UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA THE ADJUSTMENT OF A SCHOOL TO INDIVIDUAL AND COM- MUNITY NEEDS BY PHILIP ALBERT BOYER A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1920 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA THE ADJUSTMENT OF A SCHOOL TO INDIVIDUAL AND COM- MUNITY NEEDS BY PHILIP ALBERT BOYER A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTLi-L FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PHILADELPHIA, PA. 1920 ^^^ u Ob PRESS OF INTELUGENCER PRINTING CO. Lancaster, Pa. >-s ^ INTRODUCTION ^ This study represents an attempt to apply to the organiza- 3 tion and management of a school the principles of efficiency ' underlying scientific management in industry. The school C* under consideration, the Stanton- Arthur,* comprises the kinder- <§• garten and the eight elementary grades, and constitutes a unit school organization in the large pubUc school system of the city of Philadelphia, Pa. Consideration of the aims and meth- ods of this unit school in the light of the aim of education and the efficiency principles reveals the necessity of modifications for detailed adjustment to the peculiar conditions surrounding the school. In Chapters II and III both external and internal conditions, which tend in any way to influence or circumscribe the work of the school, are analyzed in some detail. Social, economic, legal, financial and administrative conditions, having been definitely ascertained, are accepted as standard, and, together with conditions internal to the particular school and its pupils, are taken into account in shaping the aims, organization and operations of the school. The external standard conditions are further Umited, for the present at least, by conditions internal to the school system, such as inadequate plant and equipment, the absence of efficiency reward for teachers, and insufficient provision for the most complete adjustment of content and method to the varying individual needs of pupils. Chapter IV comprises a study of the attainments of pupils so far as these may be determined by the use of standardized educational and psychological tests. Results reflect adverse conditions in many ways, and indicate the necessity of final adjustment of aims, methods and standardized attainments in order to secure a closer approximation to the achievement of the aim of education in each pupil. In Chapter V both ideal aims and standard conditions are brought together in such a way as to suggest specific working aims, best adapted under the existing conditions to secure the * Formed in 1918 by combining under one supervising principal the Ed- ■win M. Stanton School and the Chester A. Arthur School. 4 School Adjustment closest possible approximation to the most complete realiza- tion of the ideal aim. Chapter VI outlines the modifications in present practice in the management of the school, possible under the existing conditions, and suggested by the application of the principles of efficiency. In so far as these adjustments are limited by the existing standard conditions, they are not ideal, but rep- resent the most efficient adjustment of aims, conditions and attainments. The final chapter proposes specific improvements in condi- tions and indicates the resulting possibility of the more com- plete realization of the aims of the school under the newly estabhshed standard conditions. The basic idea and plan of the present study is the outgrowth of a course in the theory of educational administration given by Dr. Harlan Updegraff in the graduate school of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. Through his untiring interest, con- structive criticism, sympathetic guidance and stimulation. Dr. Updegraff has sustained the author throughout the planning and preparation of the work. Acknowledgment is also due to the members of the Seminar in Educational Administration for their interest and criticism, and to Dr. Oliver P. Cornman, Mr. Samuel L Chew and Mr. John Christopher, of the De- partment of Superintendence of the Philadelphia Public Schools, for constructive criticism of the manuscript. It would be ingratitude, indeed, to neglect appreciative mention of my wife, Gertrude Stone Boyer, whose ever wilhng helpfulness has made this study possible. P. A. B. CONTENTS Introduction 3 Chapter I — Aims and Their Realization: Principles of efficiency in industry 9 Application of efficiency principles to education 12 The aim of education 13 The aim of a public school 13 Efficiency standards 14 Interaction of aims and conditions 15 Working aims 16 Summary 16 Chapter II — Standard Conditions : Conditions shape school policy 18 Composition of the population of the school's community 19 Increase in proportion of negroes to total population 20 Racial composition of school pupilage 21 Increasing proportion of negro children 22 Excess of females in negro population 23 High proportion of young people in cities 24 Unstable marital condition 25 Illiteracy 27 Shifting population 28 Congested and unsanitary housing 29 The lodger evil 29 Proportion of negroes gainfully employed 29 Degree of skill of occupations 30 Employed mothers 31 Pupils working after school hours 32 Disregard for health 32 Disrupted home life 33 Racial traits 34 MentaHty of negro and white 35 The white population 36 Legal, financial and administrative conditions 37 Comparative expenditure for schools (Philadelphia among the ten largest cities of U. S.) 37 Increased expenditure for full efficiency 40 Physical conditions — the school plant 40 Simrmaary 41 Chapter III — School Pupilage : Sources of pupilage 44 Grades at which pupils enter the school 45 5 6 School Adjustments School census 45 Proportion of children attending Stanton-Arthur School, other pub- lic schools and parochial schools 46 Pupil turn-over 49 New admissions from the South 50 Attendance 51 Enforcement of regular attendance 51 Effects of absence 53 Age-grade statistics (city and school, 1917) 54 Age-grade and age-progress statistics, 1918 57 Pupils of incomplete record 70 Mentally subnormal pupils 71 Promotion rates 73 Large-group instruction and adjustment to needs 74 Summary 76 Chapter IV — Standard Attainments: Courtis standard tests in arithmetic — Series B 78 Monroe standardized reasoning tests in arithmetic 83 Monroe standardized silent reading tests 85 Trabue language scale — B 88 Ayres spelling scale — Group T 89 Thorndike air service intelligence tests 91 Summary 93 Chapter V — The Working Aims of a Unit School: 1. General Aims of Education: (a) Objective aspect 94 (b) Subjective aspect 94 2. Distinguishing Characteristics of the School's Community: (a) Social 96 (b) Economic 96 (c) Intellectual 97 3. Working Aims of the School to Stress: (a) Moral character 99 (b) Health 99 (c) Home life 100 (d) Cooperation with other social agencies 100 (e) Vocational efficiency 100 (f) Minimum essentials 101 Summary 103 Chapter VI — Achievement op Immediate Objectives Under Pres- ent Standard Conditions : Limitations of finance, plant, equipment, personnel, organization. . , 104 Adjustments possible under existing conditions 105 Contents 7 Grades 1-6 1. Opportunity class as a type of adjustment 106 2. Special ungraded classes for: (a) Mental defectives 108 (b) Mal-adjustments (not to be restored to regular classes) 108 (c) Exceptional pupils of three types: 1. Mal-adjusted pupils to be restored to regular classes — 109 2. Cases of special ability 109 3. Cases requiring special attention for rapid advancement 109 (d) Instruction in manual arts: Pre- vocational work for those about to leave school 109 Manual Arts and Home Economics for pupils of Grades 5 and 6 109 3. Flexibility of grading: (a) Homogeneous grouping Ill (b) Varying rates of progress Ill (c) Maximum and minimum requirements 112 (d) Differentiated minima 112 4. Definite working aims: (a) For small groups of pupils 112 (b) For individuals 113 5. Selection and emphasis in courses of study 114 Grades 7 and 8 6. General course modifications 116 7. Pre-vocational training 117 8. Promotion by subject 119 9. Individual pupil roster 119 General 10. Health 119 11. Moral development 120 12. Home and community cooperation 1 20 Summary 121 Chapter VII — Reorganization on the Basis of Improved Standard Conditions: 1. Financial conditions: (a) Expenses of conducting Stanton- Arthur School — 1918 123 (b) Budget for current expenses — 1921 124 2. Physical conditions: (a) Arthur School: Outlays for (1) acquisition of adequate yard space 125 (2) alterations 125 (3) additional equipment for special classes and first grade classrooms 125 (b) Stanton School replaced by modern building: School Adjustment (a) Plan and cost of building 125 (b) Land 128 (c) Equipment 128 3. Curriculum: Grades 1-3 — Habit formation: introduction to "tools" of learning 129 Grades 4-6 — Habit formation : learning technique 129 Grades 7-8 — Educational guidance — constants and variables. . . 130 Academic, business, practical arts and vocational courses 130 4. Organization: Grades 1-3 — Individual room and teacher assignments for each class 132 4-6 — The duplicate school 133 7-8 — Departmental plan 136 Pupil, teacher and room assignments 134 5. Supervision: Supervising principal 1 36 Assistant supervisor 137 6. Personnel: Increase in teaching corps 137 Academic teachers 137 Special class teachers 137 Teachers for special subjects and activities 137 Increased salaries 138 Efficiency reward 138 7. A community school: Visiting teacher 1 38 Evening use (instruction, recreation, social and civic activities) 139 Vacation school , 139 ■Reciprocal influence of school and community 139 8. Conclusion 140 CHAPTER I AIMS AND THEIR REALIZATION Efficiency Principles Scientific management based upon carefully tested principles of efficiency has within recent years effected vast improvements in the organization and methods of industrial enterprise. The appHcation of these principles has discovered and eliminated sources of waste in men, money, materials, equipment and operation. Immediate satisfaction to all concerned as well as increased financial reward has caused rapid spread of the doc- trine of efficiency until today every large progressive industrial establishment has its department of efficiency to study condi- tions, organization, operations, schedules, despatching, to make recommendations for improvement and to test their effective- ness in operation. The doctrine of efficiency in industry has been reduced to a code of twelve principles upon which to base rules of practice by Harrington Emerson in his book "The Twelve Principles of Efficiency."* "Five of these are altruistic and concern relations between men — or, in the industrial problem, specific- ally between employer and employee. Seven of them concern methods or institutions and systems estabhshed in the manu- facturing plant or in the operating and distributing company." Since these principles form the background of the present study they are reproduced here in brief : 1. Clearly Defined Ideals. Workers at the lower end of the line should have a clear concept of the relation of their specific tasks to all others, and to the final definitely understood pur- pose. "Lacking this full understanding of ideals and their significance, workers are often driven to create minor ideals of their own which frequently are at variance with the ideals of those above them. If all the ideals animating all the organi- zation from top to bottom could be lined up so as to pull in the same straight line, the resultant would be a very powerful effort; but when these ideals pull in diverse directions, the resultant * Engineering Magazine Company, 4th edition, 1916. 9 10 School Adjustment force may be insignificantly positive — may, in fact, be nega- tive." 2. Common Sense. All possible theoretical and practical knowledge and experience should be considered. "It is im- possible to lay down rules or to give specific directions as to how we shall convert prejudice and ignorance from without, near common sense from within, into supernal common sense. To select an upbuilding constructive organization, carefully to determine and adhere to ideals, constantly to survey every problem from a lofty instead of a near point of view, to seek special knowledge and advice wherever they can be found, to maintain from top to bottom a noble discipline, to build on the rock of the golden rule, of the fair deal — these are the general problems which supernal common sense must immediately solve." 3. Competent Counsel. Best practice depends on so vast a range of experience that no one man can be master of it all. Hence, in a perfected organization, specialists set forth the underlying principles, instruct as to their application and re- lentlessly reveal both their observance and neglect. 4 Discipline. "Under the best management there are scarcely any rules and there are fewer punishments. There are standard-practice instructions so that every one may know what his part in the game is, there is definite responsibility,- there are reliable, immediate and adequate records of everything; of importance, there are standardized conditions and standard- ized operations and there are efficiency rewards. There should be a high membership ideal for every plant: no newcomer admitted who is not in accord with the standards of conduct among men, and with the order of life within the enterprise,, and no one cut off except for cause. It is before he is admitted that the appUcant should hear of the ideals of the business, of its organization and methods. Owners must transmit ideals to the workers. It is idle to expect them to rise above the 'spirit of the place.' Punishment for infraction, and elimi- nation for neglect must not depend upon the undisciplined acts of discipline of individuals clothed with a little brief authority. Common ideals striven for by a disciplined organization, su- pernal common sense which forgets the little for the sake of the larger achievements, necessarily result in cooperation." Aims and Their Realization 11 5. Fair Deal. "With workers selected as to aptitudes and character, skill and disposition, with all conditions standard- ized for general welfare and contentment, fair deal is secured through sympathy, imagination and justice. Provided for in the organization, founded on ideals, on common sense, devel- oped by competent advisers, simpHfied by vigorous exclusion of the unfit, fair deal should be carried into effect through reli- able, immediate and adequate records, standard practice, definite instructions, schedules and other efiiciency principles." 6. Reliable, Immediate, Adequate and Permanent Records. Records as to each detail aggregated into records as to the whole. Records as to each item today and throughout time. 7. Despatching. Advanced detailed planning and daily reali- zation : orderly progress of work. 8. Standards and Schedules. The kind, quality and amount of work to be done should be clearly defined and fully under- stood by each individual. Rational work standards require motion and time studies of all operations together with the skill of the planning manager, the physician and the psychologist. Greater and greater results will follow constantly diminishing effort. 9. Standardized Conditions. The individual must be stand- ardized to suit the environment or the environment to suit the individual in order to secure maximum result with minimum expenditure of time, effort and cost. Conditions should be accurately ascertained and taken into account in determining^ operations, schedules and despatching. 10. Standardized Operations. Such methods of operation- should be determined as will enable each group of workers to accomplish the standard attainments under the standard conditions with most effective expenditure of time, energy and cost. Good results are not achieved by chance; planning must- be incorporated as a habit. It is not possible to standardize each new operation, but each worker can be so inspired that he will not waste time, effort and materials. 11. Written Standard-Practice Instructions. When advances- are definitely recorded and best practice is carefully and sys- tematically reduced to writing, progress is conserved. Each one of the ten preceding efficiency principles can and should be reduced to written permanent standard-practice instruc- 12 School Adjustment tions so that each worker may understand the whole and also his own relation to it. Standard practice instructions are the permanent laws and practice of a plant. They do not destroy initiative. To follow the better and easier way is to lessen effort for the same result and to leave more opportunity for higher initiative. 12. Efficiency Reward. Individual reward for individual effi- ciency brings the highest development of all human factors in an enterprise. Wages should be based on a guaranteed mini- mum with progressive efficiency reward beginning at a point so low that practically all workers can obtain some of it. Effi- ciency standards should be so established as to conserve health and happiness. The successful operation of the above principles requires a type of organization adapted to their application. Authority must be clearly defined and responsibility exacted, but the pri- mary object of each superior officer should be to facilitate the work of his subordinates. ''Line" officers should therefore be supplemented by a "staff" of speciahsts who will study each working unit and recommend improvements in the line of their particular specialty. The perfected organization should show a complete parallelism of line and staff so that every member of the line can at any time have the benefit of staff knowledge and assistance. It is important that the far-reaching signifi- cance of the "human element" be fully recognized. Finally it is necessary that the whole be coordinated and made to work in harmony by the influence of a strong executive officer. Application to Education It is patent that the products of education are in many ways far less tangible than are those of industry. Nevertheless the schools of a democracy must justify themselves, and rapid strides are being made in the scientific determination of specific edu- cational products as well as of most effective plant, equipment, organization, courses of study and method. The growing sci- ences of biology, sociology and psychology have assisted in the development of fundamental educational principles. Reorgani- zation of administrative departments distinguishing clearly legislative and executive functions has developed more effective school organization and control. Reorganization of the schools Aims and Their Realization 13 themselves to conform to stages of pupil-growth, and the pro- vision of differentiated courses and special types of instruction are evidences of adjustment to individual differences. Bureaus of Research and Efficiency in connection with many large school systems and universities have already contributed much by way of standardization and definitized aims. Many of these improvements are the direct result of scientific experimentation and efficiency studies, but there is still much to be gained by the further application of the doctrine of efficiency to the edu- cational process. With certain important modifications due to the fact that the pupils themselves are the "workers" in the educational enterprise, and to the further consideration that teachers rank rather as craftsmen or foremen than as operators, the doctrine of efficiency in industry here briefly outlined has direct bearing upon the organization and administration of schools. Educational Aims As they relate to the school, clearly defined ideals have their foundation in the broader definition of the aim of education. However variously defined, this broad aim must include "that reconstruction and reorganization of experience which adds to the meaning of experience and which increases the ability and the desire of the individual to direct the course of subsequent experience."* It must comprise both objective and subjective aspects — "both adjustment to the elements of environment that are of concern in modern life, and the development, organization and training of powers, so that the individual may make effi- cient and proper use of them."t A comprehensive aim of edu- cation must include all phases of life, both individual and social, and must contemplate the interaction and interdependency of such life with all possible types of environment — physical, mental, moral, social and spiritual. In addition, there must be included, with regard both to objective and subjective elements, the all-important concept of progressive evolution. The Aim of a Public School The aim of education thus must conform to the larger aims of the society in which it functions. As one of the educative * Dewey, John. Democracy and Education, p. 62. t Ruediger, W. C. Principles of Education, p. 39. 14 School Adjustment institutions of society, the school must conform in its aim, not only to the more comprehensive aim of education, but also to the aims of other social institutions all of which are in a large sense educative. To these ends "It is necessary to the highest efficiency of a school that its aim be in accord with the principles of biology, psychology, sociology and the other sciences ancillary to the science of education, that it be in conformity with the aim of the society of which the school is a part, that it properly complement and supplement the aims of other institutions, that it be both objective and subjective in its reference, that it fur- nish criteria for evaluation and selection in the organization and operation of the school, that it include as many phases of life as conditions permit, that it be definitely formulated, that it be thoroughly understood and appreciated by every officer and teacher, that the part played by each activity of the school in its realization be clearly understood by those who participate in it, and that the subordinate aims of these various activities harmonize with each other and taken together make complete the aim as a whole."* Accordingly, it is the aim of a public school, in so far as conditions permit, progressively to develop in each individual, the knowledge, habits and attitudes that should be possessed in common by all members of society, and in addition, to foster the development of special types of interests and skills in each individual. Efficiency Standards In the interests of efficiency, it is necessary, therefore, to study both the individual child, his instincts, capacities, abili- ties and interests, the probable length of his schooling, and also to study the conditions of his particular environment in order that effective interaction may be secured. In this pro- cess, all the principles of efficiency set forth above have imme- diate and continued appHcation. Both aims and operations must be firmly founded on common sense, competent counsel, disciphne and fair deal, and secured with the aid of scientifically determined standards, schedules, conditions, and operations. These, with written standard practice instructions and efficiency reward must be bound together by an upbuilding constructive Updegraff, H. Educational Administration (unpublished). Aims and Their Realization 15 organization that will secure the freest, fullest and promptest operation of all the efficiency principles. This organization must be as simple as possible, observing both functional and departmental lines of cleavage, with authority clearly defined and accountability constantly exacted. The primary object of each superior officer should be to facifitate in every possible way the work of those under his direction. The line officers, both principal and teachers, should have the constant assistance and advice of a staff of competent experts in the form of special supervisors whose recommendations should guide the line officer's work. The harmonizing influence of a strong executive should insure fullest cooperation on the part of teachers and pupils alike, through complete understanding and general ob- servation of the first five or altruistic principles, and should secure upon this foundation the most effective and constant operation of the remaining principles. Aims and Conditions The close interconnection of all the principles of efiiciency relating to the conduct of a school and their complete depend- ence upon standard conditions make it indispensable to the successful achievement of the aim that such conditions be definitely ascertained and consciously taken into account in the determination of working aims and the methods of securing immediate objectives. In a large system of public schools there are many standard conditions common to all individual school organizations. Political, legal and financial conditions are uniform throughout the city and tend to affect the work of each school in like manner. Conditions as to plant will vary with the period of construction of the building and the rapidity of growth of a given locality, but there is always pres- ent at least an approach toward a common level. Personnel, supplies and equipment tend to general uniformity. But, be- cause of the tendency of people in a cosmopolitan city to segre- gate themselves into relatively small communities preserving uniform characteristics as to nationafity, race and economic status, it is plain that the general social conditions presented to the different schools of a large system will be extremely variant. 16 School Adjustment Working Aims Having established the aim of a pubhc school from the basis of its dependence on the general aim of education, it becomes necessary to refer each element of the ideal aim of a school to the conditions circumscribing its operations. The ideal aim will be modified in its contact with the realities of environing conditions. Only as these conditions are clearly recognized and the consequent modifications of the aim definitely formu- lated, can there result a practical working aim which will guide the operations of the school in the highest efficiency. It is the purpose of this . study to make such a detailed investigation into the peculiar standard conditions surrounding a given unit school organization as will contribute definitely to the formu- lation of a working aim for that school. Such an aim will be in strict conformity with the general aim of the school system of which the given school organization is an integral part — but it will be so only in so far as conditions permit. Having determined the working aim of the school as resulting from the interaction of the peculiar standard conditions and the ideal aim, the principles of efficiency demand that appropri- ate adjustments be made in standard attainments, operations, schedules, personnel, plant, equipment and organization. The close connection of all efiiciency principles makes necessary this general readjustment in order that complete harmonious functioning can be established with highest efficiency. Summary Efficiency principles in industry with such amplifications and adaptations as are made necessary by the vastly different char- acter of the enterprise are directly applicable to the aims, opera- tions and organization of the school. The aim of education is broader than that of the school, including all life experience. The school must take its place among other educative institutions and perform its functions with due regard to theirs. The general principles of aim further require conformity with the principles of ancillary sciences, reference to both ob- jective and subjective aspects of experience, definite formula- tion, thorough understanding and complete harmonization of all subordinate aims. Aims and Their Realization 17 The achievement of the ideal aim of a public school depends upon the standard conditions surrounding the enterprise. The interaction of aims and conditions determines working aims or immediate objectives, which in turn make necessary the proper adjustment of subordinate aims, standard attainments, opera- tions, schedules, plant, equipment, personnel and organization. CHAPTER II STANDARD CONDITIONS Conditions Shape School Policy If the school is to free itself from the effects of the ever present tendency of all institutions to crystallization, if indeed the school is to serve the purpose for which it was created by soci- ety, then it must maintain close and constant contact with the ever-changing needs of a dynamic social organization. On the other hand, in its interrelations with the other institutions of society, all of which are in a sense educative, the school must hold steadfastly to its particular aim. The functions of other institutions must not be assumed by the school because of their neglect by those institutions unless these functions can be performed by the school more economically and efficiently. Even in this case the school should perform Ithese functions only so long as necessity and economy demand and should transfer them to their proper institutions as soon as expediency permits. While conserving the best of the past and filling the gaps left by other institutions, the school must progressively minister to the needs of present society. With such considerations in mind it is plain that the success of a school or school system can be judged only in the fight of the environment within which it works, and it is essential that social, financial, legal, physical and educational condi- tions be clearly discerned and fully recognized in the formulation of the working aims of a school. These conditions when ac- cepted and defined as those upon and within which the school must do its work, become the standard conditions of the enter- prise. Some are imposed from without and are in large degree beyond the control of the school. These are mainly social, financial and legal conditions. The school must accept them as it finds them and adjust its standard operations, schedules and attainments to them. However, in the very process of ascertaining and evaluating these circumscribing external con- ditions, and of adjusting its work to them, the school as an organized agent of society exercises its influence toward im- proving conditions and making them as favorable as possible. 18 Standard Conditions 19 Other conditions are created from within and may therefore be evaluated and adjusted as efficiency dictates. Such conditions are represented by the school plant, equipment, supplies, quali- fications of personnel, size of classes, length of term. These internal conditions are of course limited by external standard conditions. Within such limitations, having chosen the most efficient internal conditions, they should be accepted as stand- ard. Both external and internal conditions then must be taken into account in the conduct of the school, and an adequate understanding of these conditions and their effects is a pre- requisite to sound judgment on the measure of success with which a school is performing its full function. The School's Community The Stanton-Arthur School serves a community which is an integral part of a vastly larger social group comprising the en- tire city of Philadelphia. Located in the heart of the city just south and west of the business center, this community, if so it may be called, is inextricably interwoven with the whole social fabric of the city. Isolation of important characteristics there- fore is fraught with extreme difficulty, though this is some- what mitigated by the fact that the community in question manifests characteristics which not only distinguish it from the larger community but which present peculiar and markedly different social, economic and educational problems. Chief among these distinguishing characteristics is the fact that the community served by the school in question is one of the city's largest centers of negro population. Indeed, while the section from which the school draws pupils may properly he considered a center of negro population, in a broader sense, it is but an expansion of the largest and most congested negro settlement in the city. This original negro settlement in the 7th Ward is the gateway of entrance into the city for most negro immigrants. From here, after becoming acquainted with the new environment, recent arrivals move out into one of the many other centers of negro population in the city. As far back as 1870 many of the better negro families, in search of more congenial and commodious quarters, took up residence in the section just south of the 7th Ward settlement. This district, comprising 48 city blocks, bounded by South St., 20 School Adjustment Broad St., Washington Ave. and 22nd St., was for a long time the residence section of the elite of Philadelphia's negro popu- lation. However, the pressure of colored immigration so in- creased the number of negro residents in this section and corre- spondingly so decreased the number of white residents, that there exists here today not only a larger proportion of negroes to white population, but also a larger absolute number of negroes than in many small towns of the South. Since the section bounded above comprises more than half of the political division of the city known as the 30th Ward, the statistics for this larger division, extending west to the Schuyl- kill River, may profitably be studied in this connection. U. S. Bureau of Census statistics for 1910 relating to the State, City and Ward are presented in Table I, together with the enroll- ment of the school under consideration. Table I Racial Composition of Population and School Enrollment White Negro % Negro - Penna., 1910 7,467,713 193,919 2.5 Phila., 1910 1,463,371 84,459 5.5 30th Ward, 1910 19,189 9,999 34.0 Stanton-Arthur School, 1919 318 1,132 78.1 It will be noted there that colored inhabitants of the State of Pennsylvania comprise 2.5% of the total population. In the city of Philadelphia this proportion is more than doubled, i. e., 5.5%, showing the tendency of negroes from the South to locate in urban centers. In the 30th Ward of Philadelphia we find an absolute number of negroes totaling 9,999 and repre- senting 34% or more than one-third of the population of the Ward. The inhabitants of the Ward represent 2% of the total population of the city. White residents comprise only 1.2% of the total city white population, while colored residents comprise 12% of the total city colored population. Increasing Proportion of Negroes The figures presented above represent the number and pro- portions of population groups in 1910. Since that time there has been a constant influx of colored population from the poorer sections of the 7th Ward, from the South and from other cities. During the period of industrial prosperity incident to the war, many negroes found it possible to improve on the poor living Standard Conditions 21 conditions afforded in the more congested sections. The short- age of labor, the lure of high wages and induced immigration brought large numbers of laborers from the South and from other cities of the North. Hence this section has experienced a large increase in the number of negro residents and a corre- sponding exodus of whites. It is estimated, accordingly, that at present more than half of the population of the 30th Ward is colored. When we consider, further, that this colored popu- lation is concentrated in the eastern half of the ward, it be- comes evident that the school which serves this section has not only experienced a large increase in colored pupilage, but has been called upon to face many problems of readjustment. The present school enrollment is 78.1% colored (see Table I) and many of these children are comparatively recent entrants to the school. The rapid increases and shifting of population groups indi- cated above have been due to abnormal economic conditions incident to the World War. Some idea of normal tendencies may be gathered from a brief study of conditions existing in Philadelphia over a period of years prior to 1910. It will be seen in Table II that while the white population of Philadelphia nearly doubled in the 30-year period from 1880 to 1910, the colored population nearly trebled. The rates of increase over the population 10 years previous show that increases of white population average about 22% and have been growing relatively smaller each decade. Increases in colored population do not show the same regu- larity, varying from 24.2 to 57.8%. This irregularity is partly due to faulty census enumerations but far more to economic and social conditions. Problems of the extension of negro residence areas, labor union difficulties, race riots and the de- mand and supply of labor all have marked effect upon the growth of negro population. It is plain, however, that negro popula- tion is growing much more rapidly than white. Another indi- cation of the same tendency is seen in the per cent, of negroes in the total population of the city. This has grown from 3.8% to 5.5% in 1910 and according to the estimate of the Chief Statistician for the city this per cent, is 6.7 for the year 1919.* * Cattell, Edward J., Chief Statistician, Phila. 22 School Adjustment The estimates upon which this rate is based are also given in Table II. These would indicate that since 1910 there has been an increase of 42,0% in negro population against a corre- sponding increase in white population of 14.8%. If we can accept these estimates of the number of white and colored inhabitants of Philadelphia in 1919, Table II shows that the colored population has doubled itself in the 20-year period from 1880 to 1900 and again from 1900 to 1919. During these same periods the white population increased only 50% and Sd}i% respectively. Table II Number and per cent. Increase of White and Negro Population of Philadelphia by Decades — per cent. Negro in Total Population White Negro Year No. %inc. No. %inc. % Negro in total pop. 1880 1890 1900 1910 est. 1919 815,362 1,006,590 1,229,625 1,463,371 1,680,000 25.0 23.4 22.1 18.0 14.8 31,699 39,371 62,613 84,459 120,000 43.1 24.2 57.8 34.5 42.0 3.8 3.9 4.8 5.5 6.7 From such indications, then, we may expect the negro popu- lation of Philadelphia to become proportionately as well as absolutely larger in future years. It is plain therefore that this condition calls for circumspect, foresighted provisions for social and economic adjustments, not for the good of the negro, but for the safety, well-being, happiness and economic pros- perity of every member of the community, white and black. School Census The school census enumeration of children between the ages of six and sixteen years in the city of Philadelphia (Table III) shows a fairly regular rate of increase for white pupils, varying from 1.7 to 3.2%. For negro pupils, on the other hand, the lowest rate of annual increase is but one-tenth lower than the highest shown by the whites, and the rate of increase in two of the annual periods is as high as 9.5%. In the years 1916, 1917 and 1918 negro pupilage increased three times as rapidly as did white. In 1919 conditions are somewhat abnormal, due to the exodus from the city of many people previously engaged in war industry. However, even in Standard Conditions 23 this year, the negroes show a higher percentage of increase over the preceding year than do the whites. Table III Enumeration of Children 6-16 Years of Age* % Increase White Negro White Negro 1915 286,560 12,945 1916 294,001 13,902 2.3 7.4 1917 289,010 15,228 1.7 9.5 1918 308,576 16,682 3.2 9.5 1919 315,117 17,197 2.1 3.1 * Annual Reports of Bureau of Compulsory Education, Phila., 1915-1919.^ Excess of Females in Negro Population Analysis of the statistics of the city of Philadelphia for 1910 shows a marked excess of females in the negro population. Table IV shows the totals for population separated by sex, nativity and race, together with the number of females to each 100 males. Table IV Sex Distribution'^ Population of Phila. 1910 No. of females ta Male Female each 100 males Total Population 760,463 788,545 104 Native White 525,933 554,860 106 Foreign-born White 193,994 188,584 97 Negro 39,431 45,028 114 t Statistical Abstract U. S. Census, 1910 — Penna. Supplement, p. 609. The same causes which operate to bring to the country a larger proportion of foreign-born white males than females, operate also to bring to urban communities larger proportions of negro females than males. Economic opportunity in the coimtry at large is greater for foreign-born white males than it is for females. In normal times, economic opportunity in cities is larger for negro females than for males. The large employ- ment of negro females in domestic service, and the restriction of employments open to negroes in general has brought about the abnormal excess in the proportion of females to males shown above. The fact indicated in Table IV, that the proportion of negro females to males is 10% in excess of the proportion of white females to males, is one of important social significance. Fur- ther analysis of the above totals into age groups shows that 24 School Adjustment this disproportion of the sexes is most acute in those age groups where serious problems of sex relationship and immorality are likely to arise. It will be seen in Table V that, for ages 15 to 19, negro females are 53% in excess of males and for ages 20 to 24 the excess is 52%. In corresponding age groups, native white population shows an excess of females of only 6% and 8% respectively. Table V Age and Sex Structure of Native White and Negro Population of Philadelphia, 1910 Native White Negro Age No. of Fe- males to No. of Fe- males to Male Female each 100 Males Male Female each 100 Males Under 5 Years 72,146 71,177 99 3,391 3,472 102 5- 9 " 59,449 59,134 100 2,716 2,907 107 10-14 " 56,403 56,168 100 2,348 2,857 122 15-19 " 55,217 58,284 106 2,268 3,475 153 20-24 " 50,579 54,814 108 3,935 5,989 152 25-34 " 82,263 88,097 107 10,467 12,000 115 35-44 " 65,944 70,787 107 8,044 7,686 96 45-64 " 69,683 76,523 110 5,412 5,442 100 65 yrs. and over 13,497 19,024 126 685 1,067 156 Age unknown 752 852 113 165 131 80 This condition has direct bearing upon the unhealthy moral tone that pervades much of the social relationships of the middle and lower classes of negroes. Some tendency toward a more even distribution of the sexes can be detected in recent years due to the partial removal of restrictions on negro employ- ment, especially during the pressure of the war on industry. However, this reform has not gone far enough, nor continued sufficiently long, nor has it affected the age groups where the disproportion is most acute, to obviate the social difficulties consequent upon an unnatural distribution of the sexes. Excess of Young Negroes in City The negro population of the city is further characterized by peculiarities in its age structure. The population figures by age groups given in Table V are reduced to per cents in Table VI. These show a smaller proportion of children among the negroes of the city than exists in the native white population. Standard Conditions 25 In each one of the first four age groups the proportion of negroes to total negro population is approximately 4% less than corresponding per cents for native white population. Nearly half of the native white population (45.5%) is under 20 years of age while sUghtly over one-fourth of negro popula- tion (27.5%) is found under that age. In each of the three age groups from 20 to 44 the negro population shows proportions markedly in excess of those for whites. Between these ages are found 57% of the negro population and 38% of the white. Table VI Age and Sex Structure of Native White and Negro Population of Philadelphia, 1910 — in per cents. Age Native White Negro Male Female Male Female Under 5 Years 13.7 12.8 8.6 7.7 5- 9 " 11.3 10.7 6.9 6.5 10-14 " 10.8 10.1 6.0 6.2 15-19 " 10.5 10.5 5.7 7.7 20-24 " 9.6 9.9 10.0 13.3 25-34 " 15.6 15.9 26.6 26.7 35-44 " 12.5 12.8 20.4 17.1 45-64 " 13.3 13.8 13.7 12.1 65 yrs. and over 2.6 3.4 1.7 2.4 Age unknown .1 .1 .4 .3 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 The small proportion of children is not so much the result of a low birth rate in the negro population as the excessive number between 20 and 44 years of age is due to the instability of the population and the tendency of negroes to migrate to the city leaving their famiUes in the South. This group contains also the large number of unmarried negroes who have come to the city for employment. It is these two groups, both married and single, that create many pressing social problems, not the least of which is the lodging house evil with its problems of over- crowding, unsanitary housing, immorality and crime. Un- attached, improvident and without the restraints of home ties, the individuals of these over-large middle-age groups do much to lower the moral tone of the whole of negro society. Unstable Marital Condition Probably the greatest inaccuracies in census returns are found in the statistics concerning the marital condition of the popu- 26 School Adjustment lation. This is especially true of figures relating to negroes. Moreover, gross percentages do not form a satisfactory basis for comparison of age, sex or race groups in regard to marital condition because of the pecuHarities of age and sex distribution indicated above. For example, the U. S. census for 1910 gives 57.2% as the proportion of Philadelphia negro males married against 52.1% for native white males. It will be remembered that in Table VI, 57% of the total negro male population of Philadelphia was shown to be confined to the age span 20 to 44 years, while only 37.7% of the white male population is found in these years which represent the marrying age. Con- sequently it is false to conclude that negro males are married in larger proportion than whites. Figures for the U. S. as a whole* indicate a higher percentage of married negroes up to the age of 25 for females and 30 for males. Beyond these ages the native white population shows higher proportions married. Also there is shown to be a higher proportion of single negro males in the North (39.2%) than in the South (34.8%), a con- sequence of the selection effected by migration of single negroes to the North. A careful, intensive, social study of the negroes of Philadelphia made in 1899 by one of their own race develops the following pertinent conclusions in regard to the negro population of the city: "There is a large proportion of single men; the number of married women is small, while the large number of widowed and separated indicates widespread and early breaking up of family life. The number of single women is probably lessened by unfortunate girls and increased somewhat by deserted wives who report themselves as single. The causes of desertion are partly laxity in morals and partly the difficulty of supporting a family. The great number of widows is increased by un- acknowledged desertion and separation, and unmarried mothers who thus represent themselves. The result of this large num- ber of homes without husbands is to increase the burden of charity and benevolence and also, on account of poor home life, to increase crime. Here is a wide field for social regenera- tion." The author further observes: "It must be remem- bered that the negro home and stable marriage state is for the * The ISlegro Population in U. S., 1790-1915. U. S. Census Bureau 1918. pp. 243-6. ~ Standard Conditions 27 mass of the colored people of the country and for a large per cent of those of Philadelphia, a new social institution. The great weakness of the negro family is still lack of respect for the marriage bond, inconsiderate entrance into it and a bad household economy and family government."* Conditions such as Dr. DuBois describes above are all too prevalent in the negro population. They cannot fail to be reflected in the health, morality and general deportment of the children. Indeed, one of the most pressing problems in connection with the proper development of the negro race is presented here in the tendency of its children to immorahty. Innocently they reflect all that is not innocent. Their "fun" is ofttimes steeped in depravity. Such conditions, the results of the unhealthy moral atmosphere of the street and often of the home, while unfortunate in the extreme, can be remedied only by a slow process of race regeneration and development. "It must be recognized that one of the strongest elements in racial development is purity of family life."t In this connec- tion the school must consciously extend its influence through the pupils to the homes of the community. Illiteracy Only a rough indication of the educational status of the popu- lation can be secured from figures on illiteracy. These show that of the total population of Philadelphia 10 years of age and over, 4.6% were illiterate. The native white population shows only .5%, and negroes are 7.8% illiterate.! While this per cent, of illiteracy is high, it shows marked improvement over past decades when negro illiteracy in Philadelphia was 18 and 22%. In the 30th ward the condition with regard to ilhteracy is better than in the city as a whole. Of the total ward popu- lation over 10 years, 3.5% are illiterate, and among males of voting age 3.1% are illiterate. However, it is plain from con- tact with these people that the degree of education is not high, especially among the negroes. The majority have only a partial common school education from inefficient rural schools of the South. Many others have continued in city schools only so * DuBois. W. E. B. The Philadelphia Negro, pp. 66-72. tPage, Thomas N. The Negro: The Southerner's Problem, p. 306. J Abstract U. S. Census 1910, pp. 631-649. 28 School Adjustment long as compelled to do so. Consequently, it may be said that the educational ideals of the people are not generally so high as to furnish incentive, encouragement and guidance from the home to children now in school. Shifting Population Of the total native population in urban districts of Pennsyl- vania, 11.7% were born outside the state; while 58.8% of the urban negro population of Pennsylvania were not born in the state.* This high proportion of immigrant negroes would very probably be more than 65% if the figures for Philadelphia alone were available. With only one-third of the negro population of Philadelphia born here and with the conservative estimate of one-fourth of the remainder resident in the city less than twenty years, it is evident that approximately one-half of its negro population can in no way be considered a product of the city. The influx of negroes to Philadelphia is not one of famihes but is composed largely of young people from twenty to thirty years of age who migrate from the rural districts of the South to the small towns and finally to the larger urban centers. This condition was indicated above in the excessive proportion of negroes in age-groups 20-34. Besides this large group there are a considerable number of families migrating to the city. This was especially noticeable in the great wave of 1917 when from 20,000 to 60,000 negroes came to Philadelphia. The problems of social and economic adjustment of these immi- grants are in many respects similar to those presented by immi- grant foreign populations, though complicated to no small degree by racial barriers. The negro immigrant, like the for- eigner, is likely on his arrival in the city to settle first in the congested slum district where housing is poor, tenements are unsanitary, and the general social environment is conducive to ill-health, immorality and crime. In search for more satis- factory hving conditions the better negroes move out to the more thinly settled negro sections whenever opportunity is afforded. Often, however, only large houses are available and lodgers are taken to help support the undertaking. Hence the * U. S. Census Abstract 1910, p. 605. Standard Conditions 29 privacy of home life is disrupted and there is denied to the family the opportunity for building up those home interests so essential to the proper development of the negro. Housing Conditions A study made by the Philadelphia Housing Association of 1158 negro homes in the vicinity of the 30th Ward shows that 95% of the families are tenants and that the negro, generally with no steady income, has to suffer the same gross evils of insanitation as afSict Italian or Jewish immigrants. Of the houses studied, 72% had toilets outside the building and 32% had privy vaults; 2% were characterized as filthy and 10% as unclean and in general disrepair, responsibility for which rested upon the owner. 785 families lived in 4 to 6 rooms,. 147 in 3 rooms or less and 226 occupied 7- to 11-room houses. The excess space in these large houses was in most cases devoted to the accommodation of lodgers. Indeed 35% of the families studied took lodgers and 17% of all occupants were lodgers.* The houses occupied by negroes are likely then to be either too small or too large for proper home conditions. Small houses are usually located on undrained streets where unsani- tary conditions abound; large houses in better repair and in more desirable environments can be supported only with the assistance of lodgers. Both conditions are opposed to the best development of the proper influences of the home and the most profitable employment of leisure. Occupations The percentages of the population 10 years of age and over engaged in gainful occupations are given in Table VII. Table VII Per cent of Population 10 Years of Age and Over Engaged in Gainful Occu- pations, 1910] Pennsylvania Philadelphia Native White Negro Negro Male 77.4 86.0 88.9 Female 18.8 48.7 58.3 It will be seen here that for both males and females the pro- portions gainfully employed are greater for negroes than for * Newman, B. J. Housing the City Negro, Phila. Housing Ass'n. t U. S. Census, Occupation Statistics, p. 66. 30 School Adjustment whites in Pennsylvania and still greater for the city negroes than for the state as a whole. The large proportion of negro females employed is an important factor in the home life of the race. The great number of young negro women in the popu- lation, of course, tends to increase this proportion, but the most significant element is contributed by the large number of working mothers and wives who find it necessary thus to supplement the meager wages of their husbands or to provide complete support for their families. There is wide divergence in the character of employments of white and negro. The white population is engaged chiefly in mechanical, industrial, business and commercial pursuits, while negroes are in large measure confined to laboring and domestic service. Of the 29,561 male negroes of Philadelphia over 10 years of age, more than half are employed as laborers, servants, waiters, teamsters, stevedores, deliverymen and porters. Of the 22,535 negro women, 14,279 are servants, 4332 laundresses and cleaners, and 1095 dressmakers.* In order to verify these generalizations and to afford a clearer view of occupational conditions in the immediate sphere of our study, an investigation was made into the occupations of the parents of 317 pupils of the Stanton School comprising eight of the sixteen grammar classes. Care was taken to avoid dupli- cation of families and doubtful entries were satisfactorily verified or discarded. This condition, combined with the fact that the proportion of colored children in the upper grades is smaller than in the lower, causes a larger number of white pupils to be included in the tabulation than the proportions of the races in the school as a whole would warrant. Furthermore, the 186 colored pupils in these higher grades represent a finer selection from among the 1132 total colored enrollment than do the 131 white pupils of the 318 total whites. In the summary table where occupations are grouped by classes and changed to per cents it will be noted that of colored fathers 67% are in unskilled and relatively insecure and unstable occupations; 18% are skilled and less than 10% are engaged in business or professions. Of white fathers only 6% are unskilled, while 57% are in skilled trades and 36% are in business and the U. S. Census, Occupations, 1910. Standard Conditions 31 professions. Hence practically all white fathers are in skilled trades or business while only one-fourth of negro fathers are thus engaged. The returns for mothers show that 58% of colored mothers are at home engaged in housekeeping. This proportion is high, even for the selected group with which we are dealing. Many colored mothers go out to "day's work" only one, two or three days in the w^eek, in which case the work is not reported as a regular occupation. More than one-fourth of the mothers work out regularly in domestic service and 11% are in skilled work, mainly dressmaking. Of white mothers, 90% are engaged at home in housekeeping and 3% are in business at home. Less than 7% go out to work in skilled trades, domestic service or the professions. Table VIII Summary of Occupation Statistics of Parents of "17 Pupils, Grades !J-8 Number in Each Occupa- tion Class Per cent Distribution Occupation Class Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers W. C. W. C. W. C. W. C. Professional Business Skilled Labor Unskilled Labor Domestic Service Housekeeping 1 42 67 7 1 3 13 29 108 8 1 4 5 2 111 1 20 5 48 103 1 35 57 6 1 2 8 18 67 5 1 3 4 2 90 11 4 27 58 Totals 118 161 123 177 100 100 100 100 The total number of parents reported (579) falls short of the possible total by 55. These are either deceased or not living with the family. Of this number 25 or nearly half are colored fathers. This represents nearly one-seventh of the possible total of 186 colored fathers and indicates that one out of every ;seven colored pupils in this highly selected group is fatherless. In practically all such cases the mother of the family is forced to go out to work, leaving the children at home entirely to their own resources or in the care of an aunt or aged grandparent. This condition is much more prevalent among the families of children in the lower grades and of compulsory school age, for it is plain that such circumstances are conducive to early with- drawal from school. 32 School Adjustmevt The status of negro employment indicated above only serves to emphasize the generalization of Kelly Miller* that ''The negro is compelled to loiter around the edges of industry." His employment is unskilled, irregular and does not provide sufficiently sound economic basis for satisfactory family sup- port. The wife and children are forced to eke out the family fortunes, and the home life is completely destroyed. The negro immigrant to the city is unprepared for the exacting requirements of organized society and for the keen competition of more efficient workers. There are no facilities for training in efficiency, and the prejudice of the white industrial world acts as an effective barrier. However there are sufficient examples of enterprising negroes who have worked out their own salvation to point the way to others who would gain social and economic advancement. An investigation of the after-school activities of upper grade pupils shows that as a rule girls are not engaged in gainful occupations though the daughters of working mothers are often charged with full care of the household. Fifty-five boys, or 20% of the total number of cases investigated (276), are regu- larly employed after school hours and on Saturdays, chiefly in selling papers, in errands and in work in stores. These boys work after school from one to as much as four or five hours every day and on Saturdays from two to eight hours or more. One half of the total number (27 boys) are under 14 years of age. If we eliminate the eight, twelve- and thirteen-year-old news-boys, the remaining 19 are working illegally. All these fifty-five boys are making sacrifices in their school work and 23% of them are showing distinctly unsatisfactory progress. Mortality and Health While the distribution of negro population with its excess of females and of young people twenty to thirty-five years of age tends to keep the death rate lower than would obtain under normal circumstances, the mortality rates for negroes are every- where higher than for whites. Some reason for this condition is to be found in inadequate and unsanitary housing, in the sudden change of climate and general living conditions incident Race Adjustment, Ch. VI, The City Negro. Standard Conditions 33 to immigration to a northern city, in the lack of proper regard for personal hygiene, wisely selected food and clothing, and in the superstitious fear of hospitals. Negroes as a whole are woe- fully ignorant and disrespectful of laws of health. Vitality and efficiency are accordingly lowered, attendance at work and at school becomes irregular, and habits of shiftlessness receive firmer set. Combine with this the distrust of physicians and the behef in 'home remedies', and one important cause of gen- eral inefficiency is revealed. The school physician reports many minor defects among pupils and suggests treatment, but not more than one-fourth of such cases are treated, even with the most energetic, untiring prodding and assistance on the part of the school nurse. Many such uncorrected defects are direct causes of unsuccessful school work, as are similar defects in older persons direct causes of their inefficiency. Not until the negro has been trained in the exercise of proper health habits can we expect to note any great increase in efficiency or decrease in death rate. Home Life The rapid influx of negroes to the city, their congestion in more or less definitely limited sections, unsanitary housing, low wages, high rents, lodgers, working mothers, and children left to care for themselves — all these influences tend to dis- rupt the recent and only partially organized family life of the negro. In homes of the better class there is a refined and pleas- ant family life, children are well cared for and everything possible done for their happiness and proper development. Even here there is a tendency to let the communal church and society life trespass upon the home, and over-indulgence in moving pictures is all too common. In famifies broken by the absence of a father, by the necessity for the mother to go out to work, by the pres- ence of lodgers and by the inadequacy of housing facilities, there is no true home life. The members of such families mingle in the larger social life of the street with its baneful influ- ences. It is folly to expect children under such conditions to have the incentive, the repose or the seclusion necessary to ade- quate preparation of school work. They live in the streets late into the night and some indeed frequently spend the whole night there. Morbidly exciting movies combine their potent 34 . School Adjustment influence with that of the street to turn thoughts toward immor- ahty and crime. It is unfortunate that there is the necessity for mothers to go out to work and to keep lodgers, but it is still more unfortunate that in many cases this condition tends to persist long after the necessity has passed. Many families are in positions to live comfortably in a modest way without the economic assistance of lodgers or working mothers but they have become habituated to the old form of living and do not change when financial conditions improve. Thus many children are unnecessarily deprived of a true home life and its influences. "The mass of the negro people must be taught to guard the home, to make it the center of social life and moral guardianship."* As has been indicated, the social life of the negro is too much outside the home. It lacks organization and definiteness of purpose, conditions which can be supplied only by a long, slow^ process of growth through social education and group training. These should have their inception and be permanently focused in the public school and community center. In radiating out to the entire community, the influence of the school would form closer bonds of common interest between parent and child, and progress toward better conditions would then be possible not only for the child in school but for the whole community. Racial Traits Much has been written on the racial traits of the negro and much of this writing, even when purporting to be scientific, has been deeply tinged with the element of personal bias or has been based upon insufficient and inadequate data. In a brief treatment of the topic it is difficult to abstain from the trite generalizations which at first blush seem so satisfying. The negro is represented to have no virtue, truth, honor or integrity. He is indolent, extravagant, improvident, imitative, super- stitious, emotional, impulsive, inactive, superficial, pleasure- loving, appropriative, gregariousf and so on to the exhaustion of the adjectival vocabulary. All of these characteristics are present in some classes of negroes and many of them are typical of certain groups, but it is beside the truth and entirely unjust * DuBois, W. E. B. The Philadelphia Negro, pp. 195-6. t Odum, Howard W. Social and Mental Traits of the Negro, p. 39. Standard Conditions 35 as well as unscientific to apply such terms generally to the whole race. It must be remembered always that human beings are human first and races afterward. There is more of human- ity than of race in each of us. Sweeping generalizations on a basis of race are bound to carry injustice and fan the flames of prejudice to such an extent that superior achievements go unrecognized and hence ofttimes die for lack of proper encour- agement and sanction. Considering the background of negro civilization, his treatment during slavery, and the obstacles placed in his way after freedom, the progress of the race has been remarkable. If it seems to lag, it is because it is compared with a white civilization which has been developing gradually for many centuries in an environment better suited to its peculiar needs. Mental Traits With all the diversity of the conclusions of such prominent students of the subject as Boas, LeBon, Hall, Galton, Thorn- dike, Woodworth,! there is substantial agreement on the propo- sition that the negro is inferior to the white in the higher mental processes. This, however, cannot be attributed to smaller average brain weight because of great overlapping and because the dominant factor is brain structure rather than weight. Knowledge of the structure of the cortical neurons has not pro- gressed to the point of affording a basis for sound generaliza- tion. In his study of the Psychology of the Negro, after an analysis of the work of more than twenty students of psy- chology, sociology, anthropology and neurology. Dr. G. O. Ferguson, Jr., presents the following conclusions: "Instability of character is ascribed to the negro, involving a lack of foresight, an improvidence, a lack of persistence, small power of serious initiative, a tendency to be content with immedi- ate satisfactions, deficient ambition. But the evidence that such characteristics constitute a true racial dift'erence cannot be called conclusive, and the psychological causes underlying them have not been adequately investigated. Along with high emotionality and instability of character, defective morality is held to be a negro characteristic. This is as subject to debate as are the other qualities, though it is apparently supported by social statistics. It may be that the total circumstances of t See Bibliography, p. 00. 36 School Adjustment his life are such as would lead to immorality even were the negro possessed of the psychic nature of the white man. "The evidence of experience and observation is often wholly unscientific and worthless, but not always so. Strong and chang- ing emotions, an improvident character and a tendency to immoral conduct are not unallied. They are all rooted in uncontrolled impulse. And a factor which may tend to produce all three is a deficient development of the more purely intellectual capacities. Where the implications of ideas are not apprehended, where thought is not lively and fertile, where meanings and consequences are not grasped, the need for the control of impulse will not be felt. And the demonstrable deficiency of the negro in intellectual traits may involve the dynamic deficiencies which common opinion claims to exist. "The available evidence indicates that in the so-called lower traits there is no great difference between the negro and the white. In motor capacity there is probably no appreciable racial difference. In sense capacity, in perceptive and dis- criminative ability, there is likewise a practical equality. It is in the central elaborative powers upon which thought more directly depends that differences exist, not in the simpler re- ceptive and discharging functions. It seems as though the white type has attained a level of higher development, based upon the common elementary capacities, which the negro has not reached to the same degree."* There is, however, much weight of authority to the opinion that relative racial superiority is but a transient phase of human development. "It is hard to say that in any evident feature of mind the negro differs characteristically from the white race."t In his Social Evolution, Benjamin Kidd asserts that "the Negro child shows no inferiority; the deficiencies of after-life are due to a dwarfing and benumbing environment."! To such authorities capacity is potential and must be stimulated and reenforced by social accomplishment before it can show great achievement. In view of the lack of convincing proof to the contrary, it is with this attitude that a democracy should under- take the solution of the many problems presented by racial development and contacts. The White Population In the whole of the above discussion only occasional mention has been made of the white population. This apparent neglect * G. O. Ferguson, Jr. The Psychology of the Negro, pp. 124-5. t Shaler, N. F., and Kidd, B., quoted in Kelly Miller's Race Adjustment, p. 36. Standard Conditions 37 has been due not alone to the fact that the white population contributes less than one-fourth of the pupilage of the school (Table I) but also to the fact that, being composed largely of Irish and Jewish stock, the white population is representative of average middle-class whites. Special treatment, except in certain cases, has therefore been regarded as unnecessary. Legal, Financial and Administrative Conditions The legal and financial conditions surrounding the school are identical with those of the entire school system of the city. The Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania makes it incum- bent upon the legislature to provide public schools. The legis- lature through its enactments has made provision for a Board of Education in the city and has given it large powers of initia- tive. This Board of Education in its administration of the city school system has exercised its initiative in the establish- ment of many special forms of education in order that an ap- proach may be made in the various sections of the city toward the adjustment of the school to the peculiar needs of the com- munity. Financial limitations, handed down from the Legis- lature in the form of meagre state appropriations and restric- tions on school millage and borrowing power, enable the Board only partially to meet its obligation in the way of complete adjustment to progressively changing needs. The power of tradition, the feehng of satisfaction and even of reverence, on the part of unthinking members of the community, for the schools as they were "in our day," the limitations of antiquated school plants and equipment — all tend to obstruct the ways of progress toward an immediacy of response to changing social needs. The chief limiting condition and the one which tends to set standards in the others is financial. Since this condition is substantially uniform throughout the city system of which the school in question is a unit, it may be advisable to con- sider briefly the financial conditions surrounding the entire school system. Comparative School Costs A comparison of expenditures for public schools in the ten largest cities of the United States (Table IX) shows that while Philadelphia is third in population it ranks next to last, both in per 38 School Adjustment capita expenditure for school purposes and in the per cent of expenditures for schools as compared with amounts spent for other municipal departmental service. Table IX Governmental Cost Payments for Expenses of Schools {Total and per capita),, and per cent of Expense of General Departmental Service Devoted to Schools in the Ten Largest Cities of the United States, 1918* % of Total Dept, No. Cities Total Per Capita Expense Devoted to Schools 1 New York $42,154,138 $7.35 28.6 2 Chicago 15,870,152 6.23 28.0 3 Philadelphia 8,328,295 4.80 22.2 4 St. Louis 4,657,017 6.03 28.6 5 Boston 6,226,167 8.10 25.6 6 Cleveland 4,512,966 6.52 33.0 7 Detroit 4,568,651 7.26 28.3 8 Baltimore 2,417,398 4.07 22.0 9 Pittsburgh 4,409,139 7.52 29.6 10 Los Angeles 5,945,976 10.81 42.7 Average 6.87 28.9 * Financial Statistics of Cities, 1918, p. 209 et seq. The average per capita expenditure for schools in the ten largest cities is shown to be $6.87, which is 42.9% higher than, the per capita expenditure in Philadelphia ($4.80). The rela- tive importance of schools compared with other city depart- ments as indicated by proportionate amounts spent for school& and for other purposes averages 28.9% in the ten cities as against 22.2% in Philadelphia. On both counts, then, of gross per capita expenditure for schools, and on proportionate ex- penditure for schools as compared with that of other depart- ments, Philadelphia should seek additional sources of revenue for its public schools. Still further indication of the need for Philadelphia to secure more adequate school funds is seen in the amounts spent per pupil enrolled in the public schools of the ten largest cities. In Table X, school costs are separated into maintenance costs and outlays. Per pupil costs are based on current expenses and do not include outlays for land, buildings and relatively permanent equipment. It will be noted that again Phila- delphia stands ninth in the hst of ten cities in regard to the cost per pupil in its public schools. Philadelphia's annual per pupil Standard Conditions 39 expenditure of S33.55 falls short $10.01 or 22.9% of the aver- age per pupil expenditure in the ten largest cities ($43.56). To equal this average, Philadelphia would have to increase its ex- penditure for current expenses 29.8%. If this were done the yearly investment in public education would still be well below that of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Boston and New York. It may be concluded, therefore, that ample justification exists for an increase of at least 35% in the annual per pupil expenditure for public education in Philadelphia. Where peculiar need exists within a particular social group, where it is advisable to afford opportunities for school work of more varied character, and where it is desirable to provide special types of training, it becomes necessary to expend rela- Table X Showing the Number of Pupils in the Ten Largest Cities in the United States and the Total Cost of the Public Schools, 1917-1918* Mainten- Outlays, Population Enrollment ance cost t land,t Mainten- No. Cities 1910 of Pupils of public schools buildings, etc. ance cost per pupil 1 New York 4,766,883 909,445 $42,459,854 $2,094,980 $46.69 2 Chicago 2,185,283 368,225 16,910,460 3,693,916 45.92 3 Philadelphia 1,549,008 262,691 8,814,344 1,244,587 33.55 4 St. Louis 687,029 105,614 4,732.738 992,996 44.81 5 Boston 686,092 132,848 6,347,428 1,058,928 47.78 6 Cleveland 566,476 112,319 5,878,473 1,425,651 52.34 7 Baltimore 558,485 81,631 2,297,092 11,491 28.14 8 Pittsburgh 533,905 89,830 4,547,628 651,441 50.62 9 Detroit 465,766 117,812 4,560,983 2,056,632 38.71 10 Buffalo 423,715 68,631 3,228,231 256,865 47.04 Average 43.56 tively larger sums of money per pupil enrolled. Such inequali- ties in cost per pupil already exist within any large school system which provides special training for defectives, vocational train- ing for a selected group, manual training and household arts for certain grades, and it is necessary that such inequalities do exist if the work of the schools is to be determined by and adjusted to the peculiar needs of variant groups of pupils and of variant community conditions. In the particular unit school under consideration here, it is desirable that many kinds of *Statistics furnished by Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. fTotal Current Expenses. JNot included in preceding colmnns. 40 School Adjustment so-called special activity be introduced, that work of a prac- tical nature relating to all phases of social and economic life be emphasized and that constructive community activity be defi- nitely stimulated. It seems entirely proper therefore, to urge that the increase in per pupil expenditure in the school in ques- tion should be at least 50% over present costs. That this claim is not extravagant may be seen in the fact that with such an increase, the per pupil cost in this school would still only equal that now obtaining in the schools either of Cleveland or Pittsburgh. It is important to note in connection with recommendations for substantial increases in expenditure, that 91% of the re- ceipts of school funds in the city of Philadelphia is derived from local taxation, and only 6% from State appropriations.* Pennsylvania's position among the other states is thirty-seventh in respect to the proportion of money contributed to local school funds. In the State Government lies a source of additional revenue to the local school district that should bear immediate assistance. An equalization of assessments on real estate and a moderate increase in the rate of taxation for schools would also add materially to the local funds. Physical Conditions — The Arthur Building Turning now to the physical conditions which surround the Stanton-Arthur School, we find a plant consisting of two build- ings situated some four blocks apart. The Chester A. Arthur building erected in 1886 is a three-story structure containing twelve regular classrooms, two special classrooms and oner kindergarten room accommodating two half-time classes. As has been indicated, there are no facilities for play, inside or out- side the building. In a recent reorganization of this school, negro teachers were assigned to the building, and only negro pupils attend the school. The Stanton Building The Edwin M. Stanton building, erected in 1850, is a three- story structure, six rooms on a floor with no provision for halls or wardrobes. Rooms are separated by glass partitions, and it is necessary for pupils to pass through adjoining classrooms *Phila. Bd. of Ed. Report 1918, p. 214. Standard Conditions 41 to reach their own. This building, as will be seen, is entirely inadequate to meet the needs of the pupils, much less of the community. In a large system of schools the necessary uniformity of legal, financial and administrative conditions tends to bring about a common level of adjustment to general community needs to the partial exclusion of the finer, more immediate responses to the peculiar requirements of a given locality. The prescription of a fixed course of study tends to emphasize uni- form educational requirements. Even with increasing latitude afforded by way of varying interpretation and stress of em- phasis, there is a tendency on the part of teachers and prin- cipals to adhere rather closely to prescribed courses often to the neglect of desirable adjustments to distinctly local needs and conditions. Summary 1. The school as an institution of society must maintain an immediacy of response to social needs. 2. The immediate community served by the Stanton-Arthur School contains a large proportion of negroes. 3. The population of the 30th ward, in which the school is located, was 34% negro in 1910 and approximately 50% negro in 1919. 4. Industrial expansion has caused a large recent immigra- tion of negroes to the section and an exodus of whites. 5. The negro population of Philadelphia is increasing at more than twice the rate of the white population. 6. The school census enumeration of children six to sixteen years of age shows the number of negro children to be increas- ing proportionately three times as rapidly as the number of white children. 7. The notable excess of females in the negro population pre- sents difficult social and moral problems. 8. The negro population is characterized by a large proportion of young people (20-44 years) and correspondingly a small proportion of children. 9. The marital condition of the negro population shows a large proportion of single men, widows and separated. This condition has important moral significance. 42 School Adjustment 10. Illiteracy among negroes in the city is not exceptionally high but the degree of education is uniformly low. 11. The negro population is unstable. More than one-half of the negroes of Philadelphia are in no way a product of the city. 12. Much of the housing of Philadelphia negroes is unsanitary and congested. 13. The lodger evil is acute, disturbing the privacy and morality of the family. 14. A higher proportion of negroes than whites is gain- fully employed. Disrupted home life is indicated by employ- ment outside the home of 58.3% of negro females. 15. Negro employments are, in the main, confined to labor- ing, and domestic and personal service. 16. Of the negro fathers of Stanton school children, 67% are unskilled; of white fathers only 7% are unskilled. 17. Many negro mothers of Stanton school children go out ta work, leaving the children to care for themselves. 18. Of every five boys in Grades 5-8, one is employed after school and on Saturdays. 19. Disregard for the laws of hygiene causes much illness and inefficiency. 20. Social and economic conditions tend to disrupt negra family life. 21. Social fife of the negro is too much outside the home. 22. Studies of the psychology of the negro point to a some- what lower average mentality, less subject to the inhibitions of higher mental powers. 23. The white population of the section under consideration is mainly of Irish and Jewish extraction. 24. Philadelphia ranks ninth among the ten largest cities of the United States in: (1) Per capita expenditure for schools. (2) Proportion spent for schools as compared with other municipal departments. (3) Per pupil expenditure. 25. Increase in expenditure necessary: (1) To approximate expenditures in other cities. (2) To provide efficient training. (3) To meet individual and community needs. Standard Conditions 43 26. The school plant consists of two buildings, — the Stanton building is entirely inadequate and unsafe; the Arthur build- ing provides only the barest necessities for classroom instruc- tion. 27. Uniform legal, financial and administrative conditions, while permitting some latitude, tend to obstruct complete adjustment to peculiarly local needs. CHAPTER III SCHOOL PUPILAGE The Stanton-Arthur School comprises thirty-four elementary divisions or classes and has an average pupilage of 1450. As the name indicates, the school is housed in two buildings which originally accommodated distinct organizations. Since these buildings are located four blocks apart it would appear that pupils would be drawn from a larger radius because of the sepa- ration. This is not the case, however, because the Arthur building has always been a primary school and the Stanton has contained only grammar grades. More recently, after the combination of the two schools and the great influx of negro population to the district it was found advisable to employ negro teachers in the Arthur building, which already had a pupilage 85% negro. This made necessary the provision of primary grades in the Stanton building so that at present there are accommodations for negro pupils in grades 1 to 5 in the Arthur building and for both races in all elementary grades in the Stanton building. School Organization For the entire school organization the number of classes in each grade and the average number belonging and in attend- ance during June, 1919, are given in Table XL Table XI Classification, Average Enrollment and Average Attendance — June, 1919 Grade No. of Average Enrollment Average Attendance Classes Male Female Total Male Female Total 8 3 46 68 114 37 61 98 7 4 72 106 178 58 84 142 6 4 76 97 173 63 79 142 5 5 90 104 194 70 81 151 4 3 71 77 148 61 66 127 3 3 65 76 141 53 64 117 2 4 86 91 177 68 76 144 1 4 102 122 224 77 89 166 Kindergarten 2 25 39 64 15 28 43 Orthogenic Backward. 1 10 8 18 8 7 15 Orthogenic Adjustment 1 9 10 19 6 8 14 Total 34 652 798 1450 516 643 1159* * Average attendance for the year exceeds 1200. 44 Pupilage 45 It will be noted here that enrollment and attendance in the grammar grades are unnaturally high. This is due to the fact that pupils are admitted from neighboring schools into Grades 5 and 7. Since all the pupils admitted from other schools into the 5th Grade are colored and practically all those so admitted to the 7th Grade are white, the proportion of colored pupils in Grades 5 and 6 is exceptionally high, running as high as 85% in Grade 6. The large withdrawal of colored pupils in Grades 6 and 7 and the admission of new white pupils in Grade 7 cause the proportion of colored pupils to be reduced to 55% in the upper grades. As was seen in Table I, the proportion of col- ored pupils in the entire school organization is 78.1%. Since the recent reorganization, colored pupils make up 100% of the Arthur School pupilage and 59% of the Stanton. Analysis of School Census An indication of the extent to which the Stanton-Arthur School meets the educational needs of its immediate community may be found in a study of the returns of the school census made in June, 1919, by the Department of Compulsory Edu- cation. The census enumerates all children between the ages of 6 and 16 years and gives data as to school attendance and em- ployment. The enumeration is made by census blocks each comprising two city residence blocks. The data for each of twenty-four of these census blocks in the immediate vicinity of the school were summarized and tabulated in squares corre- sponding to the geographical location of the block. It will be seen then that Table XII is at once a map of the school district and a residence plot of the pupils of the Stanton-Arthur School. Besides this it furnishes information as to racial proportions by blocks as well as the number of children who attend the public schools located either in or out of the district. There is also indicated the number of pupils attending parochial and private schools, those not enrolled and those employed. It will be noted that the vertical and horizontal lines in the table represent streets as indicated, and that the tabulation within each block represents the status of the children of school age resident within the block. The census blocks are num- bered for identification with the same numbers used by the School Census Bureau. Taking census block No. 67 for ex- 46 School Adjustment &2 Oi ■<# O lO r-* W N rH CQ Q^mM cS|OtgC-C0t30J I CO O Eh X OJS8N 0J38Js[ OJg8M a'HqAi 0JS9M 05 - lO CO CO CO in rH i-H OJTJI iH N t- O 05 rH ION osea in to OfHTjt o ^ in in rH ift c\j ooin K! in ■* 05 [ CO ^S' CO t> CO 'J" in tti I r-i C\J 00 O) i-H 05 CO poo OJ O Tf o Tit CO O iH O rH O GO 1> O iH CO O ; oj t- o 00'* £-COOOlM W p-jCO l-O CO 01 05 00 CO M rjt Til Tl< CO rH >(M'* OCOO 05 CO 05 oira Tti o to oi ciiniH rHi-lOONO 0)lO(M01CO iH OCOi-IOiH o ^ 01 in o '^ ^ OlfHr-ICHCO C-iHtJI OOiH rH 01 ■* rH 00 01 in ooo rHin o CO Tjl ■* O CO 01 CO Tf r-l rH in O rH in o ooi o > rH inO t-rH 0105 i-l rH CO O ■ 05 05 01 COCO >05 0) oin o OOI CO oca rH hUoQ CO 00 rH 01 in CO rH rH ooo rHO t- 00O5 coco 05 I t> ^ f-1 t~* CO O 0101 K O) CO >SI CO 01 05 CO 00 oiin CO CO o ■* ) 01 in O C-<* O CO O Tl< CO CO OO oo t-TjiTji ocoo 01 00 rH O 01 in 0H> rH o t-rH ooiin -lE- •-! 01 rH O oo O in o CO o t-o ip CO O O O CO o o> 01 O CO O rH O CO in in t- rH'i' o ) oi o o ■* o in CO t- rH O O CO )oo •* in T)< o (/) oiin COCO oio in OOCOrHOlOlO « inpoooo-* t- rH 05 o OOOtl< oi Til rH o o o o in II Slit cocDOincn„ , -^ 00 corH CO CO g '•^-i ' P. |S?3-soa 01 i-H |m ■* rH ■* O 05 CO t- 00 rH rH 05 01 aSg-^B® 00 01 t-gcjocgo 2 intj^oino CO 01 OJ rH O rH O CO rH r-t s gg^^^-* i CO 05OinrH rH 01 t- JH OCDiO OW O g •* ■* oogigocoo s g-g^oino §8 rHOrH OrHO S3 N 1 •0 1 t-05cgoicoo ^ mm OO rH o rH OlTjlcO oioio CO Ol 10 Tl< 1> CD CO t- 01 05 01 CO CO o t- rH O OCO CQ 1 eg rH 01 ^ i>CD CO CO Tf O CO CO CO 1 CO 1 O O O o o o o oooooo o o oooo O j o ■* « inrHmTji o to i-i Ol to 0> 01 t-co :^ o t-co ^ a 01 00 O 01 O I rH „ m 01 rH o - c- m i-i 1 in 01 rH O 01 rH CO 05 t- Ti< t Ol O CD r ■ - 01 01 CO Ol O CD rH CD rH •!tg q'tnog t-m o Ol 05 CO iH oico oim o O rH f-t SCO C- O T( CO CO 015 Ol 01 05 4g aSpuqurea OS rH rH CO m 00 C- Ol rH 00 CO CO CD O 01 t- CO CO m rH rH 00 01 !)g ja^'BAVZ^IjI CO o o m GO 05 05 05 m o t-m I in rH t>m O 00 CO •iganjjaqjBO Ol •^ t- to 05 CO \^ CO m CO 01 1 t-'^ rH CO O I 00 Ol t- CO m CO to CO 01 rH to r-* Ol (jg n'Bi^sijqo Tj< 05 CO rH 01 rH Ol CO CO 05 Ol to CO OOO 01 rH o •()g jaauadJBO inCDCOOlOOt- rH 60 m ■>!< rH O CO rH aAV 'qs^M QPh-: (S.S -a .2 3 Oo 1-1 >-l (0< Pupilage 47 ample, we may read that in the section from 20th to 22nd Sts. and Carpenter St. to Washington Ave. there are 102 children between the ages of 6 and 16. Seventy-four of these are col- ored. Of the twenty-eight white children, 10 attend the Stan- ton School, 2 attend other public schools, 13 go to parochial schools, 2 are not enrolled and one is employed. It will be noted that more of these white children attend parochial school than public, a condition which is also found to exist in blocks 60, 56, 47, 61, 55, 51, 63, 53, 44. This is a total of ten blocks or nearly half of the 23 blocks for which we have data. Look- ing to the total for the entire section we find that 226 white pupils attend the Stanton School, 367 attend parochial schools. Causes for this condition are to be found in the religious per- suasion of the white population of Irish parentage; in the prox- imity of parochial schools, two of which are located in blocks 56 and 60 respectively; in the fact that these parochial schools serve white pupils only; and in the fact that the Stanton- Arthur School has so high a proportion of colored pupils. Of the 209 white pupils who attend other public schools approximately one-fourth are High School pupils; the others go long distances to elementary schools having predominantly white pupilage. Returning now to block 67 we find that of the total of 74 colored pupils, 58 attend the Stanton-Arthur and only 9 attend other public schools. A larger proportion of colored children attends the Stanton- Arthur than other schools in 15 blocks, Nos. 67, 60, 56, 49, 47, 40, 66, 61, 55, 50, 46, 41, 65, 62, 54. In the remaining blocks to the lower right of the plot there is a primary school located in block 44 and a complete elementary school one square north of block 43. Both of these schools are for colored children only. In the grand totals we find that even with the presence in the section of these two schools for colored pupils the ratio of children in other public schools to children in the Stanton-Arthur School is lower for colored pupils (552 to 799 or 69%) than for white pupils (209 to 226 or 93%). If this calculation were based on the total number of pupils attending any school other than the Stanton- Arthur we would have the following : 4:8 School Adjustment Table XIII Proportionate Enrollment (by Race) in Stanton-Arthur and Other Schools in Section Studied White Negro Total 1. Stanton-Arthur School 226 799 1025 2. All other schools 590 590 1180 It will be seen therefore that for every 2 white pupils who at- tend the Stanton-Arthur School, 5 attend other schools, while, with the presence of other colored schools in and near the sec- tion, only three-fourths as many negro pupils go to all other schools as to the Stanton-Arthur. This situation is still further emphasized on comparison of the per cents of total pupilage in the section that attend the Stanton-Arthur School. Table XIV School Census and Stanton-Arthur Enrollment {by Race) White Negro Total number of children 6-16 in section 900 1511 Number attending Stan ton- Arthur School 226 799 Per cent attending Stanton-Arthur School 25 . 1 53 Table XIV shows that 25.1% of white and 53.1% of colored children in the section attend the Stanton-Arthur School. Here may be seen an indication that the school, while pur- porting to meet the needs of the entire community, is in reality largely limited in its service to that portion of the community which is colored. Though supported by public taxation for the perpetuation of democracy, the school fails to reach a large majority of the white pupils of the district. Presumably the school is prepared to meet the needs of this portion of the popu- lation; practically it is not doing so. In such a situation it would seem advisable to effect radical readjustments in order that the public school may come into its own. This study of twenty-four census blocks in the vicinity of the school shows that but 70% of the school's enrollment is drawn from its immediate neighborhood. Table XV Stanton- Arthur Enrollment Residing in Section Studied White Negro Total Total Stanton-Arthur enrollment 318 1132 1450 Enrolhnent from 24 blocks 226 799 1025 Per cent enrollment from 24 blocks 71.0 70. 6 70. 7 The 92 white pupils who attend the school from without the section studied are in large measure pupils of grades 7 and 8 Pupilage 49 who live west of 22nd Street and are forced to travel great distances to the school on account of the lack of school facilities in their neighborhood. Many of these pupils attend the school unwillingly because of its distance from their homes as well as because of the large proportion of colored pupils. A study of the complete residence plot shows that most of the 333 colored pupils who come from without this section, reside in the locali- ties north and south of the eastern end of the census section studied. These sections are served by schools with entirely negro pupilage and teaching forces. Some negro parents object to this condition, desiring their children to be taught by white teachers and to associate with white pupils. Accordingly these children each day pass the other schools to attend the Stanton. On the other hand there are a few colored pupils who come great distances because the schools in their neighborhoods are of predominantly white pupilage and these colored children feel more comfortable in association with children of their own race. It is seen then that white pupils from outside the dis- trict attend the school because of inadequate facilities in their own section, while colored pupils come great distances to a school which more fully meets their needs as they sense them. Pupil Turn-Over Some idea of the instability of the population of the section under consideration was afforded in the study of social condi- tions in the previous chapter. This situation is reflected in the constantly changing pupilage of the school. In Table XVI is presented a summary of admissions and dismissals by months for the school year 1918-19. Beginning with an original enrollment in September, 1918, of 1387 pupils, it will be seen from the totals that 749 pupils were admitted during the year for the causes noted. During the same period 652 pupils were dismissed. The total of admissions and dismissals during the year aggregates 1401, a number larger than the original pupilage. Changes in enrollment in the first and last months of each semester consist largely of promotions, transfers and original admissions to school, all of which may be considered natural, not affecting in any way the normal progress of school work. If we combine all admissions and dis- missals for the months of September, January, February and 50 School Adjustment June, we get 528 admissions and 351 dismissals, a total of 879. Subtracting this sum from the aggregate change in enrollment (1401) we get 522 admissions and dismissals occurring during the term. This sum is 37.6% of the original enrollment of 1387 and indicates a shifting of pupilage far too extensive to permit of effective work. Indeed, if we consider only the ad- missions in these middle months of the term, there is a total of 221. Approximately one-sixth of the enrollment at any given time, then, is made up of pupils who have entered the school during the progress of class work. Some of these are Table XVI Changes in Enrollment — Stanton-Arthur School — Sept., 1918-June, 1919 Admissions Dismissals III a m Months _o o 03 of Term a o a o 3 SO «| m g «^ f^fe o3 «| CQ 02 ^ §3 "cS o o3 1 JH -t^ o 03 -C -tj Lh t.1 "^ -i^ O ^ u +j o £ H p^ O H Clh H O H Sept., 1918 69 212 54 61 Oct. 11 4 28 8 24 Nov. 12 1 21 24 45 Dec. 12 2 22 16 46 Jan., 1919 61 20 7 10 43 7 60 Feb. 23 11 34 34 45 Mar. 17 12 21 10 55 Apr. 11 3 20 8 22 May 8 6 10 15 31 Jime 77 1 3 33 11 Totals 138 . 184 46 381 749 76 176 400 652 transferred from other schools, some are readmissions of pupils who have previously left the city school system, but more than half (122) are new enrollments constituted largely of colored children newly arrived from the South. All mid-term admissions require individual adjustments in order to make satisfactory progress, but the pupil from the South always presents evidences of a lack of educational opportunity. He is over age and under grade to an extreme and demands very special treatment. It is impossible to do him justice in a regular class. Of the large number of pupils who left the school during the year (652), seventy-six were promoted to other schools, 176 were transferred to other Philadelphia schools and 400 entirely severed Pupilage 51 connection with the system. Each one of these 400 cases was investigated by the Compulsory Attendance Officer to ascer- tain the cause of leaving school. It will be noted in Table XVII where these cases are distributed by causes that 204, or more than half the dismissals were caused by removal from the city, and 110, or more than one-third, were pupils not yet 8 years of age or who were over 16 years. Attendance Social conditions, previously described, very naturally lead to irregularity in attendance at school. While the attendance at the Stanton-Arthur School is only four points below the percentage for the city as a whole (86.8%) it is so as the result of constant watchfulness and an inordinate amount of effort on the part of teachers on the one hand and of compulsory attendance officers on the other. In Table XVII are summar- ized the results of investigations by attendance officers showing that of the 510 cases of lawful absence, 214 were due to illness of the child and 72 to illness in the family. There were 513 cases of illegal absence and it is significant that 62% of these cases (317) were due to the indifference of parents. More than one-fourth of the cases were caused by truancy. These 138 cases of truancy by no means represent the total truancy for the year. Cases are not reported until there have been six unexeused absences and ofttimes even when a child has this number, he is not reported. If the absences have been widely scattered, if the child returns to school after the report has been sent in or if there are many more urgent cases, the report is likely to be held over till some future time. Of the 513 cases of unlawful absence investigated it will be noted that 174 pre- liminary notices or warnings of prosecution were served and that 55 parents were actually prosecuted because of their indiffer- ence or neglect in the matter of the attendance of their children at school. These measures are final resorts and are in most cases preceded by interviews with the principal of the school, the attendance officer and the attendance supervisor. Further evidence of indifference may be noted in the high percentage of tardiness on the part of children. Much of this late attend- ance at school is due entirely to the indifference of parents and is often acknowledged by them without the least concern. 52 School Adjustment CO X H fe- ci^ o 1— 1 o o 2 SU0I!jnD8S0J(J (N (N i-H O IC Tti i-H 1— 1 i-H 1— 1 1— 1 8801:^0^ ;(jBmraii9j(j OOOOid-HiCGOcO 1-H C^ (M CO (N T-l CO I-H a> M — ' O m u 1 CQ "o (^ S a a 2 a> s COt^05lOC01XNO(N COi-HC01>GOCOO^OO CO 1—1 suosBay^ 1— 1 1—1 paXoidrag Xn^Saill CO O i-l t>. t^ O CO (N tH 1— 1 1— 1 1—1 ^uaj'Bj ^uajagipui COiOCOi-l-*OOiCOOO 1-1 1-1 CO l>. TjH TJH ■* ■* 1—1 CO pnqo ^mJHJX 1-H tH CO i-< r-l i-( IM CO 1—1 e2 OlNOSiOINCOOCOt^T-l o 1—1 suos'Ba^ 00 iCiC00O(Nir)C0C5»O iOC0i-l Pino JO ssauni 1— i COt^rHGOOO-^iO-^COi-l i-iCOCOTHCOCOrH(M 1—1 eOI>TtHOOr-lrHlOi£)i-l-<# OOrHCO-^iO-^iOC^COi-l o o a§Y -draoQ jo -^oj*^ lO(Nt^<£>05(Nl>050CO C^ T-l rH 1—1 i-( o 1—1 I— ( pasBaoaQ <5 IM(N 1-1 lO AlO ^J^l <1 C000O0010IXN0505O CO (Ni-ICOrHCO 1-ItH ■* § p8iCo]drag < i-ti-l lO r-l (M CO CD 1-1 I-H o CO pa^'BOOT^ ^oj^ CO ioBdBoui CO 1—1 1—1 1— < CO ajaqMas|3 panojug <1 OOl-ICOTtliOlXXMr-tT-H 1-1 CO Cases Investi- gated <©tD(N00i-i!l0t^(MO»O I^OiC000001>0001>i-l 1— ( rHi— li— (1— iT-lT-li— 1 CO CO 1—1 o eS Pupilage 53 Absence and Non-Promotion Some indication of the effects of irregular attendance may be seen in the relation of absence to non-promotion. The investigation covers the period from February 1 to May 31, 1919, during which time the school was in session 152 times. Table XVIII Abse7ice of Non-Promoted Pupils February 1 to May SI — ISH Sessions Sessions Absent Grade Total 0-9 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60 + 8 18 11 2 2 2 1 36 7 10 8 7 6 2 3 2 38 6 14 8 8 3 1 4 5 43 5 9 9 7 3 3 5 36 4 8 11 5 4 1 2 2 33 3 10 5 3 3 4 2 1 28 2 12 11 9 5 2 1 2 42 1 10 15 17 10 9 6 20 87 Total 91 78 58 36 21 21 38 343 Per cent. 26.5 22.8 16.9 10.5 6.1 6.1 11.1 100% In Table XVIII are presented the frequencies of various de- grees of absence for pupils who failed of promotion in June, 1919. It will be noted that failures are fairly evenly distributed through the grades except in Grade I where the number of failures is more than twice as many as in any other grade. This large number of failures in Grade I is the direct result of irregular attendance, 71% of the 87 failures in this grade having been absent 20 sessions or more. Of the thirty-eight cases of excessive absence (60 sessions or more) twenty, or more than half, are contributed by this grade alone. 169 of the total 343 pupils were absent less than 20 sessions and 174 more than 20 sessions. Hence over one-half of the pupils who failed of promotion had been absent more than 20 of the 152 sessions and nearly one-fourth of them were absent 40 sessions or more. Absences of 20 sessions or less may be of little consequence to the successful pursuance of class work if the pupil concerned will diligently apply himself on his return to make up the work that was lost. However, where this is neglected, as is most often the case, and where large classes make it impossible for teachers to give the individual attention necessary for over- 54 School Adjustment coming difficulties incident to such absence, present instruction is deprived of its proper foundation. Very soon pupils find themselves beyond their depth, lessons become 'hard,' and, with the stimulus of success removed, the entire school activity of the pupil becomes an unprofitable, purposeless task which culminates in non-promotion. Age-Grade Statistics Probably the most fruitful study of pupil statistics is that which concerns age-grade and progress status. The most re- cent tabulation of age-grade statistics for the entire city system Table XIX Distribution in the Grades by Ages of All Pupils in Actual Attendance October 3, 1917 Stanton- Arthur School Above Normal Age Grade Age in Years on September First Total Sex S.-A. School City % "5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Number % 8 3 13 13 10 3 42 13 31.0 17.9 7 5 23 20 10 6 1 65 17 26.2 23.8 6 5 19 22 16 11 7 2 82 36 43.9 39.2 5 7 14 21 23 10 5 4 84 42 50.0 40.2 Male 4 5 12 15 9 8 2 2 2 55 23 41.8 36.8 3 1 30 20 12 8 4 1 1 77 26 33.8 30.6 2 1 24 15 7 2 1 1 51 11 21.6 22.9 1 Total 18 25 28 11 6 2 2 92 21 22.8 10.8 18 26 53 61 52 50 65 84 62 42 29 6 548 189 34.5 27.7 8 3 10 25 14 4 2 1 59 21 35.6 18.3 7 6 30 28 18 17 4 1 1 105 41 39.0 24.1 6 1 6 18 34 21 19 13 4 1 117 58 49.6 35.8 5 9 22 16 21 17 11 3 1 1 101 54 53.5 36.4 4 5 20 12 9 4 4 7 61 24 39.3 32.3 Female 3 5 17 26 13 8 2 71 23 32.4 26.7 2 21 22 16 4 1 1 65 22 33.8 19.0 1 Total 11 44 28 3 3 1 90 7 7.8 9.3 11 44 54 47 75 57 59 95 80 80 47 13 5 2 669 250 37.4 25.1 Grand Total 1217 439 36.1 26.4 ' Normal Age' for each grade is indicated by heavy type. is that showing the distribution in the grades of all pupils in actual attendance on October 3, 1917. In order to make these figures a basis for comparison, the distribution for the Stanton- Arthur School on that date, together with the city totals, is given in Table XIX. Pupilage 55 It will be noted that normal age for each grade covers a span of two years. The normal age for entering school is six years but the compulsory attendance law of the State does not be- come operative until a child reaches eight years of age. Hence, if the two-year span is considered normal for Grade I, it must be continued up through the grades. However, since six-year and even five and one-half year-old initial entrants are in the great majority, this two-year span conceals a large amount of slow progress through the grades. Notwithstanding this fact it will be seen that there are in every grade pupils who are from one to six years over-age. These over-age pupils con- stitute 34.5% of the boys and 37.4% of the girls. Four hundred Table XX Per Cents of Over-Ageness by Race in School and City Grade Stanton-Arthur School City Male School Totals Negro White Totals 8 50.0 16.7 31.0 17.9 7 39.3 16.2 26.2 23.8 6 53.8 26.7 43.9 39.2 5 58.5 21.1 50.0 40.2 4 45.0 33.3 41.8 36.8 3 44.2 12.0 33.8 30.6 2 25.0 13.3 21.6 22.9 1 Total 24.4 14.3 22.8 10.8 42.0 19.0 34.5 27.7 8 45.7 20.8 35.6 18.3 7 50.0 18.9 39.0 24.1 Female 6 57.2 23.1 49.6 35.8 5 57.5 28.6 53.5 36.4 4 46.7 18.8 39.3 32.3 3 36.2 15.4 32.4 26.7 2 35.7 22.2 33.8 19.0 1 Total 9.1 7.8 9.3 42.7 19.1 37.4 25.1 Grand Total 42.4 19.0 36.1 26.4 thirty-nine or 36.1% of the total of 1217 pupils are above nor- m.al age. This per cent of over-ageness is seen to be higher than that for the entire city, figures for which are given in the column to the extreme right of the table. The city system shows 26.4% over-ageness; the Stanton-Arthur School shows 36.1%. If the city progress is taken as a standard attain- 56 School Adjustment ment, then the school under consideration is faUing short of that attainment to a degree that requires explanation. This explanation may be found, in part, in what has already been indicated of the character and social condition of the pupilage of the school. To show the effect of this condition, the figures of Table XIX have been redistributed on a basis of race. Table XX shows the per cents of over-ageness among negro and white pupils, boys and girls separately. With these figures are represented the per cents for the city and for the school as a whole. It will be seen here that the high per cent of over-ageness in the Stanton-Arthur School is caused entirely by the negro pupils who show 42% over-age for boys and 42.7% for girls as against 19% and 19.1% for white pupils. White pupilage is well in advance of the city over-ageness while the negro pupils show more than twice the amount of over-ageness as is shown by the whites. The negro children comprise 72.8% of the Table XXI Causes of Retardation of Pupils Three Years or More Over-age for Grade Causes of Retardation Totals Grade Backward- Poor Late Irregular ness Health Entrance Attendance Male Female Total 8 1 2 3 3 7 2 1 1 3 1 6 7 6 7 5 11 4 9 18 27 5 10 2 6 7 9 16 25 4 6 3 7 1 6 11 17 3 2 6 6 2 8 2 4 1 3 2 5 1 1 3 3 1 4 Total 28 12 40 16 37 59 96 school pupilage (886 of the total 1217) and contribute 85.7% of its over-ageness (376 of the total 439) while white children who comprise 27.2% of the pupilage contribute only 14.3% of the over-ageness. Social and environmental conditions cause the negro to figure largely in elementary school over-ageness. Many colored pupils are admitted each year from the South, where educational opportunity has been lacking. Negro parents, in defiance of the law, permit or encourage irregular attendance at school. Both of these factors contribute to retardation and failure Pupilage 57 and both remain unisolated in the statistics of over-ageness as presented above. Some idea of the importance of these factors in creating over-ageness may be gathered from Table XXI which distributes by causes the ninety-six cases of pupils three years or more over-age for grade. This table is for both white and negro pupils but since it includes only six white pupils the proportions indicated will serve for colored pupils alone. The entire 40 cases of late entrance are negro children, as are 15 of the 16 cases of irregu- lar attendance. These figures indicate that colored pupils not only swell the totals of over-ageness but have a monopoly of extreme over-ageness. Of the 376 cases of colored pupils over age, 90 were three or more years retarded. This constitutes 23.9% of the total. Age-Grade and Progress Statistics If the school is to hold itself responsible for the results indi- cated in its pupil accounting it must be careful to eliminate from such accounting all sources of failure over which it has no control. The school as such is not accountable for the late entrance of pupils nor for their lack of previous educational opportunity. Nor is the school responsible for long-continued absence. These factors then should not be permitted to figure in the results of an age-grade tabulation. The school, on the other hand, does hold itself responsible for the regular advance- ment of each pupil one grade each year. This condition then should enter into the school's pupil accounting in order that its standard operations and schedules may be adjusted from time to time to meet the varying conditions which affect the successful achievement of the aim. In order, therefore, to include the element of progress, and to refine the statistics above presented, age progress charts were used the following year in the tabulation of age-grade and progress data. These figures were tabulated in the four-fold classification of male, female, colored and white. However, as no vital deduction can be based upon the male-female treat- ment it will be abandoned for facility in presentation. Table XXII shows the distribution of pupils by age and grade on September 1, 1918. It will be noted that both age and grade are recorded in half years. Normal age for entering 58 School Adjustment o ^ &? ^ (M»OQO'-H05C^OCOCOi0005eO(NOCO'-HCO»OOOt>.TH-<4Hes| 00(MTjf<3COTlHiO-*t>.-*Tj<0Q(N.-li-H CO rH MfO rt* CO i-H 00 iOCOO 00 05 CD CO C0 mo 00 eococD CO 1-ti-i =9 O CQ. CQ ^ eooo SCO NC0C4 . iArH ■<* I>(M -* CO in O tH« t- ^ »-lt^r* CO (M IC CO (N a *«« Nr-lrH CO MOkO^ «tH i-H COIOCOP CO Oi rh CeoMiHeo COICO lOICO O 0> (N t> "* (M IONC»NtJIi-I dCQ t^ CO CO 00 Oi « CO 1 CO (M I^IOO OOOSOOCCOCO-^iO (N i-m> lOpO 1> 05 ■* O Tt< (M rH rH IOTi Tfl tH lO T-IIOC4iHiH CO 05 1-1 1>. CO lO Tf (M »-l 1— i iH CO iH C4 64 tH rhlCO T«CO 1— I O CO Tt* I— I I— I rH 00 COCOt-I ICO O (N i-H i-< o ^ C9 lO^CO 1-1 THt»CO 00 iH t>IO o ooooo CO eioct iH Ot-'* 02 fc^_. o o o conjwtotnwtDtnoacoaiwaiwcQaacocoaQwwcQwoQ ^(^(h^^(j(h>h(h(h(-i^ tH^tHt<;-lhlbl(-(^;-l(H OOC)flJdJO)d3aJflJQ;QPd3G^Q^QJG;)CJO>Q?C?OJQ^Q^O \N \P1 SN \N \N \« \N \N \N \N \M \pi 00»-l^(N(NCOCOrtlTf lOCDCOt»l^0000O5CT>»-lrHi-HrHr-lr-lrHi-lrHr-Hr-lF-Hr-li-H.-( ^^ > Pupilage 59 lA grade is five and one-half years because pupils are permitted to enter when just past that age. In other sections, the normal age span for the half year's work is one year, e. g. from six and one-half to seven and one-half years in grade IB. Pupils of normal age for grade are indicated by numbers in blocks; white pupils in heavy type. Totals in this Table show that in both sections of every grade, except in grades 2 A and 4 A, white pupils have a higher per cent, of under-ageness than do negro pupils. Of the total number of under-age pupils (75) 61.3% are white and 38.7% are colored. In normal-age totals, white pupils show larger per cents in every grade and in over-age totals in every case the negro pupils show higher per cents than Table XXIII Age-Grade Status of White and Colored Pupils in Per cents Grade Under Age Normal Age Over-Age Total Nun W. iber Pupils W. C. W. C. W. C. C. lA .0 .0 80.9 65.4 19.1 34.6 21 133 IB 15.4 6.2 69.2 52.3 15.4 41.5 13 65 2A .0 4.8 50.0 36.1 50.0 59.0 16 83 2B 7.7 .0 53.8 26.1 38.5 73.9 13 46 3A 9.1 .0 63.6 30.5 27.3 69.5 11 59 3B .0 .0 38.5 38.1 61.5 61.9 13 42 4A .0 1.5 25.0 19.1 75.0 79.4 16 68 4B 41.7 .0 33.3 19.4 25.0 80.6 12 36 5A 4.5 3.9 40.9 28.6 54.5 67.5 22 77 5B 20.0 4.4 46.7 13.2 33.3 82.3 15 68 6A 14.2 4.9 42.9 29.5 42.9 65.6 14 61 6B 25.0 5.2 20.0 13.8 55.0 81.0 20 58 7A 22.7 7.4 36.4 29.6 40.9 63.0 44 54 7B 11.5 3.6 50.0 28.4 38.5 67.9 26 28 8A 8.3 .0 37.5 31.6 54.2 68.4 24 38 8B 36.7 13.6 40.0 27.3 23.3 59.1 30 22 Totals 14.8 3.1 44.2 33.7 41.0 63.2 310 938 the white. Of the 720 pupils over-age, 82.4% are colored, though colored pupils comprise only 75.2% of the entire pupilage. The relative status of negro and white pupils in each sec- tion regarding age and grade may be ascertained from Table XXIII. Here it is seen in the per cents of totals that while 14.8% of white pupils are under age, only 3.1% of negro attain that distinction. White pupils show about the same per cent nor- mal as over-age (44.2 and 41.0), while negro pupils show twice as much over-ageness as normal (33.7% and 63.2%). 60 School Adjustment Colored pupils are over-age with 50% greater frequency than whites. These generalizations are borne out with only slight variations in every grade. Table XXIV Pupils Under-Age, Normal Age and Over-Age by Half Years COLOEED PtrPILE Years lA IB 2A 2B 3A 3B 4A 4B 5A 5B 6A 6B 7A 7B 8A 8B Totals % Under 1 2 1 3 6 .6 Age 'A 4 4 1 1 3 3 3 3 1 23 2.5 Normal Age 87 34 30 12 18 16 13 7 22 9 18 8 16 8 12 6 316 33.7 v^ 21 13 16 11 13 2 15 1 15 8 6 3 10 4 4 5 147 15.7 1 9 10 11 7 10 12 6 10 7 8 6 10 3 3 4 4 120 12.8 1^ 8 2 10 3 7 2 11 2 9 9 8 9 9 2 7 3 101 10.8 2 4 3 4 4 5 3 4 8 9 12 4 5 '2 1 68 7.3 bC 2Vo 1 4 5 1 1 6 1 10 6 6 7 2 3 4 57 6.1 < 3 1 1 1 4 h 2 4 11 5 3 4 1 2 3 47 5.0 31/^ 1 1 2 2 3 4 3 1 2 4 2 25 2.6 > O 4 1 1 1 1 1 2 4 1 1 13 1.4 Wo 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 11 1.2 5 2 2 4 .4 Total 938 100.1 White Pupils Years lA IB 2A 2B 3A 3B 4A 4B 5A 5B 6A 6B 7A 7B 8A 8B Totals % Under 1 1 2 2 3 8 2.6 Age ¥2 2 1 1 5 3 2 5 8 3 8 38 12.3 Normal Age 17 9 8 7 7 5 4 4 9 7 6 4 16 13 9 12 137 44.2 v^ 1 3 2 1 2 4 1 5 2 2 2 9 3 4 2 43 13.9 1 3 3 2 1 1 5 3 4 3 4 3 3 35 11.3 Wo 1 1 1 1 4 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 20 6.5 2 1 1 1 2 2 7 2.3 bC 2Vo 1 2 1 2 3 1 1 11 3.6 < 3 1 2 1 4 1.3 01 ?,Vo 1 1 2 4 1.3 > O 4 1 1 .3 W2 5 1 1 2 .6 Total 310 100.0 Besides being more wide-spread among colored pupils, over- ageness is more acute in regard to the years of its extent. In Table XXIV have been distributed the data for under, normal and over-age by half years for each grade and section. Ex- amination of these entries indicates that colored pupils contribute practically all of the extreme over-ageness. This is especially Pupilage 61 noticeable in the lower grades where even though a pupil is three, four or five years over-age for grade, he is compelled to attend school. These extreme cases leave school at the earliest opportunity so that in the upper grades their number is reduced to a minimum. In spite of this fact the table shows 225 colored pupils to be two years or more over-age. These comprise 24% of all colored pupils. White pupils show twenty- nine such cases or 9.3% of total white enrollment. These pupils will at best be from 16 to 20 years of age at the com- pletion of the elementary school course. It is accordingly a safe prediction that the large majority of them will drop out before that time. The significance of this over-ageness does not lie so much in the fact that these children will leave school early, but lies more particularly in the fact that while in school the instruction received will not be adapted to their peculiar interests, aptitudes and abilities. Presumably the course of study was made for that one-third of the pupils who are of normal age. But the same course must also serve for the one- fourth of the pupils who are two or more years in advance of that normal age. These over-age pupils are the 'problems' of the classroom — indifferent, blase, impervious to stimulation. They have put away 'childish things' and refuse to respond with children and as children do. Not only do they make no satisfactory progress themselves but they serve very effectively to impede the progress of others. Accordingly, if the aim of the school is to meet the needs of the individual, it is manifest that these over-age pupils must receive different treatment and the school that fails to afford opportunity for such different treatment is in so far ignoring its educational aim. School Progress The progress of pupils through the grades is shown by half years in Table XXV. Since it is the aim of the school to have each child progress one section of a grade in each half year, only one half year is considered as normal time for completing a semester's work and pupils who have failed of promotion at any time during their school careers are considered retarded. This method of computing retardation is apt to make the figures run start- ingly high, but it sets forth clearly the true state of affairs 62 School Adjustment o ^ ^ iOl>05iOOCOcO'«tiCOCDOI>W5l>t^r^Tt.(MC005(M(N i-ITf'-*CO 00 >OfOO 00 (N 00 00 CO-* (M CO 05 CO »C >5? |0s m M o M pq PQ 1— I lO 10 t> iH 01 y-i CO t- OtOCO iH rH lOlOO (N t> •* CO 1-H CO a sjoo (N >-l ^ ^ Oi iH CO »0 CO lO »-l CO C1C4C4 (nIc I>1>COIO'<*CO'-ICO'-H «o«OiHeoT-i <0 00 CO lO^ tH locq cq to lOn ■* 1> >-l TtH to C4rHC4 T-|irdl>CDCO 1 |ia|i-ll>.i— ti-H iicOC4 CO «-•'<* liO>0-<# t^i-H IM «; COCDiM CO CO Tt lO iH N N iH .a-, Mc^ tn, , WMCQcoonccaiaiMcocoraajtncctoaitncQco O i-(i-l (N (N CO CO -"tl ^ U5 lO CO CD I> 1> 00 00 0> 05 O O r-4 ^3 o 9 o eg jh ^ ^4 ■gPLif^PH o o a Pupilage 63 regarding each pupil. This is the prime desideratum. Table XXV shows that accelerated progress has been made by 65 pupils, 5.2% of the whole. The numbers are so few as to per- mit rather wide variation in per cents of accelerated progress in different grades, but totals in this Table and better in Table XXVI show that 7.4% of white pupils and 4.5% of colored were accelerated. Table XXVI Grade-Progress Status of White and Colored Pupils in Per cents Grade Accelerated Normal Retarded Total Number Pupils W. C. W. C. W. C. W. C. lA 71.4 75.2 28.6 24.8 21 133 IB 61.5 26.1 38.5 73.8 13 65 2A 56.2 60.2 43.7 39.8 16 83 2B 7.7 2.1 30.7 32.6 61.5 65.2 13 46 3A 90.9 42.4 9.1 57.6 11 59 3B 2.4 15.4 14.3 84.6 83.3 13 42 4A 4.4 18.8 26.4 81.2 69.1 16 68 4B 2.8 41.7 13.9 58.3 83.3 12 36 5A 9.1 5.2 31.8 38.9 59.1 55.8 22 77 5B 13.3 5.9 6.6 11.8 80.0 82.3 15 68 6A 8.2 57.1 26.2 42.9 65.6 14 61 6B 10.0 8.6 20.0 5.2 70.0 86.2 20 58 7A 13.6 1.8 47.7 35.2 38.6 62.9 44 54 7B 7.7 17.8 7.7 10.7 84.6 71.4 26 28 8A 16.7 15.8 37.5 21.0 45.8 63.1 24 38 8B 13.3 27.3 23.3 22.7 63.3 50.0 30 22 Totals 7.4 4.5 37.1 35.0 55.5 60.5 310 938 Normal progress is shown by 37.1% of white pupils and 35% of the colored. 55.5% of white pupils and 60.5% of colored pupils are retarded. These per cents of progress are not so diverse as were those of age, seeming to indicate that colored pupils are late entrants but progress only slightly slower than the whites. That this conclusion is unsound can be seen by inspection of the numbers of colored and white pupils en- rolled in each grade. Where retardation is smallest, in Grade lA, there are more than six times as many colored pupils as white. This large absolute number of colored pupils in Grade lA has an important effect upon the total retardation per cent. Again, since the majority of colored pupils have been shown to be over-age, a slight degree of retardation tends to cause them to be eliminated. Note that Grade 8B shows a prepon- derance of white pupils. While, in the school as a whole, white 64 School Adjustment pupils constitute but 24.9% of the total enrollment. Indeed, nowhere above the 6th Grade are colored pupils retained in proportions approaching that for the school as a whole. Those colored pupils who are thus retained are therefore a finer selec- tion from the children of their race than are the white pupils. Both these conditions — the elimination of the less fit and the retention of the select — act to improve the school progress Table XXVII Pupils Showing Accelerated, Normal and Retarded Progress Colored Pupils Years lA IB 2A 2B 3A 3B 4A 4B 5A 5B 6A 6B 7A 7B 8A 8B Totals % Acceler- 2 ated UA 2 1 1 4 .4 Progress 1 1 1 .1 M 1 1 3 1 2 4 5 5 1 4 5 5 37 3.9 Nor. Prog. 100 17 50 15 25 6 18 5 30 8 16 3 19 3 8 5 328 35.0 y2 17 39 10 16 5 15 10 7 13 20 5 16 7 3 2 7 192 20.5 ^ 1 14 4 14 6 15 6 15 6 7 9 14 8 7 5 7 1 138 14.7 g) 1^ 1 5 3 2 4 9 5 12 1 7 5 16 3 6 4 2 85 9.0 ^ 2 1 3 3 7 1 7 5 12 4 9 5 5 6 68 7.2 £ 2y2 1 1 3 1 1 7 2 4 4 5 1 30 3.2 y. 3 3 2 1 7 4 1 2 3 3 26 2.8 1 sy2 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 10 1.1 1 4 2 1 4 1 3 1 12 1.3 1 4K 1 4 1 6 .6 ^ 5 1 1 .1 Total 938 99.9 White Pupils Years lA IB 2A 2B 3A 3B 4A 4B 5A 5B 6A 6B 7A 7B 8A 8B Totals % Acceler- 2 1 1 .3 ated VA 1 1 2 .6 Progress 1 3 3 1.0 K 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 17 5.5 Nor. Prog. 15 8 9 4 10 2 3 5 7 1 8 4 21 2 9 7 115 37.1 y^ 5 4 1 5 5 2 6 6 6 5 6 7 10 68 22.0 g 1 1 3 1 2 9 1 4 2 3 2 6 4 7 5 50 16.1 1 1^ 1 1 3 2 1 7 3 18 5.8 2 2 1 2 3 2 1 2 3 3 17 5.5 £ 2^ 1 5 1 3 1 1 12 3.9 'S 3 2 2 .6 1 3^ 1 1 1 3 1.0 1 4 .0 1 43^ '^ 5 1 1 2 .6 .0 Total 310 100.0 Pupilage 65 rates for colored pupils. In spite of these circumstances, how- ever, the per cent of retardation is five points higher for col- ored than for white pupils. A more thorough examination of the extent of retardation among individual pupils (see Table XXVII) shows that in the lesser degrees of retardation colored and white pupils main- tain the same rates — 44% of both classes of pupils are retarded one and one-half years or less. It is in the upper ranges of retardation that the entire difference is found. Colored pupils show 153 cases, or 16.3% of total colored enrollment, retarded two years or more. White pupils show 36 cases, or 11.6%. Thus we find that along with extreme over-ageness there is extreme retardation, both of which maladjustments encourage elimination. A somewhat finer analysis of the age and progress statistics for Grades 5 to 8 inclusive shows again that colored pupils figure largely in the over-age and retarded groups while white pupils make a better showing in groups having normal or rapid progress at normal age. The figures in Table XXVIII show the exact status of each grammar grade pupil regarding both age and school progress. In every one of the nine divisions of these tables the white pupils show better results than do the colored. For purposes of comparison the nine divisions have been telescoped into four as follows: over-age, slow progress; over-age, late entrance, lost time; at or below age, slow progress; at or below age, nor- mal or rapid progress. These per cents are shown in Graph I. Typical Cases of Retardation A more intimate picture of conditions surrounding typical colored retardates is afforded by the reports of personal visits to their homes. The school is fortunate in having the services of a trained colored social worker with a broad social viewpoint and a sympathetic, understanding contact with the problems of her people. This home and school visitor acts as a social secretary to link the interests of home and school. She has done much to improve home conditions in order that a satis- factory basis for successful school work can be established. Her report on visits to the homes of a few of the over-age and backward pupils of the sixth grade follows : 66 School Adjustment Table XXVIII (a) Age-Progress Staitis, Grades 5-8 White Boys Under Age Normal Age Over Age Yrs. — 1 ->^ V2 1 IH 2 2^ 3 3J^ 4 41^ Total % Accel 13^ 1 1 2 2.1 erated — 1 1 1 1.5 Progress — ^ 4 5 9 9.4 Normal Prog. 6 13 3 1 1 24 25.2 y2 4 11 4 1 2 22 23.1 s 1 1 7 5 3 1 2 19 20.0 sb ij^ 1 2 5 8 8.4 2 2 1 1 1 3 3.1 Oh 2^ 1 2 2 1 6 6.3 -g 3 1 1 1.5 -H 3^ ii 4 ^ 5 Total 4 17 35 14 8 5 2 8 2 95 % 4.2 17.8 36.8 14.7 8.4 5.2 2.1 8.4 2.1 100 White Girls Accel UA 1 1 1 erated — 1 2 2 2 Progress — J^ 2 2 2 1 7 7 Normal Prog. 2 7 21 3 2 35 35 s y^ 2 9 2 3 1 1 18 18 £ 1 6 4 1 2 1 14 14 ^ 1>^ 3 1 2 2 8 8 £ 2 1 3 1 1 6 6 -o 21^ 2 1 1 1 5 5 -§ 3 1 1 1 ^ 31^ 1 1 1 3 3 ^ 4 P^ 4^ Total 4 12 41 15 12 5 3 2 1 3 1 1 100 % 4 12 41 15 12 5 3 2 1 3 1 1 100 "The few cases which I have just visited are typical of re- tarded Negro children. The environmental condition for all is ignorance and poverty. In two cases feeble-mindedness is marked. Eight of the eleven children here visited are from the South, two having Uved here little over one year. Pupilage Table XXVIII (b) Age-Progress Status-Grades 5-8 Colored Boys 67 Under Age Normal Age Over Age Yrs. — 1 -K2 Yi 1 Wi 2 2^ 3 3H 4 4J^ Total % Accel IM 1 1 1 3 1.7 erated — 1 Progress — J^ 2 4 1 1 4 12 7.1 Normal Prog. 5 17 3 3 1 2 1 1 2 35 20.9 Progress }/2 1 12 3 6 4 2 1 1 30 17.9 Retarded 1 5 6 5 2 2 2 1 1 24 14.3 IJ^ 1 1 6 2 8 1 2 1 22 13.1 2 5 2 6 2 15 8.9 2y2 4 2 2 1 1 10 5.9 3 1 2 4 7 4.1 W2 2 2 1.1 4 2 3 5 2.9 ^V2 1 1 .5 5 1 1 .5 Total 3 7 40 19 17 25 18 18 8 3 7 2 167 % 1.7 4.1 23.9 11.3 10.1 14.9 10.7 17.7 4.7 1.7 4.1 1.1 100 Colored Girls Accel- —\y2 1 1 .4 erated — 1 1 1 .4 Progress — J^ 1 8 4 2 2 1 1 19 8.0 Normal Prog. 2 6 25 11 7 2 1 1 1 1 57 24.0 Progress y^ 1 16 9 6 3 2 2 1 3 43 18.0 Retarded 1 8 9 2 7 3 3 2 34 14.0 1^ 1 3 7 5 4 2 22 9.1 2 4 9 7 4 1 1 26 11.0 2^ 3 6 3 1 1 14 5.8 3 3 2 1 6 .5 3M 2 1 3 1 7 3.0 4 1 1 2 4 1.7 41^ 1 4 5 2.0 Total 3 7 59 36 28 31 27 20 10 13 1 4 239 % 1.2 2.9 24.6 15.0 11.7 12.9 11.3 8.3 4.1 5.40.4 1.6 100 "I have carried to these homes the school ideals, and have advocated a quiet hour around the table with the books before bed time, the open windows in the sleeping room, the impor- tance of the proper school attitude. In every case I believe the visit was appreciated." 68 School Adjustment 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Graph I Statiis of Pupils regarding Age and Progress {Grades 6 to 8) Colored White Boys Girls Boys Girls I Key Over Age Slow Progress Over Age Late Entrance Lost Time at or Below Age Slow Progress at or Below Age Normal or Rapid Progress 4 Pupilage 69 1. Girl, age 14 yrs. 11 mos., repeated lA, 2A, 4B, 6A, 6B — absent 30 sessions in four months. Health good — operation for appendicitis in 1918. Father dead, mother works away from home till 7 P. M. each day. Home — Small four-room house, $14.00 per month, in fair condition considering mother's continued absence at work. There is an excess of furniture: piano, china closet, pic- tures, bric-a-brac, etc. Mother illiterate — from Vir- ginia — anxious for daughter to meet the requirements of the school. Says girl goes to the movies every night. Girl shows no interest in school work — requires voca- tional training and guidance. School record poor. 2. Girl, age 17 yrs. 3 mos., repeated IB, 3A, 4A, 4B, 6A, 6B. Health poor — congestion of appendix, adenoids and tonsils removed, out of school three years — seems lifeless and without strength. Home — Good physical condition, but untidy and dirty. Mother — Illkempt, poor moral influence. Girl lacks initiative — works well under direction — needs training in simple sewing or other mechanical work. 3. Boy, age 15 yrs. 1 mo., repeated 4A, 4B, 5B, 6A, 6B. Health good. Had typhoid fever about 5 years ago. A short time ago a wagon ran over him, striking his head; this has left him a little nervous. The mother was out at the time of my visit. I had my conference with the grandmother. There are three other families in this house. The atmos- phere of the home is decidedly tame. Home badly kept. This family stands well in the community, but it is a home where the parental control is weak. They claim decided regard and appreciation for the school. Boy has not learned to concentrate. Does not study regu- larly. When he does settle down to his books he is usually interrupted to do some work or to go an errand. There is no effort made to systematize his study hour. 4. Boy, age 15 yrs., repeated lA, 2A, 3B, 4A, 6A. Health — This boy was dehcate as a baby. Had paralysis when three months old. Did not grow very much. Mother works from home nearly every day. The home is in decided disorder. One hesitates to go into it. The mother appears to be a good woman. She seemed very much disturbed about her boy's slow mental and physical growth; but she herself is of low grade mentally and does not appear to be very strong. Boy does no work outside the home, goes to bed at 9:30 and is up at seven. Mother claims the windows are raised entire night in his sleeping room. Boy attempts each night to do home study. Mother claims he is not able to learn. The home attitude toward the school is favorable but weak. 70 School Adjustment The conditions here described are as the visitor has said, "typical of retarded Negro children." Better homes, delight- ful in every way and uplifting in their influence, do exist among Negroes but they are relatively few. The conditions under which the majority of children live, while not so acute as those described here, are generally so unsatisfactory as to make it seem desirable for the school to find means of bolstering up the family life. In order to perform its own proper function with success, it is important that the school secure advantageous conditions in the home. Where these do not already exist, it becomes the duty of the school actively to engage in the improvement of such conditions. Pupils of Incomplete Record Before leaving the study of age and progress it must be noted that beside the 1238 pupils in the study there were 109 whose records for progress were incomplete and could not be included. ' Fable XXIX Age-Grade Status of Pupils of Incomplete Record Grade Age Total 3 in "XT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Years B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G "T~ 7 7^ 1* 1 1 8 sy2 1 1 1 1 2 9 1 2 1 1 1* 1 9J^ 2 3 6 9 10 1 3 2 1 103^ 1 2 1 1 1 6 7 13 11 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 nVz 1 1 1 2 8 7 15 12 1 2 1 3 12^ 1 2 2 1 1 10 5 15 13 1 1 1 1 1 1* 1 13J^ 1 2 2 1* 5 8 13 14 1 1 4 2 u'A 1 1 3 1 6 9 15 15 2 2 1 4 1 15K 1 2 4 8 11 19 16 1* 1 161^ 1 1 3 4 17 1 1 17^ 2 2 18 18^ 1 1 1 Total 51 58 109 * Starred entries represent white pupils. Pupilage 71 . Table XXIX shows the distribution of these 109 pupils with regard to race and age. It will be noted that only five are white children. White pupils as a rule have grown up in this or neighboring schools and their progress records have been kept without difficulty. The 104 colored children are largely admissions from the South without record of previous schooling. It will be noted in the Table that but one of these 109 pupils is under age, 5 are normal and 104 over age, 17 of them, one year, and 87 of them, two years up to four or five years. The pupils are largely two, three and four years over-age for grade, are poorly classified and cannot be expected to progress regu- larly or with much profit to themselves in a course planned for normal-age pupils. Attempts to meet the peculiar needs of such pupils have been made through the establishment of an adjustment class where the very worst cases of maladjustment have been sepa- rated and given individual treatment with a view to adjusting them to the Philadelphia course of study and finally classifying them effectively. However, conditions have made it impossible to organize more than one such class so that none of these 109 pupils could profit by the special treatment because it was monopolized by more acute cases. Thus, these poorly adjusted children, to the extent of 8% of the total pupilage of the school, were retained in regular classes. The obstruction of an already burdensome problem of over-age and retardation is thereby greatly increased and both normal and maladjusted pupils suffer in consequence. Subnormal Pupils Another class of pupils not included in any of the above -enumerations is the group of mental defectives. Only those children who are so abnormal as to be institutional cases can find a place in the one so-called orthogenic-backward class maintained in the school. The pupils in this class are made the subjects of careful examination, and special effort is jmade to improve their condition in every way possible. The following notes on individual pupils were made by a representative of the Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania. They will serve to indicate the characteristics and possibilities of certain mentally defective pupils. 72 School Adjustment 1. Age— 14 yrs. I. Q.— 36. Diagnosis: L. G. I. (Barr). Failed completely on the cylinders and design blocks and her performance with the Form Board was only fair. Recommended: Institutional care. Shows sex conscious- ness. Note: Decided Mongohan appearance to this girl. In con- duct she is apathetic and dull, and entirely lacks any lively interest or enthusiasm for anything. 2. Age — 11 yrs., 11 mos. I. Q. — 60. Diagnosis: H. G. I. (Barr). Failed on the Binet tests which do not require any degree of schooling. Perform- ance with Form Board good; performance with Design Blocks poor. Satisfied with failures. Physically beyond age in height and weight. Mentally nearly five years retarded. Recommended: Reason for eye examination. If naturally incUned to cook, should speciahze. If possible, should have training to enable her to read recipes. 3. Age— 10 yrs. 7 mos. I. Q —47. Diagnosis: Not higher than L. G. I. Form Board, very poor; Cylinders and Design Blocks, a complete failure. Educational ability is completely lacking. In contrast to these, however, her memory span for digits is high. She repeats both series of 6 under the Binet 10-year tests. Recommended: Industrial training, although mechanical ability is so very poor that even this may not be possible. Probably institutional care is the only other alternative. 4. Age — 10 yrs. 4 mos. I. Q. — 58. Diagnosis: M. G. I. (Barr). Succeeds well with Form Board; practically fails with Cylinders and Design Blocks. School subjects are a complete failure. Change in physical appearance from one day to the next, unnaturally height- ened color at times, and poor result of physical examina- tion might suggest tuberculosis. Recommended: Thorough physical examination. After improvement in health, should be given industrial train- ing. No further attempt should be made to teach her regular school subjects. Here again is a class of pupils who need very special treat- ment. Such treatment further emphasizes the necessity of careful investigation and study of the exact physical, mental and moral status of each individual. Only on a basis of this information can a working aim be established and only when both status and aim are clearly visioned can there be effective educative contact. Pupilage 73 There is in but few cases any question of reestablishing these children in regular classes. They have shown that they lack^ capacity for growth along academic hues. This does not mean that they are totally wanting in capacity for future usefulness unless indeed they are forced blindly to the sad doom of un- erring failure by being held persistently to tasks which are beyond their hmited capacities. We cannot restore lost pro- cesses but we can discover what these children are able to do with their limited intelligence, and then train them to do those things well. Thus there have been removed from the regular classes of the school a group of eighteen mentally defective children and another group of eighteen retarded, over-age, and generally maladjusted children. These, as has been shown, are only the most acute cases and all of them are Negro pupils. There remain in regular classes many other pupils, white and colored, who ought properly to be placed in classes similar to one or the other of these groups. The 109 cases of incomplete record, 104 of whom are colored and practically all of whom are notably over-age require per- sistent emphasis on minimum essentials and continued, prac- tical application. Opportunity for rapid advancement should be afforded these pupils in order that they may be restored to regular classes and retained in school until something approach- ing an optimum amount of educative experience has been acquired. So also with a large number of the many pupils who have been shown to be extremely retarded and over-age for grade. To avoid the necessity of properly classifying these pupils is to clog the regular processes of instruction for both normal and dull pupils, and to permit the most fundamental aspect of the educational aim — meeting the needs of the indi- vidual — to be set aside. Promotions At once a cause and a result of the excessive retardation and over-age indicated above is to be found in the promotion rates of the school. These show that only three-fourths of the pupils en- rolled at the end of the term have completed the work satisfac- torily or show ability to take up profitably the work of the next higher grade. The promotion rate for the school in June, 74 School Adjustment 1918, was 75.7% while that for the city as a whole was 84.1%. In 1919 the promotion rate for the school was 74.9%. To be sure, in this connection, somewhat of the traditional attitude still remains among teachers. Success is measured too much in amounts of information rather than in development of nat- ural tastes, abilities, interests, and the power to solve the prob- lems presented by practical hfe situations. This attitude on the part of the teachers is due to rigid interpretation of all too static and formal courses of study. Fortunately, recent radical changes have enriched and vitalized these courses and have done much to place emphasis on the individual child and his relation to the affairs of e very-day life. When the new spirit has had time to permeate the work of the school it may confidently be expected, that both pupils and teachers will 'live' in school. When school activities are shot through with wholesome, practical, purposeful endeavor, there is no doubt that more than three-fourths of the pupils will respond. Adjustment to Needs However, while these theoretical considerations of general application have peculiar force in the situation under discus- sion, we must not lose sight of the great burden of over-age and retardation which clogs the machinery of every classroom. Instruction addressed to and activities planned for normal children do not appeal to these older and retarded pupils. A large proportion of them are colored pupils who are well ad- vanced toward physiological maturity. These have acquired new interests which do not harmonize with the routine work of their younger and unsophisticated school-mates. Many of them work after school, an activity which often heightens their indifference to apparently impractical and formal school work whose relation to life is at best vague. These children are pass- ing through one of the most crucial stages in their lives — a stage where sympathetic, intelligent, educational guidance is of paramount importance. But the sort of instruction and training they need is out of place for the normal child of their school grade and because it is so these unfortunates lose in- terest in school work, become irregular in attendance, unreliable in preparation of assignments and generally uncooperative. More than ever do they give themselves up to the lure of the Pupilage 75 movie, the street and the corner gang. The estrangement becomes complete, and rare patience and ingenuity are required of the teacher to avoid open conflict. Finally, when the bar is removed, these children leave school for work — potent re- minders of the failure of the school to serve. In an attempt to meet more adequately this acute situation in the school, more minute classification within grades is ef- fected wherever practicable. Pupils who show marked ability are promoted incidentally during the progress of the term's work. However, this element of flexibility is hmited in its application to pupils who have evidenced superior achievement and who show capacity for advanced work. Considering the fact that such promotion entails precipitate introduction into the work of a higher grade already in course of progress, it is remarkable that pupils thus promoted gain so high a degree of success in the new work. This condition makes it necessary to limit incidental promotion to the exceptional pupil. During the past term only 2% of the pupils in regular classes have been advanced in this manner. This proportion could be ma- terially increased if it were possible in rapid advancement classes to afford instruction in the minimum essentials of the half-year's work to be gained. Another attempt to effect a closer classification of pupils and to permit rates of progress suited to their abihties was made by means of a reclassification of parallel divisions of certain grades. This was done in the middle of the semester on a basis of class standing and physiological age and maturity. One class was then permitted to make rapid progress while the other reviewed fundamentals, took its educational bear- ings and then proceeded at a pace comfortable for most of its pupils. At the end of the term pupils of this class were pro- moted, regardless of not having completed a full term's work, if they showed industry, appHcation and a fair degree of power. Many pupils of the advanced class will secure incidental pro- motion to the next higher grade because of the advanced work they have been able to do. This scheme lends an element of flexibility to grading and in so far is good, but it fails at the point of greatest need. Backward, extremely over-age and retarded pupils need special treatment that can be made to continue longer than one semester. They require rooms spec- ially equipped for their purpose but most of all they must have 76 School Adjustment teachers with sympathetic, broadly social outlook — teachers who can be free to study individual cases and provide appropriate training. Summary 1. The Stanton- Arthur School is housed in two buildings of 16 and 18 divisions respectively. The Stanton building ac- commodates white and colored pupils (59% colored) in Grades 1 to 8. The Arthur building accommodates colored pupils in Grades 1-5. 2. Pupils are admitted by promotion from other schools into Grades 5 and 7. Hence the proportion of higher grade pupils is greater than would obtain in a normal distribution. 3. (a) Residence and census tabulation for the school com- munity includes 70% of Stanton-Arthur pupilage. (b) The section includes two parochial schools for white children and a public primary school for colored pupils. (c) A larger proportion of colored than of white children in the district is enrolled in the Stanton-Arthur School. (d) White pupils from outside this section come to the school because of the lack of upper grade accommodations in their neighborhoods. Colored pupils come to the Stanton-Arthur School from great distances to avoid colored teachers or schools where their color will tend to make them conspicuous. 4. Pupil turn-over in the school is excessive because of shift- ing of population, immigration and early withdrawal. 5. Negro pupils from the South cannot be properly classified in regular grades. 6. Average attendance for the school is four points lower than that for the city as a whole. In the cases of absence investigated, illness, indifferent parents and truancy are the chief causes. 7. One hundred seventy-four formal warnings of prosecution and fifty-five actual prosecutions of indifferent parents besides many interv ews with the Attendance Supervisor and Prin- cipal were necessary to enforce the Compulsory Attendance Law. 8. Continued absence of pupils is one of the chief causes of failure in school work. 9 Over-age pupils in the Stanton-Arthur School constitute 36.1% of the total as against an average of 26.4% over-age in the city as a whole. Pupilage 77 . 10. Over-age for grade is 42% for colored pupils of the school and 19% for white pupils. 11 Extreme over-ageness is confined largely to colored pupils and is caused by late entrance and irregular attendance. 12. In age-grade statistics by half-years, colored pupils show lower per cents under age and normal age and higher per cents over-age. 13. Colored pupils over-age are nearly twice the number of normal age. Fewer white pupils are over-age than normal. 14. Of colored pupils 24% are two years or more over-age; of white pupils 9.3%. 15. Pupils showing accelerated progress constitute 7.4% of white and 4.5% of colored pupils. 55.5% of white and 60.5% of colored pupils are retarded. 16. The relatively good showing of colored pupils is caused largely by the selection of elimination. 17. The difference of 5% in retardation per cents is confined to the upper ranges — over-age two years or more — colored pupils 16.3%, white pupils 11.6%. 18. The environmental conditions surrounding retarded pupils are in nearly all cases poor and unstimulating. 19. One hundred nine pupils not included in the age-progress tabulation because of incomplete records show extreme retar- dation. 20. Beside these 109 pupils, the most pronounced cases of maladjustment have been placed in a special group for indi- vidual instruction. 21. The most acute cases of sub-normahty and mental de- ficiency are segregated in an Orthogenic Backward class. Many of these cases should receive institutional care. 22. At once a cause and result of excessive over-ageness and retardation is seen in the school's promotion rates which average 75%. 23. The tendency to rigid administration of a uniform course of study with large groups of pupils tends to perpetrate this condition. 24. Reforms are desirable in the way of flexible grading, varying time schedules and rates of progress, adaptation of work to capacity and physiological maturity. CHAPTER IV STANDARD ATTAINMENTS One measure of the success with which a school is approxi- mating the fullest achievement of its educational aim may be read in the attainments of its pupils. Relative rather than absolute attainment should be the criterion. Without having first definitely determined the kind, quality and amount of work to be done by each pupil and each homogeneous group of pupils, indeed without having first insured at least relative homogeneity in the grouping of pupils with regard to particular capacities, it is misleading to compare attainments either with standards which have been set up, or with central tendencies registered by groups working under different conditions. From the foregoing study of external and internal standard conditions surrounding the Stanton-Arthur school, it is plain that classi- fications, operations, schedules, and rate of work are not suffi- ciently differentiated to bring about for each individual the maximum approximation of achievement to capacity. These conditions tend at once to obstruct completely satisfactory achievement and to emphasize and widen variations. How- ever, in spite of these difficulties, the best general measure of pupil attainment is found in the use of standardized test ma- terial. Courtis Tests in Arithmetic The achievements of pupils in the fundamentals of arith- metic are indicated in the results of the Courtis Standard Test& in Arithmetic, Series B. The complete returns for the school for both rate and accuracy in each operation are given in Table XXX. The group containing the median performance is printed in bold type. In rate of work the medians show a fairly regular progression from grade four to grade eight though there is a wide spread of achievements in every grade and consequently much overlapping. It will be noted, for example, in eighth grade addition that one pupil attempted only two examples while two pupils attempted as many as eighteen. 78 Standard Attainments 79 =9 :S 5 1^ a coo COiOrfH CO d ^' (N lO t^l>J>l> CO o s 00 COOlt^iO O O l>- lO "—I 1— I I— 1 ,-H 1-H 1— 1 05 2 o o CO OOOOOCD 1-H CO-* coco COCO O'tieo r-l(N(N(NTH o 00 t-eoos »o 1-1 iH C 05iH a3(M CD « --H T-H CO i-H CDO(N i-H (M (M rH (N rH lO COOCOOOOi i-((M COrHT-H rfi C<1 (N COOOO CO (N C^ 10-* T-i CO(M o Ol --H cocoo IS 1— 1 loco o 1 oot>co »o-* t-iOOiOO »0 (N 00 d lO 00 CO t^ 00 CD t-- CO OM> IC i-< 1— 1 I— 1 1— 1 1-H 00 (M CO 1-1 CO T-i iM 00-* CO lOOOOO o OOO— 1 lOO § '-3 c o3 1* CO lo -* 05 ooc-r-NiM ej eccoCOiOTtH 05 05 I> Oi ■"# t^co Oslr^iO 0i01>i0i-i 1— 1 >— 1 I— 1 1-H 1— 1 1—1 1—1 1—1 1—1 '-' TtH CO 1-1 CD CO (N 1-1 1-1 Ci ococo 1—1 COt^t^ (M (N CD-# TjH CO «o * COCO T-H 1-1 (M ^ t>. OS CD CO CO ^ N COi-i 1-1 C35 10 05CO 1-1 (M TO 1-1 1-1 OJ(N 00 05 00 1-H CO(M T-H T-iCOiOOi-! 1-1 TON (M00005 (Mi-i i=l o (Ni-H 1— 1 !>. tH T— 1 b1 fH rt< CO 3 COJ> COiO-* OC OOOi-H^ ^ t^ 1-1 CO ■* 001>CO lO-* t> lO lO CO -D O5C01>^TfH 1—1 C<1 1-i (M -*| CO O 1-1 CO 00"* (N * COOO rH C5rtt^-* ooo 1— 1 1—1 coco IC CO 0500(NCO CO CO 1-1 1^ 1-1 X 00 00 CD-* O(MC»00CD 1-1 lO W »0 IM tH 1—1 1—1 rH 1—1 (N 00 iO(MCO "H i-H cOiOt- 1—1 1—1 1—1 1—1 05CO OOO o iMlMiH^ 05 OOiCKM lO ■ CO TiH O CD CO Cdio-* CO OC5 OOOCD 1-1 lO t^iCKM 1— 1 I— 1 T-l 1— 1 I— I T— 1 1—1 1—1 7-^ 1—1 CO OOCOtJ* coco 1-1 t^cooa 1-1 t> OC* 1-1 cr- 004 lO 1-1 (N 1-1 OiOCO>Oi-* t-l 1-1 ^ *tH(NO(M 1-1 «C^ iM 1-1 CDTO05 05 1-H 00 I" lo lo i-f^ COTOi-H cooo cot^ lo (M COTO o 1-1 IxN O i-KN-* Q (M * CO 1-1 1—1 (N 1-1 1-1 001>CDiO-* so School Adjustment In accuracy the same improvement from grade to grade is not noticeable, but this is due partly to the fact that each in- terval in the table represents a span of ten points on a per cent scale. In addition to this it must be remembered that per cents of accuracy are calculated upon an increasing number of attempts as the grades advance. However, with the exception of 90% accuracy, which can be attained only by those pupils who attempt ten or more examples, every degree of accuracy is represented in every grade in each operation. In every grade, then, for both rate and accuracy, the tables show a wide range of attainment. This condition is important in any considera- tion of medians or central tendencies. Table XXXI Median Scores — Courtis Standard Tests — Arithmetic Series B Stanton-Arthur School March and June Scores and Courtis Gen. Medians Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division Grade Rate % Accuracy Rate % Accuracy Rate % Accuracy Rate % Accuracy IV March Scores June Scores Courtis Gen. 4.6 6.6 7.4 65 68 64 5.4 6.6 7.4 65 79 80 4.6 5.6 6.2 64 73 67 3.0 3.7 4. '6 42 57 57 V March Scores June Scores Courtis Gen. 4.4 7.6 8.6 73 70 70 5.9 6.9 9.0 80 84 83 5.3 6.8 7.5 73 70 75 4.2 4.7 6.1 67 70 77 VI March Scores Jvme Scores Courtis Gen. 6.4 8.5 9.8 71 76 73 7.7 8.4 10.3 78 86 85 7.5 7.8 9.1 78 82 78 5.3 6.7 8.2 81 88 87 VII March Scores June Scores Courtis Gen. 7.6 9.8 10.9 70 76 75 8.9 10.7 11.6 83 88 86 8.5 10.0 10.2 80 79 80 6.4 7.9 9.6 83 90 90 VIII March Scores June Scores Courtis Gen. 8.1 10.4 11.6 73 75 76 9.9 11.2 12.9 86 89 87 9.7 11.5 11.5 81 87 81 7.5 10.2 10.7 87 97 91 The scores presented in Table XXX represent the achieve- ments of pupils in March and hence are not exactly comparable with the Courtis General Medians which are calculated from June scores. Another form of the same test was therefore administered in June. In Table XXXI are shown the median scores for both March and June, together with the Courtis general medians. ' Standard Attainments 81 . Comparison of these March and June median scores shows that marked progress was made in the three months period intervening. This progress was greatest and most general in rate of work. The number of examples attempted increased in every operation in all grades. An advance in accuracy is shown in every case except fifth grade addition and fifth and seventh grade multiplication. These June scores represent the achievements of pupils not only at the close of the term's work but at the completion of a three months period of special drill on the fundamental operations. To what degree the achieve- ments here represented indicate permanent abihty it is difficult to say, but it is at least safe to assert that these June scores were made under favorable circumstances and that they prob- ably are higher than would be obtained under average condi- tions. Notwithstanding these unusually propitious conditions, it will be seen on examination of the table that in rate of work the school medians average one or more examples lower than the Courtis general medians. In accuracy a somewhat better showing is made, the medians for the school exceeding those of Courtis in eleven of the twenty cases. It must be remem- bered, however, that accuracy for the school is calculated on a base of fewer examples attempted than is the case for the Courtis medians. At the same time that the tests were given originally in the Stanton School in March, they were also administered under identical conditions in six other Philadelphia public schools. Four of these schools are so located as to draw pupilage from representative white communities and two schools are made up entirely of negro pupils. Results of the tests in the seven schools show marked divergence. Three of the lowest school medians (fifth grade addition and multiplication and eighth grade subtraction) are contributed by the Stanton School and the school is consistently below the median for the group of schools tested. That the reason for these low scores lies in the character of the pupilage of the school is indicated by the fact that, of the twenty low^est medians, sixteen are contributed by the three schools whose pupils are entirely or predominantly negro. These schools contribute only two of the highest school medians. In the June test, the negro schools furnished eighteen 82 School Adjustment of the twenty lowest medians and only two of the highest. This situation indicates that the results in the Stanton School were uniformly lower than in the four white schools and gen- erally higher than in the two schools serving entirely negro pupilage. In order to confirm the above generalization as to the rela- tive performance of white and negro pupils, an analysis was made of the June results attained by pupils of the Stanton School. The scores for white and negro pupils were tabulated separately Table XXXII Courtis Standard Tests in Arithmetic — Series B Median Scores of White and Negro Pupils — Grades 6-8 Number of Pupils Addition Subtraction Mult Rate iplication % Acciu-acy D Rate i vision Grade Rate % Accuracy Rate % Accuracy % Accuracy VI 37 White 114 Negro Difference 49 White 77 Negro Difference 50 White 46 Negro Difference 8.6 8.3 78.0 75.5 8.8 8.2 86.7 86.6 9.2 7.5 81.8 82.3 7.5 6.0 100.0 86.4 VII .3 10.4 9.6 2.5 78.5 72.5 .6 10.5 10.8 .1 93.6 85.5 1.7 10.0 10.1 — .5 84.5 76.9 1.5 8.7 7.8 13.6 97.5 87.6 VIII .8 10.9 10.1 6.0 80.0 70.0 — .3 11.5 11.0 8.1 89.2 88.0 — .1 11.3 11.7 7.6 88.2 87.1 .9 11.0 9.5 9.9 95.0 93.3 .8 10.0 .5 1.2 — .4 1.1 1.5 1.7 Note: — indicates negro pupils in advance of whites. and the resulting medians are presented in Table XXXI I . The numbers of white pupils in grades four and five were so small as to make comparison impossible. Hence only grades six, seven and eight appear in this study. It will be noted in the table that the median achievement of white pupils is in advance of that for negro pupils in twenty-four of the twenty- eight cases. Negro pupils show slightly higher accuracy in sixth grade multiplication and higher rate in seventh grade subtraction and multiplication, and in eighth grade multipli- cation. The consistent difference here indicated is remarkable in view of the facts that a conscious attempt is made to classify pupils uniformly within grades so far as standard conditions Standard Attainments 83 permit, and that a finer selection of negro than of white pupils obtains in the upper grades. These results were obtained in June at the close of a period of intensive drill in which special attention was given to those pupils who had been doing notably poor work. In spite of the effort to obtain uniform classification within the hmits prescribed, and to effect uniformity of attain- ment through special drill with the slower pupils, it is seen that negro pupils generally achieve somewhat lower results in fundamentals of arithmetic than do the whites. Table XXXIII Monroe Standardized Reasoning Tests in Arithmetic Test III Test II Test II Test I Score Grade 8A Grade 7 Grade 6 Grade 5 Intervals Principle Answers Principle Answers Principle Answers Principle Answers W. N. W. N. W. N. W. N. W. N. W. N. W. N. W. N. 29-30 1 3 27-28 2 1 3 25-26 1 1 1 8 23-24 1 2 1 2 4 21-22 2 8 3 1 1 2 9 2 19-20 1 1 7 6 2 1 2 1 8 1 1 17-18 1 10 11 4 2 2 1 2 1 3 8 1 15-16 3 3 1 7 12 4 3 2 4 2 2 5 4 1 4 13-14 5 4 3 13 13 6 11 2 6 1 3 3 10 1 9 11-12 8 7 9 12 17 6 7 15 2 4 1 12 3 11 9-10 2 7 2 1 6 13 15 17 8 15 8 16 1 7 3 13 7- 8 2 6 4 4 5 8 9 16 5 24 6 23 2 9 4 12 5- 6 1 5 11 9 5 4 12 15 2 25 6 24 1 3 3 15 3- 4 2 1 1 9 2 1 5 10 1 11 3 24 1 3 2 10 1- 2 6 10 1 1 2 3 1 5 1 4 2 8 2 7 2 10 2 Totals 28 34 28 34 79 86 79 86 31 108 31 108 21 90 21 90 Medians 12 10 6 4 14 13 10 8 11 8 8 6 15 13 10 8 Standards 18.1 9. 4 19 .6 13 .6 12 .6 9 8 15 .6 9.6 Reasoning Tests in Arithmetic An attempt to measure reasoning abihty in arithmetic was made through the use of the Monroe Standardized Reasoning Tests in Arithmetic* In so far as these tests measure reasoning ability, the results may be taken as a rough indication of relative efficiency in the exercise of the higher mental powers. Since it is in this general * Monroe, W. S. Measuring the Results of Teaching, pp. 160 et seq. 84 School Adjustment field of activity that scientific investigation points to the great- est divergence of attainments on the parts of the white and the negro, the achievements of pupils in the Stanton-Arthur school are presented by races in Table XXXIII. Only two grades took the same test. Hence the results are not exactly comparable between grades except in the case of grades six and seven, both of which took Test II. Examina- tion of the score distributions shows a wide range of achieve- ment for both white and negro pupils in all grades for both correct principle and answers. There is evidence here of im- proper and inefficient grading and classification of pupils and strong reason for the provision of such time schedules and de- spatching as will enable teachers to adjust the work to the needs and capacities of individuals or small homogeneous groups of pupils. Disregarding this great variation of achievement, it will be noted from the median scores that, in general, the white pupils are everywhere in advance of the negro pupils. This superi- ority ranges from 14% to 37% in median scores for principle and from 25% to 50% in correct answers. Compared with the standard scores determined by Dr. Mon- roe from the results of testing some 5000 children, the achieve- ments of both classes of pupils here presented are low. How- ever, some reason for the poor showing of the white pupils may be found in their classification into relatively large groups, comprised in the main of pupils whose powers of reflective think- ing are such as to retard the forward movement of the entire class. The relative position of median scores indicates that in general white pupils show an achievement half-way between that of the negro pupils and the standard scores. This is true for both reasoning and calculation. As has been indicated, one of the chief abilities measured by the "correct principle" scores is that of reading with under- standing. The abihty of the pupil to gather thought from the printed page is the first essential in the solution of arithmetical problems. It is not easy to isolate this quality, however, be- cause of the added difficulty presented by the technical terms of the problem and the further necessity of using both the thoughts presented by the text and the technical terms as a basis for the complex process of reasoning. All three of these Standard Attainments 85 elements must operate successfully in combination, in order that a proper solution ensue. The isolation of these elements is a prerequisite to the efficient application of remedial measures. These must be directed to the weaknesses displayed by indi- viduals in one or another of the necessary elements. Silent Reading Tests An effort to isolate one of these three qualities — ability to read with understanding — is made by the same author in his Standardized Silent Reading Tests.* Something more than ordinary understanding of the printed page is required to secure correct answers and the comprehension score. The pupil must analyze situations presented, weigh alternatives and follow directions implicitly. All of these are elements in the com- prehension of some sorts of texts but their inclusion here puts the tests on a distinctly higher plane than the type of under- standing required for the ordinary appreciation of a description or narration. On the other hand, this type of test avoids the complication presented by requiring pupils to reproduce the essential points of the text and offers better conditions for uniform scoring of papers. The results of the test in grades 4 to 8 of the Stanton-Arthur School together with the standard scores presented by Dr. Monroe are given in Table XXXIV. Median scores for the tests are lower in every grade than the standards, though white pupils approximate these standards more closely than do negro pupils. The greatest disparity in results is found in grades four and five where Test I was used. In both rate and comprehension scores, Stanton-Arthur pupils are far below the standards in these grades. In rate of reading, the scores of fourth grade white pupils are not quite half way between the standards of grades three and four, while fourth grade negro pupils are far below even the third grade standard. In com- prehension, fourth grade white pupils just equal the standard score for grade three, while negro pupils are sfightly below the standard. The difficulty here indicated in silent reading for comprehension may be due largely to the use of a synthetic or word method of teaching reading in the lower grades. Too great emphasis is placed upon word calling to the exclusion of * Monroe, W. S. Op. cit., pp. 22 et seq. 8G School Adjustment > ^ X s X •■SI X (/^ "M H >u 1-4 n ■■a ) CO (M (N --I --I coco CO ^ ^ ^ ^^ CO GO l> C<) O T-H CO (M r-H I— 1 i-H ^ COCO O 02 o (M IM .-H. ^ (N CO i-HtH T— 1 I— ( r— 1 a> ■ O « la o ^ T-HCOCOCOTtHOCDt^(MCOC CO --H rH l-H ■* ■ ^OT-^ ^ COMCOC01005T)HC^CO(M l> o C H- 1 G5 T)H 05 '^ C5 CO CO d t^ Tt<' (N O GO CO TtJ 05 oi i-i ' ^ • S Tt^ Tti CO CO lO M< CO co CO-* o 00 ^ 7— 1 1— 1 CO CO r-H CO lO ^ (N(MCO CO t^ l0C0C0C0C0rHl0rt. t-H CO Tf< 1— 1 00 rH (M 1-H CO ^H CO IQ 1-H rH CO 00 05 ^ CO (M .-1 CO .-H C^ o I-H 7-* CQ t^ ^ O0J> CO T-H O lO CO(M CO rH rH I— ( rH I— 1 Gii> O rH < Pi ^ 00':J< lO I> »0 (M ICH> T-H .-H ooo C0 05 00 ^ IQrH 00 CO 1> •* 00 -.^1 T-H T-H '^CO lO G5 00 O I-H ^ t^'* 00 r- T-H 00 i> I-H Coo rH _ COOOOiOOi-OOiOOiO O lO OiOOiOOiOOkCOiCOrH rtHrtHCO(MrHrH0005050000t^I>COCOiOiOrrt-*COCO(N(N ^ 1— Ii-Hi-Hi-Hi-Ht-Hi— li-H S 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 o rHrHrHCOrHCOrHCD'-HCOrHCO'-HCO'-HCOrHCOrHCO'-HCDrHCO^^ rtt>TCOCOLOiO-*i'=* -^ 1 « w >> 03 -a _o 'G Ph spouaj; F^ox o CO o 00 OO lOOOO ■^rf* (N (N ■<*■* 1-H 1— 1 suoi^oag JO -ON 00 X o ■<1< X o CO IC X X spoua^j P^ox taoo^ araojj coco CO I-l •J^SUJ •AipUI CO ■* CO ■* CO COCO C^COIN s chers; C, Ro •pny lO ■* CO-* cocoes '3 a SUOT'^ -boOjY coco 00 w CO CO 03 I"! GO J2 •^AipH •uioa (N (N (M o -* o ■* ABLE XL n of Stanton 'or: A, Pupi XIM ■Ho (N CO CO o ■* o ■* o a> 15" 3 o 'a e3 o Apms CO .i£)(M T— 1 T-H 1— 1 I-H lOiO iCOOO (N(N (NCOC^'* 1— 1 00 Sp'BIJr) tS^ a£4^'^ d-e 3 o ^^ CO O cs a aj si •♦^ & -C.S O K^ « a =3 a3-_ ■2 -^ a^ o 3 ^.'^ " S-S « ° >>.S d'S - a S^.2-S ;h -f^ -g o3^ -g ^■g « oj ca TS ,_, ■» u3 to >> 02 00 t^ CO O'-H CO ■* t^ CO Or-< CO rfi o Or-H TjH Tl* O 0.-I ^ Tfl o Ol-H ■* Ttl o Oi-H TtH ■* (M lO CO Ot-i CO Tt< (M lO CO 2'-' CO -* t^ tH'*i© OiN T— ( 00 05 CO CO ■*! CO 0(N 00 00 CO OOO (M o_ (M (M rH CD-* 1— t l-H OOCOl^Oi o^. l> (M T-H .a to -p-s ^ o ^ -Sh •- -e >> o H'B p^H r^s 3 c3 X "Si =« O o « &^J2 . ^ • !» Oi^ § O 1^ ^ S 3 & oS _, 3 1^ D _• .. "73 to Q) &. o o 15 M o3 o — '^-^ o li-H OM I I OO -o C^Q I Jh t< o O 1 ^ fli /i-i 2 «* 0.73 & Or) >£3 Oh o c3 C 03 0) •-' a; f>5 bC-*^ O S « 03 on 02H mHW c3 "^ to to tH O-d cl fH a> T3 OJ >iOi QiO a a t3 0) G P 136 School Adjustment of the school, and of providing wholesome luncheons, suggests an extension of the school day. The Stanton School is there- fore organized on a nine-period (45-minute) day, comprised in general of four periods of academic work, two periods of manual arts, one auditorium, one play and one lunch period. This longer school day is realized with only a fifteen-minute extension of the present day, by retaining pupils over the lunch period, thus avoiding a long unsupervised recess in which chil- dren must walk, many of them long distances, to homes from which parents are absent at work. Table XL gives the general plan of activities, showing utiliza- tion of plant as well as the assignments of pupils and teachers. It is hoped that this table with its accompanying nbtes will be self-explanatory.* However, certain important advantages of the scheme of organization do not appear in the table. Where there are two or three teachers in a given subject, the program may be so organized as to have instruction in the same sub- ject given to classes of succeeding grades at the same period though in different rooms. It will then be possible, in a given subject, for any pupil to take work with a class above or below his general grade standard. Thus the advantages of individual roster, special pupil assignments, promotion by subject and flexible grading may be secured to the end of adjusting the work of the school to individual needs. The larger adjustments are provided for in the ungraded and special classes indicated in the outline of the work of the school (Table XL). It will be noted that the facilities proposed for the new Stan- ton building have been determined by the curriculum and types of activity to be offered and by the form of organization of the school. Supervision A school organization which seeks to make teaching vital must develop rather than direct its teachers. Only by sugges- tion, inspiration, the fixing of ideals and standards, can re- sponsibility be exacted in terms of real capacities developed in the children. The careful study of individual pupils, the diag- * For details of program construction from such data, see " Organization of Classes in Holmes Junior High School" — Sondberg, D., Current Education —June, 1919. Reorganization 137 nosis of defects and the determination of causes and remedies can be brought about only through detailed, sympathetic super- vision. It is impossible for this type of professional stimulation and guidance to be afforded in so large and diversified a school organization by one supervisory officer whose major attention must of necessity be directed to administrative duties. Con- sequently, in order to insure an upbuilding constructive organi- zation, it is recommended that the school principal be pro- vided with an assistant whose entire time shall be devoted to the professional supervision of grades one to six. Thus would be reserved to the school principal, in addition to his adminis- trative duties, the special province of the professional super- vision of the higher grades. Provision is made in the budget for the salary of this assistant supervisor. Personnel The suggested organization of the school as indicated in Table XL would require forty-one teachers, two for kinder- gartens, twenty-five for regular classes, four for special classes, ^nd ten for special subjects and activities, including music, drawing, manual and household arts, auditorium and play. This total represents an increase of six over the present num- ber of teachers,* due to the addition of two special ungraded ■classes and the introduction of a vocational class and a wide range of special activities in which a separate teacher is required for each half of a gi^en regular class. As to the race of the teachers, it seems wise that the present arrangement be continued. Because of the large proportion of negro pupils in the school, the entire Arthur building may be devoted to them in grades 1 to 5. Here negro teachers should be employed. In the Stanton building there will then be about an equal proportion of white and negro pupils. Here white teachers should be retained not solely because of the presence of white pupils, but for the more important reason that, since negroes must live and work with white people, "they should have the benefit of instruction from representatives of the white group at some point in their school life."* * See Table XI, P. 44, 34 teachers and 1 sewing teacher. * Negro Education— U. S. Bureau of Education— Bulletin 1916, No. 38, p. 4. 138 School Adjustment It will be noted in the budget for 1921 that provision has been made not only for salaries and supplies for the additional teachers and activities, but also for a material increase in the sal- aries of all teachers. Of first importance in increasing the efficien- cy of the school is this provision for increased financial reward in order to secure not only the highest type of teaching ability, but also the broadest, most sympathetic insight into the pe- culiar problems of individual pupils, their homes and their community surroundings. Teachers for the school should be selected with these ideals in mind and only those who have some understanding of the peculiar problems of the school and who show a desire to enter whole-heartedly into the work should be admitted to the teaching corps. Carefully selected teachers, securing increased remuneration for their special efficiencies, could be retained in the service and encouraged to progress with their problems by an additional efficiency reward for eminent success. Thus there would be secured to the school a corps of efficient teachers with a thorough understanding and appreciation of the fundamental aims of the school and the part played by each school activity in the realization of these aims. There would result a scientific spirit of investiga- tion, a desire to experiment with new procedures to the end of securing continuous improvement, and an esprit de corps such as can only be fully developed on principles of fair deal and efficiency reward. A Community School With the plant, organization, curriculum and personnel out- lined above, the school could not fail to radiate its influence out into the community. But in order to insure the fullest functioning of the school it is important that constructive effort be employed to encourage full community cooperation and understanding. In view of the nature of the problem of attendance in the school and because of the need of direct contact with indi- vidual homes, it is recommended that the compulsory attend- ance officer who serves this school as only part of a much larger field of work, be replaced by a visiting teacher who could devote her entire time to individual work on the problem of school and community relationship. It is desirable that this officer Reorganization 139 possess the highest quaUfications as both teacher and social worker, and that she be in entire sympathy with the general problem presented. Her specific duties would include investi- gation and elimination of unnecessary non-attendance, im- provement of sanitary and general health conditions in homes and community, detailed follow-up work on the recommenda- tions of the school physician and nurse as to the correction of physical defects, and the wise placement of pupils leaving school for work. She would act as intermediary between the com- munity and the school, carrying the ideals of the school directly to the community, and fostering a constructive cooperation of social and civic organizations, as well as keeping the school in close touch with the currents of life in the community. Having changed the kind of experiences that are given and individualized the school to the point of approaching a solution of community problems, the school must be given over to the people. It is false economy to restrict the use of a modern building to children for only twenty-five or thirty hours a week for ten months in a year. The new Stanton building should be so planned that auditorium, cooking, sewing, manual arts, music and playrooms are in the first floor and basement for easy access and use by the community in the evenings. Oppor- tunities should be afforded for evening instruction as well as for recreation, play and social and civic gatherings. Further- more, children need direction and guidance during the summer months as well as at other times in the year, and this should be provided in a so-called 'Vacation' school. The modern school in the fullness of its functioning has been variously termed 'Vitahzed'* and 'Magnified.'f "The decline of the influence of the family, of the church, of the workshop, and of the major Nationalizing Traditions has meant the in- crease of the domain of the school. And as the school extends the frontier of education, thereby enlarging its service to the common good, it will of necessity turn its attention inward and utilize the external good for its internal improvement."! It is in this reciprocal influence of the school and the community that rest the hopes of Democracy. In the community we have * Pearson — The Vitalized School, t Ward, E. J.— The Social Center. t Ward, E. J. op. cit. 140 School Adjustment studied here, there is peculiar force to the need for a common understanding, a unity of purpose, and a sympathetic coopera- tion in working toward a common goal. The school must enter deeply into the lives of the people as well as into the lives of the children in order to become the great democratic socializing agency. Conclusion To effect the many improvements made possible by the adjustment of the school to the needs of its community re- quires then a complete reorganization, an increased budget of expenditures, a new and different type of plant, a revised, enriched and diversified program, a differentiated corps of teachers fully compensated for their special efficiencies, a changed spirit in instruction and a broader conception of service. All these are necessary in order that the school may come into its own as the prime exemplar of democratic institutions within the community, and that the education it affords may have telling effect on present social life through the cooperative realization of the highest ideals. Bibliography 141 BIBLIOGRAPHY U. S. Census RepOTts, 1880 to 1910. U. S. Census Statistical Abstract, 1910, Pennsylvania Supplement. U. S. Census, 1910, Occupations. U. S. Census Bureau, 1918, the Negro Population in U. S. 1790, 1915. U. S. Census Bureau, 1918, Financial Statistics of Cities. U. S. Bureau of Education — Bulletin 1916, No. 38 — Negro Education. Board of Education, Philadelphia, Report 1918. Bureau of Compulsory Education, Philadelphia, Reports 1915-1919. Boas, F. The Mind of Primitive Man. Galton, F. Hereditary Genius. Hall, G. S. The Negro in Africa and America. Ped. Sem. ('12), page 350. LeBon, G. The Psychology of Peoples. WooDWOKTH, R. S. Racial Differences in Mental Traits. Ferguson, G. O., Jr. The Psychology of the Negro. DuBois, W. E. B. The Philadelphia Negro. Souls of Black Folk. Washington, B. T. Up from Slavery. The Future of the American Negro. Newman, B. J. Housing the City Negro. (Phila. Housing Assn.) Miller, K. Race Adjustment. Odum, H. W. Social and Mental Traits of the Negro. Page, T. N. The Negro; the Southerners' Problem. Noble, S. G. Forty Years of the PubUc Schools in Mississippi. Smith, H. L. A Survey of a Public School System. Dewey, J. Democracy and Education. Schools of Tomorrow. Betts, G. H. Social Principles of Education. YocuM, A. D. Sanity and Definiteness in Education — Old Penn, Novem- ber 27, 1915. Culture, Discipline and Democracy. The True Meaning of Minimum Essentials in Elementary Education. U. of P. Schoolmen's Week Proceedings, 1917. Bobbitt, F. The Curriculum. Holmes, W. H. School Organization and the Individual Child. Bunker, F. F. Reorganization of the PubUc School System. Douglass, A. A. The Jimior High School. Bennett, H. E. School Efficiency. Emerson, H. The Twelve Principles of Efficiency. Smith, R. Elements of Industrial Management. Monroe, W. S. Measuring the Results of Teaching. Trabue, M. R. Completion Test Language Scales. Thorndike, E. L. Journal of AppUed Psychology, April, 1919. Engleman, J. O. Moral Education in School and Home. Anderson, M. L. Education of Defectives in the Public School. Patri, a. a School Master in the Great City. Pearson. The Vitalized School. Ward, E. J. The Social Center. School Surveys and Reports: Portland, Newton, Salt Lake City, EvansviUe, Springfield, New Orleans, Memphis, Solvay, Cleveland, Gary, New York City, Boston. LIBRnRY OF CONGRESS 020 312 762 5