Official Proceedings
WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE
CHILD HEALTH and PROTECTION
HV
November 19-22, 1930
741
.W47x
1930
Buhr
SECTION III.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
CHIC
IMTEARVI
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1930
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2-20-1933
White House Conference on Child Health
and Protection
Section III
T
Education and Training
Friday, November 21, 1930
HE meeting convened at ten o'clock,
Continental Hall, Dr. Thomas S.
Wood presiding.
Chairman Wood: I have been asked to
act as Chairman of this meeting in place
of Dr. Kelly, who is very much occupied
with his duties as a member of the Exe-
cutive Committee on Procedure of the
Conference as a whole.
The plan with reference to which I
have been advised is that each commit-
tee will have at its disposal at the begin-
ning of the program fifteen minutes, and
it will be my duty, as well as privilege,
as chairman, with your approval, to try
to guide the program with that limitation
of time. We will proceed at once to the
program, with a discussion of the first
committee in Section III, "Family and
Parent Education," to be presented by the
chairman, Dr. Louise Stanley, of Wash-
ington. (Applause.)
PIV
74
Dr. Louise Stanley (Washington): The
most important agency in child health
and protection is the family. Statistics
on marriage, divorce, size of families,
and proportions of birth in the popula-
tion have been interpreted to indicate
disintegration of family life. Certain un-
mistakable trends in our modern indus-
trial civilization are undoubtedly influ-
encing it. The first work of the commit-
tee was a summary of material available
on the status of the family at the present
time, and an analysis of the influence of
changing economic and social factors on
it. As a result of this study and other
studies to be described later, the com-
mittee concludes that the family fulfills
deep-seated needs of the human race.
The question is: Shall we let the family
be merely the product of a changing en-
vironment, adapting itself to it, or are
there not fundamental values in family
life which should be conserved and the
environment adjusted to them?
The next problem which the committee
set itself was the determination of what
are the fundamental human values in
family life. Under the guidance of Dr.
PLI
Groves, of the University of North Caro-
lina, an outline was prepared analyzing
family functions in reference to the child.
Through a study of these under varying
situations it is hoped to find those func-
tions which are most enduring and sat-
isfying. Only a beginning has been made,
but a method has been outlined which it
is believed will be helpful in setting up
for us those functions which should be
preserved at all cost.
Factors in Home Environment
The activities and relationships of the
home were studied to see how they in-
fluenced personality development within
the home. The original attempt to get
information in this field indicated that
most of the data available had
available had come
from abnormal homes. For this reason,
an effort was made to collect informa-
tion throwing light on this problem. Un-
der the direction of Dr. Burgess of the
University of Chicago, and with the co-
operation of school people the country
over, records were collected from some
eight thousand school children. These
were analyzed to determine the factors
in the home environment which seem to
affect personality development in chil-
dren.
A relationship was found between the
degree in which children confide in their
parents and such other factors of fam-
ily life as group celebration of holidays,
recreational activities in common, the
type of control exercised by the parents
over the children, the source of first in-
formation about sex, and the general per-
sonality adjustment of the child. This
study is suggestive to parents and par-
ent educators. It needs to be supplement-
ed and further interpreted.
There was also needed a technique for
the measurement of some of the more
intangible factors within the family
which seemed so greatly to influence the
personality development of children. A
detailed study was initiated under the
direction of Dr. Rachel Stutsman of Mer-
rill-Palmer School to determine indices
30
[ 3 ]
of homes which tend to produce well-
adjusted children as compared with those
that produce maladjusted children.
Through a detailed interview of 50 well-
adjusted and 50 poorly adjusted children
a beginning was made in setting up a
measure of these more intangible in-
fluences on family life.
The basic factor in the determination
of the physical environment of family life
is the family income expressed either in
terms of money income or family labor,
or usually a combination of the two.
There is need of research to determine
more definitely the basic income for the
maintenance of an adequate family liv-
ing, and the amounts necessary to pro-
vide adequate care for the children of
various ages. Physical survival and health
are dependent upon physical surround-
ings, and favorable physical surroundings
cannot be provided on inadequate in-
comes.
Wise spending increases the returns
from any income, but below a certain
level intelligent spending is impractica-
ble because of the ignorance imposed by
poverty.
Fundamental to the very existence of
the family is its ability to provide ade-
quate income, and to expend it wisely.
A basic income should be within the at-
tainment of every family to insure the
minimum standards for survival and secu-
rity. This is an economic problem of na-
tional scope. A nation that values its
future development will take steps to see
that this basic income at least is avail-
able to all its people. Only then can we
demand of all families the observance
of those methods of child care upon
which child health and protection de-
pend.
Standards have been set up on the
basis of the best present knowledge to
help guide the expenditures for the main
essentials of living; food, housing and
clothing.
Standards of Living
Housing standards have been set up in
some detail. It is hoped that these will
be given more definite form in the hous-
ing conference which will follow this
and problems of housing in relation to
the family life studied.
Food is a basic physical need. The Sub-
committee on Nutrition of the Committee
on Growth and Development has brought
together for us the basic facts in regard
to the food needs of children. Definite
figures can be set up for the cost of food.
We know the relative amounts of food
consumed by children in relation to ad-
ults. We know the food group from
which selection should be made in order
to provide basic nutriment for children.
We appreciate the importance of flavor,
palatable preparation, and attractive
service in pleasing surroundings.
Whether the mother cooks it or not is
unimportant provided she is in close
enough contact with the producer to
know the quality and composition. It is
not even essential that it be cooked in
the home. More important from the point
of view of family integrity is the service
of the food. The family dining table fur-
nishes a means of recreation and a bring-
ing of the family together which un-
questionably may have an important in-
fluence on family life.
Standards for clothing
for clothing expenditures
have been more difficult to establish
since less real information is available.
Clothing is not so definitely related to
health, although we are coming to real-
ize that there are relationships here
which have not been worked out and
these need serious study.
An equipment for parents to enable
them to provide a background hospitable
to the proper growth and development of
the child implies a divergence of educa-
tional ideals and practice throughout the
educational system from exclusively in-
formative and utilitarian instruction to-
ward the development of an apprecia-
tion of values in human life.
Home economics education should play
a significant role in furthering ideals of
family living through furnishing informa-
tion to direct family consumption, and
knowledge and skills for the manage-
ment of the surviving household activi-
ties; and it has a special challenge to
develop the individual to see these ac-
tivities not as ends in themselves but in
relation to the promotion of wholesome
family life.
>
Furthermore, as various agencies take
over certain functions of the family, they
must also share with the family the re-
sponsibility to transmit the accompany-
ing social values and culture. In direct
response to the need of parents for help
in the transmission of such content of
living, the parent education movement
has had its inception.
Many of the recommendations of this
Conference must be made effective
through the parents. This throws an in-
creased responsibility upon the agents
engaged in parent education and one
which they cannot face alone. It must
be recognized that all the agencies reach-
ing the home-the doctor, the nurse, the
pastor, the social worker-have a respon-
sibility for parent education, and par-
ent educators must see that to these
experts is gotten the fundamental philoso-
phy of parent education in order that the
most may be made of their contacts with
the home.
This committee firmly believes that in-
struction should be provided by schools
and colleges to further the satisfaction
of intelligent participation in family life
and to prepare for courtship, marriage
and parenthood. However, as long as the
family exists as a unit, the
a unit, the initial im-
[ 4 ]
petus toward adjustment or maladjust-
ment will be provided in the home life
of the child.
The following are the recommendations
of the committee:
1. Further research is important in
the field of the family. Only on the basis
of research can an adequate science of
the family be established, and the prob-
lems of family relationship be treated.
One specific research recommendation,
growing out of the studies of this com-
mittee, is that provision be made for fur-
ther development of the indices for meas-
uring family relationships and home at-
mosphere tentatively formulated for the
White House Conference.
2. Further research is needed on the
social and economic factors affecting fam-
ily life today. The relation of these fac-
tors to the family is worthy of the same
careful consideration that has been given
to the conditions of production in rela-
tion to industry and commerce.
3. Institute or research centers to
study family relationships and processes
of family life, as well as the economic
and social factors operating upon the
family today,
today, should be established.
These should integrate the various disci-
plines affecting family life.
4. Family consultation centers should
be established with a staff composed of
specialists in home economics, housing,
social work, law, psychiatry, psychology
and sociology. These centers should be
prepared to give advice and information
on the different problems of family life.
5. Special attention should be paid to
Italians, Mexicans and other immigrant
groups, who come into the cities from
rural backgrounds, who need help in ad-
justing themselves to the conditions of
American urban life.
6. Special attention should also be paid
to the Negro family in order that it may
attain that economic security necessary
for stable family life and may also be
assisted to the attainment of higher
ideals of family life.
Extension of Instruction
7. Instruction should be provided by
schools and colleges to further the satis-
factions of intelligent participation in
family life and to prepare for courtship,
marriage and parenthood.
8. Professional schools for doctors,
teachers, social workers, nurses and oth-
er specialists coming in contact with
children and the family should provide
specific training in order that their grad-
uates will be equipped with insight re-
garding human relationships and the
problems of family life.
9. Authentic existing agencies of par-
ent education should be given whole-
hearted support; and the initiation of fur-
ther efforts on the basis of scientific
knowledge of methods and content should
be encouraged.
Chairman Wood: This report is now
open for a few minutes for discussion.
Who will speak?
Miss Jane Kelbert: I would just like
to second the plea for research, particu-
larly of the economic and social factors
that make for adjustment or unadjust-
ment in the home.
Miss Flora Rose (Ithaca, N. Y.): It
seems to me that one of the things Miss
Stanley's paper has brought out very
clearly is that the home, the school and
the community can no longer function as
separate entities in the life of the child,
but must function as part of an integrat-
ed pattern to which the child is sub-
mitted. That is, if we are to provide
conditions which are suited to the wel-
fare and development of the child, it
means the studying of the functions of
all three of these institutions or group-
ings, so that as that child develops, we
may have the integrated functioning of
those three groups in relationship to the
child. In other words, the school can no
longer make its curriculum independent-
ly from the home. The home must be
brought into the councils of the school
and the school must be brought into the
councils of the home if these data which
Miss Stanley's report brings before us
so clearly are to become a functioning
part of the life of the individual child.
(Applause.)
Miss Edna Noble White (Detroit,
Mich.) As a representative of the Parent
Education Group, I should like to rein-
force the plea that the findings of this
White House Conference group be made
available for our use, not only in parent
educational groups, but in schools and
colleges.
Mrs. Sidonie M. Gruenberg (New York
City): In conducting the various re-
searches on child development, I would
like to move, if it is in order, that some
facilities for coordinating those efforts be
established so they may not suffer from
a separation of these researches and the
dissemination and application of the ul-
timate findings.
Chairman Wood: May I suggest here,
that I think it is conformable with the
procedure encouraged that that sugges-
tion will be recorded and will receive full
consideration?
Dr. Taylor: I believe that the sub-
committee on housing felt that the home,
the house and its immediate surround-
ings, as the principle environment of the
child, are deserving of some mention,
whatever the final report of this section
is, and we hope it will be proposed to
the forthcoming conference as a subject
for discussion.
Mrs. Anna E. Murray: I want to refer
to that part of Dr. Stanley's report which
[5]
includes the Negro home and the Negro's
economic condition. Any provision for
his economic situation will meet his
greatest handicap. I trust that this part
of the program will be given the fullest
consideration and the fullest help. (Ap-
plause.)
Chairman Wood: We have reached the
time limit in this little game, the rules
of which have been adopted.
We shall hear next from the chairman
of the Committee on the Infant and Pre-
school Child, Dr. John E. Anderson. (Ap-
plause.)
Dr. Anderson: Ladies and Gentlemen:
Our committee undertook two main proj-
ects, of which the first was the study
of the young child in institutions which
carry on an educational training program.
The second was a study, through inter-
views, of the life of the young child in
the home, interviews secured all over
the country. I propose to read the recom-
mendations which were made by our
committee, shortening some of them so
as to come within the time limit.
RECOMMENDATIONS SECTION III B
I. General
1. Since the training of the young
child for health is a function of his en-
tire handling, rather than the giving of
formal instruction, no separation can be
made of health education and general
care and training. The outstanding prob-
lem of the pre-school period is the estab-
lishment of basic habits of physical care
and of mental attitudes and adjustments
toward objects and persons. Since the
physical and mental health of later years
is built on the foundations of the early
years, the widest possible recognition
should be accorded this important period.
2. First of all, recognition involves ef-
fective research in a number of scientific
fields over a wide area, to establish
standards of development and accom-
plishment, and to determine the possibili-
ties and limitations of this developmental
period. Such research should be con-
cerned quite as much, if not more, with
the typical or "normal" child as with
the special groups of children suffering
from disabilities or handicaps. Before a
sound program can be laid out, the facts
upon which it is to be based must be
determined.
Therefore, while use should be made of
institutional workers, nurses, teachers,
and other specialists, the solution lies in
a broadly conceived program of parental
education. On the one hand, this program
should utilize the facilities now existing
for preparing young people in advance
to meet the responsibilities of parent-
hood. On the other hand, through the co-
operation of governmental agencies, edu-
cational institutions, and welfare organ-
izations, it should build up methods for
the education of parents who are actu-
ally engaged in the care and training of
children.
II. General Recommendations Regarding
Institutions for Young Children
1. In institutions for young children,
regardless of type, the problem of ef-
fective health supervision is of great
importance. The bringing together of
children in groups during the period in
which there is greatest susceptibility to
infection, increases the danger of conta-
gion and puts a heavy responsibility on
those in charge. Every institution estab-
lished for the education and training of
young children should have available,
either directly on its staff or through
cooperation with some other agency, a
physician qualified in the medical care of
children.
2. Through the medical service thus
developed, provision should be made for
an inspection of the children at the time
of their first coming each day, as well as
for isolating or sending home children
who are ill or show symptoms of becom-
ing ill. Preferably this inspection should
be given by a nurse under the supervi-
sion of a physician. It should never be
considered a mere formality.
3. Through the activities of govern-
mental divisions and through existing
federations of institutions and other bod-
ies, standards for institutions should be
developed. The committee calls attention
to the excellent publications of the Chil-
dren's Bureau of the United States De-
partment of Labor, to the publications of
the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare,
and to the work of the National Commit-
tee on Nursery Schools, the National
Federation of Day Nurseries and various
city federations. On the whole the com-
mittee feels that the problem is largely
one of the education of those responsible
for the policy and program of each in-
stitution rather than one of regulation
by legislation-at least, in the present
state of the development of institutions
for child care.
3. Secondly, recognition involves the
organization of methods for bringing
knowledge of the development of the
child and of methods for his care and
training to those individuals in society
who are directly responsible for him. In
are not
the pre-school period, these
primarily persons connected with insti-
tutions, nurses, teachers, or specialists,
but are the parents of the children. No
forward-looking program for the educa-
tion and training of the infant and young
child can neglect this fundamental fact.
4. The committee urges that all insti-
tutions undertaking work with young
children give particular attention to the
level of training of the persons who are
to have the responsibility for the chil-
dren. Obviously the success of any ef-
fective program for education and train-
[ 6 ]
ing is dependent upon the previous train-
ing, the professional spirit and the tech-
nique which the personnel have acquired.
At the present time, standards are fairly
high in nursery schools and are rather
low in day nurseries and institutions of
the relief type. Any marked future devel-
opment of the educational possibilities of
these institutions must come through the
intelligence, interest, and effective util-
ization of resources by the persons in di-
rect contact with children. With the devel-
opment of small private nursery schools
and kindergartens, independent of edu-
cational organizations, a similar problem
will arise and must be faced by those
most interested in the development of
sound practice. While the day when pub-
lic supervision of the qualifications for
teachers in institutions undertaking edu-
cational functions with young children
will come, nevertheless, at present, it is
unlikely that as much progress will be
made by legislation as by the dissemina-
tion of information and the education of
those responsible for the work.
5. At the present time, problems of
legislation with respect to minimum
space requirements, sanitary equipment,
and the care of children in emergencies
are arising in communities faced with
the appearance of institutions for young
children. Specific reference is made to
schools in large centers of population.
While our committee on the basis of its
studies cannot outline the needed regula-
tions in detail, it nevertheless recognizes
the importance of the problem and sug-
gests that municipalities facing it fami-
liarize themselves with the reports of
this Conference, of governmental agen-
cies, and of the various federations be-
fore undertaking any extensive program
of legislation. The questions here in-
volved deserve much study since some-
what different problems arise when young
children are brought together in groups,
than when older children are brought
together.
6. One of the most important prob-
lems in the entire field is that of ade-
quate fire protection both in the way of
physical appliances and in the procedure
to be followed by staff and children
when an emergency arises. At present
there is so much variation from institu-
tion to institution that no general con-
clusions can be drawn. The more vigor-
ously the need of fire protection and a
procedure for meeting emergencies can
be called to the attention of those ad-
ministering such institutions, the great-
er the modification of present procedure
is likely to result.
7. As one of the specific steps in the
development of an adequate educational
program in institutions of this sort the
committee strongly recommends the im-
provement of the system of records which
are kept of individual children, of medical
examinations, of diets, and of all the
other procedures of the institution. In
general the better the record system of
the institution, the more effectively can
improvement in practice be undertaken.
Specific Recommendations Regarding
Day Nurseries
1. The committee finds that the chief
problems in the day nursery field which
require attention in any consideration
of the effective utilization of the institu-
tions for health education and training
are, first, the heavy load of the teachers
or matrons with respect both to the num-
ber of hours service given per week and
the number of children handled per in-
dividual teacher or matron; and second-
ly, the inadequate equipment and play
space. Apparently a number of day nurse-
ries becoming aware of the possibilities
of an educational program, are modify-
ing their own activities in the direction
of the nursery school program. They are
reducing the load on the staffs, provid-
ing more equipment, attempting to devel-
op an educational policy and specific aid
in the way of suggestions, advice or plan-
ning; any other possible assistance
that can be given the day nursery as
means to this end should be encouraged.
At the present time, the day nurseries as
a group seem to be aware more than
ever before of the problem and are in a
healthy state of transition to a more
clearly defined program in terms of the
objectives of physical and mental health.
The committee points to the develop-
ment of the relief nursery school re-
vealed in its studies to be a rather dis-
tinct type of institution, as the most
promising tendency in this field. Similar
provision indicating a higher level of
practice is being made for older chil-
dren.
Specific Recommendations Regarding
Nursery Schools
1. Inasmuch as the nursery school is
a relatively new institution and exists in
a variety of forms, the committee be-
lieves that attempts to standardize it
would be premature at the present time.
It realizes the fact that the nursery
school movement is not a fad but repre-
sents an effort to meet new social condi-
tions characteristic of modern life.
Among these are the employment of
mothers, apartment house living, small
families, and the relative isolation of in-
dividual children. The committee believes
that ventures in nursery school educa-
tion should be encouraged and hopes that
out of the social experimentation now
going forward, there will arise a more
adequate realization of the physical, men-
tal, and social needs for young children.
[7]
Recommendations with Reference to
Kindergartens
1. The committee makes no specific
recommendations on the conduct of kin-
dergartens. However, it has a strong con-
viction that many of the private kinder-
gartens exist because of a lack of ade-
quate kindergarten facilities in public
school systems. One-fourth of the chil-
dren between 5 and 6 years in the United
States are enrolled in kindergartens. It
seems to the committee that the kinder-
garten has more than demonstrated its
usefulness, considered from either the
angle of the school or of its value to the
individual child. The committee endorses
heartily any public or private effort to
make State and municipal organizations
aware of the importance of the kinder-
garten and facilitate its development as
a part of the public school system.
*
Specific Recommendation Regarding
Children of Women in Correc-
tional Institutions
Specific Recommendation Regarding
Children in Public and Semi-
public Places
1. The committee urges a wider recog-
nition of the importance of making spe-
cial provision for young children in in-
stitutions and organizations of a public
and semi-public nature. Sand boxes,
climbing apparatus, swings and other de-
vices of type and size adapted to young
children should be found in public play-
grounds. In other recreation places such
as camps, public beaches and community
gardens, adequate facilities for infants
and young children should be provided.
Hotels and steamship lines should pro-
vide space and equipment for care of
young children. If the number of children
using these facilities warrants, a super-
visor trained in the care of children
should be secured. Railroads, hotels, and
steamship lines should plan special
menus for children.
1.
The committee believes that the
care and training of young children can-
not be advantageously carried on in cor-
rectional institutions. If possible, chil-
dren should be removed from such insti-
tutions prior to the age of 18 months. If
this is not possible, a specific program for
their care should be developed under
competent and trained personnel.
Children who grow up in modern apart-
ment houses with small indoor space and
without outdoor play facilities, present
one of our most serious problems. In
order to meet this need, some of the pro-
gressive owners of apartment houses have
installed play rooms and playground fa-
cilities; in several cases, nursery schools
have been set up within the building.
apartments suggests the need of public
planning and provision for occasional
and short time care of children.
The frequency of accidents occurring to
young children left alone in homes and
Specific Recommendation Regarding
the Rural Child
1. The committee realizes that at the
present time, no adequate consideration
has been given the needs of the young
child in rural areas. The committee hopes
that analysis of the data which it has col-
lected will point the way to the formula-
tion of a program for the education and
training of the rural child. It wishes also
to emphasize the importance of further
investigation and the need of parental
education in this field.
Special Recommendation Regarding
Consultation Centers
1. Another important agency for the
education and training of the young child
is the consultation center which appears
in various forms, for example: Habit
clinics, behavior clinics, guidance nurs-
eries. The committee believes that many
more are needed than now exist as a sup-
plement to general programs of parent
education in order that parents may se-
cure the help of trained specialists on the
behavior and personality problems of pre-
school children. Present programs for the
physical care of the young child should
be augmented by programs of this type.
Specific Recommendations Regarding
the Young Child in the Home
1. In the third of its general recom-
mendations the committee expresses the
view that a broadly conceived program
of preparental and parental education
would be the most effective means of
modifying the education and training of
the young child in the home. While its
studies reveal a wide variation in home
practices, when one considers them in de-
tail, they are nevertheless encouraging
in that they indicate that standards of
care of the young child in the American
home are better than had been antici-
pated. On the other hand, out of its
studies there comes a realization that
provision for physical care is on a some-
what more effective level than is that for
mental and social adjustment.
2. The outstanding need is a recogni-
nition on the part of professional groups
that the parent is himself a teacher as
well as a parent and needs instruction,
assistance, and encouragement in his edu-
cational function quite as much as do pro-
fessional workers with children. Such
assistance must be adapted to the level of
the parent. This committee has concerned
itself very little with the mechanisms
through which parental education should
be undertaken since it considers this a
function of Committee III A, "The Family
and Parental Education." No student of
the life of the infant and young child in
[8]
its broader aspect, however, can fail to
be cognizant of the basic importance of
the parent.
3. As a first step in the development
of a program for the child in the home,
the committee believes that the study of
normal young children, in all respects of
their living, should be undertaken on a
wide scale. In the past, the approach to
the problems of the young child has too
often been from arm chair theory and too
infrequently from concrete studies of the
lives of young children. The committee
hopes that at some future time it will be
possible to make accessible to parents the
basic facts of child development ade-
quately determined by scientific research.
It views as steps in this direction, its own
studies of the child in the home carried
out under the auspices of this Conference,
and the collation of scientific material
undertaken by Section I. The formulation
of an optimal program for the young
child must await the results of further
investigations. Meanwhile complete an-
alysis of the data which is available
should reveal the specific information
needed.
4. The committee suggests considera-
tion of the advisability of developing,
through the cooperation of the Federal
Government and the States, a series of
organizations which will carry on simul-
taneously both a research and a parental
education function. This type of organiza-
tion has already been tried with con-
siderable success in the agricultural ex-
periment station and extension service. A
type of organization which is so success-
ful in meeting the scientific and practical
problems of the farmer in raising cattle,
hogs, and corn might also prove success-
ful in solving the pressing problems of
the parent and child. Mutual cooperation
of the research agency and the agency
for the
the dissemination of information
works to the advantage of both in a field
in which there are so many questions of
a theoretical and practical character.
5. In conclusion the committee wishes
to express its conviction that the period
of early childhood is of great importance
in the development of the individual and
in the preparation of the future citizen,
and wishes to urge upon the entire Con-
ference and upon the American public
which it represents, the most serious con-
sideration of the needs and possibilities
of a program for the well-being and pro-
tection of the young child.
Chairman Wood: This report and set
recommendations are now before you for
brief discussion.
Mr. George D. Stoddard (University of
Iowa): It seems to me anyone hearing
this report is convinced of the importance
of this period of childhood for growth,
but that is not particularly a concern of
the committee.
Pre-School Education
Up to the present time we have acted
as if the child were not a case for edu-
cation until the age of six years, or, as
we have noted for about one-fourth of the
children, at the age of five years. There
has not been any general recognition of a
need for any type of thoughtful education
other than the organized, clearly respon-
sible educational function-that is, up to
this time. And now we are faced with a
movement, whether we like it or not, and
it seems to me we are going to be
launched upon a movement to extend our
educational processes down three or four
years.
I know that many people on the com-
mittee and others thought at first that
the assumption by nursery schools and
by kindergartens of the education of
these younger children might relieve par-
ents of much responsibility, but I think
it is quite clear in the report, and cer-
tainly very clear in the parent education
report, that the two go together. The
paradox is that the more you entrust your
child to scientific processes, the more
your own responsibility increases. You
send the child to the nursery school and
when he comes back, you have with you
more than ever before a keen realization
of his own development, his own prob-
lems of relationship between you and
him, between himself and other children,
and between the children and community.
Therefore, it seems to me if we can main-
tain standards, if we can keep up the re-
search, and be sure that the nursery
schools and kindergartens obviously
about to be launched, meet these require-
ments, then we can, with the help and
guidance of an enlightened parent educa-
tion movement, go forward and bring to
these children who have no contact what-
soever with any educational system until
the age of six, the things that we believe
are good at the present time for small
numbers. It seems to me the time has
come to bring them to all children. (Ap-
plause.)
Mr. Salley (Dean, School of Education,
Florida State College for Women): This
may be a detailed report, but I wish to
ask has the committee a suggestion as
to the cost of the initial foundation of
the nursery school and the income that
should be provided therefor?
Chairman Wood: Do you make that as
a recommendation for consideration?
Mr. Salley: I am asking for informa-
tion, if we have that report.
Dr. Anderson: We haven't it in this
particular report. We have, however, all
the necessary data, and, in the final pub-
lished reports, many of which will be the
underlying technical material supporting
this report, a considerable amount of ma-
terial will be made available.
Mr. Salley: Sometimes fools rush in
where angels dare not tread and it seems
[ 9 ]
to me ambitious institutions might under-
take things for which they are not pre-
pared, but if they knew the initial cost
and the responsibility and cost of the
staff, it would be a fair warning before
they would start this great undertaking.
Committee on the School Child, III C
Chairman Wood: I am assured that
that is covered by the technical report,
which will appear later and as soon as
possible.
I confess to the chairmanship of the
next committee, but in view of my func-
tion as Chairman, I wish to exercise the
privilege of asking a member of our
Committee on the School Child, Superin-
tendent A. J. Stoddard, of Providence, to
present the recommendations of that
committee. (Applause.)
Mr. A. J. Stoddard (Providence, R. I.):
Ladies and Gentlemen: I shall present
these recommendations in two groups:
First, the recommendations of the com-
mittee itself in general, and then some
suggestions or recommendations as to ad-
ministrative procedure. We feel that it is
impossible in our thinking to distinguish
between a program and its administra-
tion. First, then, are recommendations in
general from the committee:
"In order that the health of the whole
child shall be protected and promoted,
the Committee on
Child
the School
recommends:
"1. That the home protect and pro-
mote the health of the preschool child so
that he will enter upon his school life in
sound health, free from remediable de-
fects.
"2. That school buildings and sur-
roundings be provided which meet recog-
nized standards in construction and
equipment and in their adequate main-
tenance and operation.
"3. That home and school cooperate
in the detection and correction of remedi-
able defects, in the prevention and con-
trol of communicable disease, in the pro-
gram of health instruction conducted by
the school, and in all other phases of the
school health program.
"4. That the school year be so organ-
ized that there will be no diminishing
efficiency or accumulation of fatigue on
the part of the child from day to day or
month to month."
(And I pause here to say that we mean
for that recommendation to apply in so
far as the school can have an influence
on the matter.)
"5. That the summer vacation period
be so utilized as to show the best attain-
able care of the whole child; and this,
not only that the children then be best
served, but, as well, that the experimenta-
tion may point the way to a remaking of
the school curriculum.
the
"6. That
curriculum be built
around the interests, needs, and abilities
of the child, adequate provision to be
made for the mentally gifted as well as
the handicapped. (Applause.)
"7. Every student teacher in training
be required to pursue courses that will
enable her to understand the child as a
whole and to promote his physical, men-
tal, emotional, and social health.
"8. That in-service training be pro-
vided by school superintendents for their
teachers, supervisors, principals, physi-
cians, nurses and other health specialists,
so that they can more intelligently carry
out their respective duties in relation to
the school health program.
"9 That budget provision be made by
boards of education for the school health
program, sufficient to insure the essen-
tials in the best programs now conducted
in progressive schools, with the expecta-
tion that in the near future there will be
need and justification for the expenditure
annually of at least 10 per cent of the
educational budget for the inclusive
school health program.
"10. That more definite criteria for
school health work be formulated as a
basis for the development of better tests
and instruments for surveying and evalu-
ating the relative worth and efficiency of
the many materials and procedures em-
ployed.
-
"11. That equalization of opportunity
be sought in all schools, by all possible
means, for all school children, so that
they may achieve the best health of
which they are capable; this to apply to
all schools whether urban or rural, to
Negro schools, Indian schools, and all
other types of schools in the United
States and in the schools of the terri-
tories.
"12. That provision be made for full-
time utilization of the school plant for
desirable leisure-time activities of youth;
that boards of education arrange such co-
ordination between playground
and
recreation authorities of the community
and the school directors of such activities
that gymnasium facilities, playgrounds,
shops, craft studios, and other portions
of the school plant be made available to
all children under competent supervision
in the afternoons, in the evenings where
desirable, on Saturdays, and portions of
Sundays when not in conflict with reli-
gious observance, and that where neces-
sary, restrictive legislation limiting the
use of the school plant be repealed. (Ap-
plause.)
Mandatory Legislation
"13. That legislation by the State be
not too specific, but mandatory in require-
ment that schools shall make necessary
provision in space, buildings and equip-
ment, in health service, instruction and
supervision, to secure the fundamental
objectives in health and protection of all
children in the schools. Legislation also
[ 10 ]
to provide, in enabling acts, legal sanc-
tions for progressive health programs
adopted by local communities."
May I say in presenting this first part
of the report we wish to acknowledge our
indebtedness to many of you who yester-
day made many valuable suggestions,
which the committee has since incorpor-
ated in some of the provisions that have
been read to you.
Now just a word as to the program of
administration, because, as I said in the
beginning, most of us believe that it is
useless to set up a program unless at the
same time we adequately provide for its
administration in the schools; therefore,
we are suggesting these proposals in
order that there may be more or less gen-
eral acceptance of the policies that should
guide an administration; and may I say
that in submitting these policies, we are
hoping that we are clearing the atmo-
sphere rather than that we are injecting
controversial issues?
In the first place, the health program
of the schools should be educational in
its nature and purpose. The school author-
ities should provide only such profes-
sional personnel as can be justified on
the basis of a necessary contribution to
the educational program. The develop-
ment of good habits, right standards of
conduct, desirable attitudes, and worthy
ideals is as much the concern and respon-
sibility of the health personnel as of any
other members of the educational staff.
Second, the extent of curative or rem-
edial treatment in the schools should be
determined in accordance with the cri-
terion that all health work should be
educational in character. Such treatment
can be justified only if it offers significant
educational possibilities. If the educa-
tional phase of the work is relatively
slight, there is little justification for
including it within the school health pro-
gram.
Third, the school health department
should do nothing for the child that can
be done effectively by the family, unless
it is something done primarily to educate
the child or his parents. Remedial and
curative work should be left to the family.
While the promotion of health is one of
the cardinal objectives of the school pro-
gram, no service should be performed
that takes away the fundamental priv-
ilege or responsibility of the home in re-
lation to its children.
Fourth, health is not an end in itself,
but rather a condition to be attained, be-
cause without it one is less useful than
he might be and handicapped at the
start in every race that he attempts
to run. What is needed is less instruction
about health and more of such a program
of living as will insure good health. (Ap-
plause.)
poses. When it is agreed locally that cer-
tain health activities are fundamentally
educational in function, and therefore the
responsibility of the school authorities,
such activities should be under full con-
trol of the board of education. They
should be administered exclusively by the
educational authorities, with the closest
cooperation with the other health agen-
cies of the community and state.
Finally, health is intimately concerned
with the totality and abundance of life.
Every activity in the school program has
its health implications. While the possi-
bility of making definite contribution is
greater from some activities than from
others, every subject of the curriculum,
to a certain extent, should be a part of
the health program. Therefore, every
member of the staff should be concerned,
in varying degree, with the attainment
of the objectives of health education.
Chairman Wood: Let me say one word
further in behalf of the Committee on the
School Child. I wish to assure you that
the recommendations and suggestions
made in our session yesterday have
received, and will receive, careful atten-
tion. Most of them have to do with
revision of the abstract, the summarized
report. Some of them, as some of you
may have heard, have been adopted or
embodied in the recommendations which
Superintendent Stoddard has presented.
There is a brief period still allotted for
discussion of the recommendations of my
own committee.
Mrs. Mary McCleod (Bethune, Fla:):
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Since no chain is stronger than its weak-
est link, since the Negro educational
centers of America are the weakest and
most neglected centers of America, I want
to refer to that part of the recommenda-
tion in regard to Negro schools, and
register for possibly 12 or 15 million
Negroes of America, asking that a fair
and just and sympathetic consideration
be given to that part of the program of
the recommendation that refers to the
strengthening, the building up of Negro
schools all over America and particularly
in the Southland. (Applause.)
Selection of Teachers
Chairman Wood: Thank you very much.
I hope it may be evident to you and other
members of your race that in our recom-
mendations we have tried to give it an
equal place. I am glad to announce that
we have already a very fine (we think)
special report on the Negro schools, hav-
ing to do with equalized opportunities.
Mrs. McCleod: Thank you!
Mr. Salley (Florida): As a member of
the Subcommittee on the Training of
Teachers, I wish either to ask for or make
a suggestion. It may be covered in that
report, but I don't see it so far, and that
Fifth, each community must decide
what phases of health work should be
carried on primarily for educational pur-
[ 11 ]
is in regard to a stricter selection of
teachers and a better balance between the
sexes, beginning with the preschool
period, going through elementary educa-
tion, high school, college, and university.
I am tremendously impressed with
what has been said in this great as-
sembly on treating the whole child, and
we have in our mother tongue a great
word that covers that idea, the whole-
some child, the wholesome parent, the
wholesome teacher. Mr. Chairman, I re-
sent that term "school teacher." I don't
teach school. I teach children. I don't
teach subjects; I teach men and women.
(Applause.)
Chairman Wood: May I ask you to
record your recommendation on paper
that it may have full consideration?
Mr. Salley: One word more and I am
through. I want to see if we can't have a
better balance in the schools, to have
more men teachers. (Applause.)
Chairman Wood: You won't fail to
hand us a brief, clear statement of that,
I hope.
Dr. Stiles (Public Health Service): May
I ask a question? I may have misunder-
stood, but it seems to me that the report
raised a rather revolutionary legal ques-
tion. All over the United States certain
medical factors in our public school sys-
tem are administered by the county and
city boards of health. Did I misunder-
stand the speaker? Does he propose to
set up a school board of health as distinct
from the public board of health? He spoke
of the medical personnel of the schools.
Chairman Wood: I will answer one
part of that and give Superintendent
Stoddard one brief minute, if necessary,
to answer another part.
I wish to dodge no responsibility, but
I believe that our committee wishes to
limit the medical and health work in the
school to that which is consistent with
the purpose of the school and justified by
the educational program. I am sure, sir,
that the general report, or the reports
of the subcommittees, will advocate any-
thing with full coordination and coop-
eration with the established health
authorities in relation to all the health
work of the schools.
thorities, should be administered only
with the closest cooperation with the
other established health agencies of the
community and state." (Applause.)
Chairman Wood: Our time now has
been exhausted. We will pass to the next
committee report and recommendations-
the Committee on Vocational Guidance
and Child Labor. This will be presented
by the chairman of that committee, Miss
Anne S. Davis of Chicago. (Applause.)
Miss Davis: The child labor section
of this committee stresses the importance
of economic, social and educational mea-
sures as well as the necessity of ade-
quate child labor legislation.
Economic, Social and Educational
Measures
It recommends that attention be di-
rected toward the solution of such prob-
lems as adult unemployment, farm econ-
omics, and a living wage; advocates
mothers' aid laws with adequate appro-
priations and the development of other
means of helping needy children remain
in school; and urges the individualiza-
tion of school instruction for pupils of
all types.
General Legislative Standards
At this time, when between three and
four million adults are unemployed in
the country, it recommends the following
general legislative standards:
1. A minimum age of sixteen years
for employment, except that employment
outside of school hours might be per-
mitted between 14 and 16 in a restricted
list of occupations.
2. Requirement of school attendance
for all minors up to the age of 18 unless
the minor is employed, or a high school
graduate.
3. Requirement of physical examina-
tion on going to work and periodically
thereafter up to the age of 18.
4. Restriction of hours of work for
minors under 18 to a maximum of 8 a
day and 44 a week, and a maximum
school and working day of 8 hours for
employed school children under 16.
5. Prohibition of night work for min-
ors under 18.
6. A minimum wage scale for minors.
Superintendent Stoddard: Mr. Chair-
man, I think it might be well to reread
six lines here: "That each community
must decide what phases of health work
should be carried on primarily for educa-
tional purposes. When it is agreed locally
that certain health activities are funda-
mentally educational in function, and
therefore the responsibility of the school
be
authorities, such activities should
under the full control of the Board of
Education, but only that part of the total
health work that is carried on primarily
for educational purposes. But even these,
under the Board of Education, that are
administered exclusively by school au-
Special Problems
It points out certain problems requir-
ing special attention.
Agriculture
Rural children should be afforded edu-
cational opportunities equivalent to those
afforded city children.
No child under 16, resident or non-resi-
dent, should be permitted to be employed
in agriculture whether at home or away
from home, during the hours that the
public schools are in session.
[ 12 ]
Children under 14 should not be hired
out for agricultural work, either inde-
pendently or as part of a family group,
employed on a contract basis or other-
wise, except that children 12 to 14 years
might be employed outside of school
hours in light agricultural tasks involv-
ing work for only a few hours a day dur-
ing a short session.
Hazardous Occupations
Higher age minima should be set for
physically or morally dangerous or in-
jurious employments than for others.
It is urged that in every state the
agencies responsible for the administra-
tion of child labor and workmen's com-
pensation laws develop a program for
continuous study of industrial injuries to
minors under 18 years of age.
Power should be given to state labor
departments to determine dangerous and
injurious occupations and to prohibit
minors' employment therein.
In view of the wide scope of the prob-
lem, affecting minor workers throughout
the country, it is recommended that a
continuing committee be appointed to
work in cooperation with the Children's
Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor
and State departments of labor in study-
ing all phases of the problem of protec-
tion of minors from dangerous and in-
jurious employments.
The workmen's compensation law
should be liberal in its general provisions,
and should cover minors illegally em-
ployed when injured and provide for the
payment of extra compensation in such
cases.
The Migrant Worker
Attention should be given to the sub-
ject of the general welfare of children in
labor camps. School facilities should be
provided for such children and their
attendance required.
Industrial Home Work
Factory work in the home should be
prohibited. Until this is done, a system
of licensing of home workers through
the State department of labor and the
application of all state labor laws to in-
dustrial home work are recommended.
Street Work
The child labor law should contain a
regulation applying specifically to news-
paper selling and other undesirable forms
of street work, as the general child labor
law is not usually successfully applied to
street work. A minimum age of 16 is
recommended for newspaper selling and
14 for carrying and delivering papers on
fixed routes.
Such clear and definite legal standards
should be set up by both child labor and
compulsory school attendance laws with-
out limitations and exemptions and such
correlation between school attendance
and employment certificate requirements
should be effected as will obviate the
difficulties now resulting in many states
from confused and defective legislation.
Administration of Laws
The committee emphasizes the import-
ance of administration of child labor and
school attendance laws.
An effective system of school attend-
ance enforcement, employment-certifi-
cate issuance, and inspection of work
places should be developed, under state
supervision, with personnel qualified by
education, experience and training, ade-
quately compensated and appointed under
the merit system, provided in sufficient
numbers.
Equalization of Opportunity and
Protection
These standards represent the least
that in the light of present knowledge
and understanding of the mental and
physical needs of the child
child and
and the
adolescent should be done. They should
be looked upon as merely a point of de-
parture for higher goals which it is ex-
pected will be revealed through the con-
stantly growing contribution of scien-
tific research.
Progress toward such goals would be
enormously facilitated by establishing a
national minimum standard. The control
of child labor is of national importance
and concern. For almost a hundred years
the states have been regulating child
labor, but progress has been slow and un-
even. Some states still fall far below
others in the amount of protection they
afford. Grave injustice is seen in these
inequalities injustice to children in
states with low standards because they
are deprived of equal opportunity with
others for health, education and immun-
ity from injurious labor; injustice to em-
ployers in states with high standards
since they must compete with employers
whose labor costs are low because the
labor is child labor; injustice to all the
citizens in both groups of states, since
civic and economic progress is hampered
when the young are not equipped to be-
come responsible and productive mem-
bers of society and since the mobility of
population characteristic of modern times
brings many of the ill-equipped from
states with low standards to those whose
own standards are high.
▬▬
The greatest single need in vocational
guidance is more vocational guidance—
the extension to boys and girls every-
where of what is known and practiced in
a comparatively few fortunate communi-
ties. The committee recommends that
vocational guidance become an integral
part of every school organization. Only
in this way will the human and financial
losses be reduced that result from failure
to assist pupils to make the educational
[ 13 ]
adjustments that will equip them for vo-
cations in harmony with their abilities
and interests.
The committee rests its report on the
following principles:
1. Organization of the school system
for guidance, placement and employment
supervision.
2. An adequate study of the individual
from the developmental standpoint.
3. Specially trained vocational coun-
sellors.
4. The awarding of scholarships.
5. Studies of occupational opportun-
ities in the community, classes in occu-
pational information and exploratory
courses.
6. Modification of the curriculum to fit
the needs of the individual.
7. Recognition of and cooperation
with non-public organizations and special
attention to specialized groups, such as
Negroes, Indians, etc.
8. Provision for research in all phases
of the work.
In view of the above principles, the
committee submits the following recom-
mendations:
1. A vocational and educational guid-
ance program should be established in
every community, conducted by a special
department headed by a director who is
immediately responsible to the superin-
tendent of schools.
un-
2. As in the case of all other impor-
tant educational effort, it is useless to at-
tempt to achieve results with an
trained staff; therefore, all persons en-
gaged in counselling, teaching classes in
occupational information, administering
scholarships, placing children, and pre-
paring occupational studies should be
specially prepared for the discharge of
their duties.
choices and the giving of vocational in-
formation are important.
5. Provision should be made in every
community for the giving of scholarships
to children who through necessity would
otherwise have to leave school to go to
work as soon as the child labor law per-
mitted.
Provision for Guidance
3. In connection with a study of the
individual for purposes of guidance,
knowledge is necessary of both his past
and present accomplishments and expe-
rience-scholastic, social, intellectual and
personal. To this end cumulative reports,
which provide a running record of his
progress through school and beyond,
should be established in every school
as a
system. Psychological tests both
measure of educational achievement and
mental capacity provide one of the most
valuable instruments for educational and
vocational guidance but such tests consti-
tute only one factor in the study of the
individual. There is need for some objec-
tive measurement of personality traits.
The administration of a testing program
should be under the direction of a trained
psychologist and the giving of tests by
untrained persons without this supervi-
sion should be discouraged.
4. Provision should be made for coun-
sellors in all schools where educational
6. Study of general and local occu-
pations, vocational opportunities and
problems of the occupational world
should be carried on in organized classes
taught by vocational counsellors or spe-
cially trained teachers. Occupational
pamphlets should be prepared giving in-
formation to young people regarding the
duties, conditions of work and prepara-
tion necessary for the occupations they
may eventually enter.
7. Opportunities for all forms of train-
ing, vocational and academic, and educa-
tional experience, such as try-out courses,
should be provided in increasing numbers.
Any form of vocational education should
be flexible and take into account the rapid
changes in production, and be adapted
to the varying needs of individual boys
and girls.
8. More adequate facilities should be
provided for separate junior placement
offices under the public schools or other
public agencies, where the interests and
welfare of the children stand before all
other considerations.
Health Program
9. While a vocational guidance pro-
gram in the school system provides the
surest means of reaching every child,
vocational guidance activities are being
conducted by certain social agencies and
these efforts are to be commended and
merit the heartiest cooperation.
There can be no health for humanity
without protection from poverty and ex-
ploitation, and vocational guidance aims
to help the boy and girl solve problems of
vocational adjustment with satisfaction
to themselves and society. No plan or
program for health and protection should
stop short of the benefits of vocational
guidance. (Applause.)
Chairman Wood: We have four minutes
for the discussion of this study.
Dr. Beeley (University of Utah): It
seems a far cry from the days of Carlyle
and the chimney sweeps to the agricul-
tural problems of child labor today. Great
progress has been made, yet many chil-
dren are still employed in hazardous occu-
pations. This committee report has wisely
confined itself to certain legal aspects of
the question. The broad problem underly-
ing this child educational guidance is the
matter of compulsory school attendance.
Here, it seems to me, we have some dis-
turbing implications of the idea. It is im-
portant not merely to prepare children
for certain grades, but it is also impor-
tant the school machinery, the curricula,
[ 14 ]
shall be adapted to whatever children
need. It is important, too, that the voca-
tional guidance movement shall take ad-
vantage of the developments in certain
fields. This promises new spring to the
movement commonly called
commonly called vocational
guidance. Social work has contributed the
methodology which can be integrated.
The same might be said of psychiatry,
and also of medicine in general.
I think this committee report, Mr.
Chairman, is
is worthy of our careful
thought and our adoption. It is not a
radical statement. It is a re-affirmation
of certain standards well known. It has
the merit of avoiding certain controver-
sial questions. It is forward-looking in
that it attempts to remind the rest of
the country what forward-looking school
systems are now doing. I think there is
a need for broader educational philosophy
which would set up a flexible educational
system, which would concern itself with
the personality of the child.
President Hoover, at one of the dinners,
said, "Our children all differ in character,
in capacity, in inclination. If you would
give them their full chance, they must
have that service in education which de-
velops their special qualities."
Negro Guidance Necessary
Mr. W. W. Alexander: I want to call
attention to an aspect of vocational guid-
ance in American education-the voca-
tional guidance of the Negro children
and youth. Nearly every problem that has
been unearthed here by the various com-
mittees affecting Negro life goes back to
the insecure and narrow economic foun-
dation of Negro life in America. We must
have a broader economic foundation for
Negro life. Negro life cannot find itself
properly balanced in American life and
I know of no more perplexing or impor-
tant problem than the problem of those
who deal with Negro youth, trying to
prepare them and relate them to those
vocations which ultimately give the
broader economic foundation they must
have if Negro life is to be near finding
its place on a level with the rest of our
American citizens. It calls for the very
best statesmanship of all interested in
the question of vocational guidance. (Ap-
plause.)
to learn that in the educational fields the
country people do have the advantage of
the vocational work at home, the chance
for healthful work promoted by great
extension service, and the opportunity
for play. At this time I do make a plea
that the material for the country parent
be made available to the various agencies
of organizations and extension services
so that the parent who works alone may
have the advantage of this splendid re-
search work. (Applause.)
Mrs. Stottman (Michigan): As a farm
woman and a representative of farm peo-
ple, as trustee of a great land grant col-
lege, I have been a bit disappointed that
the viewpoint of rural people has seemed
to be so little in consideration here. I
am quite happy that the last report recog-
nizes what I believe to be the great edu-
cational needs of the country. We in
Michigan have a fairly high standard in
education. The child must have the op-
portunity for education. This labor should
not interfere with the child's health or
development. I am rather happy, though,
Chairman Wood: The referee is com-
pelled, with great regret, in justice to
the other sections, to call time.
Next we shall have the report of the
Committee on Recreation and Physical
Education, to be presented by the chair-
man of this committee, Col. Henry Breck-
inridge, of New York City.
Col. Breckinridge: Mr. Chairman, such
words as are contained in my report must
be interpreted as being confined to the
field of physical education. You may find
here, in view of the limited space of time,
a lack of treatment of matter not based
on physical activities. That is not due to
a lack of consideration of its importance,
nor really to lack of treatment in the big
body of the report. It is passed over a
little at this time because Dr. West and
his committee dwell a little more on the
phase that may be neglected in my report.
Heredity has done its job. Prenatal care
has safeguarded the preparation for
entry into the world. Obstetrical skill has
attended birth. Sanitation brings pure
water, clean milk. Dietetics guides the
feeding. Immunization wards off many
dread diseases. Fewer and fewer children
die in infancy. The child is born. He does
not die.
To live is more than to exist. Life is
action-physical, mental, moral. It is the
child's life of action that concerns us;
what he does-what he ought to do-how
he ought to do it-what facilities should
be supplied-what guidance who should
lead him in his life of action and how
those leaders should be trained.
Recreation Facilities
A right perspective of the matter brings
optimism. Thousands of volunteers are
enlisted. Millions of treasure have been
spent. In 140 institutions of higher learn-
ing, 10,000 students are preparing for a
grounds and parks. Lay agencies are
States by law are placing physical edu-
cation in the curriculum of the schools.
The cities are spending money for play-
grounds and parks. Lay agencies are
serving 11,000,000 children during out of
school hours. States are bidding their
people to the open-air life in State parks.
The Nation, in domains of special beauty
and grandeur, establishes great spaces for
the inspiration and recreation of the va-
cationing citizen. A vast amount is being
done. A vast amount remains undone. The
[ 15 ]
large task remaining is not a reason for
pessimism. It is a challenge for action.
It is a call for steadfast progress in the
march to the goal of a perfect program
for the physical well-being of childhood.
To begin with, there is a strange para-
dox. The efficiency of the program of
recreation and physical education dimin-
ishes as you follow it back from its appli-
cation to the youth of 18 years (the age
limit of our present study) to the infant.
It is better in the secondary school than
in the elementary school, and when you
come to the preschool child, it nearly dis-
appears. Current expert opinion criticizes
this condition. The neglect of the pre-
school child is held even more serious
than his neglect at a later age. His life
is his play. His work is his play and his
play is his work. Until recently, his case
was left to the home. Would that it might
safely be left there. But modern life de-
crees otherwise and supplemental aid is
found necessary. So we have the nursery
school and kindergarten. We find progres-
sive playground supervisors setting aside
special space for young children, and
supplying suitable play implements and
good leadership. But a small tithe of the
little children are yet to be reached by
those progressive measures. Much parent
education is needed. The cause of the
preschool child must be brought more
forcibly to the seats of higher learning.
Leaders must be trained for this special
field. How little attentive care is given
to the preschool child in the curricula of
the 140 universities and colleges prepar-
ing the 10,000 students for leadership in
recreation and physical education! This
condition should be improved.
Some research is being carried on, but
there is no field more in need of scientific
investigation. The preschool child has al-
ways been with us, but as a problem in
education only recently has he challenged
our attention.
should be exclusive of recess. Physical
education is an integral necessity of a
sound curriculum of education. Basic in-
struction is as much the responsibility
of the school curriculum as the three R's.
One must learn to read in school to read
out of school.
The child has a right to play. A simple
statement. None will deny it. But he must
have the space. In a city there should be
about an acre of play space for every 100
inhabitants. Its location is important. It
must be accessible. It must be supplied
with proper implements and apparatus.
And red tape should be cut to afford its
maximum use. School gymnasia and play-
grounds should be made available for use
after school hours. Newly built schools
should have plenty of outdoor play space.
It will never grow larger, but the build-
ings may encroach upon it.
The program must be adapted to the
individual. Pupils should be classified
according to their capacity and needs and
should be marked and promoted on the
basis of satisfactory accomplishment as
in any other study.
The child goes to school. Unless one of
the minority that attended the kinder-
garten or nursery school, he probably
comes in contact for the first time with a
program of recreation and physical edu-
cation. In the public school probably he
is the object of a law which states that
physical education must be part of the
curriculum. In a good school he will en-
joy frequent relief periods. He will have
at least a half hour daily of supervised
physical activity during school hours. At
recess he will be encouraged to play and
be protected in his equal rights on the
playground. He will not be shoved into a
corner by the older and more active
pupils. But he may not go to such a
school. His teacher may have little knowl-
edge of and less interest in creating a
good program and carrying it into effect.
Probably in this elementary school there
is no special teacher of physical educa-
tion. As the 140 leader training institu-
tions have neglected training leaders for
the preschool child, to a less degree, but
substantially, they have neglected lead-
ership training for the elementary school
field. This should be corrected. But to
some extent education is subject to the
law of supply and demand. If school sys-
tems do not employ special teachers of
physical education for elementary
schools, why should colleges train them?
Teachers of Physical Education
Another phase of our paradox. We
have to come to the secondary schools
before we find the school system gener-
ally supplying special teachers of phys-
ical education. By what token does the
high school student require a special
teacher in physical education more than
the elementary school scholar? Why is it
just to supply such special teachers to
high schools and not to elementary
schools? Out of 100 children entering the
first grade, over 20 will leave school by
the end of the sixth grade, and only 60
will attend high school. Is it just to neg-
lect the physical education of the mil-
lions of children who leave school at the
end of the sixth grade or concentrate the
best instruction on those fortunate
enough to go to high school?
The child must have time to play and
be taught to play. Legislation should put
physical education into every school cur-
riculum. School administrators should see
it properly executed in the curriculum. A
daily time allotment of at least 30 min-
utes should be required in the elementary
schools and one period per day in the
junior and senior high schools. This time
Even in those schools which provide
good facilities and trained leadership it
is too often that most of the attention is
[ 16 ]
centered on the team to the neglect of the
other students. The organization and
direction of competitive team sports are
not to be neglected; because it is this
type of experience that contributes so
largely to the practice of social and ath-
letic virtues. Also such organizations set
a standard and establish ideals which
serve as a stimulus for the emulation of
the others. The programs of personnel,
gymnasia, athletic fields and play spaces
should be so set up as to make possible
the more effective service to all the stu-
dents in accordance with their needs and
capacities.
There are about 11,000,000 children in
rural schools. Four millions of these are
in one-room schools. One and one-half
millions leave school by the sixth grade.
An outstanding problem is to bring the
program of recreation and physical edu-
cation to the children of rural elemen-
tary schools.
Leisure-Time Activities
The Nation is fortunate in the number
of great agencies outside the school sup-
plying the child with wholesome leisure-
time activities. The Boy Scouts of Amer-
ica with its million boys, the Girl Scouts
with several hundred thousand girls, the
Camp Fire Girls, the National Recrea-
tion Association, the Order of DeMolay,
Knights of Columbus and Catholic Boys
Brigade, Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion, Young Women's Christian Associa-
tion, Young Men's Hebrew Association,
Young Women's Hebrew Association, and
similar organizations serve 11,000,000
children. Their permanent facilities en-
tail the expenditure of scores of millions
of dollars. Their annual budgets total
millions. A remarkable combination of
business management and philanthropic
organization, they are a powerful ally of
the school and the church working for
the welfare of youth. For financial sup-
port they depend upon the generosity and
public spirit of private citizens. They en-
list the volunteer efforts of thousands
who give their time-a contribution at
least as valuable as money. Strong finan-
cial support for the work of these agen-
cies would make possible the expansion of
their efforts. The ideal would be that
they reach every boy and girl in the
land. But private philanthropy is no ex-
cuse for governmental inaction. The work
of the 4-H Clubs in the rural districts is
a significant illustration that Government
realizes this. Likewise municipalities and
other governmental units are establishing
departments of recreation with skilled
leadership. Parks and playgrounds are
being multiplied and progress is march-
ing all along the line. Hopeful advance
is being made by southern communities
in supplying recreation facilities for the
Negro population. It is hoped that more
will be done and also that effective efforts
will be made to afford better facilities
for the children of the foreign-born in
the great cities, giving them equal op-
portunity and hastening their integration
into the common stream of American life.
The general objectives of the program
are and should be the same for boys and
girls. But study should be made of the
special needs of girls and the program
adapted to them. Qualified women lead-
ers should lead in the creation of pro-
grams for girls and should administer
them.
Enduring progress must be based upon
scientific knowledge. This means increas-
ing research. We appeal to the great pri-
vate philanthropic foundations and agen-
cies, to the institutions of learning and
to the departments of government to car-
ry forward with redoubled zeal existing
and new projects of research which must
be the only sure guide to sound progress.
We are concerned with the dynamic
health of the child. Surrounded by all of
the safeguards of medical care, adminis-
tration and health education, the call is
for a program of action that will guide
the child into the abundant physical life
of virility, courage, independence, self-
reliance, initiative, the spirit of cooper-
ation, fairness, loyalty, modesty, cheerful-
ness, chivalry and good citizenship. (Ap-
plause.)
We now have five minutes for discus-
sion of this report.
Miss Wayman: Colonel Breckinridge's
report has extended a challenge to us.
It was intended that it should. The out-
standing needs as emphasized in the re-
port are many. The important question
confronting us is: How are we going to
translate these reports into action? Are
we going into action or will the White
House Conference mean only one more
book upon our shelves or an added report
in our files? What are we, as individuals
and organizations, going to do about it?
Certainly there is a man's size job ahead.
It seems to me that it behooves each and
every one of us in the light of these re-
ports to make a critical survey of our
individual situations. Certainly when con-
centrated and crystallized, these reports
should serve as standards or measuring
sticks for any town, city and State in the
Union, as well as for institutions and or-
ganizations. We should restudy our aims
and our objectives and make certain, first,
that our aims are in accord with the high
principles and facts as stated in these re-
ports and, secondly, that our objectives
are such as to realize our aims.
Value of Recreation
I need not talk to this group about the
dangers of leisure time. Invention and
discovery have liberated tremendous
forces in life today. Play, especially
among children, must be treated more
[ 17 ]
thoroughly. We need a more intelligent
and thorough understanding of the value
of play and wholesome recreation, espe-
cially on the part of the layman, on the
part of the public.
We need leadership, yes, but a leader-
ship trained and educated to meet life as
it is in 1930, not as it was in 1900 or even
1920.
Dr. William Russell, of Teacher's Col-
lege, Columbia University, recently stated,
"We must fit our pupils to live in an in-
dustrialized age and vaccinate them
against the diseases of the machine."
I would like to make a few sugges-
tions:
1. More publicity on the whole subject
constantly in our communities.
2. More and better trained leader-
ship.
3. Immediate and continued scientific
investigation and research, especially
where girls and girls' activities are con-
cerned.
4. A program of education for adults,
that they may realize and appreciate our
objectives.
5. But most of all we need an awak-
ened public conscience to the value of
right living, and to the finer things of
life that in the long run we may have
not just healthy babies, not just winning
teams, not just skilled athletes, but boys
and girls and men and women with: 1,
stronger characters; 2, better health; 3,
better body mechanics; 4, habits of play
and exercise; 5, greater joy of life
through play; 6, more and better equip-
ment for a wise use of leisure time, and
7, finer attitudes and greater apprecia-
tions, for what value in the strong body
or the skilled muscle if the personality is
warped or the character weak?
This is our task and our job, and the
outstanding need, as I see it, is not just
trained leadership, but trained leadership
plus that intangible something which in-
spired this Conference, and which every
man and woman has felt anew as we have
sat in on these meetings.
Because of that man in the White
House, and those associated with him, be-
cause of this Conference, the world will
never be quite the same again. Something
is happening to all of us. We have all
felt the thrill of finer and bigger things
-the thrill of inspirational leadership.
(Applause.)
Mr. B. Jones, (Philadelphia): I had
hoped that our Conference at one time or
another might express the thought some-
thing like this: Owing to the concern for
the establishment of wholesome amuse-
ment and recreation for children, and
knowing that many thousands of our
children continually attend the moving
pictures, as they are regularly presented
in the theaters of every city and town
of our land, this Conference on Child
Health and Protection solicits the motion
picture industry to depict better stand-
ards of morals and living than now ap-
pear on the screen. In this way the mo-
tion picture and amusement houses can
fortify and support the earnest desires of
all those who labor for the higher types
of child health and training. (Applause.)
Training of Exceptional Child
Chairman Wood: The speaker, with
fine intention, finds himself with an idea
related to two committees, and we shall
hear more of this in a report after a few
minutes.
Question: Is that the report on motion
pictures?
Chairman Wood: Yes; we should wait
for that.
We are keeping quite up with our
schedule.
We will proceed to the next committee,
on Special Classes, to be presented by the
Chairman, Dr. Charles S. Berry, of Co-
lumbus, Ohio. (Applause.)
Dr. Charles S. Berry: Ladies and Gen-
tlemen: It is sound public policy, not
charity to provide special treatment and
training for all types of exceptional chil-
dren, for in so doing we are making it
possible for the children of greatest ca-
pacity to make a greater contribution to
the common welfare and for the majority
of the children of better capacity to be-
come self-supporting members of society,
instead of dependent or delinquent mem-
bers of society.
In other words, we are increasing so-
ciety's assets on the one hand and de-
creasing her liabilities on the other, and
the fundamental principle involved in
special education is to enable the excep-
tional child to help himself, to the limit
of his capacity, by means of stressing pri-
marily the things he can do, rather than
the things he cannot do.
The need for such education is appar-
ent, from the fact that we have at the
present time not less than 500,000 indi-
viduals in the United States in the hos-
pitals for the insane, in almshouses and
institutions for the feeble-minded; and
there are not less than 70,000 first ad-
missions to the hospitals for the insane
every year and more than 300,000 com-
mitments to prison.
Yesterday these individuals who are
now in our penal institutions and our
hospitals for the insane were children in
the schools of the Nation, and tomorrow,
of the children who are in the schools of
our country today, many will take the
places of the present inmates in these
institutions - penal institutions unless
there is a change in social and educa-
tional conditions.
This committee has made a study of
existing conditions in the schools of our
country, and the magnitude of the under-
taking that lies before us is indicated by
the fact that we have not less than 3,000,-
[ 18 ]
000 children who are handicapped to such
an extent that they require differential
treatment or training to make the most
of their possibilities. And at the present
time only approximately 10 per cent of
that number are receiving the type of
training and treatment best suited to
their needs-and the work is almost
wholly confined to large cities, for little
is being done in the smaller communities
and rural districts. That is the problem
of the handicapped.
On the other hand, we have, at the
other extreme not less than 1,500,000 in-
dividuals of exceptional ability. The need
for a modification of the type of training
they are receiving at the present time in
the elementary schools is indicated by the
large percentage of failures in our col-
leges and universities by individuals
who do not lack intellectual capacity, but
have developed wrong habits and atti-
tudes of work; also by the fact that we
find in our penitentiaries and penal in-
stitutions many individuals who have
received higher education, who have no
sense of responsibility to the common
welfare of the people who made this op-
portunity for their securing higher educa-
tion possible.
We have neglected, in the judgment of
our committee, to consider sufficiently the
fact that the attitudes and habits formed
during the early years of elementary
training are much more significant from
the standpoint of future success or fail-
ure than we had formerly supposed, and
at the present time only a small fraction
of this vast number of talented boys and
girls are receiving the type of education
best calculated to make the most of their
extraordinary talent; for, whether we
like it or not, they are going to be the
leaders of tomorrow. The question is, do
we not want the best leadership possible,
in view of the challenging problems that
confront modern society-the problems in
industry and the great social problems?
State Legislation Lacking
Our committee in reviewing the whole
situation has been much concerned with
the fact that we find in no State of this
Union legislation that has been formu-
lated from the standpoint of the welfare
of all types of exceptional children. It is
remarkably lop-sided. We find no large
city in this country that is making ade-
quate provision for all types of excep-
tional children; in fact, inequality of op-
portunity is no more marked in any field,
in any other field, than in this field of
special education, where on one type we
are spending two, or three or four times
as much on the typical child as on an-
other type of handicapped child on whom
we are spending nothing, or on whom
what we are spending is spent to little
purpose.
As one surveys the situation he sees
that the present condition largely has
grown out of the fact that we have var-
ious National, local, or State and local
organizations which have been working
more or less independently for the par-
ticular type of individual in which they
have been interested. So at the present
time the greatest need, from the stand-
point of our committee, is for coordinat-
ing progressive, cooperative programs.
> -
As a result of our meeting yesterday,
attended by the representatives at the
White House Conference, especially inter-
ested in this field, we adopted unanimous-
ly two resolutions, made unanimously
two recommendations, and only two, for
we are concerned that something hap-
pen after this year of labor in this field,
and we beg to submit the following two
recommendations:
Committee's Recommendations
First: The immediate organization of
a National Council for handicapped chil-
dren, made up of representatives of the
national organizations interested in such
children, to promote aggressively meas-
ures for making effective the recommen-
dations of the Committee on Special
Classes of the White House Conference
on Child Health and Protection.
Second: The immediate creation in
each State of a State advisory council for
handicapped children, made up of repre-
sentatives of State organizations or agen-
cies, interested in such children, to co-
operate with the National Council and to
work aggressively for making effective
the recommendations of the Committee
on Special Classes of the White House
Conference on Child Health and Protec-
tion. (Applause.)
Dr. Adela J. Smith (New York): I
should like to make this remark, after
hearing the report of this committee on
the extent and magnitude and complexity
of the problem of education of eleven ma-
jor groups of handicapped children, be-
sides the 1,500,000 crippled children:
This tremendous army of 8,000,000 hand-
icapped children is waiting and longing
to receive the medical health and school
care through which it can profit. Some
of these children are now in our regular
classes, maladjusted and struggling under
handicaps and hardships. Some are at-
tending school spasmodically, some are
not attending school at all, and some can
neither read nor write, although they are
able and have ability, if we could train
them.
In two days this Conference will close.
That which concerns these handicapped
children and gifted children is that we
shall be sure that after this Conference
the 8,000,000 physically and mentally hand-
icapped children, and the 1,500,000 gifted
children will receive the care and the
[ 19 ]
training they need to
need to conserve their
health and ability.
While this will require, as Dr. Berry
has so ably shown, a persistent and ag-
gressive State-wide program under our
full leadership, extended throughout this
country, and also a Federal leadership to
stimulate and encourage State opportu-
nity, nevertheless, I feel that we should
strike while the iron is hot, and use the
enthusiasm of this White House Confer-
ence to have prepared immediately there-
after a workable, economic program for
these handicapped and gifted children.
Miss Goldsmith (New York State Fed-
eration of Women's Clubs): Mr. Chair-
man, I should like to ask a question. I
represent the New York State Federation
of Women's Clubs, as Chairman of Crip-
pled Children, and we have urged through
the State federation the organization of
special classes for crippled children, as
part of the public school system. In New
York City and Binghamton—a large city
and a small city-it was my privilege to
organize both, and they both are great
successes. But in the development
throughout the State there are sums set
aside specially for crippled children, and
I should like to ask if you, in your find-
ings, prefer buildings specially set aside
for crippled children, or special class
rooms in the public school buildings?
It has been my privilege to find that
as they are part of the public school sys-
tem, and many of them are cured and
improved, they float into the public school
system and become part of that. They
don't like to feel that they graduated
from a school for cripples. They like to
feel part of the great whole; and I should
like to find out which you prefer, or feel
should be developed.
Chairman Wood: Dr. Berry.
Dr. Berry: I can simply state the prin-
ciple under which the work is now being
carried on in the United States. We are
attempting to prepare all types of handi-
capped children to participate in the life
of modern society. That means we desire
to have the intermingling through the
process of their education as far as it
may be desirable and seem wise from the
standpoint of the handicapped children
concerned, and of the others with whom
they associate. But one must bear in
mind that if they cannot compete suc-
cessfully in any respect with the normal
children, it is much better to have them
apart until they can reach the develop-
ment, the stage where such competition is
possible.
for handicapped children and at the same
time, the first report which we heard
throws out of the public school entirely
the medical care of children, and throws
it back on to the home.
I want to leave with you this sugges-
tion about the safeguarding of our chil-
dren against these continuous and accu-
mulated necessities of special classes de-
pending upon a socialized system of edu-
cation for children.
Dr. Fannie Dunn (Teacher's College,
New York): I want to call attention to the
essential relationship of the provisions
for handicapped children, especially chil-
dren of low mentality ranges, and the
recommendation of the Child Labor
Group.
The Child Labor Section recommended
both provision for individual adaptations
of instruction and for no child labor
under the age of 14; and I want to say
right now that both of those, I believe
in with all my heart and soul, but it is
not possible to advance one without the
other. There is no use in depriving a
child under 14 of the right to work if
the school provision is not adapted so
that that child can get from that school
provision which he needs. So I want to
emphasize the necessity for the rural
schools-if child labor is to be adequate
to combat it in rural areas-the absolute
necessity of adjusted instruction in rural
schools for the handicapped child; and I
want to say the responsibility lies very
heavily upon State departments of edu-
cation to set up such curricula as are pos-
sible and helpful for the teachers who
have to instruct these under-privileged
children, these handicapped children un-
der the condition which now prevails in
the small school and many classes for
millions of the children in the United
States. (Applause.)
Dr. Shurley (President, Detroit Board
of Education): It seems to me-
The Under-privileged
Chairman Wood: We are glad you are
here.
Dr. Shurley: It seems to me there is
one phase of this very important work of
under-privileged children that has been
absolutely omitted from this report. We
have one of the greatest problems of the
whole world here in the United States,
and especially in Detroit, where we have
had 5,280 boys arrested during the last
year who were in our school system.
Of that number 50 per cent were first
offenders; of that number 85 per cent
were boys between 13 and 16 years of age.
I therefore wish to add to this report
of the under-privileged children the state-
ment that the problem of establishing
schools of observation to reach the under-
privileged child by a proper psychiatrist,
a proper diagnostician, a proper liasion
between the parents and the child, a
Rural Child Labor
Dr. Franklin W. Bock (Rochester): I
just want to leave this word with this
Conference. If we pass any resolutions,
just go home and think about it. The four
reports which we have just heard seem to
me to be coordinately illogical, in that
they are asking you to have special classes
[ 20 ]
proper, complete examination and report
that might be made of these children,
should be brought and concentrated into
one school of observation where these
children can be kept for 24 hours-five
days, if necessary,—and a genuine and
proper diagnosis and sensible advice
given to the parents and to the child.
(Applause.)
Chairman Wood: Thank you.
Mr. John L. Sutton (Jackson, Miss.):
Nothing has been brought out about the
handicapped child of the man who is now
serving in our prison. We hear about the
institutional activities regarding the
child's being moved and taken away and
put in the institution; but very little in-
terest has seemingly been taken, or very
little said about the father's being taken
away and the child's being left in this
cold world without his parent.
There are something like 100,000 in our
State prisons; there are something like
400,000 in our county and city jails, mak-
ing a population there of 500,000; and
most of them leave little children.
To cite one case. I served in a peniten-
tiary (laughter) and there was one man
in there I couldn't touch at all. Finally I
said, "I see you are a married man and
you have five children. I want to say to
you, while you are here you get three
meals a day, you get all that you abso-
lutely need, and you have no responsibil-
ity at all; but what about your wife and
children?" Tears came into that man's
eyes and rolled down his cheeks, and he
said, "That is what hurts. I am a mean
man; I ought to have been in the peni-
tentiary long ago, but when I think of
my wife and children that is more than
I can bear.”
I say to that committee I should like
to talk with them personally. The great-
est field that I see is the handicapped
child whose father is in the penitentiary,
who is making money for the State, while
the political machine for the educational
activity of his child is being starved up-
on the so-called cruel force of justice.
(Applause.)
Chairman Wood: I wish to express for
myself, at least, great appreciation of the
fact that we have such a broad represen-
tation of thoughtful people of different
types represented here. My spontaneous
tribute to the gentleman from Detroit was
not personal. We must be delighted to
know that members of boards of educa-
tion are taking seriously this White
House Conference.
We have now the last report, the report
of the Committee on Youth Outside of
Home and School, and this will be pre-
sented by the chairman of that commit-
tee, who, incidentally, was a very impor-
tant factor in the origin and planning
and conduct of the first White House
Conference on Child Health and Protec-
tion 20 years ago, Mr. James West, of
New York. (Applause.)
Mr. James West: Mr. Chairman: May
I venture to donate a minute of my time
or half a minute by asking you to take
a brief recess and stand up? Dr. Wood
has suggested I may lose some by that
generous offer. If I do, they will be the
losers. (Laughter.)
Mr. Chairman, the committee which I
represent asks that we consider our re-
port in the light of a changed caption.
We find that "Youth Outside of the Home
and School" is hardly descriptive of the
study and reports which we have devel-
oped; therefore, we will ask the man-
agement of the Conference in the final
report to refer to our Section as "Chil-
dren and Youth Outside of the Home and
School."
A tremendous undertaking was placed
upon this committee because children and
youth up to 18 years of age means 45,000,-
000 young people growing, doing, playing,
learning, working, forming habits, creat-
ing attitudes, imitating, judging value,
and making standards. They are enthusi-
astic and face the light. To them life is
a great adventure. As the next generation,
civilization is to be literally in their
hands. They are busy unconsciously form-
ing that growth we call character. Of
them 26,000,000 are in schools and 4,000,-
000 have already gone to work.
During these years, one-fourteenth to
one-twelfth of their total time is spent in
school. One-third of their time is spent
at home in sleep. Varying small amounts
beyond that are spent daily in the home.
Probably 98 per cent of them are in
homes, though samplings indicate one in
four is in a broken home. Over 40 per
cent of these 18 years is spent outside
home and school. From the angle of char-
acter growth, these hours outside the re-
strictions and controls and tasks of home
and school are actual determinants be-
cause in them the young person is being
himself, following his interests, is carry-
ing on spontaneous action, trying to ex-
press himself.
Commercial Amusements
We have seen fit to divide our respon-
sibility into 14 different groups. Of course,
this (indicating a chart) is too large to
show you what is here, but it is an indi-
cation.
The first group, and, in my judgment,
the most important group in the life of
the child in America is the church.
From this group we have probably 25,000,-
000 who are being influenced and I am
happy to record, although time will not
permit me to go into details with refer-
ence to any of these reports, that the sec-
tion reports on the churches show a most
heartening increase not only in the mem-
bership of the church, but in the attend-
ance of young people in our Sunday
schools, contrary to general impressions.
Then we have the girl agencies which
[ 21 ]
touch something like 1,500,000, and the
boy agencies which enroll some 2,100,000,
the neighborhood agencies, which attract
1,400,000. Then there are certain influ-
ences such as play and safety, which
reach many thousands in varying de-
grees; the motion pictures, which catch
the eye, estimated, of 115,000,000 a week,
one-third of whom are estimated to be
under 18 years of age.
Then there are the great number of
commercial amusements other than mo-
tion pictures which lure something like
2,000,000 daily throughout our country
and especially in our large cities. Then
there is the radio with its 13,000,000 sets,
with probably over 60,000,000 listeners.
Then there is the reading program which
is an indoor sport of most of our 40,000,-
000 or 45,000,000. There is the great, in-
fluencing, character-developing factor of
camping. Eight million of our people are
now availing themselves of opportunities
to camp. Of this number 3,000,000 are
youth and children. Then there is the
great factor of community environment,
and I commend you the reading of the
detailed report on that section because it
shows how mightily the neighborhood in
which children live becomes a factor in
the chances they have in life.
Then there is that subject of industry,
4,000,000 of youth employed, full time,
and 2,000,000 on part time. Then there is
that great subject of rural life. There the
report I again heartily commend. I wish
I had time to give its high spots.
Then there is that heart-throbbing sec-
tion, 1 per cent of the youth of America
in institutions, dependent and reforma-
tory.
a
It would be impossible in the eight
minutes which I have even to read the
recommendations of these 14 groups. I
do, though, invite your attention to them
in their preliminary stage. Yesterday in
our all-day conference we agreed on
number of important changes and I am
happy at this time to extend an invita-
tion, that anyone who wishes avail him-
self of the opportunity of bringing to us
recommendations or changes in order that
the report in its final form may be as
far-reaching and as serviceable as it is
within our power to make it.
There is no closed door in our commit-
tee to the consideration of any factor or
any proposition. We do want your coop-
eration in avoiding controversial and po-
litical issues. There is sufficient yet to be
done in the field of child welfare and
protection on which we can agree unani-
mously for us to get a program for a
forward march and on that we hope we
can unite.
Our committee does present this specif-
ic recommendation embodying all of the
recommendations:
is spent in spare-time activities and since
these leisure-time activities exert so deep
and important an influence in character
formation: since health, learning, char-
acter, and concern about others are four
corner stones upon which life's structure
rests; and since good health and keen
minds are assets only when motivated by
lofty character and social concern;
"This committee strongly urges upon
homes, churches, schools, neighborhoods
and civic units, wider use and support
of leisure-time, character-influencing
movements, and methods for enriching
and motivating the lives of their children
and youth. Specific proposals to this end
are included in the detailed findings and
recommendations of the committees on
churches, girls' work agencies, boys' work
agencies, neighborhood agencies, play,
safety, motion pictures, radio, commer-
cialized amusements other than motion
pictures, radio, reading, community en-
vironment, camping, youth in industry,
rural youth, and boys and girls in insti-
tutions;
"Since approximately 40 per cent of
the life of most of our children and youth
"We therefore urge:
"1. The careful study and use of these
proposals.
"2. The basic importance of activities
and doing for child growth and develop-
ment.
"3. That outstanding trained leader-
ship is the determining factor.
"4. The practical recognition of the
individual child as the unit of any pro-
gram opportunity.
"5. The necessity for inter-action
among homes as the basis of child-devel-
oping, growth-stimulating environment.
"6. The cooperative re-aiming of pro-
grams and closer relationship between
social agencies toward the elimination of
'no-man's-land' and to do this so as to
reenforce the basic, primary units of
home and neighborhood."
Leadership
Mrs. Griffin (New York): There is one
thing we brought up in our discussion
in our section. It was constantly dis-
cussed. That was leadership. It seems
to me that in this Conference we might
make the citizenship of this country con-
scious of its responsibility in giving of
its time to youth without compensation.
We might thereby accomplish something
well worth while. Leadership is, after all,
ability to make people want what they
ought to have. If every citizen who en-
joys the privileges of our tremendous
citizenship in the United States would
assume the responsibility of giving to
youth some of his time in leading youth,
we would have done something well
worth while.
Then, too, the children with little
chance might have the opportunities of
all of the programs that are offered for
the children of a higher economic level.
[ 22 ]
I believe the thing that our section dis-
cussed most intently was how to give
rural children, as well as those children
below a certain economic level, the op-
portunities that are offered in all of the
agencies made available to work with
youth.
From Audience: Inasmuch as the sub-
section of this Conference, dealing with
delinquency also has a report to make
on the subject of motion pictures, and
inasmuch as there is a national com-
mittee on the study of social background,
which has a five-year study program and
which has not been able to make a report
to this Conference, and inasmuch as there
is a strong general feeling of regret that
so little time could be given in this Con-
ference to the discussion of this very
complex subject of the motion picture,
I wish to suggest that this subject of
motion pictures be referred to a continu-
ation committee for further discussion.
Chairman Wood: I am sure that this
committee will be glad, as has been an-
nounced, to receive that and other sug-
gestions.
We are going to finish in very good
time-on the schedule. We have time for
further discussion.
Mr. Leon Faulkner (New York): I'd
like to speak just a few moments on the
question of the stepchild of this organiza-
tion-the institution. We have been
talking, and rightly so, of that, saying
that it is splendidly supervised and con-
trolled in these magnificent organizations.
If we go back to the history of the whole
conference, we find in 1909 it was or-
ganized, first, to carry on the question
for the provisions of the child in institu-
tions. If we go back to earlier times,
we will find that the first institutions
were created in this country to care for
the dependent child. History shows
you that these institutions have had a
place since the beginning.
Correlation Necessary
Let me say this: You recognize the
hospital as an institution and that it
should be a place of last resort, but you
do recognize the necessity of that hos-
pital. You are conscious that if every
other agency has failed, that if all the
mediums of home treatment have been
tried, that you do carry into the hospital
for the saving of life the individual who
needs the hospital character of treatment.
in this country for not assisting those
of us who are really producing radio
programs. My office receives 50,000 or
60,000 letters each year. There is a dis-
tribution weekly of around 250 religious
services, some of them of educational
value.
Mr. Goodwin: Mr. Chairman and mem-
bers of the Conference: President Hoover
said that he was happy to meet experts
in various lines. I represent in this Con-
ference a particular subject I do not
believe needs an expert as yet. That is
the field of radio. The many hundreds,
if not thousands, of programs that I have
been interested in and have had more
or less to do with, I can assure this Con-
ference, have been experimental. We
find fault with the various organizations
I want to leave this word with your
Conference. This is a new industry. It
has come from a play toy to an annual
distribution of radio sets amounting to
nine hundred millions. Will you, for
goodness' sake, be constructive in your
criticisms? You need to be. Don't write to
us about some silly thing like music or
some other problem. There are 643 sta-
tions in this country. I'd like to ask,
"How many of you people, as delegates
from these various organizations, have
ever tried to give your local station some
assistance on a program?" I think it
would be quite embarrassing if that ques-
tion was put to an answer.
Chairman Wood: Do you mind giving
us your official connection?
Mr. Goodwin: Radio Director of Na-
tional Broadcasting of Religious Pro-
grams.
Mr. Weekly (Birmingham): I want to
endorse that talk about institutions. Be-
ing an executive of institutions for about
thirty years, I am sorry to say they have
been shamefully neglected. We do not
feel we have received moral support.
Even in this Conference I have met some
people who have never been in institu-
tions and who are now deliberating in
this body.
Mr. Hanmer (New York): I have just
one thought to add to this discussion, if
you please. Our various sub-committees
have industriously worked on their own
special topics, under this sub-section on
Children and Youth Outside of Home
and School, but I hope Mr. West, in his
summary report and Dr. Kelly, also, will
emphasize to the public
public and private
agencies the importance of developing a
varied and broad program of free-time
activity for the youth.
Chairman Wood: The emergency chair-
man of this morning has been thrilled by
the reports from the program and the
floor, but may I share this impression
with you: After a good many years of
experience in meetings, the chairman has
been even more thrilled and impressed
by the seriousness and the quality of
creative audition of this assembly.
I interject this quite prosaic state-
ment of announcements by saying that
perhaps all of you do not know that 170
sub-committees have been working for
the better part of a year on the techni-
cal reports involved in this White House
Conference. You may find in each report
the specific information and advice that
your particular section is interested in.
The meeting adjourned at twelve twen-
ty-five o'clock.
[ 23 ]
AFTERNOON SESSION, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21
The meeting convened at two-forty
o'clock, Nov. 21, Continental Hall, Dr.
F. J. Kelly presiding.
Chairman Kelly: Ladies and Gentle-
men: Even though there has been this
confusion with reference to the place of
meeting, I think we had better not delay
longer in calling to order and starting
this discussion this afternoon. This will
be the last opportunity that the Section
on Education and Training will have for
counsel on the things that are most im-
portant.
I have been greatly distressed that
other duties that have been imposed upon
me since coming here have prevented
my taking part in the deliberations of
this section. I haven't any doubt that
the discussions have been profitable, but
I have necessarily lost the value of them.
For this afternoon it has been planned
that the discussion will be opened by the
reading of a report which has been pre-
pared by the seven chairmen of the seven
committees that compose Section III. It
has been prepared through two days of
sitting together, trying to figure out what
constitutes the best platform for educa-
tion and training. After we thought of
the necessity of reducing it down to
such a form that it can, after all, strike
the attention of the people of this coun-
try, it was reduced to a minimum num-
ber of topics.
A Step in Education
I am sorry that it will not be possible
for me to read it, myself, for I should
like to have you understand that it car-
ries the conviction that I have that it is
the best type of statement that the com-
mittee has known how to prepare, sum-
marizing the tremendous scope of the
seven committees in Section III; but it
will not be possible, for again, I must re-
port to another committee that is meet-
ing at 3 o'clock, and I shall not even
have opportunity to be here for the con-
sideration of the report.
I am glad that as a presiding officer for
this afternoon Commissioner Cooper of
the Federal Office of Education has con-
sented to come. He will preside, and I
am sure that he will offer every facility
for the free discussion of this report.
It is the understanding, furthermore,
that if in addition to what discussion
you care to raise with reference to this
report you also would like to add any
comments concerning the reports which
were given you this morning from the
seven committee chairmen that the time
will be at your disposal after the discus-
summarized report is
sion of this
through.
It has been a great delight to work
with the enthusiastic and competent peo-
ple who have composed the workers com-
mittees in Section III. I have had but
little to do with the actual effectiveness
of the job, because they have themselves
given the best that has been in them;
and I think they have given the best
that the country could give to this tre-
mendously important task. If we cannot
receive out of this ultimately a great
forward step in education in the interest
of child health and protection throughout
all the agencies, then we shall be, of
course, disappointed with the outcome;
and it is upon you people essentially, who
will go back to your communities with a
feeling of responsibility, that the suc-
cess of it depends.
I say it will depend upon whether or
not you do carry back that responsibility
to see that something is done about this
program that has been put before you.
Commissioner Cooper will preside for
the afternoon. (Applause.)
Chairman Cooper: Will the chairmen of
the various committees come to the
platform, please?
The report to which Dr. Kelly referred,
and which he does not have time to read
will be read by Scout Executive West.
Dr. West! (Applause.)
Dr. West: I was hoping that I was
going to be able to put this on Dr. Wood's
shoulders. Well, all right; we won't pass
the buck.
The members of Dr. Kelly's committee
have had this report read to them, and
have read it quite a number of times,
but I have never had the responsibility
of reading it for an audience, and I trust
you will be patient with me.
The following summary attempts mere-
ly to list a few of the conclusions which
the data in the detailed reports seem to
justify. They are high lights which
should stir the interest of the American
people. It must be recognized that if
America is to pass safely through its
experiment in democracy the whole peo-
ple must not only be aware of the part
which education and training of the
rising generation is to play, but must be
ready to make the adjustments in educa-
tion and training demanded by these
times of kaleidoscopic change.
I. Deep Public Interest in Children
The American people are intensely in-
terested in the welfare of their children.
Loose statements are commonly heard
that the youth of today are running wild,
and that agencies for their education and
ineffectual.
training are
The studies
made for this Conference give no ground
for such pessimism. The problems which
youth face are trying, and have many
new phases due to the rapidity of social
changes. However, agencies for child
education and training are in general
alert and managed by competent, self-
sacrificing men and women. Naturally,
[ 24 ]
social institutions like the school, home,
and church, which are nationwide in
their scope, make changes and adjust-
ments slowly, but in practically all of
them, there are places where the problems
are being solved effectively. What is
needed is continuous critical but sympa-
thetic study of these agencies, and then
encouragement and support of the pro-
gram evolved.
II. The Child and Human Progress
Human progress occurs only when the
new generation surpasses the old. The
rapidity of human progress may be meas-
ured in terms of the extent of advance
made by one generation over its prede-
cessor. Men and women who wish to
measure their success in life by their
contribution to human progress will de-
sire to devote their resources, both
money and brains, to assure children
every opportunity to excel.
In her enthusiasm for intellectual
education America has tended to under-
estimate the handicap of the physically
defective or dispirited child. All honor
to those who overcome these handicaps,
but to leave uncorrected defects which
are remediable is both inhumane and
short-sighted. Let us educate not only
100 per cent of the children, but as
nearly as possible 100 per cent children.
III. The Child in a Machine Age
In times past it was easy for a father
and mother to live on terms of intimacy
with their children. The home was
simple and yet very rich in the kinds of
valuable experiences in which parents
and children could join. Now parents find
these contacts not only greatly reduced
in number but also characterized by arti-
ficiality and lack of genuine interest.
For an increasing number of children,
especially in cities, activities tend to be
centered outside the home. Many of
these activities contribute greatly to the
child's development. To maintain now
the very desirable intimate and sympa-
thetic relationships between children and
parents calls for a sharing of these out-
side activities by both. These outside ac-
tivities must be made family activities.
At the same time that the home is
undergoing fundamental change, power-
ful forces affecting youth are springing
up carrying immeasurable potentialities
for good. But, alas, for evil as well. The
radio, the movie, the magazine-these
and many others offer thrills to youth on
any level he may choose from the basest
to the most sublime. All such influences
are so definitely educative for good and
ill that society may not shirk its respon-
sibility for a critical appraisal of them.
Children must not be exploited for some-
body's gain, nor sacrificed to somebody's
folly.
These are but a phase of the larger
problem of the increased leisure time.
That leisure may be the blessing it should
be, training in its use is imperative. In
recent years there have grown up more
than a score of leisure time educational
and recreational organizations for boys
and for girls, designed to supplement the
home, the church, and the school. In
America we have been prone to think of
the school as the all-sufficient solvent of
our social problems. It is becoming clear,
however, that many needs of youth can-
not be met most effectively in the school.
These organizations of boys and girls are
powerful allies of education. Their pro-
grams for the development of the bodies,
the strengthening of the characters, and
the enrichment of the lives of children
are an essential part of the education and
training called for today.
IV. The Child and His Birthright
Society must demand for every child
his right to a fair chance. This fair
chance involves first that he shall be
born right, that he shall have a fair start,
that he shall not be handicapped for life
by a pitiably feeble endowment of body
or mind. With a strong body and a sound
mind happiness is half assured. Handi-
capped too severely in these, and the
struggle is hard indeed. Whatever we
may feel in our anxiety to protect the
rights of adults, society must think first
of the children when it is considering
these adult rights in respect to parents.
V. The Child and Democracy
Democracy demands universal educa-
tion. Equality of opportunity has long
been the ideal of the American people.
There is grave danger, however, of con-
fusing equality of opportunity with same-
ness of educational training. No other
type of government so much as democracy
demands the adaptation of educational
training to the individual differences
which characterize her children. The
danger of a dead level of mediocrity is
more grave in a democracy than in any
other form of government. Therefore, the
first cardinal principle in the education
and training for a democratic society is
that each individual child should develop
to his highest possible level of attain-
ment. This calls for the opposite of the
lock-step in education. It demands a full
recognition of the individual differences
among children.
These individual differences show
themselves in many ways. Some children
are defective in sight or hearing, others
tend to become tuberculous, others are
slow mentally, others are gifted, and so
on. While in all characteristics the dif-
ferences range from a barely perceptible
departure from the norm to a wide
divergence, proper education and train-
ing demands that wherever the child's
[ 25 ]
departure from the norm is great enough
to make separate or specialized treatment
advantageous, such treatment should be
made available. No system of education
and training is complete if it merely pro-
vides teachers and buildings where chil-
dren may be assembled forty in a room
to be taught by whatever methods and
whatever curriculum may be devised as
best for the theoretically average child.
There is no such child.
VI. The Child and His Home
A good home is the inherent right of
every child. The welfare of a child de-
pends upon nothing else so inevitable as
upon the personality relationships within
the family and the child's reactions to
them. Economic and social forces which
threaten the harmony of these relation-
ships and the security of the family as a
unit, endanger the welfare of the child.
The immediate results of the operation of
forces inimical to family stability-low
standards of living, and broken homes,
among others should be presented and
combated, not only for broad humani-
tarian reasons, but specifically to provide
for the adequate adjustment and develop-
ment of children.
Fundamental to the very existence of
the home is the ability of the family to
provide an adequate and an assured in-
come. This is a problem of National scope.
The best educational efforts of schools
and other agencies may be ineffectual if
the emotional background of the child's
life is unhappy and insecure.
We still labor under an unfortunate
social tradition that the care of the child
in the home is simple, automatic and in-
stinctive. With our devotion to mother
love, we tend to think of the home as not
susceptible to scientific inquiry. Thus we
fail to study carefully its problems, or to
inculcate in parents such attitudes and
provide them with such information as
are necessary for the effective function-
ing of the parents in the home. There is,
however, an increased amount of scien-
tific knowledge of child development,
care and training now available. Any for-
ward-looking program must recognize the
basic importance of bringing knowledge
of the development of the child and of
methods of his care and training, to
parents-the individual in society direct-
ly responsible.
increase in parent-teacher associations,
these and many other evidences attest
the faith of the people in their schools.
Whatever is necessary to enable the
school to function better, the people will
provide.
On the whole the school has met and
is meeting the demands for adjustment
rapidly. However, the extraordinary rate
of change in the structure of society in
recent decades has been so great that
only in exceptional places have
have the
schools been able to keep pace. From the
point of view of child health and protec-
tion, the following are among the essen-
tial requirements needed to bring the
schools into a place of effective service in
the education and training of the child
of 1930.
1. When school buildings are built or
rebuilt, and when equipment is procured,
let there be rigid adherence to well-
recognized standards of sanitation and
health.
2. In the development of school pro-
grams, increasing recognition should be
given to the education of young children
through kindergartens and nursery
schools.
3. Programs of teacher training should
assure the teachers' understanding of the
child's physical make-up and of his per-
sonality development as well as of his
intellectual needs.
4. A school health service, city wide
and county wide, is an essential part of
every school organization. In this serv-
ice parents, teachers, school authorities
and health specialists should join forces
in devising a unified program such as
will assure the full safeguards of im-
munization, the early detection and ex-
clusion of contagious cases, the discovery
and correction of remediable defects of
body and mind in all the children regard-
less of their economic status. But above
all, the health program should system-
atically promote such a regimen of life
-diet, sleep, work, and play-as will
contribute most to the full mental and
physical vigor of every child.
5. The school must provide health edu-
cation and training of all children. This
involves instruction in personal, home
and community hygiene, in safety, in
mental hygiene, in social hygiene, in sex,
and in the preparation for potential
parenthood. In this whole program of
health education, the active cooperation.
of the parents is fundamental.
VII. The Child and His School
The school is the embodiment of the
most profound faith of the American
people, a faith that if the rising genera-
tion can but be sufficiently educated, the
ills of society will disappear. The con-
stantly lengthening period of school at-
tendance, the constantly enlarging con-
tributions of money for the maintenance
of the school, the rising standards of
preparation of the teachers, the rapid
VIII. The Child and His Church
In any program of education and train-
ing the church holds an important place.
The data in the detailed reports are most
illuminating with respect to the far-reach-
ing and growing influence of the church
upon youth. Without regard to denomina-
tion or creed, whether Catholic, Jewish,
Protestant or other faith, the church is
[ 26 ]
contributing strongly to the controlling
conceptions of personal life and social
purpose which underlie western civiliza-
tion. In all too large percentage of com-
munities, however, adjustments to the
new age involving constructive activities
for youth have been slow and inadequate
and these churches (in common, frequent-
ly with other social agencies in the same
communities) are less potent than they
should be. But in a growing number of
cases the church is expanding its activi-
ties for young people, not only in the
realm of worship but also in the young
people's adjustment to their own prob-
lems, and is carrying on a more scientific
study and administration of its program
of religious education.
IX. The Child and His Play
A suitable place to play, affording
activities suited to the varying needs of
the individuals, is the right of every
child. Play is a constructive force in child
life, needed not only to build strong
bodies, but also to develop those character
traits which revolve around resourceful-
ness and courage. City crowding may be
useful industrially, but society misreads
its profit and loss account when it thinks
to achieve industrial success at the ex-
pense of child welfare. Day nurseries and
nursery schools; playgrounds, accessible
and supervised; facilities to keep chil-
dren in close touch with nature-these
and many others must be listed on the
ledger of city-crowding industry before
a fair balance sheet may be drawn. What
the home can no longer do to provide a
play life for children, may not on that
account be left undone.
But in all these things which society
must provide to furnish wholesome recre-
ation outside the home, the home influ-
ence must be strengthened, not weakened.
The play facilities must be instruments
in parents' hands to help them carry the
responsibility of rearing their children.
This responsibility must not be shifted
from the minds and hearts of parents.
X. The Child and His Character
The emphasis that this Conference
gives to child health and protection
should not be interpreted as an under-
evaluation of character as the basic out-
come of education and training. A body
as nearly sound as possible is the first
and best approach to a sound mind. The
sound minds afford the most fertile field
for the cultivation of character. But
character such as is urgently needed in
American life can be adequately devel-
oped only when all those responsible for
children are awake to the fact that char-
acter does not just happen, but is the re-
sult of careful cultivation.
child is a typhoid patient; to the play-
ground supervisor, a first baseman; to
the teacher, a learner of arithmetic. At
different times he may be different things
to each of these specialists but too rarely
is he a whole child to any of them.
But only as the whole personality ex-
pands can character develop. Respect
for a child's personality is an absolute
requisite to effective character develop-
ment. This involves a reversal of empha-
sis. The doctor, rather than prescribing
for typhoid fever, should prescribe for
Harry Smith suffering from typhoid
fever. The playground supervisor, rather
than training a first baseman, should
train Harry Smith on first base. The
teacher, rather than teaching arithmetic,
should teach Harry Smith by means of
arithmetic. The philosophy behind the
modern demand for a child-centered cur-
riculum in the school is valid also in all
other relationships of child life, if char-
acter is to be the central outcome of edu-
cation and training.
Among the significant problems in char-
acter development is the modern tendency
toward specialization. To the doctor the
XI. The Child and His Vocation
While beet fields must be weeded and
glass factories must be kept running, yet
children have but one childhood. During
that childhood, child labor must wait on
child welfare. Some types of work are
beneficial to childhood. Others are bene-
ficial to industry at the expense of child-
hood. No economic need in prosperous
America can be urged as justification
for robbing a child of his childhood. No
encroachment upon the years needed for
education and guidance should be tol
erated.
But vocational efficiency is not only a
great social need, it is a priceless individ-
ual blessing as well. Therefore, during
youth, guidance into the most appro-
priate vocation, and training for that
vocation, are among the most urgent
aspects of education and training.
XII. The Child and Adult Education
Education is a continuous lifelong pro-
cess. In a social order resting upon public
opinion, systematic efforts are necessary
to keep that public opinion intelligent.
No other agencies suffer so directly from
an uninformed public opinion as do the
agencies for the education and training
of children. These go regularly to the
people and depend upon the understand-
ing and good will of the people for their
adequate encouragement and support.
That wisdom needed by adults in meet-
ing their responsibilities as the guaran-
tors of the rights and opportunities of
children, can come only through per-
sistent study. Existing educational
agencies should be more conscious of
their responsibility for such education.
XIII. A Program Based on Research
No enterprise so vast as the education
and training of a nation's children can
[ 27 ]
achieve its own most effective and eco-
nomical development without provision
for careful and continuous research. It
must study its operations and measure
its results. This research is needed not
alone in the schools, but in other institu-
tions affecting child development as well,
such as the family, the home, the neigh-
borhood, the playgrounds, the boy and
girl organizations; indeed, the
the most
urgent need for research is in the funda-
mental nature of the child-physical,
mental, moral and social.
A large amount of able research in
education and training is being done by
individuals in universities, in State de-
partments, in research bureaus and in
private foundations. Such research is
proving most helpful, but yet far from
adequate. It should be expanded, and still
other research agencies should include
child welfare studies in their programs.
But all these agencies together cannot
provide for the systematic study on a
Nation-wide basis of the whole scheme of
education and training.
Education is a public function. The re-
sponsibility for its administration is
rightly lodged with the several States.
Theoretically, therefore,
therefore, the research
necessary to assure efficiency should be
carried on by the States. Wherever such
research can be provided for by the
States, cooperating with other research
agencies, the State is the proper unit to
carry it on.
There are some States not yet prepared
to provide such research facilities.
Furthermore, there are certain phases
which must be attacked for the Nation
as a whole. Therefore, to cooperate with
the States in supplying this needed serv-
ice of research (and of informing the
public about the results of research) is a
proper and vital function of the Federal
Government.
Respectfully submitted.
Louise Stanley, Committee on The
Family and Parent Education.
John E. Anderson, Committee on The
Infant and Preschool Child.
Thomas D. Wood, Committee on The
School Child.
Anne S. Davis, Committee on Voca-
tional Guidance and Child Labor.
Henry Breckinridge, Committee on
Recreation and Physical Education.
Charles S. Berry, Committee on Special
Classes.
James E. West, Committee on Youth
Outside of Home and School.
F. J. Kelly, Chairman, Section III,
Education and Training.
+
excellent summary of the reports of the
various committees in the section on edu-
cation. Yet I find in following through
this report that on the subject of teacher
training there is a total of less than three
lines of material. I might say, Mr. Chair-
man, that I am engaged in the work of
teacher training for special classes at the
Michigan State Normal College. That is
why I speak particularly on the subject
of teacher training here.
Chairman Cooper: The report is before
you for consideration and discussion.
After all the agencies concerned with
childhood have done their part, in the
last analysis, the work with the educa-
tion of children comes back to the indi-
vidual child in the school room.
If we can train our teachers so that
they will understand all the problems of
child education and child rearing, we
have gone very much farther in the work
that we have before us than in anything
that we can do in any other field. I be-
lieve we haven't as yet begun to give our
teachers anything like a fair chance to
develop their ability in taking care of the
children of our land.
To altogether too great an extent it is
still true that our teachers are taught
in our teacher training institutions,
teacher colleges and universities, to teach
subject material and not to teach chil-
dren. If the teachers were trained as
they should be trained and can be
trained, they would know much about
all of these problems that we have dis-
cussed in this section.
The problem of educational differentia-
tion has been discussed. We are saying
again and again that the educational
program must be differentiated to fit the
individual child. Yet, I am afraid we are
turning out from most of our teacher
training institutions today, teachers who
are interested chiefly in the teaching of
arithmetic, spelling and what not.
We are emphasizing the necessity for
the care of the health of children. Yet, in
the vast majority of schools, our teachers
still conceive of health as something to
be taught from a book. They do not think
of health of the children in their classes.
They do not think of themselves as hav-
ing a direct responsibility for the health
of the children in their classes. They
have not as yet learned to observe care-
fully the children before them.
Responsibility of Teachers
I believe, with comparatively little
training, our teachers can be among the
most effective agencies of safeguarding
the health of our children.
We are concerned with the conduct of
children. We believe it is essential to the
welfare of the rising generation that chil-
dren be taught to be moral, self-respecting
citizens. Yet, we criticize our schools for
turning out children from our public edu-
cational programs who go out on the
streets with guns in their hands. Is it not
true that many cases of delinquency on
Address of Professor Elliott
Professor Elliott (Ypsilanti, Mich.):
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I
think we all agree that this is a most
[ 28 ]
the part of the children in our schools
might be prevented if the teachers them-
selves understood more thoroughly the
principle of understanding the child be-
fore they attempt to discipline the child?
The way has been pointed out, it seems
to me, very clearly in this direction
through the activities of the National
Committee on Visiting Teachers, a work
which, it seems to me, might be adopted
to a much greater extent than it has been
heretofore.
We are constantly emphasizing the fact
that our schools should link themselves
more closely with the homes; that the
home and the school should be united in
the interests of childhood. Yet, how few
of our teachers feel that it is their busi-
ness to make these contacts with the
homes! How few of our teachers, after
all, spend very much time in visiting the
homes of the children they are teaching!
I don't blame the teachers for this at
all. I think it is a question of training
our teachers in having the social aspect
of education. It should be a part of every
teacher training institution. I believe we
should emphasize the training of our
teachers vastly more than we have in
this report, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
(Applause.)
Chairman Cooper: Dr. Wood has a
comment to make for the committee
apropos of the remarks just made.
Dr. Wood: I wish to assure Dr. Elliott
and the rest of those present that while
the place given to the influence of the
training of the teacher may not seem
adequate, one of the important sub-com-
mittee reports of our committee on the
School Child deals quite at length with
the training and preparation of teachers
for this program of health and protection
of the child in the schools. I hope that it
may seem to the discusser and others
adequate for that very important situa-
tion.
One-room Rural Schools
Miss Ives (Maine): It seems to me that
a study of our personnel and our schools
is something we haven't put our hands
on in our discussion. I wish there would
be a recommendation that the one-room
school in the rural district be closed.
We can't do away with those schools
right away. When we compare what our
rural children are getting with what our
city children are getting, you can see
that it is a most difficult job to teach
from 25 to 30 children in a school of one
room, with eight grades. In my State of
Maine, which is a big rural State, we
have about 3,000 one-room schools. That
is about the average of every State in the
Union. Most of our cities have prevented
the immature and untrained teacher
from coming to their city schools, by
passing the city laws that teachers who
have had no training, just out of normal
school, should not come into the city
schools. Where do they go to get their
training? For the most part, they go
into our little rural schools which have
eight grades all under one roof. That is
the most difficult task for any teacher in
the world.
I wish a recommendation would be
made for the future that we believe the
consolidated rural school must come so
we can get some of the advantages of
grading that have come to our city
schools; so we can get proper supervision
for our rural children, which is impos-
sible under the one-room rural school.
When we come to our handicapped chil-
dren, no one teacher can deal with them
along with all the others. I wish we might
incorporate in this report some such
recommendation. (Applause.)
Miss Dunn (Columbia University): I
should like to add to the recommenda-
tion of the previous speaker, that while
we are working to get rid of our one-
room school, we must, by training of
teachers and every other means, see that
the poor children in those schools are
provided with equal opportunities in edu-
cation. What that means, of course, is
that we have to take our heads out of the
sand where we have kept them for many
years and face the facts of the 150,000
one-teacher schools in the United States.
We have been hoping for a quarter of a
century that our rapidly advancing pro-
gram of consolidation was going to elim-
inate those schools so that they would
no longer be a problem. They are still
existant by many hundreds of thousands.
Although we may all agree that as rapid-
ly as possible we will consolidate, because
there is no question that the one-teacher
school offers a most difficult situation, we
cannot wait to educate children until
consolidated schools are universal. We
must educate the children in whatever
schools they are in at the same time that
we are steadily trying to get better edu-
cational agencies in the rural districts.
Further Study Suggested
By providing adequate teachers, by
providing every other facility, we must
face the problem of those schools. I
should like to offer as a resolution-in
view of the fact that every committee of
this section, to say nothing of several
committees of other sections, have recog-
nized the fact that the rural child is at a
disadvantage in proper welfare and pro-
tection-I should like to offer a resolution
that there be a continuing committee of
this Conference which shall be allotted
the responsibility of giving further study
to the conditions of these rural children
and developing further constructive sug-
gestion for meeting the problems we have
all recognized.
Miss Florence Hale (Maine): I think
perhaps it would clarify this discussion
if I, as chairman of the subcommittee
[ 29 ]
working under Dr. Wood on rural edu-
cation, would explain to some who are
here from other lines of work that the
question so ably presented by Miss Ives
and seconded by Miss Dunn is very
adequately and ably handled in our re-
port. Exactly those recommendations,
with illustrations, ways and means are
given. As I understand it, Mr. Chairman,
the report we had just now does not
attempt in any way to summarize in de-
tail the findings of any one committee,
but we do expect to read the reports of
several sub-committees.
For instance, I would have been glad
to have had all of these problems on
rural education included in this sum-
mary. I consider that much of it was
included under equal opportunity for all
children and adequately trained teachers
for all children. I thought that those of
us who are interested in our particular
districts should share with others in a
necessarily brief summary. I think it is
fine that this question has come up from
those directly in the field of rural edu-
cation. I think you will see how strongly
we advocate both of these matters, but
I do feel that the resolution is in order
and I should be glad to second the resolu-
tion made by Miss Dunn.
Chairman Cooper: Is there any further
discussion?
Mrs. Stottman: Mr. Chairman, may I
suggest that the special economic phase
that was added be emphasized since the
concern of the rural child is quite as im-
portant to the city as to the country, and
it is an economic question in a large mat-
ter for this Conference to consider. In my
own State, schools are closing because
there are not enough taxes.
Mr. O. C. Carmichael (Alabama State
College, Montevello, Ala.): There is one
phase of the report I had hoped might
have been emphasized a little more, and
doubtless will be in the subcommittee
report.
I should like to call especial attention
to it at this time, and that is the part of
the report referring to parent education.
I think if one thing has been stressed
more than any other one thing through-
out the discussions of the various com-
mittees, it is the importance of the home
and the family in the solution of the
problems facing the child. If we are
really to solve that problem, we must go
back to the parent who has charge of
the child, or so much of his time.
child health and protection. (Applause.)
Dr. Joseph E. Raycroft (Princeton
University, Princeton, N. J.):
J.): I I had
hoped, Mr. Chairman, that someone else
would discuss this point which I have in
mind to discuss for a moment so that I
might avoid this task.
The title of the Conference has marked
out the lines for your study and endeavor
as that of child health and protection.
We have given a great deal of attention,
most valuable and useful, to the question
of child health.
I want to call attention to another
factor, to the second part of this title,
which has to do with the protection of
the child; and I want to call attention to
that from a particular point of view, and
that is, the question of over-stimulation.
No period in the history of our civiliza-
tion has developed for itself an environ-
ment that furnishes so sharp and con-
tinuous a stimulation to the child, begin-
ning in infancy and extending beyond the
time that is covered by the scope of this
investigation. That statement will call to
your mind immediately a few of the out-
standing factors-there are many others.
-the telephone, the movies, the radio,
athletics, the busy atmosphere of the
home. We are busy; and that has its
effect upon every youngster that is in
the environment.
Periods of Rest
It has been said man is the only
animal that has been able to modify his
environment and to control it to his own
advantage. These recent developments
raise a serious question as to whether
these factors that have come into our
environment aren't in many respects
detrimental. Certainly they are factors
that contribute to lessening of home in-
fluence, and to making the child feel
that there is nothing to do at home. That
has occurred in so many of our reports.
These are among the factors that affect
that attitude.
There is a physiological rhythm which
is characteristic of all growth, whether
it is physical, emotional, or whatever.
That rhythm, under these new conditions,
is to a large extent obliterated or inter-
fered with.
Every young animal, excepting the
baby, excepting the human animal, fol-
lows a period of intense activity with a
similar period of rest and recuperation.
Our babies, our youngsters, are not get-
ting that opportunity. They haven't
periods of rest; they haven't opportuni-
ties to think, to read, to day-dream; if
there is anything abroad for a youngster
it is an opportunity to day-dream, to use
his imagination, to do the little things in
which he takes a real interest. These
stimulating influences operate through a
great part of the twenty-four hours, and
they rob the young organism of the
periods of rest and relaxation that con-
It has seemed to me that if there could
go from this White House Conference a
recommendation to the colleges and the
universities of the country that they put
into their curricula for students in train-
ing, courses in pre-parental education,
and in their extension program, courses
in the training of parents on the job, as
a part of that extension work, that it
might greatly advance the whole cause of
[ 30 ]
tribute so greatly to the development of
nervous and emotional stability.
It is a part of my function at Princeton
in connection with student health and
other activities, to deal with boys who
are having difficulties, nervous and emo-
tional. It is amazing what a large propor-
tion of those difficulties have their roots
back in early childhood. It is amazing to
what extent those difficulties are based
upon the business, the uncompleted busi-
ness of their lives, the contrast of rush-
ing from one thing to another, social,
scholastic, athletic, dramatic, anything
you like.
I think that we should recognize a
tendency on our part, which perhaps is
an American trait, to carry youthful
activities to extremes, social activities,
athletic activities, and so on. I think
there are a number of factors, there are
problems that come up under this gen-
eral category. To name only one in this
particular group, the exploitation of the
boy and the girl who may possess some
unusual athletic ability.
The study of the classics has become a
little less popular during later days in
educational circles, but every now and
then you find something in the classics
which bears upon our particular prob-
lems. I came across one the other day.
I don't want to give you a wrong im-
pression, I read this in the English trans-
lation; it was quoted by John Milton. I
never thought of John as a man who
wrote on education, but he did, and in
the course of this article he quoted from
Aristotle, to this effect: "It has been
noted that young boys who have won
places in the boys' Olympics seldom, if
ever, qualify for prizes in later life."
We are just beginning to understand
that these youngsters who compete so
violently in our secondary schools are
burned out and do not make good in
their particular activity when they come
up to college. So in our enthusiasm for
the promotion of activities let us not lose
sight of the physiological limits that in-
dicate the place to stop for the best in-
terests of the individual; let us recognize
the need in our consideration of this big
problem of protection from over-stimula-
tion. (Applause.)
Dr. W. Carson Ryan: Do you wish us
to go back to the resolution?
Chairman Cooper: I think it isn't neces-
sary, for the reason that the resolution
will appear in the record, and will go
before the committee.
What has been said of the rural situa-
tion is clearly proof we need vocational
guidance. It is true that the consolidated
school has made possible the counselling,
the kind of protection and help that rural
students ought to have.
If you will look back over the past
thirty years, thirty years represented by
these three presidential conferences, I
think you will see that you have these
steps of promotion, actual work in the
extension, and that is particularly true in
the case of the rural school, and particu-
larly true in the case of vocational guid-
ance.
In 1910 they were simply telling the
possibilities and needs of guidance; in
1920 they had found out something about
how to do it, and now the job, the big
job, we have is to send and go to places
where it is not done.
Rural Facilities
Dr. Ryan: There was a matter in that
which led to something I was anxious to
say a word about. The extension of better
facilities to rural communities, it seems
to me, applies all the way through this
admirable summary of the educational
board. I am thinking, for example, of
Vocational guidance and child labor.
I feel particularly strongly right now,
and I am trying to apply things in this
report to one of the most neglected fields,
that of the race group-350,000 Indians
living in the worst of these rural com-
munities, in tribes; and the first thing
we are trying to do is to put into that
situation people who are trained, pre-
pared for the job. We are not trying to
get rid of little units, but we are trying
to have those units manned by the best
possible people, and we are finding more
and more that the people are not afraid
to go to those small units.
We have people say to us, "If that is
the kind of a job you want us to do, we
are ready. We don't care how far away
it is." Every day I have come to my desk.
telegrams from teachers, accepting ap-
pointments in Iowa, in Utah, ninety-four
and a half miles to a railroad, one stage
daily, fare $9.00. We can get more people
to apply for those jobs than we can for
some of those near the city.
Athletics for Girls
Miss Wayman (New York): I should like
to add just a word to what Dr. Raycraft
has just said about over-stimulation in
connection with athletic programs of the
girls. I am thinking of it in connection
especially with the elementary school
girl and the adolescent high school girl.
I am not talking about athletic activities
for girls such as we have in normal situ-
ations; I am talking about the highly in-
tent, inter-competitive athletic situation
which we find in their school competition,
inter-city competition, inter-sectional
competition, national competition, Olym-
pic competition, and so forth. I am think-
ing of it from the point of view of the
But the whole thing remains a prob-
lem of extending what we now know to
the places where it hasn't reached. Voca-
tional guidance and correction, the things
that go in our educational program, can
be carried to the country and the minor-
ity groups, if we insist upon doing it.
(Applause.)
[ 31 ]
girl. The same thing might apply to the
boy.
I am thinking of it in connection,
especially, with these competitions held
in the evenings, before a mixed audience,
paid attendance. I know, and you know,
there are many things about this whole
situation which have not yet been brought
to light. You and I know there must be
much intensive study of this problem for
scientific investigation and research. To-
day we can't decide just what effect upon
girls this strenuous athletic competition
will have, but until we have those cold
truths, we had best be guided, as a big
mass, by competent experts; and I think
the opinion of the experts is that there
is great danger to the highly-strung
American girl in these highly-intense
competitive, inter-competitive
(Applause.)
events.
Significance of Conference
Mr. Joy E. Morgan (Editor, Journal of
the National Education Assn.): Mr. Chair-
man, I am sure we have all been greatly
inspired by the significant discussions of
these days, and by the findings that we
have had presented to us from day to
day. There has been laid during this
period the foundation for the most remark-
able quarter of a century of progress that
has ever come in the history of the world.
This Conference has a significance which
lifts it into a place of supreme impor-
tance, not only in a decade or a century,
but in a period of a thousand years.
It is significant, in the first place, be-
cause of the noble object to which it is
dedicated the giving of a fair start in
life to every boy and girl.
It is noble, in the second place, because
it has brought together a vast group of
the most gifted citizens of this nation; it
has lifted them above the narrow confines
of their localities or special ties into one
gigantic, cooperative, joint enterprise on
behalf of this great, common cause.
It is significant, in the third place, be-
cause by its very successful achievement
it has given to the conference method of
solving our great problems a new im-
petus.
It is significant, in the fourth place,
because it has brought together the great-
est body of principles and purposes and
plans and data that have ever been as-
sembled in this great field of individual
and racial advance.
Daily Application
We can solve all our petty problems
and still we shall be nowhere, unless we
have aroused that inspiring sense of our
opportunity as a great people. We have
the beginnings of it here in Washington,
on the material side, in this great de-
velopment that you see building here in
the city; we have the beginnings of it on
the social side, in a Conference such as
this. And the thing I want to say is just
this: That this Conference, in the end, is
worth just the difference it makes in the
lives of human beings.
It is significant, in the fifth place, be-
cause it is a long step in the direction
of a planned America. If ever we are to
inspire our young people with that sense
of adventure and achievement and CO-
operation that we have usually associated
with war; if ever we are to carry that
over into the realms of peace, it will be
because we have built into the lives of
those young people a sense of their op-
portunity and common destiny and possi-
bility. (Applause.)
We can go home with these fine reports
under our arms and read parts of them,
but unless each of us in his individual
capacity as a worker puts this truth into
his work day by day and week by week
and year by year, it will fall on infertile
soil; and if we are going to put it into
operation day by day in our work, with
all which that implies in terms of public
support, we can do it only as each mem-
ber of this Conference makes of himself
a continuing interpreter to the masses of
the citizens of this country, of what this
means in terms of child life and social
advance.
We have already too large a gap be-
tween the specialist and the mass practice
of America. We can never bridge that
gap until each teacher (not only each
superintendent and each principal), and
each parent, and each social worker and
each doctor who has a vision of a better
day is willing to talk and write in every
contact of his life to bring that picture
to his associates and to the citizens at
large. (Applause.)
Economic Factor
Mr. Salley (Florida): Mr. Chairman
and Ladies and Gentlemen: I do not wish
to make any comments on this Conference
which has been conceived in the heart
of one of the great leaders of America,
but I do wish to raise some problems that
are staring the trainers and teachers and
leaders in the face.
Mr. Chairman, I am inclined to believe
that we are too much given to accepting
the economic and industrial establish-
ment as final, and therefore, of adjusting
our institutions, especially the institu-
tions of learning, and the training of
leaders and teachers, to the economic and
industrial establishment.
I am tremendously impressed with this
fact, that unemployment is a terrible
problem to the great industrial countries
of the world England, to be exact,
Germany, to be exact, America, again, to
be exact. But when we look about us and
look at France and see that she has prac-
tically no unemployment problem, and
that she, strange to say, has not yet alto-
gether accepted the modern economic in-
dustrial establishment as final and abso-
lute, but has retained for the people the
[ 32 ]
industries and arts that go into the very
families themselves, then it seems to me
we are coming to this problem: That un-
less those who train teachers and leaders
in the critical analysis of economic con-
ditions in America, as compared with
other countries, and the results of in-
stitutions (especially educational institu-
tions in other countries, where there is
not this terrible problem of unemploy-
ment) I say, unless we have these
students trained in economic understand-
ing, analytical, sociological, based on bio-
logical understanding also, it is quite
likely we will send out novices, ill pre-
pared for the work that they are supposed
to do.
One more word, and I am through. We
are all the time talking about child labor.
What I say now is going to be said with
the utmost reverence, and with great
caution; but the anthropologists tell us,
and with great wisdom, that the torso of
the people grows out of the way it makes
a living, the way it makes its bread and
butter. The little child is born into this
world, and he begins by being properly
fed. He at first, I say with the utmost
reverence to motherhood, works for his
living. He is engaged in a creation of a
personality, a workman's creation. Shall
we deny children work?
mendous responsibility, not only of tak-
ing stock of what America is doing and
how well she is doing, but also of taking
stock of what the world is doing, that we
may make a comparative study, so we
may make a contribution not only to the
world, but to ourselves, in how we shall
train teachers and leaders. (Applause.)
Dr. J. M. Brewer (Harvard Uni-
versity): I should like to see people
realize that the big books are the things
that count, and not the statements that
have to be condensed, even if they do
leave out our hobbies; and I should like,
if possible to ask the privilege, if it is
parliamentary and in order, to move that
we close debate after the present speaker,
and go on to hear the speeches of the
afternoon.
Brilliant Students
Dr. Howard Bement (Asheville): We
are face to face with a tremendous
problem, and as the speaker who sat
down a moment ago has said, we bring
to each his own prepossessions. I con-
sider that that is of no value to the gen-
eral discussion, except as that which is
brought to you is something that has
either been omitted or slurred over in
the general report.
The trouble with the general report
is that most of us haven't had access to
it, and we don't know, therefore, whether
our own particular prepossessions have
been touched upon or not. If the thing
I want to bring out has been touched
upon I trust, Mr. Chairman, or Dr. Wood,
that I may be summarily cut short.
Reflection Held Essential
Play means recreation. And then, we
should provide also a program of reflec-
tion and worship, and thoughtfulness.
These three things should run through
the lives of all children; and yet we
philanthropists, the educators on the one
hand, men and women loving the children
to death, and the labor unions on the
other hand, which we should like to join,
by the way, perhaps are robbing the child
of his great inheritance of an increasing
responsibility as he grows up toward
work, as well as an opportunity for play
and for education and for understand-
ing.
I think it is a disgraceful commentary
on us teachers that we have to use the
parent compulsory education; and I
think it is worse that we have to believe
in it, because it seems to me that our
schools should be made so attractive that
even the parents, themselves, would want
to go to school.
So I want to make a plea for the very
teacher that is trained in economics and
sociology and biology, and so understands
children and parents, the great teacher
who can speak beautifully the English
language; but it is a shame that some
of our teachers cannot speak their mother
tongue, though they were born to an
English inheritance. And I say that our
teachers should give a great leadership
that the little children might have a
great atmosphere of culture and under-
standing. And upon us who are in these
teacher training schools rests this tre-
Over-stimulation
I want to emphasize what Dr. Raycroft
has so finely said, out of his rich experi-
ence at Princeton, that the over-stimula-
The thing that staggered me this
morning in the report of Dr. Berry was
the fact that the handicapped and the
brilliantly endowed were all together
figured up in one report, and in the dis-
cussion following it this morning the
brilliantly endowed people weren't even
touched upon, but the handicapped re-
ceived all the attention. I suppose the
implication is, therefore, that we are go-
ing to treat both these classes as freaks;
and that, to my mind, is one of the evils
that is connected with what has taken
place thus far. I want to rise to protest
against it, and to suggest that the bril-
liant student who has an I. Q., we shall
say, between 130 and 150, of whom there
are probably in this country not more
than a quarter of a million (possibly
a half million) be given special study
by a specially prepared group qualified
to deal with what shall be done in in-
struction, that help and protection may
be assured those who are gifted children,
and from whom, whether you like it or
not, our potential leaders are in large
part to be drawn.
[ 33 ]
tion is quite likely to come in the case
of those who are brilliantly endowed.
How are we going to avoid it? How are
we going to see to it that they are drawn
out of that group? I think we, as a group
engaged in National education, are prime
offenders, because while we are educating
the submerged up to a median or norm,
we are educating the gifted down to the
median or norm, and that is the worst
crime that can be committed in the name
of education.
I trust that these who are by some
miraculous gift endowed with a quality
that places them in a class by themselves,
may be so dealt with in our public
schools, their health and their protection
so assured that out of this potential source
of leadership there may come those who
will, indeed, be leaders and not blind
leaders of the blind. (Applause.)
Dr. J. M. Brewer (Harvard University):
I should like to make a motion that will
require a two-thirds vote to carry. I
move we close debate.
Chairman Cooper: I took it from what
Dr. Kelly said when he left, that this was
not the voting section of the Conference.
I should say, therefore, that the resolu-
tion would merely mean that you wish
Dr. Kelly to bring it before the working
section of the Conference, and I had taken
the lack of any opposition to that resolu-
tion to mean that that would be an in-
struction to him. If you desire a formal
vote, however, I see no objection to it.
Dr. J. M. Brewer (Harvard Uni-
versity): I don't care.
Character Education
Mr. Ray O. Wyland (New York): I rise
to speak on the subject of character edu-
cation. We are all gratified at the empha-
sis that is given in various phases of the
report that deal with character educa-
tion. We all recognize the fact that if
our democracy carries forward, it will
carry forward because we adequately met
the challenge of this new day in develop-
ing citizens for the democracy, men of
character and integrity, women of char-
acter and integrity, to carry these re-
sponsibilities of government.
is akin to character education, that in
some findings of committee or carry-
over committee which come out of this
Conference to deal with
to deal with this subject
or any subject vitally concerning it, that
one committee, at least, will deal with
character education as it applies to school,
and see to it that something is done in
all of the States, as is being attempted
in some of the States and some of the
cities now to meet adequately this great
opportunity for developing character and
citizens for the democracy. (Applause.)
Miss Stewart (Washington): I have a
hobby, too, I don't know how much may
be said in the complete report about the
matter of placement as an increasing
part of the education program for I have
not seen the complete report, but I
should think it would be very unfortun-
ate if it were not stressed as a necessary
part of the program.
The under-privileged child, the child
that leaves school early, if he may, or
stays in school reluctantly, when he may
not leave, is a child that learns his voca-
tion largely on the job; and that child
needs guidance and placement with fol-
low-up under a supervision that has re-
gard for his welfare, until he can stand
alone; and unless placement and follow-
up are made an intrinsic part of the edu-
cational program, that child is likely to
miss the education he needs.
It is true, too, that curriculum which
is closely allied to this subject may be
adequately stressed in the complete re-
port. I haven't discovered it in the dis-
cussions or in the general recommenda-
tions, but if that type of child (and he is
the rank and file) is to have the kind
of education that he needs, someone some-
where, and in a good many somewheres,
must attack the curriculum with imagin-
ation and daring, as we say, and do it
rather quickly and rather completely.
Dr. Brewer spoke of that yesterday, and
I think it was Dr. Dunn who spoke this
morning of the very inadequate provi-
sion for the child of a compulsory law
that sends him to school when the school
doesn't give him what he needs.
So I should like to stress the need of
placement as an intrinsic part of an ade-
quate education program. The privileged
children, the leaders, are very important,
but if they get too far ahead of the rank
and file they won't be leaders; they will
be lost.
We all recognize the fact that our
largest investment in education is in the
school. Over $8,000,000 are engaged in
the employment, the maintenance of
equipment in schools, to take hundreds
of millions of our youth in the grades
and high schools and in the colleges. It
seems to me that if we are to carry over
from this Conference an emphasis that is
going to get somewhere in the life of the
youth of this Nation, that we must bear
in mind the opportunity that is given to
one agency which deals with the whole of
the life of the youth of the Nation, and
that is the school. It is my hope that in
that great volume of reports which are
dealing with what in many phases of it
Florence Williams (Little Rock, Arkan-
sas): I guess we all have hobbies, and
probably mine doesn't bear on the gen-
eral report so much as it does on the
thing that is near and dear to the hearts
of the group that I represent.
I want to ask that as you fine men and
women of the white race who are in at-
tendance upon this Conference go back
to your various States, particularly in the
South-for it is there that I am located,
it is there that I have been located for
[ 34 ]
the past 18 years, and it is there where
my interest lies, among the group of my
people, the boys and girls of the Negro
race-I am hoping as you go back to your
several Southern States, particularly,
that you ladies and gentlemen will create
and help establish within the rank and
file of your people and your educators
back there, an opportunity for us Negro
workers who will help, and who will en-
deavor to put over this program as it will
be gotten out by the White House Confer-
ence as a definite program, that you will
pave the way for our getting it over,
thereby elevating the opportunity for the
Negro boy and the Negro girl to have an
unfettered start and a fair chance in the
race of life. (Applause.)
Distribution of Reports
-
Miss Dacy (Boston): Mr. Chairman, I
found this Conference so helpful, so in-
spirational and thrilling that I wonder if
any recommendation has been made, or
would it be in order to have a recom-
mendation made, that every superintend-
ent of every public school system in the
country be presented with a set of the
various reports that will go out of this
Conference.
While we are delegates we, after all,
represent a very small group. As one real-
izing that there are 120,000,000 people or
more in this country to inspire, I feel
that we have altogether too great a task.
I am quite sure that I am unwilling to
give up my set of reports, and consequent-
ly I should like to move, if it be in order,
that this committee on Education and
Training take it as part of their work
so to inspire the publicity committee, or
whatever committee could have that
passed, to see to it that the heads of the
educational institutions, and particularly
the teacher training institutions, will re-
ceive copies of all the reports that go out
of this Conference. Otherwise I am afraid
that the enthusiasm, the inspiration and
the help that we have received will not
go very far to carry on the purposes and
the aim and the hope of our great leader,
the President of the United States.
Chairman Cooper: If there is no objec-
tion to that, Dr. Kelly's attention will be
called to the request. Its execution, you
see, depends upon finances and upon
other considerations.
The floor is yours for further questions
of for further discussion, or for the fur-
ther riding of hobbies.
GROUP DINNER
The Dinner Meeting held at the United
States Chamber of Commerce, Washing-
ton, D. C., opened at 8:30 o'clock, Nov.
20, Dr. Willis A. Sutton, National Edu-
cation Association, Atlanta, Georgia, pre-
siding.
Sally Stewart (President, National
Association of Colored Women): Mr.
Chairman, we feel quite delighted to have
so many of our women listening in on
this Conference, as we are an organiza-
tion that has worked for 34 years trying
to build character into the Negro units
of this country, starting at a time when
there were probably 50 women who were
really qualified to do that sort of work.
We believe that every phase of this
work will touch some of our people some-
what, and I believe that I should be doing
an injustice to our organization if I did
not take a few minutes to allow this con-
gregation to know our plan and our aims
in connection with the work that is so
nobly planned by the White House Con-
ference.
Work Among Negroes
For 34 years I say that we worked to
touch every phase of uplift for the Negro
child, and for the last two years we
have been trying in our department work
to be placed in a position where we could
work on the building of character, real-
izing that character can only be built
in the Negro home, and that we must
teach and make intelligent motherhood,
that we must make of the physical en-
tity of the home something that we might
be proud of; and that we must also take
care of and protect the child in the primi-
tive and formative years of his life.
So we should like to have the White
constituency all over this country know
that in their cities we have women who
are members of the National Association
of Colored Women who are trying to
work on this particular phase, and we of-
fer ourselves and our organization to the
members of the White House Conference
for cooperation in carrying to our group
the work that has been outlined here.
(Applause.)
The motion was made and seconded to
adjourn.
Chairman Cooper: The motion is moved
and seconded that we adjourn. Is there
any objection? If not, we are adjourned
until tomorrow morning.
The meeting adjourned at 4:30 o'clock.
THE SCHOOL OF TOMORROW
talked with a good many of them around
the table here tonight, I find that but
few, if any of them, were apprized ex-
actly of the nature of this meeting, and
have just exactly the thing that they
were supposed to discuss.
Chairman Sutton: I think I might say,
in fairness to those who are on this plat-
form, as well as to myself, that having
Of course, all of us knew of the Con-
ference, knew something of its findings
already, and of those features of the
[ 35 ]
Conference to be discussed and finally
decided upon. My only information with
reference to this dinner was a telegram
that we would have a small, informal
dinner (laughter) and asked me, as
President of the National Education As-
sociation, to preside.
I find a representative company of
great Americans in a crowded hall. Pos-
sibly this is a small dinner for Wash-
ington. (Laughter.) It would be rather
large in Atlanta. (Laughter.)
I am delighted to have the privilege
of presiding here, and feel that it is in-
deed a privilege. In my honest, candid
opinion, in spite of all the conferences
of a great nature, and many of them
international, that have been held in this,
our great capital city, no conference has
ever been called together that had such
far-reaching implications, not only for
America and for America's children, but
for the world, owing to this great con-
ception of President Hoover; and I feel
the thing that impressed me in every
speech that I heard over the radio in par-
ticular, during the Presidential campaign,
was that not in a single utterance of our
great President was the home and its
meaning to America omitted.
Tribute to Mr. Hoover
I have learned, from those who are
closer to him and know his heart, that
the one great theme of his life is in this
great Conference that he has called to-
gether. I felt last night, as I am sure
you did, that not one single word uttered
was simply an expression of a faith or
belief, but the throbbing of a great
human heart for these 120,000,000 of peo-
ple over whom he presides, and for
that other million of millions reaching
out through all the lands of the earth
to whom he has so wonderfully min-
istered in the last 12 or 15 years.
I feel that I, tonight, in my own heart,
and you in yours, feel above everything
else, that the one thing for which this
great administration will stand, and the
one thing that will make it pre-eminent
in the lives of children who are unborn,
will be the conception and the execution
of this Conference; and if we can make
it a reality in the life of the children of
the land, as he has conceived it in his
heart and planned it and executed it
here, I think we will have done our part
in this great ideal.
America possibly $400,000,000,000 of
wealth, but one generation of us at the
pitiful sum of about $30,000 a life is
worth a trillion five hundred billion of
dollars; and we have thought more in
terms of the four hundred billion that
it has taken us four or five hundred years
to accumulate than we have thought of
a continual capital stock of a trillion five
hundred billion per generation.
I believe that the thing that we want
to do tonight is to make the knowledge
that has been accumulated from the best
minds and the greatest sources of
America available in such a way that the
children of this Nation shall not simply
hear of them, but it shall be a part of
their life and of their entire home life;
and I conceive of that being the great
object for which we are gathered here
tonight.
Objectives of the Conference
May I take this occasion to read the
only information which really has come
to me with reference to this dinner, and
to this program: "The White House Con-
ference on Child Health and Protection
will be of interest only to historians un-
less its findings are translated into ac-
tion on behalf of the millions of Ameri-
can children." That is a quotation from
Secretary of Labor, James J. Davis.
There are two objectives listed here
for this particular meeting. First, to dis-
cuss the adaptation of the findings of
the White House Conference to use in
school and college curriculum; second,
to select a committee of educators to co-
operate with others, to whom the White
House Conference executives may refer
the task of making these findings useful
in teaching and school administration.
That gives to each of you the purpose
of our gathering.
In addition there came to me a list
of those who would discuss
discuss various
phases of these objectives or other sub-
jects which may have been assigned to
them, and I shall say to each of them if
in the message which they receive, other
subjects were assigned, we shall ask
them to discuss those according to their
own choice.
The first speaker who was to be with
us tonight has sent regrets, unless Com-
missioner Cooper has come in since we
entered the room. If he has, we would
be delighted to have him come forward,
but I imagine he is not present at this
time.
The thing that comes into my mind
tonight is simply this: Shall we make
America a land that believes in, thinks
about, plans for, prays for, and works
for the elevation of its people; or shall
we devote the energies and the thought
of one hundred and twenty millions of
people to the machines and to the ma-
terialistic things of life? I believe that
our greatest asset is our people.
Address of Dr. Kelly
We have accumulated in these hun- Dr. F. J. Kelly: Mr. Chairman, Ladies
dreds of years that we have been in and Gentlemen: This is indeed a much
In the working out of the plans of
this Conference, the next speaker has had
a great deal to do with that section that
we call education and training; and it
gives me pleasure at this time to present
Dr. F. J. Kelly! (Applause.)
[ 36 ]
greater gathering than I had supposed
would assemble, as representing one of
the seven dinners that are in progress
tonight.
The interest that has been shown from
the beginning in the White House Con-
ference has been one of the most gratify-
ing things that we who have been giving
some time to its execution have experi-
enced, and as the time has approached
for the final Conference and the publica-
tion of the findings, there has been every
evidence that that interest has grown
and grown, and probably is now one of
the unfailing elements among our whole
people, causing us to think in common
of the greatest thing, as the chairman
has said, that any nation can have, its
greatest asset, its children. And if we
can but be quite sure that now, through
this period of depression, and it is indeed
a real depression, we can just be sure
that education and other activities in
the interest of children shall be regarded
as an investment, that will return prob-
ably the largest dividends of any way in
which our money, now more valuable
than it has been for a long time, can
return to us. Let us see if we cannot
keep a steady eye, so far as the children
are concerned. Let us make our adjust-
ments and shifts so far as we may have
to make them in other regards, but not
ask the children to pay much in the way
of sacrifice of their own youth to go
through this period of depression.
You have probably entirely digested the
little volume that has been put in your
hands (laughter) so I may assume, with-
out speaking much about that, that you
already know that much about the Con-
ference-what is in that little book, that
the section having to do with education
and training has, as a matter of fact, only
about three hundred pages, which is a
trifle, of course, for those who have a
little time on the train to read it and
master it as you go along.
You probably realize that the Confer-
ence is, after all, a very limited affair;
otherwise we should have a real volume
for your information. But this, you see,
is confined to child health and protection.
It doesn't give us chance to say the long
and worthy things we have always liked
to say about curriculum, for example,
and methods in schools. We have to keep
that out, and therefore, our report is
short. Our seventy some committees and
subcommittees in Section III shall prob-
ably be limited to the small and paltry
allotment of some forty pamphlets in
volume and print. So when you get that
again you will understand that its limit
is due to the fact that we are confining
our interest to child health and protec-
tion; so that you can understand why
you do not have a more complete state-
ment about child welfare.
Educational Efforts
In trying to pick out from the many
pages of recommendations which have
been made in Section III the things that
could be said in a very few minutes to
you tonight, on the topic that the chair-
man has announced, about how we can
adapt the findings of the Conference to
the schools and colleges, I have chosen
four. I shall do but little more than men-
tion them, but their mention will indicate
the emphasis that I think they deserve;
that they stand perhaps more or less at
the top of the list of the things which
the schools and colleges can best adjust
to.
The first one of those (and the pages
of the volumes as you will get them by
and by, when we don't have to be con-
tent with just the preliminary state-
ment) will reiterate over and over again
that all of our educational efforts can
be very much better capitalized when
we have as the objects of those efforts
children who are vigorous, who do not
suffer from inadequate nutrition, from
some failure of provision, or when they
don't hear adequately what the teacher
is saying, or where their legs ache a lit-
tle bit because they are sitting on too
high chairs, or for some other reason
their minds are not available to you
(their teachers) in anything like the full
interest to which you and they are en-
titled.
So the slogan that I think probably
out of this section may really come first
as a slogan for schools, may be put in
this way: Not alone one hundred per
cent of the children in school, but as
nearly as possible one hundred per cent
children in school. (Applause.)
We have had in late years a great in-
crease in activity such as parent-teacher
associations, one of the finest assets that
education has had, and its growing in-
fluence will continue, I think, in years
to come. Out of the parent-teacher associa-
tion and allied groups of that sort we
have had one illuminating interpretation
given to what has been thought of as
one of our really troublesome problems
of today. We have been constantly say-
ing that the home is being depleted of the
richness which used to abide in it. The
intimacy and sympathies existing be-
tween parents and children are becoming
more difficult, so we have said, and of
course, it is true; but these people now
who have been getting at the heart of
this in the investigations about the re-
lationship of home and school, are com-
ing to us with something most encourag-
ing about that.
Expanding Home Influences
To be sure, the types of things which
parents used to have with which to bring
about this intimate relationship are
changing, but at the same time, there
[ 37 ]
are coming into existence a great many
potentialities for good. Shall I name some
of them so that you will know what I
mean? Yes, the movie, radio, of course,
magazines of all sorts, the boy scouts,
the camp fire girls, camping, all sorts of
things of that kind; and we have thought
of them as more or less taking the chil-
dren out of home.
But the interpretation that I want to
give to you, which has been a source of
great cheer to me as I thought about it,
and the facts after all where it is being
tried justify this interpretation-that af-
ter all if we can but think of the four walls
of the home expanding so as to enclose
these outside activities so that now par-
ents who are wise, instead of feeling that
now they are losing their children from
them in the home, use these activities
with which they can gain comradeship
with their children, and they are using
them, as assets and adjuncts of the home
rather than something which takes these
children away from the parents. The par-
ents are finding things now that are vital
to children, and that they can share these
experiences with the children.
It is only rather in a few places, in
rather scattered localities, that those
places have been found; but the reports of
those places, as I say, are cheering in-
deed. I think we may see before us in
the next fifteen or twenty years so fine
an incorporation within the family spirit
of a good many of these excellent things
-and do not suppose I do not recognize
that they have in them potentialities for
evil as well as potentialities for good.
Well I am convinced that we can capital-
ize the potentialties for good and reduce
very, very rapidly the potentalities for
evil in these things when we but recog-
nize that they are, after all, adjuncts of
the home around which the four walls
are being expected to expand.
Therefore, let us assume that parents
are now going to regain the opportunity
which they have felt they have lost, and
that now they can bring back into the
bosom of their own sympathetic interest
and care for the leisure time of both
children and parents, these, their loved
ones for whom after all they are giving
their lives.
there who were perfectly willing to do
anything he told us, and yet I find
these people are discovering that the
teachers that he trained back there in
Teacher's College have to be trained all
over again. (Laughter.)
Yes, he taught us a lot of Thorndyke
psychology. I am thinking of Thorndyke
as one of his fingers, you understand-
Thorndyke psychology and that sort of
thing. But now we are discovering that
with the growing emphasis upon knowing
each individual child, with all the sorts
of mental tests with which we are ex-
pected to understand him and help him
understand himself, that the child is
first of all a physical thing. And now in
addition to these complicated things with
which we thought we were coming
to understand the mind, we have got to
start down to the foot now and under-
stand him as a living, vital, squirming
animal, before we can even start to get
at his mind.
I say that, perhaps you think, some-
what facetiously. Ladies and gentle-
men, I suspect we are going to discover
that it is as truly necessary to come into
a sympathetic relationship with the phys-
ical self of these children as it has been
necessary for us to come into intimate
relationship with the mental self of these
children. I do not assume that the two are
separate. I do not know which is first,
the physical action or the mental reac-
tion-it may be the same old trouble of
the chicken and the egg; but at any rate
they are there, right tied together, and
we have so far been trying to understand
him through an attack upon his mental
processes alone. Now we must add his
physical processes, and the teacher
training institutions must include that
element which has been almost entirely
lacking in the past.
Child Personality
One more thing, and then I will yield
to these people who are so much better
prepared to talk about these things than
1. It does my heart good to be on the
platform again with this group of celeb-
rities. I suppose you have to come to
Washington to do it, but I don't want
to take too much of the time which I
want them to occupy. Therefore, one
other point, and I am through.
Training of Teachers
The third thing that this report has
emphasized is that this teacher train-
ing business that we have thought a great
many times we settled isn't settled at
all. I am glad in one way and I am sorry
in another that dear Dean Russell is on
the platform. He is the man that I
looked to a good many years ago to have
settled everything of that kind. (Laugh-
ter and applause.) The fact that this same
old problem of teacher training crops
up again is in a sense a reflection upon
him. (Laughter.) He had an excellent
chance to settle it. He had a lot of us
Throughout all the pages of these re-
ports we get it stressed over and over
that the most sacred thing to every child
is his personality. We cannot have the
physician treating typhoid fever. we
must have him treating a little young-
ster inflicted with typhoid fever. We
cannot have our playground supervisors
training first basemen, but we must have
them, instead, training Johnny through
his first baseman's experiences.
We have, of course, long ago been say-
ing we have too long had teachers teach-
ing arithmetic-that they must teach
[ 38 ]
Johnny by means of arithmetic. We must
not only have the child-centered curric-
ulum, which I like, but we must have the
individualized curriculum also; that of
our 40 children, no two can be assumed
to need the same curriculum, nor to be
handled in the same way.
Therefore to preserve that most sacred
thing to every child-his personality-
and allow him the fullest opportunity to
develop to his best self. (Applause.)
Chairman Sutton: I am sure you have
thoroughly enjoyed this message and I
am not going to attempt to delay this
meeting from time to time by making
introductory speeches or remarks in be-
tween these addresses. I do want to em-
phasize though this one thought at the
beginning of Dr. Kelly's talk, and that is
that it is necessary that reductions in this
time of depression shall fall lightest upon
the child. That is a wonderful thought. I
shall never forget in 1892 when my broth-
er and sister were in college and financial
difficulties came then as they have come
now, and in a family conference which
my father always had with reference to
things that concern the family because
there were eight of us children, he finally
said, "Well, Johnnie and Sarah must
come home."
My mother with that wonderful in-
stinct that becomes a woman, and intui-
tive knowledge of values said something
which was epoch-making, in our family
at least, when she said, "The difficulties
of one generation must not be the destruc-
tion of the next. John and Sarah will stay
in college whatever else happens."
I think that if we people gathered here
tonight catch that thought of Dr. Kelly's
that whatever else happens the boyhood
and girlhood of this generation, or the
next generation, shall not be destroyed
by the difficulties of this, we will have
gotten a great deal out of this Conference.
(Applause.)
From the standpoint of women's col-
leges, or colleges for women, and from
what they can do to use this mass of
material which we have collected which
seems to weigh so lightly upon Dr. Kelly
but so heavily upon some of us (laugh-
ter) we have a discussion tonight by a
most gifted woman, and it is a pleasure to
present Dr. Mary E. Woolley, President
of Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley,
Mass. (Applause.)
Address of Dr. Woolley
Dr. Mary E. Woolley: Mr. Chairman
and members of this informal discussion
group (laughter) to which we were in-
vited not to speak but simply to start
the discussion: There was in New Eng-
land for a long generation a man who be-
came eventually the Grand Old Man,
who was equally grand after he had
reached his 90th birthday, Dr. Charles
Eliot, for so long a time the President
of Harvard University. I was reminded
last night of something that he said at
an intercollegiate affair, that among the
nice things of being a college president
was that of meeting delightful people. I
was reminded of it last night because I
heard of the remark of a Washington taxi
driver that one of the nicest things con-
nected with his job was the pleasant peo-
ple he ran into. (Laughter.)
I share his feeling this evening.
(Laughter.)
This program, as it has been outlined,
the program of this great Conference, is
impressive from many points of view. I
think that to some of us who as yet
have had little contact with it, the fact
that it has been emphasizing principles
rather than purely progress, has made
a great appeal. I have been thinking of
that in connection with the school of
tomorrow-and it was intimated to me
that I should speak along that line and
I want to touch upon it. You see, we all
have different intimations. I suppose we
can't hope because of this lack of abso-
lute preparedness that they shall become
intimations
in
of immortalities
speeches.
our
I thought of that in connection with the
fads and fashions which we have in edu-
cation as we have them in other phases
of our lives. Only several years ago the
head of a great educational organization
prepared a volume on the necessity of
keeping to the old liberal arts curriculum
in our public school system. Soon after
that volume came out the superintendent
of the public schools in the city of Holy-
oke, a manufacturing town, was in my
office, and he said, "You know, Miss
Woolley, that is all very well, but when
I come to see the children on the south
side I realize that I have got to have
something besides the liberal arts in or-
der to get their attention and their in-
terest, and, to begin with, the thing
which they can do, expensive though it
may be."
Individual Child
Therefore, in thinking of the school of
tomorrow I have been thinking of one
great principle which I believe runs
through this Conference and which has
already been intimated in the closing
words of the last speaker, and that is the
principle of knowing the individual child,
which I believe if we are really going to
make our schools, whether they be
schools in the ordinary sense of that term
or the schools that are known as col-
leges and universities-if we are really
going to make them meet the need of
these changing days, these days where
many homes are homes not even in name,
we must have not education along the
line of mass production but the under-
standing of the individual child.
That means expense, expense in the ef-
fort to find the best-trained teachers,
the finest teachers in personality and in
character, and also expense in finding a
[ 39 ]
sufficient number of teachers of that cal-
iber that they may give this individual
instruction, and also that they may be
relieved themselves from the overstrain
of impossible burdens in connection with
their work.
It is expensive if we think in terms
of dollars and cents, but anything else is
extravagance if we are thinking in terms
of human values, in terms of the child
rather than of children only.
Now what are the colleges, and par-
ticularly the colleges for women, going
to do in their schools of tomorrow in
order to help meet this great need of
the American people? I think that what
they are already beginning to do is in-
augurate the future. There are many
lines upon which they are started be-
cause we realize fully that the women
of this country as mothers, as teachers,
as professional women of many types, as
citizens of the United States of Amer-
ica, are going to have an ever-increasing
part in realizing this program which you
are outlining this week.
We, too, in our colleges, in the begin-
ning school, as it has sometimes been
called, are trying to get hold of the in-
dividual girl that we may discover not
alone nor even chiefly her weak points,
but more than that her elements of
strength, and so develop her best pos-
sibilities.
Vocational Guidance
We, too, in our colleges are going to
follow out even more completely these
programs of vocational guidance, that
there may be the right sort of work for
the right sort of woman. We, too, are
going to develop increasingly this pro-
gram of health and this program of
mental and of spiritual health as well as
of physical health, that we may send
back into these communities women who
are really educated, that is, had the best
possible developed within their Own
lives.
I can imagine nothing that is more im-
portant for us American people to face.
A few years ago I came across a little
article written by the teacher of a big
school in the lower East Side of New
York, in which she said there was hardly
a name or a face that was reminiscent
of American ancestry as we understand
it. She said when she thought of those
citizens in the making something of the
dignity of her profession dawned upon
her. And could there be anything more
tragic in the history of this country
than to have those children citizens in
the unmaking?
That is our great problem, that we may
take the children, the child of today, and
make out of him, out of her, that per-
sonality strong in body and in mind and
in spirit which is the real strength of
a nation. (Applause.)
Chairman Sutton: As I have gone
about over the country from place to
place, and especially in my home city,
and have gone into one type of meeting
at the various schools which we call the
Parent Teacher Association, I have been
impressed with those audiences as I have
never been impressed with any others.
I have wondered from time to time just
what it was that brought out the best in
me and seemed to do the same with any
speaker when he came to that particular
audience.
Not long ago, one of the most beauti-
ful girls of my acquaintance became a
mother, and as I had not seen her for
some year or two since her girlhood
and marriage and then as I saw her some
six or eight weeks after the birth of her
baby, I discovered while she had been
transcendentally beautiful in her youth
and girlhood-she was still a girl almost
-something had come into her face that
made her a madonna. Then I understood,
when I went to a Parent Teacher Asso-
ciation and saw a hundred or five hun-
dred faces like that, where every one had
received the light of motherhood in her
face, the reason why that company was
just a little bit more divine than any into
which I had ever come and to whom I
had ever spoken.
It gives me pleasure to present a rep-
resentative of the combined motherhood
of America, Mrs. Bradford, the President
of the National Parent Teacher Associ-
ation. (Applause.)
Address of Mrs. Bradford
Mrs. Hugh D. Bradford: Mr. Chairman,
Members of the Conference: Since our
President addressed us last evening, we
have had presented to us a most beauti-
fully woven fabric of service to children,
and those of us who have been listening
intently to the reports of the suggestions
that have come to us today are looking
forward to that pattern that is even
changing as the shadow is moving back
and forth today.
The National Congress of Parents and
Teachers is a group of people who are
directing their thoughts and attention
to the work that you are carrying for-
ward today.
It was intimated that I might speak
to you as to some of the things which
our National Congress hoped to do with
the findings that you will bring out of
this Conference.
You have had presented to you in vari-
ous phases of your conferences certain
suggestions which must be carried for-
ward into your programs of service and
as we look at these various warps and
woofs, as we may say, the threads of
our own findings here, we find that in al-
most every conference group in every sec-
tion, there is brought forward the idea
that after all the care and protection of
children rests upon a cooperative basis;
[ 40 ]
that if we consider, for one phase, the
health of the child, it was pointed out
that beginning with the home through
the nursery school, through the pre-
school work, all of the Summer round-up
activities which our Congress has been
carrying for years, the educational de-
partments of the schools which are car-
rying forward a program of physi-
cal education, the community environ-
ment of the child, are things which
must not rest entirely upon the shoulders
of the parents nor the shoulders of the
teachers, but that there must be a con-
tinuity and a unity of effort in our think-
ing; that we must plan together and
work together in order to bring out the
development of the whole child, in order
to protect him in his health, in his men-
tal efforts and achievements, and in car-
rying forward his great social adjust-
ments.
Whether we speak of education in its
physical development, in its emotional
aspect, or in its socializing influences,
we must realize we must work together.
We offer to you the National Congress
of Parents and Teachers as a group of
people whose minds are directed toward
carrying forward a unified program of
service through its 24,000 units through-
out the United States.
Parent Education
Our members are a cross section of the
democracy of the country. They are rep-
resenting the homes and the schools. You
who have gathered here today are repre-
senting the leaders in scientific research,
the leaders in educational movements,
the people to whom the Nation is looking
for the development of our welfare work
of tomorrow. We ask that you give to us
definite suggestions as to how we may be
of service to you. We plan to build more
deeply and more substantially the foun-
dations of our parent education programs,
and we are looking to you as leaders in
schools and in universities and in train-
ing institutions to prepare for us the
type of material, the type of leadership
that may be of service to us in our local
communities.
Through the 30-odd years we have
based our theory of our existence upon
the thought that we could cooperate and
do cooperate with the schools of our coun-
try. We have enlisted the efforts, the
thinking, of those of you who have put
forward your ideals into practical ap-
plication in the schools of today. We
look forward to the school of tomorrow
as a school not only that shall be re-
ceptive of children, that shall develop
the child as it is today, but shall prepare
him to carry forward a program of
thoughtful care for the home of tomor-
as one of the phases of informal educa-
tion which may reach out throughout
every phase of existence in our
munities.
row.
We ask that you look upon the program
of parent education that we have chosen
com-
Through the definite findings that have
been presented today we have noted that
no longer are we speaking of the age of
2 to 5 as neglected time in the period
of the health development of a child,
but rather it has been pointed out to us
that the adolescent needs our attention.
We feel that not only does the health
of the prehigh school, the junior high
school, and the high school child need
the attention of parents and teachers,
but also that the environment and sur-
roundings which shall develop him so-
cially and emotionally need our coop-
erative action.
Seeking Practical Results
So we hope to be able to build from
these suggestions a program that will
enlist your efforts, that will bring to us
the scientific results of your thinking
and consideration, that we may be able
to put into practical service in the
homes and the schools of our community
those things which we as an organization
have striven to do for some 30-odd years.
I bring you the greetings of our Con-
gress, I offer you their congratulations
upon the work that has gone forward in
the past. We bespeak your cooperation in
the future and we promise to you that
we will be a channel through which the
findings of this Conference may find
practical application in the homes of
the children of the Nation. Thank you!
(Applause.)
Chairman Sutton: I am sure we appre-
ciate that message because through
organizations such as the Parent Teacher
Association we shall be able to carry
out the findings of this Conference.
On the old plantation in my home in
Georgia, where as I often said I was
reared with a thousand other Negroes
(laughter) we had two old Negro preach-
ers. One was named Uncle Mose and the
other was named Uncle Moulton. They
went about holding their distracted
meetings together. (Laughter.) As they
pursued their rounds, Uncle Moulton
was often questioned by the brethren as
to his part in those meetings because he
didn't have any education, he couldn't
read and he couldn't write, he didn't
know anything as far as books were con-
cerned. So they often said, "Uncle Moul-
ton, what is your part in these meetings?
You can't read and you can't write and
you don't know anything."
I am presenting the next speaker. I
hope he will not take offense if I should
say that I feel that he has somewhat the
same relationship to American education
that I have in some particulars at least,
though I have never reached the stage
of perfection, I never hope to, that he has.
[ 41 ]
"Well," he said, "boys, it is just like
this-me and Mose goes together. Mose
can read and write. He knows the Scrip-
ture. He can read it and expound it, but
when Mose done read and expounded it,
Mose has done all Mose can do. If we are
going to have a successful distracted
meeting, there has got to be one main
part and someone has got to get up and
get up the arousement. (Laughter.) That
is my part."
We have a young gentlemen on the
stage who knows how to get up the
arousement. We are going to hear from
Dr. Winship.
The audience arose and applauded.
Dr. A. E. Winship: I came not here to
talk. I came here to listen and to learn.
There are so many things that a man
wants to say that it is never safe for
him to get started. I came because I
thought we were going to hear these
other people, and among them we were
going to hear from Mr. Bogan, Superin-
tendent of Chicago, and I want to use
this opportunity to introduce him to you
and say to you that I have never known
any superintendent in my life who took
the community so much into his con-
fidence and achieved so much through
the community as Mr. Bogan is doing in
Chicago. (Applause.)
Conservation of Schools
Mr. William J. Bogan: Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen: I judge that I am
pinch-hitting for someone tonight who
has been swallowed in one of the seven
other informal gatherings. When Miss
Davis asked me to speak, I said, "What
shall I speak about?" Of course, you
know she couldn't resist the temptation
to get off that old joke, and she didn't.
Her answer was, "About five minutes."
But it can't be done by anyone in the
world except A. E. Winship, Editor of
the Journal of Education. (Applause.)
He can do it. You have just heard him,
and I have heard him often, but think
of the long training that he has gone
through to acquire that remarkable skill.
(Laughter.) He is able to say something
in five minutes.
The keynote of this Conference was
struck by Secretary Davis in the sentence
which your chairman quoted earlier in
the evening and which I shall quote
again because I think it is of supreme
importance to this gathering. I quote:
**
"The White House Conference on Child
Health and Protection will be of interest
only to historians unless its findings are
translated into action on behalf of the
millions of American children."
theory of the general value of discipline
supposed to come from algebra, Latin,
and other subjects that had been hal-
lowed by age, was not based upon sound
psychology, was not based upon fact.
You remember also the sensation
caused by the reports on the physical
defects of men called by the draft to
war. You will recall that Thorndyke's
sensational announcement has made very
little change in the curriculums in the
great cities of the United States, and you
will recall that there are very few cities,
very few public school systems, that have
made any radical change in their health,
physical education, or recreation pro-
gram because of the findings of that war
committee.
Physical Education
For several years nearly every large
public school system has been revising its
curriculum. Money has been spent freely
and the entire teaching force has been
pressed into service to aid expert curric-
ulum making. The subject matter, the ref-
erences, and the methods of instruction
have been immensely improved, but the
time schedule remains as before; algebra
occupies more time than health, physical
education, or recreation.
Will the members of this Conference be
satisfied to go back to their communities
after they have passed resolutions and
motions here; go back to their commun-
ities to tell of the beautiful things in
the new era, and be satisfied to carry
on as they did before? It is easy for us
to unload our ideals and ideas and our
sins upon a Conference like this, and
feel satisfied that we have done our com-
plete duty when we have unloaded some
of those things, perhaps some of our
whims and fancies.
I have a story, I think, that illustrates
this point very well. Last summer I
was conducted through the City of Dublin
by a remarkable old guide. He had unus-
ual wit and humor, and he taught me a
lesson in philosophy from the two or
three days that I was with him. The
day before we went to Dublin we had
a breakdown on the road from Killarney
to Limerick, and we used the time to
visit the little rural school where we
saw the most wonderful demonstration
of the effect of the revival of a nation
through a language that I ever expect
to witness. Those little barefooted boys
and girls were reciting and singing in
Gaelic.
I heard a little 12-year-old girl sing
Ireland in a way that I never expect to
hear again. It was beautiful, and they all
had the fervor and the spirit of crus-
aders. It was really remarkable. We were
were much impressed, but, of course, we
couldn't afford to let the guide think we
were impressed. I thought I would get a
rise out of the old man by saying, "We
a remarkable demonstration down
saw
I hope you keep that in mind all
through the Conference.
This translation in the face of the
conservatism of the
the American school
system will be difficult. You will remem-
ber Thorndyke and the sensation he
created when he proved that the old
[ 42 ]
In a local school down the road yesterday.
The children were reciting in Gaelic.
Doesn't that seem absurd! Why are you
teaching Gaelic to the children?"
Quick as a flash he said, "I will tell
you. It is because Gaelic is the only lan-
guage in all this creation that the devil
himself can't understand." (Laughter.)
"You can say your prayers in Gaelic and
berate the devil, and he will never be any
the wiser.
"It is a good deal the same idea as
the ancient Jews used to have. They
would unload their sins on the goat and
drive it out into the desert, and it is the
same way with Gaelic; it is a fine lan-
guage for sinners. Do you be thinking of
usin' it?"
Value of Recreation
In all seriousness I want to put that
question to you about these conferences:
Do you be thinking of usin' it like the
goat and like the Gaelic? If you do, well,
all this time and money has been wasted.
If you don't carry out the keynote, carry
it through on that keynote of Secretary
Davis, all of this work is wasted-if we
don't carry these ideas back to the local
communities with a desire to put them
into effect, which brings me now up to the
subject that was hinted, the schools of
tomorrow. (Laughter.)
Just two ideas-one is health, physical
education, recreation. I know that one of
your subcommittees has reported or will
report on this particular phase that in-
terests me, vacation activities of all kinds
in connection with the school system.
Summer camps, recreation on the play-
ground, and everything that the wealth-
iest children in the land are privileged to
have, and above and beyond that, per-
haps more important than that, the use
of the summer vacation period as a lab-
oratory period to experiment for the
benefit of the schools that are carried on
during the regular school year.
Strange as it may seem, it is very
difficult to carry on experiments of that
kind during the regular school year in
the regular school system. The public
has prejudices, financiers have theirs,
but if we can show through the summer
schools, through the vacation period,
what it is possible to do later on, I think
in time we can convince a public that
money spent on health, physical educa-
tion, recreation is for the benefit of the
future generation.
The other point (someone touched on
the same thing tonight) is the necessity
of maintaining the standards in liberal
arts colleges, professional colleges, yes,
even in the secondary schools, the old
time standards. All of us who love the
word "vocation" or "vocational" are dis-
turbed occasionally by the charge that
we are breaking down the standards of
classicism, of the liberal arts college,
and so forth. I wouldn't be one to break
down anything of the kind. I plead for
something quite different. Let the liberal
arts and the professional schools and all
those have their high standings, the
higher the better, but don't try to force
them upon those who cannot take ad-
vantage of them.
Schools of Opportunity
I plead for the 90 to 95 per cent who
will never see a liberal arts college ex-
cept from the outside, possibly, and I
ask that every educator bear in mind the
idea of a glorified opportunity school,
where boys and girls and men and wo-
men, yes, I suppose I might say espe-
cially men and women, carrying out an
idea of Dr. Winship that education
should be carried all through until we are
ready to totter into the grave, an insti-
tution that will not insist upon credits,
that will inculcate the idea of a cafeteria
system of education, that will enable each
to get what he wishes, and that will give
credit, the only credit, for work, and the
only work will be the work that is done
for the fun of the work. (Applause.)
Chairman Sutton: I am sure you feel
that we are getting down to the meat.
Every single
single one of these addresses,
though they may have been informal, has
certainly been informative. They surely
have been highly inspirational.
I realize tonight a dream that I have
hoped for for years and years. I realize
each
that educational meetings where
speaker has not killed off about a third
or a tenth of the congregation. This has
been a wonderful meeting to me, to see
this great company of people, and some
of them standing, but it is not wonder-
ful when I realize just what you are
getting.
I was interested in one thing that Dr.
Kelly said, and all the things that he said
but one thing in particular, with refer-
ence to Dean Russell, that he was sorry
in a way that he was on the stage be-
cause he had not settled all these prob-
lems. I was delighted myself that none
of them was settled.
There is just one place for all the fix-
ed and finished things (laughter) and it
is a place I am not in a hurry to go, and
I should hate to see a thing as alive as
a college, or high school, or elementary
school, or kindergarten curriculum, be
sent to that place. So, I am glad that
we haven't settled all of these problems.
I hope that there will be more problems
to settle 50 years from now than there
will be tonight or are tonight. It will be
an evidence of growth, and the greatest
evidence that I know that men like Dean
Russell have done their work well is
the fact that all of these problems are
unsettled.
We are delighted to have Dean Russell
here. (Applause.)
[ 43 ]
Address of Dean Russell
Dean Russell: Mr Chairman: It is said
that the Emperor Nero once when he
wanted a bit of entertainment proposed
to throw another Christian to the lions.
He did so and the first lion that was
brought out looked the Christian over
and the Christian looked the lion over,
and the lion concluded to go back to his
den.
making a grant to localities that would
introduce a program conforming to the
schemes laid down.
Popular Education
Never once would it have occurred to
any member of the Commission, and least
of all to the leaders of the undertaking,
to call a great popular assembly in order
that the information and the inspiration
that might come and should come from
such proceedings should be carried back
to the people.
Another was brought out, and some-
what the same proceeding was repeated,
the lion turning tail and refusing to take
the meal prepared for him.
The third lion followed, and still ap-
parently went back with his hunger un-
appeased. The Emperor was mystified
to the point of calling the Christian up
and making inquiry as to what he had
said to the lions when he faced them,
and the reply was, "I merely told them
they would be called on to make a short
speech after the meal!" (Laughter.)
I understand that with some of the
speakers tonight the intimation was given
to them as to what they were to say.
Fortunately, I was given no such guid-
ance and consequently I enjoyed my meal
only to find almost directly after the
speaking began I was held up as the bad
example of the teacher training. I have
known, of course, that my students in
considerable numbers have been failures,
(laughter) but I never once took to my-
self the cause of it. (Laughter.) I thought
it was, to use President Coffman's phrase
the reason the colleges grew so much
was because the newcomers brought so
much and those who went away took so
little. (Laughter.)
I feel called upon tonight to speak for
the outsiders, because in this Conference
I have been a delighted guest. It seems
to me that those of you who have been
participating in the work directly as
well as those of us who have had the
pleasure of sitting in and gathering some
of the information and the inspiration
that flows from this year of work, that
we should take a special occasion to
pay a personal tribute to the great leader
who has made this possible. I wonder
if we always realize the way in which
this particular job has been put over, to
use the slang phrase. In no other coun-
try on the face of the globe, I take it,
could such an effort be made with the suc-
cess that has attended this undertaking.
If it had been tried this evening what
would have happened would have been
that a Commission would have been ap-
pointed and they would have had hear-
ings, and these hearings would have been
taken down in all seriousness, and then
following some conferences behind closed
doors, a very entertaining and most read-
able report would be sent up, not down,
to Parliament for action, and a Bill would
be introduced, and provision would be
made if the Bill were looked upon with
favor, and provision would be made for
We Americans do not always appreci-
ate the fact that education with us comes
from the bottom up and not from the
top down. I think I was never more sur-
prised in my life than when I had the op-
portunity to examine somewhat closely the
educational system in operation in South
Africa, Australia and New Zealand. I
had always had the notion that because
those people spoke the English language
they necessarily thought and acted
much as we do. Of course, I know now
that that was the hold-over from the
early days when we were taught that
we were if not are the people, (Laughter)
only to find there a system of education
in operation, under the direction of Eng-
lish-speaking people and under the in-
spiration of British presidents, a system
let down from the top as autocratically
administered, as highly centralized as
ever old Prussia was, and there if a
new idea was to be spread abroad or put
into play, it would come as an order from
the top down.
The fact that we are living in a new
world was indicated by a child's remark
a few days ago when she looked out of
the window and saw a person riding a
horse by the house, and a thought came
to her that wouldn't have come to a child
a generation ago. She turned and said,
"Papa, how do you put a horse into low
when you want him to go slower?"
(Laughter.)
This Conference was born in the mind
of a technician who is doing what peo-
ple often thought of doing long, long ago,
and that is doing a job of planning. Do
you know, it is just as easy to plan a
civilization as it is to plan a city or to
plan a life or to plan a career? But some-
how we have never thought of the future.
It was Minister Fisher of Education
standing on the floor of Parliament when
the Allied forces were standing with
their backs to the wall, that darkest hour
of the Great War, who asked that Parlia-
ment do whatever it could do for the
cause of the children. He said that educa-
tion is the eternal debt of maturity to
youth and this generation seems to have
become awake to that duty and that re-
sponsibility as it never has before.
Building for the Future
Dr. Augustus Thomas (President,
World Federation of Education Associa-
[ 44 ]
tions): Representing tonight, as I have the
pleasure of doing, the five million teachers
of the world who are teaching the 300,-
000,000 of the world's children, I realize
that these things we are discussing af-
fect not alone the child life of this coun-
try and consequently the coming genera-
tion, the future of civilization, but the
findings of this Conference and some of
the results must be translated into the
lives of the children throughout the
world.
Beginning on the 17th day of July
there will meet in the city of Denver in
this country the World Federation of
Education Associations in its fifth meet-
ing, and there will be in that meeting
representatives, delegates from practical-
ly every country in the world, and they
shall know what has been done here
under the leadership and through the
cooperation of the President and these
people who have carried here and who
will carry back the message to the com-
munities for the welfare of the children.
I think in that meeting we shall have
plans that have been long waited for.
Some years ago, Mr. Raphael Herman, as
you know, made a donation of $25,000 for
the best educational plan that would
bring to the nations of the world the
spirit of understanding and good will.
That veteran educator, that wonderful
teacher, that man who felt the necessities
of the peoples of the world, Dr. David
Starr Jordan, President Emeritus of Le-
land Stanford University, wrote the plan
and submitted it with some thousands
of other plans, and that plan called for
the appointment of committees to make
investigations, not to proceed in a hurry,
but to build upon facts as those facts
were obtainable, and those reports will be
ready, and they will consist of courses
of study not only for elementary schools
but high schools and universities and
colleges, and sample lessons of how the
material now in use can be made to serve
the purpose without adding additional
courses to the curriculum. It means the
bringing together of the experiences of
the races and the contributions of the
people of the world, and welding into
one this wisdom as the basis of instruc-
tion of the children of the world. It is
a lesson in international cooperation and
understanding. Also it is a great world
child welfare movement, for today edu-
cation is a welfare movement and today
we are doing what we never did before,
we are taking the whole child into the
school and educating it as a unit in order
to develop its dynamic powers.
This new day has brought the nations
together. It will be impossible for this
convention to meet, for this conference
to come here and send out its findings
without making a contribution to the
world, for this great educational clear-
ing house of the World Federation will
make known these findings and their
summation to the peoples of the world
that they may see what we have done.
Many of them are doing things them-
selves. Wherever we can by association
find out the better things, we adopt
them. In this spirit there is being built
up a world-wide civilization, a plane-
tary unit, and all nations are contribut-
ing to it, and America may well con-
tribute to this, for in every world tide
that sweeps across the face of time, seeds
are thrown up upon the shores which
take root and grow and form a contribu-
tion to all peoples everywhere in the
building of that world civilization.
How fast it is coming, how closely we
are coming together, how science and in-
vention have torn down the barriers that
have existed between the nations, and
how today we can look across these lines
and see these nations as free and equal
and independent of each other, each one
within its inalienable rights, and among
these are the rights of their own form of
government, the right to protect their
government and their people, the right to
develop their resources, the right to pursue
their trade in commerce, to take care of
an unfortunate, and to educate their peo-
ple and this is the new vision and the
new day and the education of tomorrow
will involve the introduction of the
eighth objective into education, and that
eighth objective has been called by some
world citizenship, but it merely sees the
other nations as they are, with equal
rights to ourselves.
World Interdependence
How much we are contributing is
plainly seen every day. When you rise
in the morning and during the day to get
yourself ready for the day you brush
your hair with a brush the bristles of
which came from China; you find the
bristles of your toothbrush came from
Japan; you put on your suit made of
Australian wool, covered with German
dye, woven over English spindles. The
leather for your shoes come from the Ar-
gentine. Your buttons came from France.
You sit down to your table spread with
Irish linen, with Haviland china, with
Sheffield cutlery. You eat a honey dew
melon from South Africa. Your coffee is
from Brazil. You eat Yorkshire sausages.
If you eat potatoes you know that Monte-
video made that contribution to civiliza-
tion. If you eat the peach you know
that Persia contributed a sour and pois-
onous little fruit. Your newspaper dis-
patches from every country in the world
are printed on Canadian pulp, or pulp from
the Norwegian Peninsula. You get up and
go out into your day's work smoking
a pipe from Briarwood. You get into
your automobile and you ride comfortably
on Dutch East India rubber tires. You
think of your philosophy as coming from
Greece and your art as coming from Italy
[ 45 ]
and your fine music from Germany, and
you get many things that have joined in-
to this worldwide civilization that is
building into men and women something
of a similarity. Yet we cultivate that
diversity of human individualism and
human rationalism and nationalism,
which are all beneficial, for out of it we
get the diversification that means the
advancement of civilization.
Out of this movement will come, there-
fore, some seed that will grow into that
worldwide force of civilization. This act
of our great President in calling us to-
gether and the fine minds that have de-
liberated will mean something to the chil-
dren not only of our country but the chil-
dren of the world.
You are all invited to come next sum-
mer to that convention in Denver and to
participate and to help there in the in-
terest of a worldwide program for health
and protection, and also that the nations
may learn how to get along with each
other. (Applause.)
Health Education
Chairman Sutton: I am asked to make
this announcement: Please announce
that anyone from this group who is in-
terested in forming some kind of health
education organization, which will be
used to make effective this White House
Conference, is invited into Room I after
this meeting. I don't suppose that Com-
missioner Cooper or Dr. Frank came into
the room. I should hate very much for
them to be here without having a mes-
sage from them.
In this gathering I feel that it would
be absolutely impossible to do the last
thing that is placed on this program, and
that is to ask for an informal discus-
sion from those
those present,
present, because we
might have to carry over into 1931.
(Laughter.)
May I take the privilege of an exhorter
just for a moment to say that I hope that
this fine, patient, splendid audience, rep-
resenting so many diversified interests in
welfare, in mental hygiene, so many or-
ganizations that represent childhood and
youth and manhood, will each carry
to their organizations the inspiration that
we have received here and translate it
into action. That has been the keynote
of this message.
lieve I could strike a responsive chord
in the heart and life of every one here
if we had that opportunity. You, at least,
have had that with those around your
table, and we have had this common
privilege of hearing the table talk of
these leaders who have spoken tonight.
Let's see that those children and adults
in our home town and city and rural
community get the benefit of that which
has come to us through this contact.
Might I suggest just a few ways that
we can do this? May we not expect that
when these reports are published and in
our normal schools and in college and
university libraries, in the libraries of our
county and city school systems, the ma-
terial which has been gathered here will
be put where it is accessible to the
teacher? May I not ask a further thing:
That we will not only do that, but as
superintendents and as those in charge
of educational administration and super-
vision, we put into our bulletins not only
a request, but absolutely, shall we say,
a demand-we don't use that word now-
but we shall at least very strongly sug-
gest that these things that
have
learned shall become the common prop-
erty of the teachers and members of
our faculties.
we
Can't we see to it that through the
medium of our press-so many of the
secretaries and editors of our State edu-
cation magazines are present-the teach-
ers of the nation shall not only be encour-
aged but shall find the results of this
Conference?
Is it not possible that we can bring
into our commissions and into our com-
mittees, especially our committees on
continuous curriculum revision, the
things that we are learning here. Would
it not be possible that we could place in
our study circle groups of our faculty
meetings the material that we are gather-
ing here? Above everything else, that the
individual child in the school may get
the benefit of the knowledge which we
have?
I want to say this frankly, and yet
very positively: Ladies and Gentlemen,
it can be done. We have an idea that it
requires more money than we have, and
we have an idea that it is a very com-
plex thing because there is a large vol-
ume, and there will be many other vol-
umes, and there is so much of it that
we are hopeless about it in the presence
of it. We are mistaken. We can take it
step by step, day by day, and we can do
that. I know that, because we have made
some effort in that direction in many
places in the United States and it has
been accomplished.
As I have been sitting here there has
come this one great thought into my
mind: What a privilege it would be to
have time enough to sit down and talk
to each person who is in this audience!
What a marvelous opportunity the Pres-
ident of the United States has brought
to us in this Conference in personal con-
tacts! Every man and every woman here
is in a very, very great sense unselfishly
interested in developing American life,
and that is a type of people that it would
be a pleasure to have a conversation
with; and, as limited on my part, I be-
I agree with the great things that Su-
perintendent Bogan said, that there are a
good many school systems in America
that don't put the emphasis on algebra
that they used to. We have learned
better sense, and we are not as thorough-
[ 46 ]
ly hidebound, shall I say, to some of
those things as we formerly were, all
· of them good in themselves, but to be
given in the right proportion. And we
can take this Conference, we can take its
findings, we will do it, and we will trans-
late them into action.
I believe if we shall do even a little
of it that this great meeting tonight will
not have been held in vain. One thing I
know will be done. One general session,
a most important one, of the National
Education Association, will be devoted to
this White House Conference on Child
Health and Protection. (Applause.) I do
hope and pray, and I want your assist-
ance to that end, that the leader of that
great general session will be none other
than the great heart and the great soul
that conceived of that Conference, our
own President. (Applause.)
Then can we not from our own Na-
tional meeting bring in to the National
meeting of our sister organizations the
Parent-Teacher Association, the Feder-
ation of Women's Clubs, the organiza-
tions of our great city, commercial and
industrial clubs, chambers of commerce,
federations of trade, the findings of this
body, that people everywhere may have
the benefit of it.
Enlisting the Community
And just one final thought. In order
to do that, friends, it is absolutely nec-
essary that we enlist a community. You
know sometimes we know of a thing a
long time, and then wake up one morning
and realize it. For 20 years I used the
sentence, I said that the schools could
not educate children. I think I rather
used it because I wanted to impress par-
ents and others with their responsibility.
But one morning I waked up, after a
good night's sleep, opened my eyes, and
said: "What I have been saying for 20
years is so. It is true. You can't educate
children in the school alone; you don't
have them long enough; you don't get
them soon enough. Most of them are
ruined or made before we get them.
We don't keep them but a short period
in the day, 180 or 200 days a year, and
at the great critical period of life we
allow a great many of them to drop out.
We can't educate children in the schools.
We can't put over this program in the
school alone."
Forty-five organizations in my city take
part in that conference, and when the
members of the Federation of Trade
know what we are trying to do in a
health program, whether it is for better
teaching, or whether
whether it is for better
nutrition, and when I go to them and
ask them to my conference, when I ask
the Rotary Club and the Kiwanis Club
and the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts,
and the Camp Fire Girls, the tuberculosis
association, and the women's clubs, and
all of these organizations, and then some
day some child carries home a notice
about something that needs to be done
for that individual child, that horny-
handed fellow from the Federation of
Trade, when the wife tells him about this
notice, says, "Yes, I think that is a good
thing. We were invited into a conference
with them."
I make this one statement and sugges-
tion: That every community represented
here have what we attempted to have for
several years, what I call a health con-
ference, for want of a better name. I
say incidentally, and not in conceit, par-
ticularly, that I do not let anyone attend
that conference but myself, because I am
afraid the conference might run off some-
where, and I don't say that it is neces-
sary for every school superintendent to
think that.
Cooperative Action
Let us get this idea, that if we are
going to find an avenue to put this con-
ference into action, that we have got
to take the community to do it; and if
we realize that, and realize that the wel-
fare organizations are as vitally inter-
ested as our school people, that our nur-
ses' club and our social workers' club and
all of these organizations have a part,
and if we can organize into a conference
such as is being suggested for the nation
here tonight, which is a good thing, we
will see that we have an organization that
will make effective this thing in every
community in the Nation. If we will go
back into our local community we don't
need particularly another organization. It
will just be a conference at which the pub-
lic can get the idea. Then you are going
to find the school health program and
the recreation program easier to put over
in the community and to make a suc-
cess of it.
So I suggest at the close of this meet-
ing that each of us here in this great
conference of people make it our partic-
ular business in our locality, whether we
represent welfare or the handicapped
child, or the State Department, or the
city or a county, or whatever we may
represent, that we are going to gather a
community together, and we are going
to say with the knowledge gained in this
conference, and in that which we have
gathered through all the years, we are
going to see that every child born in that
community from now on has a better
start; that every child already born and
living in it has a better chance to de-
velop; and that every adult who has not
become socially minded shall become so,
and realize that childhood and individ-
uals and people are the things worth
while in this Nation, and that they are
the things that are going to count; and
we are going to teach what the President
[ 47 ]
said last night in that very apt phrase,
"That one single nurse is better than 25
policemen," and we are going to give
to the world the knowledge that we have
gathered, and we shall not hold it in our
GROUP DINNER
The Dinner Meeting held in the Carl-
ton Hotel, Washington, D. C., opened at
6:30 o'clock, Nov. 20, Dr. William Kil-
patrick presiding.
ORGANIZED ACTIVITIES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
Mr. Wyland: We start in the training
of a leader in the ranks. He gets his
first advance in leadership as a patrol
leader. If he is successful he becomes
possibly a senior patrol leader. As he
becomes older, he becomes a junior as-
sistant scout master. When he is 18, he
becomes a full-fledged assistant scout
master. When he becomes 21 and he is a
citizen, he becomes a scout master.
Chairman Kilpatrick: You have sug-
gested a part of the answer to our prob-
lem, and that is that the great propor-
tion, 75 per cent, are boys up out of the
ranks that have come through that
process.
Mr. Simon: What happens to the boy
from the time he leaves the Scout Troop
until he is 21 and comes back to be a
scout leader?
was
Chairman Kilpatrick: It is intended
that this be a discussion, not a talk, as
was announced this afternoon. I
especially invited to lead in a dinner
discussion, and it is to be a discussion
of the problems of boys' and girls' clubs.
We want to hear from those present, and
we have many present who have had the
widest range of experience that this coun-
try has to offer in work with boys and
girls. We want to hear the problems as
you see them. If we match problems,
perhaps we can get a little closer into the
problem. After you have talked as much
as you care to talk, then I shall myself
try to sum up the problem and perhaps
make a suggestion or two along the line
of a solution, but that is a good way off
yet. We want very honest, very frank
discussion of the difficulties you find
emerging as you try to work towards
your ideals.
Let us not hesitate. Who will begin?
Dr. Hoyt: Of course, Mr. Chairman, the
oldest problem is the problem of leader-
ship, is it not?
Mr. Ray 0. Wyland: Dr. Kilpatrick,
our problem is twofold with respect to
leadership. One is to get the leader or
the group of leaders necessary to carry
on the work. The other is to give the lead-
er the training before the job and the
training on the job that gives sufficient
satisfaction in doing it well that keeps
the leader on the job. We have too much
turnover, and while in the Boy Scout
organization we developed a a five-year
training program to train scoutmasters--
it sounds formidable-unfortunately too
many of them are not with us five years
to receive the training.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Does anyone else
have trouble along this line? Tell us
how you do it. Somebody may not have
had this trouble. How do you go about
it? Has anybody else had this kind of
trouble?
own hearts and treasure it there, but
make it effective in the life of every in-
dividual.
Good night.
The meeting adjourned at 10:15 o'clock.
Chairman Kilpatrick: What is the ex-
perience of Girl Scouts along this line?
Miss Emma Gunther: Just on that
question of continuity, this past week, at
our national office we had two deans of
women who offered this question: Why
do not the Girl Scout organizations offer
more opportunities to us in our college
groups for more openings along the line of
leadership? Imagine one opening for the
entire student organization of 2,200 girls!
Now, we could count on one hand op-
portunities for leadership in our college
groups. Why do you not, then, study that
whole question as to Girl Scouts offering
many more opportunities during the
college year?
Mr. Brown (Chicago): I am wondering
whether our insistence upon leadership
is not a cause for our having, our devel-
oping so little leadership among our
clientele. I believe that we workers
are somewhat overdoing our insistence
upon leadership, with the result that we
are not evolving capacities and undis-
covered capacities within the group it-
self.
Here is a universal problem. Perhaps
somebody can make a suggestion as to
how to meet it. Is there anything to be
said about it that anybody can tell that
everybody else would like to hear?
Mr. Simon: When do they start to in-
terest these people in being leaders?
Chairman Kilpatrick: All right, when
do you start?
Chairman Kilpatrick: Do you have any
way of keeping continuous connection?
Mr. Wyland: Many of them pass out
and never come back. Some of them
keep a continued relationship. Many of
them go to college and get some leader-
ship in a college town. We have in some
of the college towns and campuses a
Scout fraternity which these boys join.
There is a wide gap in the lives of many
of these young men when they leave
the home town at 16 or 17 as they gradu-
ate from high school and go to college
and get established in business and may-
be 10 years later come back.
[ 48 ]
Chairman Kilpatrick: Do you
Do you mean
you don't trust the boys nearly as much.
as might be?
Mr. Brown: I think that is right. Our
experience has been this-the moment we
propose a new activity to our workers,
the question instantly, as a catchword,
comes back, "Where are you going to get
your leadership?" in spite of the fact
that spontaneously arising in the com-
munity from time to time there are ac-
tivities that without leadership get un-
der way on an initial impulse, possibly
that very shortly thrust upon the more
skilled, the more experienced of their
membership, certain necessities of lead-
ership, and under that they evolve and
presently we have the phenomenon of
a self-led activity under way and en-
tirely adequately manned.
I wonder if there isn't something for us
to ponder there in this constant reiter-
ation upon this question of leadership, if
we are not blinding ourselves to some-
thing.
Chairman Kilpatrick: It would be quite
worth while to ask-suppose there were
two organizations just alike except in
these two respects, that one was manned
by adequate adult leadership and the
other worked out the leadership from
within. What other differences would you
have? Why should you prefer one to the
other? What difference would it make?
Would one be preferable to the other?
Would the results that you are really
looking for be different in the two cases?
What difference would there be?
Mr. Brown: We have a manual train-
ing leader who is something of a genius
but who can multiply himself only with-
in certain limitations. We are definitely
experimenting in his expansion of our
program service, to discover the mini-
mum of personal leadership, emphasiz-
ing the idea through him of constantly
withdrawing himself and his personal
leadership and seeing what is the break-
ing point, what is the minimum, what
is the absolute limit of this process and
still have the group survive.
Chairman Kilpatrick: You would be in-
clined, then, to say that the ideal leader
is one who makes himself progressively
unnecessary?
that counts. It comes back to where we
started, that our problem is to find that
expert leader who is going to develop
leaders.
Chairman Kilpatrick: It has come back
to just where we started? Hasn't it come
back with the problem somewhat shifted
now, namely, we have a little closer no-
tion of a leader's business? We have a
little clearer definition of what kind of
a leader we want. We have a little clearer
conception of the duty of a leader.
Before we go further in that, I would
be quite glad if we could hear a little
more discussion as to why we want this
kind of a leader. What difference does it
make? What is the reason for it? Why
do we think that a leader who is able to
develop more and more self-leadership
within the group is better? We say it to
ourselves, and two or three people say it
differently. Perhaps we can still further
define what we mean by leadership, be-
cause if we know why, we can come back
to the problem again. Why do you want
this kind?
Miss Florence Lukens Newbold (Girls
Friendly Society, New York, N. Y.): I
think we want this kind of a leader, be-
cause most of the organizations repre-
sented here tonight have as one of their
objectives, character building, whatever
that is.
We are told that character comes
through the making of choices, which is
a result of one's habits and attitudes. If
it comes through the making of choices,
then our girls and boys must be con-
fronted by situations that will make
them think for themselves and decide, so
that the advisor must stand in the ca-
pacity of a coach and not herself make
the decision for the group, but have the
group and the individual face the sit-
uation and make it for themselves, so
that the leader drops out of the picture
at the time the final decision needs to
be made.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Suppose the
leader doesn't drop out of the picture,
but makes the final decision? Can't the
leader make a better decision than the
boys and girls, doesn't he know more than
they do?
Our
Miss Warren: I believe there is a very
good point there: It has been our experi-
ence that oftentimes
so-called
leaders underestimate the leadership of
their group, and we are trying all the
time to give our leaders the viewpoint
that they are advisers and guiders. As
much responsibility as possible is being
placed on the young people in our groups.
We are trying to have the leaders let
them do it.
Miss Newbold: If she does make the de-
cision, and a better one, she is depriving
those young people of the opportunity
to grow and themselves make decisions
which though not better would at least be
of greater value to them as individuals.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Anyone else?
Mr. Hughes: I think Miss Warren and
the gentlemen who have just spoken
raised the point that what we are after
is fewer leaders but more scientific
leaders. It is the very scientific leader
Mr. Carter (Chicago, Ill.): It seems to
me that what they really mean here is
that the best leader, is the kind of a leader
who has the ability to transfer his
leadership to the group. It is a good
deal like the difference between charity
and self-sustaining. If he can transfer
some of his leadership ability to the
group, they would become self-sustaining
[ 49 ]
and a self-sustaining group is better than
one that gets leadership from outside.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Why is a self-
sustaining group better? Really, don't we
have to come down to it, that most peo-
ple cannot think for themselves anyhow
and what we need is a few people to do
all the thinking. Wouldn't it be better
to recognize that fact, and pick out the
few people and let them do it, and get
other people accustomed to being led?
Mr. Carter: Why do that? You leave
your status precisely as it was when you
started. There is no element of progress,
there is no element of training to the in-
dividual, there is no opportunity to get
stronger than he was before. In other
words, you stop in a frozen situation.
Why do that? In fact, it is worse than
that.
Mr. Simon: I would like to ask where
it is a fact that we have difficulty in get-
ting leaders who, as volunteers, would
conscientiously fill the job; because of
that fact we think that a so-called paid
leader makes a better leader. By thinking
a paid leader makes a better leader are
we not discouraging the volunteer
leader?
Mr. Hughes: Most of our boy and girl
organizations are about ninety per cent
dependent on the volunteer leader.
Mr. Simon: I am talking of the so-
called good leader. Aren't the ones you
call good leaders the ones who are paid?
There are rare occasions of volunteer
leaders, of course.
Dr. G. F. Warren (Ithaca, N. Y.):
There is something a volunteer leader
can give the organization that a paid
leader cannot. In a local community,
we feel it is very bad policy to ever pay
a leader, because you do not get the type
of man or woman in that community you
would get otherwise. We want as our
volunteer leaders the leading men and
women of every community. We want
those men and women to whom our boys
and girls are going to look up with pride,
to be women and men who will be an
example to them. You cannot do that if
you have a paid leader, who is trying
to get a college education through his
paid leadership. It is bad, from the local
standpoint.
Miss Gilbert: Isn't one of the things
we are very much interested in, in this
question, not so much one of either the
younger or older people fading away
from the picture as it is the integration
of the two as they do not train them-
selves, but find themselves being edu-
cated by moving together.
tegration of the experience with inex-
perience, which really moves the whole
group along, as they face the given sit-
uation, and each person in a group finds
himself more and more ready to make
his own choice, and to develop his own
leadership, because he or she has had
that sharing and integrating experi-
ence which gives to many something that
he himself did not have.
Chairman Kilpatrick: It seems to me,
you have introduced a new element into
the discussion. This sharing implies on
the one hand that certain of those pres-
ent, the younger ones, have real problems,
to them, whereas the older person has a
wider range of experience; they stand
out on different levels.
Helping to Solve Problems
We have had in times past typically
this older person solve the problem for
the younger person, by telling him what
to do. That is not sharing; that is the
opposite of sharing. Then, if I under-
stand you, you are saying that these peo-
ple must talk it over so that the young
person feels that the older person is not
deciding it for him, for her, for them, but
is there helping them to think through
the problem. Each one is contributing his
element. The younger person contributes
the depth of the problem, the feeling of
the problem, the essence of the problem
as a problem; the older person con-
tributes sympathy, understanding, fur-
ther insight, but the further insight is
to be taken by the younger person and
used in his own thinking, her own think-
ing, and the older person, if I under-
stand you, is not forcing a decision or
even suggesting a decision, but is helping
this person to use a wider range of in-
formation, just as if this younger per-
son might read in a book, and enlarge
his experience with the experience of
other people, the difference being of course
that the older person is more sympa-
thetic than the book would be, the older
person may contribute more positively,
but still refrain from doing the deciding.
It is a shared experience, with the
hope that when they get through, they
have made a shared solution.
Now, we
we would like to think more
about that. What is the difference be-
tween a solution that a younger person, a
child, thinks through and accepts, from
a decision which the young person ac-
cepts without thinking through-what is
the difference? What difference does it
make if he accepts it to do it; hasn't he
made it his own.
The leader or advisor, or whatever we
call the adult person, it seems to me, is
sharing experience as the younger per-
sons are sharing inexperience which has
the spontaneity and enthusiasm of youth.
It is the giving of what has been learned
from experience of the leader and the in-
Miss Shoemaker: If he accepts the
solution someone else has made for him,
he probably can use it for this one sit-
uation, but it does not become a part of
his character, personality or emotions, or
whatever you call it, and it does not
function later in other situations. He can-
not use it creatively in a new situation,
[ 50 ]
that may have the same element, that
ought to be slightly different, or must be
different.
Mr. Carter: I think we are talking
about an exceedingly fundamental prop-
osition. I believe the fact that youth
does not accept opinions of the older
people is the fundamental thing that has
caused the problems of the world. If
youth accepted the opinions of the older
people we would still believe the earth was
flat and the sun moved around the earth.
So I think that the progress of the world
depends upon that fact, that the youth
does not accept, without his own think-
ing, the opinions and leadership of the
older people. Therefore, it becomes of
vital importance to them to think it out
themselves and then if they come to that
conclusion, all right.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Do you mean,
then, that we want the young people to
think it out with the idea that they
might come to a different and better solu-
tion?
Mr. Carter: With the idea of trying to
come to the right, and if it is a different
solution, that is all right.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Anyone else on
this question?
Leadership and Creative Work
Miss Reynolds (Philadelphia, Pa.):
Doesn't it apply to this sort of thing-
we had an interesting thing happen on
our playgrounds last summer. We put
a trained leader on the playgrounds to
stimulate spontaneous dramatics. She
could have taught those children, she
could have found a play, and split it up
and found the costumes, but it was given
to the children as a problem. What do
you want to accomplish? The result was
some perfectly delightful and spontane-
ous dramatic performances. It was en-
tirely done by the children. If she had
handed it to them nothing would have
happened but the production of a more
decent little play than they made, but as
they had to do it themselves, they had
the fun of thinking it out themselves.
Chairman Kilpatrick: What do you
think happened to them? They made a
play which was probably not quite as
good as she could have done. What hap-
pened to them? They had fun out of it.
Did anything else happen?
outlook and more capacity, more cap-
ability to go on tomorrow, to something
which they thought of, and that again
of a kind which leads them still on, then
we have started life of the kind that real-
ly counts as life, the very best sort of
life.
Miss Myers: The power of this woman
arose from the fact that she was a highly
skilled person. She was skilled in two
things. To begin with, she was skilled
in dramatics; secondly, she was skilled
in interesting these children in her
subject. We find that the thing we need
most is people who are highly trained in
anything you like, whatever you happen
to be doing, it is precisely that technical
training that is so difficult for us to find.
We find that if we get a person who
knows his technique and knows it thor-
oughly, that person can impart the en-
thusiasm for that technique to the chil-
dren and leave the leadership and the
development and the creation of the
thing to the children.
I don't see how we can develop these
great movements in which we are all con-
cerned unless there is some depth in the
universe, that will turn out for us people
who are skilled in all the different things.
Miss Shoemaker: May I say something
here? Someone a while ago said some-
thing about the huge turnover among
the leaders. Here is suggested the answer
to that. Why don't you do this yourselves
for your leaders? Why do you expect
somebody else to train them? Why don't
you apply the same thing you want for
the children, to the leaders? If your
organization means anything at all, it
ought to give the same opportunity for
growth and leadership and development
to the leaders that it gives to the chil-
dren. If you are really interested in keep-
ing these people, they must keep on
growing in it. The same thing is true in
the teaching situation. We wonder why
we don't have more live people in the
traditional schools or any kind of schools
and you won't have them unless you en-
courage that kind of person to stay there.
They won't stay unless they can keep
on growing.
Mr. Atkinson: I think you are getting
us on rather dangerous ground. Unless
you are very careful here, you are going
to assume that our real interest is in the
democratic basis of what the boys and
girls themselves want to do. I rather
wonder if sometimes our difficulties in
leadership are not our own difficulties
in that we are seeking people who can
put over certain programs, plans, or get
certain predetermined results. We give
them a certain group.
I know a school teacher who was an
utter failure as a history teacher. She
couldn't get them through the Regents'
examinations. The reason was they be-
come so much interested in the things
happening today, that the kids couldn't
Miss Shoemaker: Yes, leadership.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Anything else?
Miss Shoemaker used the word a moment
ago-creative work. I wonder if it is not
somewhat like this: What we want as
much as anything else is that kind of
life which creates more life to create
more life. We want to get it started off,
to help it along as much as possible, so
that we get a situation where life leads
on to more life. If it does that, if we
can so work on these young people that
they catch fire themselves, so that what
they do today leaves them with a better
[ 51 ]
pass the final examinations. We have to
revise what it is all about, don't we?
Mr. West: I would like to come in on
this. I think this is a very vital question.
Of course, Mr. Wyland was right in say-
ing it was one of our problems; not so
much as other problems, though. As to
that, I will say something later. It is
very difficult in a group of this kind, for
us to think in like terms. Our problems
are so different, I doubt if there is a gen-
eral principle that would be applicable
to all of us, so far as discussion has
thus far revealed. I, for instance, am a
firm believer in the absolute necessity of
our keeping scouting dependent entirely
upon volunteer leadership in so far as boy
contacts go.
Limitations of Volunteer Service
Now, when it comes to other positions
in scouting, I think it is impractical
to depend upon volunteer leadership,
and when it comes to other phases of
social and educational work, in which I
have had some experience, I have dif-
ferent points of view. For instance, in
playground work, I think it is imprac-
tical to expect a sustained, effective,
efficient job on a basis of volunteer serv-
ice. I think there you need a person who
has been trained, whose daily job it is
to meet that responsibility.
In Sunday School work, I wish the
time would come when we had a profes-
sional group of school teachers for our
Sunday Schools. From the standpoint of
practicability, that is not here.
In Settlement House work, I believe
there is room for both. I gave two years
in service as a volunteer leader of a boys'
club, with great benefit to myself, and
I hope of some interest and value to
others.
ment. They thought it was essential that
these boys should be more or less inde-
pendent of adult leadership. Well, the
result was that these boys had them-
selves to lead, if you please, and had to
evolve their own leadership from their
groups; they became selfcentered instead
of thoughtful of others, as scouting re-
quires.
The conclusion was that the boy of
17, 18, 19, and 20 requires a stronger
leadership than the boy of 12, 13 and 14.
It must be a more skillful leadership, but
it must be the mature adult point of view
that inspires this boy with a desire to
do the things which he should do and
which are helpful for the cause he is
representing.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Wouldn't you
use exactly those words if you were talk-
ing about boys 10, 11, and 12 years of age
that you want your leader to inspire
them to do the kind of things, and so on?
Mr. West: Different methods.
Chairman Kilpatrick: We have before
us two things which we haven't finished.
We shut Miss Myers off. She raised a
very interesting question as to whether
we don't need people who are skilled
in the particular knowledge, particular
line of work, let us say, in dramatics, so
that the person really knows dramatics,
far and away ahead of people, is the
one who can give the enthusiasm to
other people: for dramatics.
Miss Myers: Wasn't it Mr. West who
supported my statement? He said, with
the older groups, skilled leadership was
needed. That applies to the younger boys;
you can get by with less. Wouldn't they
profit more if they had the same leader-
ship that the older boys have?
Mr. West: You require skilled leader-
ship in both cases, but it is a different
kind of leadership. Your method is quite
different.
Miss Myers: Would you mind explain-
ing what that difference is? I have been
awfully interested in knowing just what
the quality of difference is.
In different age groups, there is dif-
ference in the quality of leadership. In
the younger group-and the great bulk of
our boys are 12, 13, and 14 years of age—
we do have, happily, boys 15, 16, 17, 18,
and 19 years of age. As we get up the
scale, the skill required in dealing with
those boys, to hold their interest, is quite
different from the skill involved in mak-
ing it interesting and treating effectively
the group of 12, 13, and 14 year olds.
So, the plea I make is that we differen-
tiate in talking about leadership, so as
to have it apply to these various stages
and these different conditions that exist.
Perhaps there are some general prin-
ciples that are applicable to all of us.
With us, we have had this enlighten-
ing experience: There has been a notion
that boys would be better if we put them
on their own as they grew older. Scout-
ing develops boys to go on their own-
that is part of the aim of Scouting. We
have had this curious experience in Eng-
land. We are not critical of anyone in
making this statement. The facts are that
they have developed an older boy move-
Mr. West: In the other boy group, it is
very essential that there be a real feel-
ing on the part of the boy that he is
doing the thing, that they have made a
decision to do such-and-such a thing.
It requires a considerable skill to do
that.
Miss Myers: That is just as valuable to
the younger child.
Mr. West: With the younger child you
want that same leadership, I admit, but
your method of securing that is quite
different.
Chairman Kilpatrick: How is it dif-
ferent? You want the older boy to feel
he is making the decision, whether he
is or not, and you want the younger
boy to feel that he is making the deci-
sion whether he is or not.
Mr. Atkinson: It is easier to kid the
youngster.
[ 52 ]
Mr. West: I doubt that. My experience
seems to be that the boy 12 or 13 is
perhaps even more keen than the boy
of 16 or 17.
Chairman Kilpatrick: What is the dif-
ference?
Mr. West: In the procedure. We oper-
ate on what we call the patrol system.
There we have our boys organized so
that they work under the leadership of
boys who are trained by an adult. Now,
the real decisions of the group are made
by the patrol leaders and their scout
master in conference.
The Conference Method
Chairman Kilpatrick: But not the boys.
Mr. West: The patrol leader goes back
and sells his boys.
Chairman Kilpatrick: He has already
picked out the answer.
Mr. West: He has picked out his an-
swer and sold it more or less to them.
Now, with the older boy group you
wouldn't do it that way. With them, you
would bring the group as a whole into
conference. Your procedure would be
different.
much leadership is selling a decision
that has already been made beforehand
and how much of it is developing a solu-
tion by the young people themselves. I
am at sea on that point-I don't get it.
Mr. Atkinson: Along that line, there is
one challenge that came from some place
there isn't any single solution for the
problem. I think there is an answer, be-
cause it is one that I have to try to
present regularly. Every fall I am re-
sponsible for a Leaders' Training Corps
up at Teachers' College for Workers with
Boys. In that group of 26 or 28 individ-
uals as it runs year after year, I will
find about this general composition: 8
or 9 superintendents of boys' clubs, 3, 4,
or 5 physical directors, 3 or 4 boys' work-
ers from settlements, 1 or 2 Boy Scout
leaders, and 3 or 4 playground workers.
Last year the director of the 4-H clubs
was there. To that entire group, repre-
senting those diverse interests, I have
to give some general conception of what
leadership may be. I have tried to evolve
some such conception as this: I am in-
debted to Dr. John Finley in that little
book of his, "The Debt Eternal." The
debt eternal is the debt which matu-
rity owes to immaturity, experience to
inexperience, age to youth. How we are
going to pay that debt is really the sub-
ject of our discussion.
Mrs. Hayden: Isn't it true, we have
arrived at the time when the conference
method should be applied right straight
along the way? We are talking about
need of leadership. What we really say
is we are in need of people who have
the spiritual qualities that make per-
sonality possible. You have to have the
kind of understanding on the part of
those people that makes it necessary or
possible for them to guide youth. They
must know the whole problem of life.
They must have themselves the content
that means work, home, play, worship;
all of those things are a part of their
own existence in a very real way. It is
a question of our ability to interpret life
to these youngsters and to guide them
so that they may see the fulfillment of
the utilizing of their own experiences.
I see in the young people as they gather
around the table, which I think is an
ideal manner, they may evolve and find
a way to solve every problem that comes
up, it doesn't matter what it is, whether
it is an international problem or a prob-
lem within their own college.
Chairman Kilpatrick: We are just now
at a very interesting part in our discus-
sion on leadership. We have two or three
unsolved problems yet; at least, I don't
see the solution from what has been said.
I am yet at sea as to what leadership
is. I don't know whether leadership is
to sell an idea which has already been
made by the leader in conjunction with
other people, or whether the leader is
to share with the younger people his
experience so that they will, of them-
selves, make a decision. I don't know
whether one of these holds for older
boys and girls and the other for younger
boys and girls. I am not quite sure how
Mr. Atkinson: Pardon a personal ref-
erence: In my own home we have three
children. My wife and I tried to take
the attitude, when the children were two
or three years of age, that they had just
as much right to their viewpoints as
we had to ours, unless we were thor-
oughly convinced that ours was for the
ultimate good. If we made a decision,
we felt that the youngsters were entitled
to know the reason for that decision.
Chairman Kilpatrick: How are we go-
ing to pay it? What is paying it?
Mr. Atkinson: We pay it in the coin
of sympathy, understanding, and the
sharing of life. If there is anything in
this matter of maturity and experience,
then we have something to contribute.
A Universal Program
I try to say that here is a universal
program upon which you can organize
leadership. I don't care what the vehicle
is. It may be a handcraft class, but we
get that sympathy, that understanding,
that sharing of life on a sympathetic
basis and then you have real leadership.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Do you mean
that holds for all ages?
Mr. Atkinson: I have never made any
age distinction. That is an individual
matter. Some seem to be singularly for-
tunate with younger people, others with
older people.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Do you mean
that those principles hold with very
young people, 8 or 10, or older people?
[ 53 ]
We tried to get a sympathetic contact
even with little youngsters. The same
attitude continues today, now that they
are grown up.
Chairman Kilpatrick: I think we need
to go into this a little more fully.
Miss F. L. Newbold: Isn't the question
after all, whether we are more concerned
with the growth of the individual boy
and girl and how he or she can find that
satisfaction or happiness in life or that
abundant life, or whether we are more
concerned in putting over a program or
our ideas as a leader on that young boy
or girl? Isn't that your issue in leader-
ship?
Chairman Kilpatrick: What difference
does it make which you do?
Miss Newbold: If it is the former, then
out of our own experience, out of the
leader's experience of life and her will-
ingness to share her own experiences,
she will lead the girl to face her own
problems in life, and equip that girl, so
far as she is able, with qualities and
experiences that will make her decide
for herself when issues arise.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Why do you want
her to decide for herself?
Miss Newbold: Because I am convinced
that is the way one develops character
and the way one develops one's individ-
uality and personality.
Chairman Kilpatrick:
Suppose this
young person has faith in you and ac-
cepts what you say. Isn't she then get-
ting the same thing?
Miss Newbold: No, I think that point
has been brought out before. I agree with
the point of view that if the child her-
self makes the experience herself by com-
ing to the decision herself, she appropri-
ates that experience and all its correla-
tive values in her own life, so she can
bring those into play in another situa-
tion and make the transfer, whereas if
the leader makes the decision for the
girl and the girl thinks she is making
it for herself, she isn't able to transfer
it to another live person or live situation.
Definition of Leadership
Chairman Kilpatrick: Let's ask the
question: Suppose the leader knows what
is right and undertakes to sell it, skill-
fully and carefully, won't you then get
two things-won't you get the right de-
cision and won't you get the develop-
ment on the part of the child, too?
Miss Shoemaker: How will the leader
know what is right? (Laughter.)
Mr. Carter: There are, of course, two
things in the question of leadership. We
have been talking about the selling of
the idea. That is all right. But, equally
as important is the stimulation of the emo-
tion to cause action. That is what lead-
ership is. Leadership means to produce
action. We must not only sell the idea,
but we must stimulate the individual's
emotions so that he will act on that
idea. If any man or woman has those-
Chairman Kilpatrick: If we go to a
person with a plan of action then and
really sell it to him, we are getting that
thing.
Mr. Carter: Are you?
Chairman Kilpatrick: Why not? We
are getting action. If we really sell it
to him so that he does it, don't we get
action?
Mr. Carter: If we sell it and stimulate
his emotions so that he will act. We
sell through the intellect but act through
the emotion.
Mrs. Warren: Aren't we getting on
dangerous ground? Isn't there too much
propaganda? How are we going to train?
Miss Yukes: It seems to me that the
leadership is a twofold thing. It is partly
representative as well as leading. In our
scout group we have a patrol leader who
comes up to work with other patrol lead-
ers, together with leaders of the group.
We must learn to represent those fairly.
They must also have certain qualities
of leadership that will enable them to ex-
press them. In fact, I think you have the
element of democracy.
Chairman Kilpatrick: I'd like to ask
a question. What is the difference in the
thinking and other psychological emo-
tional processes when a group of young
people accept an idea that is sold to
them and doing that, and having a leader
help them honestly create a new deci-
sion, the leader not having settled in
his or her own mind what that decision
is going to be at all, but puts it up to
the group?
Miss Myers: One is imitation and the
other is creative effort.
Chairman Kilpatrick: What is the dif-
ference in the person and to the girls
and to the boys who accept something
that is put over on the one hand as com-
pared with a group that really makes
and creates their decisions as they go?
Mr. Carter: Just one more word. I think
a fundamental difference is that the boy
or girl who accepts an idea may accept
all kinds of ideas; that is, they haven't
learned to discriminate, so they may ac-
cept wrong ideas just as readily as right
ideas. But, if they think it out them-
selves, then they get the habit of dis-
crimination and are thereby able to bet-
ter judge what is a good or a bad idea.
Chairman Kilpatrick: You mean, the
first group are learning to be propagan-
dized and the second are learning to re-
sist being propagandized.
Mr. Carter: The second group are learn-
ing how to get at the actual facts and
the truth.
Miss Gilbert: Trying to get at a new
truth.
Chairman Kilpatrick: Can a truth be
new?
[54]
Every Situation Different
Miss Gilbert: For the persons adopting
it for themselves, yes.
Mr. Brown: Was any decision since
Adam's, that he look around, ever made
with regard to human action and human
history? Is there a new decision or a
new truth?
Chairman Kilpatrick: Mustn't you make
a distinction? A decision may be influ-
enced by the past, but did you ever face
a situation which was just like any other
situation that you ever faced? Did you
ever face this situation before? Thinking
through the problem that we are think-
ing through right now, with all of these
elements that have been brought out, did
you ever face this situation?
Mr. Brown: These are our individual
ideas. There have been various contribu-
tions from others because others have
voiced their views and we have assimi-
lated and adjusted them of our own voli-
tion.
Chairman Kilpatrick: If you would let
me answer, I'd say no. I will assert just
the same that each person here creates
his answer and does it now and no other
answer ever made in the past is exactly
this answer to this situation. It may be
similar to this and you may be follow-
ing somewhat the same line, but I sus-
pect I have argued over this more than
any one in this group, and I face this
situation new now. Elements have been
brought out here that I had myself never
seen in quite that same light. Yet, I have
been for a good many years, every year,
having this kind of thing come up be-
fore me, with many different angles. This
situation never happened to me before.
I don't think this situation ever hap-
pened to any one in this room before.
I will go further in saying that in
the degree that we are adequately grasp-
ing this situation, it never happened be-
fore. In the degree that we are only in-
adequately grasping it, why something
very much like it has happened before.
That is to say, if we are sensitive to all
the elements that have been brought in,
in that degree it is a new situation and
we only make it the same as past sit-
uations if we refuse to be sensitive to
the various things that have been brought
to us.
into the lives of hundreds of thousands of
youths. We are dealing with nearly that
many leaders, not college trained leaders
as suggested here, not people who are
filled and imbued with the latest philoso-
phy of education, but the ordinary, every-
day run of man or woman who does some-
thing else for a living and who does this
as a service of love. The thing we have
been talking about is infinitely more dif-
ficult than to take a program that is
pretty well readymade and develop that
in the lives of boys and girls in the light
of such experience as this limited person
in his limited experience can apply,
hoping to lead them out by certain meth-
ods that have been pretty well established
in other people's experience, into a new
experience of their own.
How can we, through our methods of
training and so on, get over to these
amateurs in the philosophy of education
enough of the new wine, so to speak,
that they can begin doing this thing? If
you can answer that, I think it would
be helpful.
Chairman Kilpatrick: I don't know
that I can answer that more than to
apply, as has already been suggested here
today, in your dealing with them, the
same kind of thing that you would like
to have them apply as they deal with
the young people. You do the best you
can, you can't do any more, to get them
to see as much of what you see, taking
pains to share with them, not settling
the thing with them, because you are
not putting them over. It has to be a
shared matter.
Sharing of Experiences
If it so happens that they don't util-
ize what experience you have to give,
well they go on then, just as they
would otherwise. Then you haven't done
very much with them. But, if it so be
that you work with them and they reach
out in their sharing and take in some
things you have to contribute, then they
will practice it a little more than other-
wise with their own young people. If
they practice it a little more this year,
then the next time you come together
with them in your annual meeting, they
have gotten a step further along and can
see further into it. Then they can go
back and live it further with their own
young people.
In other words, haven't you got to put
yourself in the same relation to them
that you expect them to be in regards
to their young people? Just as you can't
expect even the best to make over these
young people all at once-it has to be a
slow growth-so you must expect a slow
growth. I don't see but what it is the
same thing.
I would like, if you will put up with
me a few minutes, to go back and bring
you some things that I myself have been
finding out in the last year or two. I
I wonder if you will allow me to take
a certain running account of this situa-
tion and bring some things together.
Mr. Wyland: May I have the privilege
of asking one more question, since all
of this seems to be a problem? The phil-
osophy of this evening's discussion lead-
ing to the creative on the part of the
youth who under the leadership of adults
have gathered up something in their ex-
perience from the learning of others of
the wisdom of the world, is a very fine
philosophy. But, some of us are deal-
ing with organizations which reach out
[ 55 ]
have been saying to myself in a new
form, "I have been getting really a bet-
ter insight in the last two years than
I ever had before of this problem." I'd
like to share it with you, if you will
listen as I talk a few minutes. I'd like
to discuss what "learn" means, and how
far it goes.
If you go back far enough in history,
you find a time when each successive
generation repeated almost identically
the preceding generation. I have recently
read that in the old stone age, for 30,000
years not one single new invention was
made. We will be amazed at that. Dur-
ing that time, you had one generation
repeating the preceding almost identi-
cally. The father taught the boy what
he had learned from his father. It went on
an even level. If you can come up to about
one hundred years ago, the changes from
one generation to another were so slight
that this almost approximated that same
thing. I read the other day a statement
from Haldane, that the world has
changed more since 1830, one hundred
years ago, than it had changed from 1830
right straight back to the beginning.
That may be an exaggeration, but it illus-
trates how, a little while back, one gen-
eration practically repeated the preced-
ing.
When that was true, everything that
was known had been learned from some-
body else exactly in the same form in
which it was learned from somebody
else again. It was handed down.
Now, "learn" in that case came to
mean accept on authority and when the
school came along, where most of us got
our notion of the word "learn," after
writing was invented, these things were
put down in books and the book was
put in front of a child. He learned what
was in that book. When he was tested,
he gave back just what had been put in
front of him. If what he gave back was
the same as was put in front of him, he
had learned it. If it was different, he
made that much of a mistake. Do you
see, then, that on that basis, "learn"
meant accepting precisely on authority
the thing which was handed out in ex-
actly the same way in which it was
handed out.
That held up to rather recently in the
thinking of most people. Now I want to
take a different turn. I want you to look
at life as we know it and particularly
life where it is most going on as life.
Suppose you have a conversation, a real
conversation with someone. Can you
make up your mind before you begin
the conversation as to what you are go-
ing to say right straight on through? Not
if it is a conversation, you can't. You can
if it is a monologue, or if it is alterna-
tive monologues. (Laughter.) If it is a
conversation, you may start off and say
what you made up, but you don't know
what the other person is going to say.
Then, if you really reply to him, you
cannot have made it up beforehand, be-
cause he presents you with a new sit-
uation. Then, if you are really good at
this sort of thing, you present him with
a new situation, to which he responds
novelly, and then you are presented with
a novel situation to which you must re-
spond novelly. Do you see?
I ask you again to consider life in,
let us say, five-year periods. Go back in
your own life, five years, next five years,
next five years and come up to this time
and look at the next five years. Where
will you be five years from now? What
situations are you going to face in the
next five years? Do you know? You cer-
tainly do not. The fact is, you don't know
so far ahead what is going to happen.
You do not know what I am going to
say in the next minute and you don't
know how you are going to respond. Now,
what are you going to think one minute
from now? The only way you know is
if you don't think about anything, for
instance, about what I am saying. That
is the only way you know what you are
going to think one minute later.
Life a Continual Novelty
In the degree that you really face life,
you have to grapple with a continual
novelty. Life as life is an unfolding
stream, a novelly developing stream of
experience. Life doesn't run backwards.
It never repeats itself and if you face
forward, you cannot even see one minute
ahead. If you could see a minute ahead,
as you face forward, you don't know what
is going to happen. What you have to do
in your living is to take the things as
they come and deal with them construc-
tively.
Let's look at that again. You never
faced before what is happening now.
Then, how do you deal with it? You have
to take it and size it up now and you
never did that before; not this situation.
After sizing it up, you have to decide
what you are going to do, reject what I
am saying, take part of it, accept it all,
accept it adding what you have, and so
on. I don't know what you are going to
do. I am just as uncertain as to what
you are going to do as you are uncertain
what I am going to do. In fact, I am a
little more uncertain. (Laughter.)
I have to grapple with your unknown-
to-me responses, don't you see? I have
to talk when I don't know what you
are thinking about exactly. I don't know
exactly how you are responding inside.
I have to grapple with that situation as
best I can and I grant you it isn't so
easy to do. That's life.
Can we agree on this, then, that life
presents a novelly developing stream of
experience? In any one of these novel
developments there is much that we have
met before, but we see it now. It comes
to us now that new combinations, with
[56]
new uncertainties, are developing. We
have, in a way, met every element be-
fore, but the particular way in which it
comes to us is different. I haven't used a
single word that isn't perfectly familiar
to every one of you, but you never heard
these sentences before, however much you
may have thought along this line. There
are recurring elements, yes, but in a
novel form. That's life-recurring ele-
ments in a novel form.
If that is so, and a degree of novelty
is present, in that degree we must, each
one for himself, creatively grapple with
the novel situation. There isn't any way
out of it. Can you use your old patterns
of grappling with this thing? Your pre-
vious uses of words, the sentences that
you previously heard, all of those things
furnish you material that goes into your
creative grappling, but just how you grap-
ple with it you create at this moment
and you never did it before.
Just, then, as novelly developing
streams have recurring elements, so what
you do in the way of grappling with
the stream has familiar elements in it,
but how you grapple is your creative
work.
We had a very interesting discussion
a little while ago. I haven't heard so in-
teresting a discussion in quite a while.
Every one of you had to create your
dealing with that particular discussion.
Each one of you for himself created your
way of disposing of that discussion. You
may have said, "Oh, well, there is noth-
ing new." All right, that is your way.
You may have said, "Why there are cer-
tain things in there that I never thought
of before. I must put those together and
change certain ways of my thinking."
All right, that is your way. You may
have said, "I see certain things clearer
now than I ever did before." All right,
that is your way. Just as many people
as there are people here in this room,
just that many new creative ways of
dealing with the situation are here too.
Learning a Creative Act
I want to use the word "learn." You
learned how to grapple with this situa-
tion. The initial part of "learn" is a cre-
ative act. The thing you learn you create
initially. You can practice it, you can
tell it to other people, you can say it
over to yourself, you can think it over
afterwards, and in that sense, you are
repeating. In that sense, you are drilling
yourself. But the initial thing which you
afterwards drill yourselves on you created
as you faced the novel situation.
don't say that you didn't have more
or less of imitation in your creation, but
you created your solution. There was a
mixture of imitation, using the past, and
creation, using the new. It differs from
time to time. There was a certain amount
of creation in what you did because it
was a new situation to you. You can't
use old ways for a new situation if you
grapple with a new situation.
In every instance of learning, I don't
care what it is, I think this is fair, it is
a creative act on the part of the person
who learns it. The initiation of the thing
in that person is a creative act. I don't
say you create it out of nothing. Never!
I want to say that "learn," whatever
else is true about it, is essentially an
active, creative affair in which the per-
son grapples with a novel situation to
him. That is the beginning of each act
of learning and it is particularly true
when you deal with life and the problems
of life. It is a creative act.
I want to go a step further. It is true
-we get it from biology, we get it from
physiology and from every angle-that
the whole organism gets into each re-
sponse you make more or less. Right
now, what I am doing is this. I am think-
ing. I am feeling, more or less. I am
talking, standing. Internal glands of se-
cretion are at work. All of the internal
parts of my organism-heart, lungs—are
going into what I am doing. The proba-
bilities are that while I am talking here,
digestion is stopping with me, because
I am deeply interested in what I am say-
ing. In the degree that I am interested
in what I am saying, digestion stops.
What does that mean? It means that the
whole organism is going into what I am
doing. If I get very much stirred up, the
organism gets more into what I am do-
ing. If I am not much concerned, it gets
less into what I am doing.
Meeting Novel Situations
Then there are degrees into which the
whole organism goes; that is, you get
further in, deeper in, or less in, but it
all goes in more or less. That is one thing
I want to say.
The second thing I want to say is this:
Whatever goes in and in the degree in
which it goes in, it gets changed. What-
ever goes in and in the degree that it
goes in, it fits together hereafter. That
is where the learning comes in, don't
you see? As I act, as I grapple with the
situation, mind, soul, and body grap-
ple with it, the whole organism grapples
with it. Then when I solve the problem
and reach my decision, it has left its
impress throughout the whole organism
and thinking and feeling and moving and
internal secretions all have been mixed
into a certain pattern corresponding to
what I did.
Let's put together these four things.
We face always the stream of novelly
developing experience. We are therefore
compelled to grapple with novel situa-
tions, more or less. Whenever we grapple,
the whole organism is involved. In the
[ 57 ]
degree that it is involved, it is changed
somewhat by what is done. Then, learn-
ing cuts as deep as the self comes into
the act. Learning goes as deep into the
person as the person gets into what he
did. The person was changed in some
respects intellectually, emotionally, in in-
ternal secretions, and in some cases
through and through by what has been
done. I am giving you the sober results
of biological teaching.
Do you see, then, that if a person
makes a decision, in the degree that he
goes into a decision, that he himself ac-
cepts responsibility for making the de-
cision, that he thinks it through himself
so that the thinking creates the decision,
in that degree is he changed by his mak-
ing the decision and he has learned to
be more responsible that way next time.
He has learned as far as his thinking
went and he has changed that much. All
of the things he thought about, all of
the things he took into account made
the change in him. The organization in
his thinking, affected by the decision, in-
tegrates all the things he thought about,
all the things he took into account and
he is that much different by what he
thought.
You can see that makes a difference
whether he assumes the responsibility
for thinking it through or when some-
body comes to him with a ready-made
solution and sells it to him. It is entirely
different. He learns to respond to some-
body who stirs him up emotionally in a
way that that person wanted to stir him.
He learns to respond in more or less
docile fashion to his external stirring
up. He learns to be obedient, and to a
person who masters him. That lacks a
thinking of the thing through with a
sense of responsibility.
As I have thought these things, then,
I begin to say to myself that life is a
qualitative term. There can be more living
in it or less living in it. You can take a
year's life. It can have more life in it
or less life in it. Some people I know
live-oh, not so very much. Some other
people that I know grapple constructively
with life and each time they grapple
constructively they grow that much. Then
they are better ready to grapple next
time. Then they grow that much more.
Community Leaders
Some people are fortunate enough to
live under such circumstances that life,
as it were, takes fire and they are stirred
to go on more and more along this path.
Their life carries them on and on and
on and they are positive forces in their
community. They stand for something.
They have a personality that carries
others with it; that may fire others.
That's life.
Let us couple with this the thought:
What does the thing I am about to do
mean to the others concerned? What does
it mean to me? What kind of a person am
I making of myself when I do this? When
we can get our young people more and
more to think adequately of what it
means that they are proposing to do, then
we are building up in them, or rather
they are building up in themselves,
broader and broader selves, and to act
more and more adequately in terms of
what they think is worth while.
Now I must stop. I will say one thing
first. I have no feeling, as I look at it,
that any person who is allowed by so-
ciety to go around loose, does not face
life constructively as truly as
any of
the rest of us. That person has to solve
his problems. I spoke of the five-year
periods. That person may be a relative-
ly stupid person, but he has to solve
his problems, and he is going to do it.
For myself, I take no stock in this idea
that people who are allowed at large can-
not and do not think. The contrary is
true. They have to think. We can help
them to think better.
The Responsibility of Teaching
So it comes to be a question of how
we can manage to get people to grapple
with life on its merits and how to find
the merits and decide for themselves.
This is moral education. This is char-
acter education.
When you put all these things together,
you have a more active and dynamic out-
look on life. We have an outlook on life
that makes us cherish the human indi-
vidual. Each one is trying to make that
person as much as he possibly can be,
and there is no limit to what each per-
son can be. That is our task. This con-
ference, when you come down to it, is a
Conference on the education of the whole
child and the whole child is simply an-
other way of saying that the whole or-
ganism acts in each response and that
we who teach are responsible for all the
changes that take place. These changes
are taking place all the time in each
child and we are responsible so far as
one person can be responsible for the re-
sults of those under our care.
This Conference is a conference on the
whole child and this kind of thing that
I have been talking about tells me better
what the whole child is than any way
I have been able to think it. (Applause.)
It has been suggested that possibly
you'd like to ask me some questions. I
shall be very glad, if you wish to ask
any, to do my best to answer them.
If there are none, I think perhaps we
will stand adjourned.
The meeting adjourned at 9:55 o'clock.
[ 58 ]
MORNING SESSION, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22
Chairman Wilbur called for the report
of Section III, Education and Training,
from Dr. F. J. Kelly.
Dr. Kelly: Section III of the White
House Conference deals with education
and training. It has endeavored to ex-
amine from the point of view of child
health and protection all of the agencies
which have as their object the education
and training of children up to eighteen
years of age. These include the home,
the nursery, the kindergarten, the ele-
mentary school, the high school, special
classes for nontypical children, programs
of recreation and physical education
under whatever auspices, vocational guid-
ance, vocational education, child labor,
and a great number of agencies with pro-
grams affecting youth such as churches,
movies, radios, newspapers and maga-
zines, boy and girl organizations, camp-
ing, and a score of others. Great arrays
of facts have been assembled in the
many subdivisions of all these fields.
These have been interpreted by com-
mittees representing life-long interests
in the many phases of childhood. The
published reports will constitute a veri-
table mine to which those interested may
go for years to come. Each study is rich
in significant facts and recommendations.
To these, the reader is urged to go for
convincing evidence.
tically all of them, there are places
where the problems are being solved
effectively. What is needed is continu-
ous critical but sympathetic study of
these agencies, and then encouragement
and support of the programs evolved.
2. The Child and Human Progress.
Human progress occurs only when the
new generation surpasses the old.
The following summary attempts merely
to list a few of the conclusions which
the data in the detailed reports seem to
justify. They are high lights which
should stir the interest of the American
people. It must be recognized that if
America is to pass safely through its
experiment in democracy, the whole
people must not only be aware of the
part which education and training of the
rising generation is to play, but must be
ready to make the adjustments in edu-
cation and training demanded by these
times of kaleidoscopic change.
The rapidity of human progress may
be measured in terms of the extent of
advance made by one generation over
its predecessor. Men and women who
wish to measure their success in life by
their contribution to human progress
will desire to devote their resources, both
money and brains, to assure children
every opportunity to excel. In her enthu-
siasm for intellectual education America
has tended to underestimate the handi-
cap of the physically defective or dis-
pirited child. All honor to those who
overcome these handicaps, but to leave
uncorrected defects which are remediable
is both inhumane and shortsighted. Let
us educate not only 100 per cent of the
children, but as nearly as possible 100
per cent children.
Machine Age
3. The Child in a Machine Age.
Interest in Children
In times past it was easy for a father
and mother to live on terms of intimacy
with their children. The home was simple
and yet very rich in the kinds of valu-
able experience in which parents and
children could join. Now parents find
these contacts not only greatly reduced
in number but also characterized by
artificiality and lack of genuine interest.
For the increasing number of children
especially in cities, activities tend to be
centered outside the home. Many of
these activities contribute greatly to the
child's development. To maintain now
the very desirable intimate and sympa-
thetic relationships between children and
parents calls for a sharing of these out-
side activities by both. These outside
activities must be made family activities.
At the same time that the home is
undergoing fundamental change, power-
ful forces affecting youth are springing
up carrying immeasurable potentialities
for good. But, alas, for evil as well. The
radio, the movie, the magazine-these
and many others offer thrills to youth
on any level he may choose from the
basest to the most sublime. All such in-
fluences are so definitely educative for
good and ill that society may not shirk
its responsibility for a critical appraisal
of them. Children must not be exploited
for somebody's gain, nor sacrificed to
somebody's folly.
1. Deep Public Interest in Children.
The American people are intensely in-
terested in the welfare of their children.
Loose statements are commonly heard
that the youth of today are running
wild, and that agencies for their educa-
tion and training are ineffectual. The
studies made for this Conference give
no ground for such pessimism. The prob-
lems which youth faces are trying, and
have many new phases due to the ra-
pidity of social changes. However, agen-
cies for child education and training are
in general alert and managed by com-
petent self-sacrificing men and women.
Naturally, social institutions like the
school, home and church which are na-
tion-wide in their scope make changes
and adjustments slowly, but in prac-
These are but a phase of the larger
problem of the increased leisure time.
That leisure may be the blessing it should
[ 59 ]
be, training in its use is imperative. In
recent years there have grown up more
than a score of leisure time educational
and recreational organizations for boys
and for girls, designed to supplement the
home, the church and the school. In
America we have been prone to think
of the school as the all sufficient solvent
of our social problems. It is becoming
clear, however, that many needs of youth
can not be met most effectively in the
school. These organizations of boys and
girls are powerful allies of education.
Their programs for the development of
the bodies, the strengthening of the
characters, and the enrichment of the
lives of children are an essential part of
the education and training called for to-
day.
Birthright of Child
4. The Child and His Birthright.
Society must demand for every child
his right to a fair chance. This fair
chance involves first that he shall be
born right, that he shall have a fair
start, that he shall not be handicapped
for life by a pitiably feeble endowment
of body or mind. With a strong body and
a sound mind, happiness is half assured.
Handicapped too severely in these, the
struggle is hard indeed. Whatever we
may feel in our anxiety to protect the
rights of adults, society must think first
of the children when it is considering
these adult rights in respect to parents.
5. The Child and Democracy.
Democracy demands universal educa-
tion. Equality of opportunity has long
been the ideal of the American people.
There is grave danger, however, of con-
fusing equality of opportunity with same-
ness of educational training. No other
type of government so much as dem-
ocracy demands the adaptation of educa-
tional training to the individual differ-
ences which characterize her children.
The danger of a dead level of mediocrity
is more grave in a democracy than in
any other form of government. There-
fore the first cardinal principle in the
education and training for a democratic
society is that each individual child
should develop to his highest possible
level of attainment. This calls for the
opposite of the lock-step in education.
It demands a full recognition of the in-
dividual differences among children.
These individual differences show
themselves in many ways. Some chil-
dren are defective in sight or hear-
ing, others tend to become tuber-
culous, others are slow mentally,
others are gifted, and So on. While
in all characteristics the differences
range from a barely perceptible depar-
ture from the norm to a wide divergence,
proper education and training demands
that wherever the child's departure from
the norm is great enough to make sepa-
rate or specialized treatment advan-
tageous, such treatment should be made
available. No system of education and
training is complete if it merely provides
teachers and buildings where children
may be assembled forty in a room to be
taught by whatever methods and what-
ever curriculum may be devised as best
for the theoretically average child. There
is no such child.
Home Influence
6. The Child and His Home.
A good home is the inherent right of
every child. The welfare of a child de-
pends upon nothing else so inevitably as
upon the personality relationships within
the family and the child's reactions to
them. Economic and social forces which
threaten the harmony of the relation-
ships or the security of the family as a
unit, endanger the welfare of the child.
The immediate results of the operation
of forces inimical to family stability-
low standards of living, and broken
homes, among others-should be pre-
vented and combated, not only for broad
humanitarian reasons, but specifically to
provide for the adequate adjustment and
development of children.
Fundamental to the very existence of
the home is the ability of the family to
provide an adequate and an assured in-
come. This is a problem of national
scope. The best educational efforts of
schools and other agencies may be in-
effectual if the emotional background of
the child's life is unhappy and insecure.
We still labor under an unfortunate
social tradition that the care of the child
in the home is simple, automatic and in-
stinctive. With our devotion to mother
love, we tend to think of the home as
not susceptible to scientific inquiry. Thus
we fail to study carefully its problems,
or to inculcate in parents such attitudes
and provide them with such information
as are necessary for the effective func-
tioning of the parents in the home. There
is, however, an increased amount of
scientific knowledge of child development,
care and training now available. Any
forward-looking program must recognize
the basic importance of bringing knowl-
edge of the development of the child and
of methods of his care and training to
parents-the individuals in society di-
rectly responsible.
School Period
7. The Child and His School.
The school is the embodiment of the
most profound faith of the American peo-
ple, a faith that if the rising generation
can but be sufficiently educated, the ills
of society will disappear. The constantly
lengthening period of school attendance,
the constantly enlarging contributions of
money for the maintenance of the school,
the rising standards of preparation of
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•
the teachers, the rapid increase in par-
ent teacher associations, these and many
other evidences attest the faith of the
people in their schools. Whatever is neces-
sary to enable the school to function bet-
ter, the people will provide.
On the whole the school has met and
is meeting the demands for adjustment
rapidly. However, the extraordinary rate
of change in the structure of society in
recent decades has been so great that
only in exceptional places have the
schools been able to keep pace. From the
point of view of child health and pro-
tection, the following are among the es-
sential requirements needed to bring the
schools into a place of effective service
in the education and training of the child
of 1930.
a. When school buildings are built or
rebuilt, and when equipment is procured
let there be rigid adherence to well recog-
nized standards of sanitation and health.
b. In the development of school pro-
grams, increasing recognition should be
given to the education of young chil-
dren through kindergartens and nursery
schools.
c. Programs of teacher training should
assure the teachers' understanding of the
child's physical makeup and of his per-
sonality development as well as of his
intellectual needs.
d. A school health service, city wide or
country wide, is an essential part of
every school organization. In this service
parents, teachers, school authorities and
health specialists should join forces in
devising a unified program such as will
assure the full safeguards of immuniza-
tion, the early detection and exclusion of
contagious cases, the discovery and cor-
rection of remediable defects of body and
mind in all the children regardless of
their economic status. But above all, the
health program should systematically
promote such a regimen of life-diet,
sleep, work, and play-as will contribute
most to the full mental and physical
vigor of every child.
e. The school must provide health edu-
cation and training of all children. This
involves instruction in personal, home
and community hygiene, in safety, in
mental hygiene, in social hygiene, in sex,
and in the preparation for potential par-
enthood. In this whole program of health
education, the active cooperation of the
parents is fundamental.
Importance of Church
8. The Child and His Church.
In any program of education and train-
ing the church holds an important place.
The data in the detailed reports are most
illuminating with respect to the far
reaching and growing influence of the
church upon youth. Without regard to
denominational creed, whether Catholic,
Jewish, Protestant or other faith, the
church is contributing strongly to the
controlling conceptions of personal life
and social purpose which underlie
western civilization. In an all too large
percentage of communities, however, ad-
justments to the new age, involving con-
structive activities for youth, have been
slow and inadequate and these churches
(in common, frequently, with other social
agencies in the same communities) are
less potent than they should be. But in
a growing number of cases the church is
expanding its activities for young people,
not only in the realm of worship, but also
in the young people's adjustment to their
own problems, and is carrying on a more
scientific study and administration of
its program of religious education.
The Child and His Play.
9.
A suitable place to play, affording activ-
ities suited to the varying needs of the
individuals, is the right of every child.
Play is a constructive force in child life,
needed not only to build strong bodies,
but also to develop those character traits
which revolve around resourcefulness and
courage. City crowding may be useful
industrially, but society misreads its
profit and loss account when it thinks to
achieve industrial success at the expense
of child welfare. Day nurseries and nurs-
ery schools; playgrounds, accessible and
supervised; facilities to keep children in
close touch with nature-these and many
others must be listed on the ledger of
city crowding industry before a fair bal-
ance sheet may be drawn. What the home
can no longer do to provide a play life
for children, may not on that account be
left undone.
But in all these things which society
must provide to furnish wholesome re-
creation outside the home, the home influ-
ence must be strengthened, not weakened.
The play facilities must be instruments
in parents' hands to help them carry the
responsibility of rearing their children.
This responsibility must not be shifted
from the mind and hearts of parents.
Cultivation of Character
10. The Child and His Character.
The emphasis that this Conference
gives to child health and protection
should not be interpreted as an under-
evaluation of character as the basic out-
come of education and training. A body
as nearly sound as possible is the first
and best approach to a sound mind. And
sound minds afford the most fertile field
for the cultivation of character. But
character such as is urgently needed in
American life can be adequately devel-
oped only when all those responsible for
children are awake to the fact that char-
acter does not just happen, but is the re-
sult of careful cultivation.
Among the significant problems in
character development is the modern
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tendency toward specialization. To the
doctor the child is a typhoid patient; to
the playground supervisor a first base-
man; to the teacher a learner of arith-
metic. At different times he may be dif-
ferent things to each of these specialists
but too rarely is he a whole child to any
of them.
But only as the whole personality ex-
pands can character develop. Respect for
a child's personality is an absolute re-
quisite to effective character development.
This involves a reversal of emphasis. The
doctor rather than prescribing for ty-
phoid fever, should prescribe for Harry
Smith suffering from typhoid fever. The
playground supervisor, rather than train-
ing a first baseman should train Harry
Smith on first base. The teacher rather
than teaching arithmetic should teach
Harry Smith by means of arithmetic. The
philosophy behind the modern demand
for a child-centered curriculum in the
school is valid also in all other relation-
ships of child life, if character is to be
the central outcome of education and
training.
Training for Vocation
11. The Child and His Vocation.
While beet fields must be weeded, and
glass factories must be kept running, yet
children have but one childhood. During
that childhood child labor must wait on
child welfare. Some types of work are
beneficial to childhood. No economic need
in prosperous America can be urged as
justification for robbing a child of his
childhood. No encroachment upon the
years needed for education and guidance
should be tolerated.
But vocational efficiency is not only a
great social need. It is a priceless indi-
vidual blessing as well. Therefore during
youth, guidance into the most appropriate
vocation, and training for that vocation
are among the most urgent aspects of
education and training.
12. The Child and Adult Education.
Education is a continuous lifelong pro-
cess. In a social order resting upon public
opinion, systematic efforts are necessary
to keep that public opinion intelligent. No
other agencies suffer so directly from an
uninformed public opinion as do the
agencies for the education and training
of children. These go regularly to the
people and depend upon the understand-
ing and good will of the people for their
adequate encouragement and support.
That wisdom needed by adults in meet-
ing their responsibilities as the guar-
antors of the rights and opportunities of
children can come only through persist-
ent study. Existing educational agencies
should be more conscious of their respon-
sibility for such education.
Research Essential
13. A Program Based on Research.
No enterprise so vast as the education
and training of a nation's children can
achieve its own most effective and eco-
nomical development without provision
for careful and continuous research. It
must study its operations and measure
its results. This research is needed not
alone in the schools, but in other insti-
tutions affecting child development as
well, such as the family, the home, the
neighborhood, the playgrounds, the boy
and girl organizations. Indeed the most
urgent need for research is in the funda-
mental nature of the child-physical,
mental, moral and social.
A large amount of able research in edu-
cation and training is being done by indi-
viduals in universities, in state depart-
ments, in research bureaus and in private
foundations. Such research is proving
most helpful, but yet far from adequate.
It should be expanded, and still other
research agencies should include child-
welfare studies in their programs. But all
these agencies together can not provide
for the systematic study on a nation wide
basis of the whole scheme of education
and training.
Education is a public function. The
responsibility for its administration is
rightly lodged with the several States.
Theoretically, therefore, the research
necessary to assure efficiency should be
carried on by the States. Wherever such
research can be provided for by the
States, cooperating with other research
agencies, the State is the proper unit to
carry it on.
There are some States not yet prepared
to provide such research facilities.
Furthermore, there are certain phases
which must be attacked for the nation as
a whole. Therefore, to cooperate with the
States in supplying this needed service of
research (and of informing the public
about the results of research) is a proper
and vital function of the Federal Govern-
ment.
On the motion of Dr. Wood, the report
of Section III on Education and Training
was unanimously accepted and approved
by the Conference.
L 62 J
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 03259 1466
THE CHILDREN'S CHARTER
PRESIDENT HOOVER'S WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON CHILD
HEALTH AND PROTECTION RECOGNIZING THE RIGHTS
OF THE CHILD AS THE FIRST RIGHTS OF CITIZENSHIP
PLEDGES ITSELF TO THESE AIMS FOR THE
CHILDREN OF AMERICA

OR every child spiritual
and moral training to
help him to stand firm
under the pressure of life.
II. For every child understand-
ing and the guarding of his person-
ality as his most precious right.
III. For every child a home and
that love and security which a home
provides; and for that child who
must receive foster care, the nearest
substitute for his own home.
IV. For every child full prepara-
tion for his birth, his mother receiv-
ing prenatal, natal, and postnatal
care; and the establishment of such
protective measures as will make
child-bearing safer.
V. For every child health protec-
tion from birth through adolescence,
including: periodical health examin-
ations and, where needed, care of
specialists and hospital treatment;
regular dental examination and care
of the teeth; protective and preven-
tive measures against communicable
diseases; the insuring of pure food,
pure milk, and pure water.
VI. For every child from birth
through adolescence, promotion of
health, including health instruction
and a health program, wholesome
physical and mental recreation, with
teachers and leaders adequately
trained.
VII. For every child a dwelling
place, safe, sanitary, and wholesome,
with reasonable provisions for pri-
vacy, free from conditions which
tend to thwart his development; and
a home environment harmonious and
enriching.
VIII. For every child a school
which is safe from hazards, sanitary,
properly equipped, lighted, and ven-
tilated. For younger children nurs-
ery schools and kindergartens to
supplement home care.
IX. For every child a community
which recognizes and plans for his
needs, protects him against physical
dangers, moral hazards, and disease;
provides him with safe and whole-
some places for play and recreation;
and makes provision for his cultural
and social needs.
X. For every child an education
which, through the discovery and
development of his individual abili-
ties, prepares him for life; and
through training and vocational
guidance prepares him for a living
which will yield him the maximum
of satisfaction.
XI. For every child such teach-
ing and training as will prepare him
for successful parenthood, home-
making, and the rights of citizen-
ship; and, for parents, supplementary
training to fit them to deal wisely
with the problems of parenthood.
[ 63 ]
XII. For every child education
for safety and protection against ac-
cidents to which modern conditions
subject him—those to which he is
directly exposed and those which,
through loss or maiming of his par-
ents, affect him indirectly.
XIII. For every child who is
blind, deaf, crippled, or otherwise
physically handicapped, and for the
child who is mentally handicapped,
such measures as will early discover
and diagnose his handicap, provide
care and treatment, and so train
him that he may become an asset
to society rather than a liability.
Expenses of these services should be
borne publicly where they cannot be
privately met.
XIV. For every child who is in
conflict with society the right to be
dealt with intelligently as society's
charge, not society's outcast; with
the home, the school, the church,
the court and the institution when
needed, shaped to return him when-
ever possible to the normal stream
of life.
XV. For every child the right to
grow up in a family with an ade-
quate standard of living and the
security of a stable income as the
surest safeguard against social han-
dicaps.
XVI. For every child protection
against labor that stunts growth,
either physical or mental, that limits.
education, that deprives children of
the right of comradeship, of play,
and of joy.
XVII. For every rural child as
satisfactory schooling and health
services as for the city child, and an
extension to rural families of social,
recreational, and cultural facilities.
XVIII. To supplement the home
and the school in the training of
youth, and to return to them those
interests of which modern life tends
to cheat children, every stimulation
and encouragement should be given
to the extension and development of
the voluntary youth organizations.
XIX. To make everywhere avail-
able these minimum protections of
the health and welfare of children,
there should be a district, county, or
community organization for health,
education, and welfare, with full-
time officials, coordinating with a
state-wide program which will be
responsive to a nation-wide service
of general information, statistics,
and scientific research. This should
include:
(a) Trained, fulltime public
health officials, with public
health nurses, sanitary inspec-
tion, and laboratory workers.
(b) Available hospital beds.
(c) Full-time public welfare serv-
ice for the relief, aid, and
guidance of children in spe-
cial need due to poverty,
misfortune, or behavior diffi-
culties, and for the protec-
tion of children from abuse,
neglect, exploitation, or
moral hazard.
For EVERY child these rights, regardless of race, or color,
or situation, wherever he may live under the
protection of the American flag.
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