. — A Choral Club (Broadway Social Center). There are signs of an awakening interest in music in America of which a revival of choral singing is not the least in importance. Many Indiana towns have "singing schools" which foster community music. Rhythm of music and the dance, it is said, is as old as the human race and is a powerful force in civilization. The supreme art of ancient Greece owed much of its greatness to the perfection of physical grace and the appreciation of harmony and rhythm of the Grecian people. The most highly developed civilizations of to- day have wonderful music and drama fostered by the mass of the people. L. 58. Detroit, Mich. — Bishop School. Addresses, debates, work done by members of the neighborhood group are more real and vital than imported attractions and amuse- ments. L. 52. Detroit Center — Talk by Corporation Counsel. The community schoolhouse makes it possible for the voters, the citizenship, to discuss intelligently questions of political policy, to deliberate on laws and measures for the common good, to formu- late and express public opinion, and to enforce the will of the voter thru his serva.nt, the official. Civic discussion in the neighbor- hood center fosters political intelligence and makes for progress. The following views present a few of the ways in which the com- munity schoolhouse serves the young women. Li. 69. East Boston — Young Women's Civic Club. It is significant that New England, the home of the "little red schoolhouse" and the "town meeting", should develop most thor- oly the social center. It is interesting to note that the communi- ty schoolhouse which is keeping alive the old institutions of democ- racy is now thrown open to the women. And yet some believe that the East will never grant the suffrage to women. Membership in a civic club does not give women the suffrage, but it can make them ^)etter citizens than the average male voter. 12 Bulletin of the Extension Division li. 63. Jersey City — Social Center (Embroidery Club). Civic discussion and embroidery seem far apart in the case of women; so also do singing and politics in the case of men, and yet good citizenship depends not alone on a knowledge of civics and politics, but also upon appreciation of the aesthetic, and upon the capacity of the group for working together. Xi, 53. Detroit Center — Polish Girls (Folk Dancing) . Assimilation of immigrants need not mean a loss of old-world traditions and customs. The social center may preserve for us the l)est customs of Europe. Folk songs and folk dances are linked with history and tradition; our adopted citizens should be encour- aged to foster them all. L(. 176. Louisville, Ky. — Broadway Center (Basketry). Girls and women need constructive handwork. The sense of power and the feeling of satisfaction which goes with craftsmanship must not be withheld from women, as the narrowing of the scope of the household occupations renders their work continually more bur- densome, routine-like, and barren. Varied handiwork performed in company should enrich the daily life of all women. L/, 66. Jersey City — Social Center (Choral Singing). Richmond, Ind., has developed its musical talent effectively. It has established and maintained a large high school orchestra, a "People's Symphony Orchestra", a "People's Chorus" of about 200 voices, and a high school chorus. There are few pleasures as wor- thy of support as singing. Choral singing is peculiarly valuable for girls and women, because they seldom participate in cooperative undertakings — their life is too individual and confined. Commu- nity centers are doing much to bring women together for common purposes. The remaining slides show activities which include the whole neigh- borhood in common use of the community schoolhouse. Ij. 96. New York City- — Beer Garden and Dance Hall. This lantern slide presents a problem the solution of which has involved the use of the schoolhouse for dancing. It is argued that where dancing is bound to persist efforts must be made to direct it into normal channels and a wholesome environment. Even those who absolutely disapprove of dancing under any circumstances have agreed (in many instances) that it is better to use the schoolhouse supervised dance as a corrective rather than allow the vicious dance hall to draw unhindered scores of young people into menacing sur- roundings. It is believed that substitution is wise; repression dangerous. li. 73. Chicago Dancing Club (Kinzie Social Center). Adequate supervision by parents and teachers, early hours, other entertainment besides dancing, elimination of strangers — these are the essentials of the successful handling of the neighborhood dance. The Community Schoolpiouse 13 L. 36. Jersey City Center (Dancing at Public School No. 29). The problem of chaperonage is usually met by providing enter- tainment which will limit the dancing to only a small part of the evening program. Special provisions are made for parents and adult friends who do not dance. No. 178. Louisville, Ky. — School Library Station. It is only recently that a book was considered most useful which wore out with use. Too many libraries are prison hospitals for invalid books — useless because they do not work. The school libra- ry in a social center may become one of the livest and most powerful forces in a community because the books are at the place where