The Western Journal of Education

HARR WAGNER, Managing Editor.

EDWARD HYATT, Supt. of Public Instruction, Editor of Official Department.

ALICE ROSE POWER, Associate Editor, Teacher Edison School, San Francisco.

Founded in 1895, it commands the support of every teacher who is interested in the newest lines of educational thought, and of every trustee who desires to keep in touch with movements for the betterment of the schools. It is not run in the interest of any special organization, of any or type of educational doctrine. interest Its field includes an optimistic support of the best class of educational uplift, both of men and measures.

an

of

Manuscripts, Contributions of educational character, including Methods, Devices, School News, Matters Special Interest to School Trustees, etc., desired.

TEHAMA COUNTY'S NEW CHARTER The freeholders of Tehama county have drafted a new charter for a new county government. J. D. Sweeney, was a member of the freeholders convention. He made a strong effort to have the officers appointed by a service commission. He did not succeed. The committee arranged for the county superintendent to be selected by the clerks of the various school boards. This is an innovation in California, but not in other States. This system has prevailed in Pennsylvania for over a third of a century. It is not, however, as good a system as that which required the direct vote of the people. If our public school system can not train a citizenship with keen enough intelligence, and with sufficient integrity to vote right on a school superintendent, then indeed is our public school system a failure. The election of 1914 in this State when men held positions of honor and trust and were out electioneering and making scump speeches for the governor who appointed them proves that the commission form of government does not eliminate politics. The commissioners may be good. The governor may be a great reformer. The fact remains, however, that the man who is appointed to office continues to do politics with the same emphasis as the man who is elected by the people.

TEACHERS' AGENCIES Complaints have come to this office that there is a teachers' agency in San Francisco that is not conducting its business on legitimate lines. We would advise teachers, therefore, to patronize only such agencies that are properly recommended, and whose integrity is well known. The Fisk Teachers' Agency, 2161 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, and 343 Douglas Building, Los Angeles. The Boynton Esterly Teachers' Agency, 717 Market St., San Francisco, and 517 Brockman Building, Los Angeles, are reliable and well recommended. A teachers' dollar is as big as a cart wheel and when an agency insists on payment in advance for a position it will be WELL to investigate.

NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER'S FAV

ORITE AMERICAN VICE The September, 1915, Educational Review edited by Nicholas Murray Butler, New York, contains a page of comment on the salary schedule of the University of Oklahoma. The schedule provides salaries as follows:

$1000 to $1300

Instructors
Assistant Professors - $1400 to $1700
Assistant Professors $1800 to $2100
Professors
$1800 to $2500

The editor in commenting on the above says: This schedule illustrates a favorite American vice, which is to overpay the men and women at the bottom, and to under-pay the men and women at the top.

The lines quoted are so un-American, so typical of the egotism of wealth and position, that we thought it impossible that the lines represented the editorial opinion of the Review. We wrote the editor and received the following reply:

Mr. Harr Wagner,

Sept. 9, 1915.

Western Journal of Education,

324 Phelan Building, San Francisco. Dear Sir: We beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 2nd inst. and in reply to say that the last four lines in the editorial printed on page 207 of the September 1915 issue of the "Educational Review" are correctly printed and that they reflect the opinions of the "Review." It might be added that the reference is not particularly to educational salaries, but to salaries of public officials generally.

Very truly yours,

Educational Review. The public schools of the nation have ideals. These ideals are based on equal opportunity, equal pay for equal work, and for inculcation of a democratic spirit in the young. The favorite American vice, if there is one, is the snobbery of the aristocracy of culture. This aristocracy of culture has its apotheosis in Columbia University with Nicholas Murray Butler as the chief spokesman. Is it true, that the thousands of instructors in the universities of our land who do the actual work and are paid from $1000 to $1500 are over paid, and that the Presidents of our universities who are paid from $5000 to $15,000 are underpaid? Is it true that the five hundred thousand grade teachers who are paid from $800 to $1200 per year are over-paid? Is it true that those at the top-heavy system who are paid from $3000 to $10,000 are under-paid? Let those who pay the bills answer. They will say NO. The undercurrent of socialism wants just such fool statements as those in the September "Review" to use as a club on the heads of those at the top. If the evolution of the masses is to hold true to the ideals of the race, men like Dr. Butler must be bridled, censored, or eliminated entirely from positions of influence and power.

The "Review's" policy of lower salaries for those who do team work, and higher for those who do team work, and higher salaries for those at the top, will lead to an artificial aristocracy that will mean the downfall of our entire educational system. The people will never support indefinitely an institution or a school system that considers it a vice that the teachers, at the bottom are over-paid and those at the top are under-paid. Unless there is a resipiscence in Dr. Butler', it will require the use of all the effective words in an unabridged dictionary to properly condemn his vicious philosophy.

NEW READERS

The State Board of Education is advertising for manuscript plates and copyrights of readers for the third, fourth and fifth grades. It is to be regretted that the board did not also advertise for a new State spell

er.

The commissioners have shown a desire to get the best books possible for the children of the State. Even the representatives of book companies, though they failed to get contracts, believe that those who represent the State are trying to secure the best results possible. If there is anything wrong it is in the system. W. C. Doub, who as superintendent of schools in Kern county, made a splendid reputation as an educational leader, and whose point of view on educational matters is always interesting, says of the recent adoptions:

"The adoption was absolutely honest. The commissioners of education selected the books. Mr. Snyder selecting the writing, Mr. Wood the history and Miss Schallengerer the reading. The commissioners sought the opinion of other experts. They would naturally ask the opinion of those who believe as they do.

"I made a special study of the readers for the lower grades, because I submitted readers for those grades. The readers adopted will not give any better satisfaction as basic texts than the present State readers they are displacing. They represent another attempt to make basic reading texts by writing fables and fairy stories down to first grade simplicity. This has never been done successfully. Among other defects, the vocabulary must of necessity be poor. Most words in a primer

should be those the child has learned to use in his every-day conversation. The new State primer omits such words as 'may,' 'mother,' and 'baby' and includes such words as 'quench,' 'thirst' and 'sixpence.'

"In most schools the new State readers for the lower grades will not be used until after the pupils have been taught to read from some basic text, and they will then be used as supplementary readers. This is true of the present State readers, and for the same reason.

"Eight or more experts could be found in the State who would report strongly in favor of the new State readers. Most of these experts are teaching in our normals, and believe in the theories of educational

psychologists. Eight or more other experts could be found who would report strongly against these new State readers. Most of these experts are teaching in the grades, and have learned by experience the methods and subject-matter that secure the best results."

The California Teachers' Northern Section held its annual meeting at the Exposition, Palace of Education, August 25th, President Camper presiding. The officers for the ensuing year were elected as follows: President, Paul Ward, Red Bluff; vice-president, Principal Edward W. Locher, Maxwell; secretary, H. G. Rawlins, Willows; treasurer, J. D. Sweeney, Red Bluff; members of the council, Pearle Sanderson, Colusa, and R. W. Camper, Wil

liams. Marysville was selected as the next meeting place, which will be the middle of October, 1916.

In 1885 the partnership of Ginn & Heath was dissolved and D. C. Heath shortly thereafter founded the house of D. C. Heath & Company. There were admitted to this firm, within a comparatively short time, Mr. Charles H. Ames, Mr. William E. Pulsifer and Dr. Winfield S. Smyth. The business was continued under the partnership until 1896, when the partners sold the business to a corporation, which was continued under the same name, Mr. Heath becoming the president, Dr. Smyth the vice-president, Mr. Pulsifer the treasurer and Mr. Ames the secretary of the new company. The business was continued with great success under these officers, and when Mr. Heath died, in 1907, the house was the third largest in the educational publishing business. Two years after Mr. Heath's

death the trustees of his estate sold his holdings in the company, which was then reorganized, Mr. Pulsifer becoming its president, Mr. Ames its secretary, Mr. James C. Simpson its vice-president, and Mr. Winfield S. Smyth Jr., its treasurer. Dr. Winfield S. Smyth died shortly after Mr. Heath passed away, and Mr. Ames died two years ago last October.

Under the new management the house has continued the same policies that Mr. Heath so wisely adopted and followed in the conduct of the business when under his direction. Mr. Heath always stood for clean methods. No taint of smoke was ever found on his business garments.

The house has in its list of authors some of the most able and distinguished men in this and foreign countries. An examination of the catalogue of D. C. Heath & Company reveals the following names especially well-known in the United States and Europe: President Woodrow Wilson; Dr. Ira Remsen of Johns Hopkins; Dr. F. P. Venable of North Carolina; Dr. Edward S. Joynes, one of the most distinguished German scholars in America; Dr. Thomas J. Lawrence, associate of the Institute of International Law and lecturer in Maritime Law at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, England; Dr. Charles Gide, professor of social economics in the University of Paris; Ex-Secretary of the United States Treasury, George S. Boutwell; Dr. John M. Manly of the University of Chicago; Doctors Henry E. Bourne and E. J. Benton, professors of history in the Western Reserve University, Ohio; Dr. Edwin A. Allen of the University of Missouri; Dr. Basil L. Gildersleeve of Johns Hopkins University; Dr. R. G. Moulton of the University of Chicago; Dr. Webster Wells of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston; Dr. N. S. Shaler of Harvard University; Dr. Henry Suzzallo, recently elected president of the University of Washington; Dr. Bruce M. Watson, superintendent of schools at Spokane, Washington, etc.

Among the Pacific Coast authors who have written books for D. C. Heath & Company are: Prof. S. E. Coleman of Oakland, Cal.; Dr. Rudolph Schevill, Dr. Carlos Bransby and Dr. S. Griswold Morley of the University of California; Dr. David Starr Jordan of Leland Stanford University; Dr. Ernest B. Hoag, recently lecturer in public romance of languages, Leland Stanford Jr. University; Harold Wellman Fairbanks, of Berkeley, Cal.; Miss Emma M. Firth of

Oakland, Cal.; Miss T. A. Brookman of Berkeley, Cal.; Miss Elizabeth Grinnell of Pasadena, Cal., and others.

The Modern Language Department of D. C. Heath & Company is now regarded by critical scholars as one of the largest, if not the largest, similar department connected with any publishing house in the United States. The texts and textbooks of this department have commanded the attention of the ablest French, German, Italian and Spanish scholars in the educational field of America and Europe. Thousands of copies of Heath's Modern Language Texts are sold annually in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and largely because of careful and critical editing.

The general list of this house contains carefully prepared books, reaching from the kindergarten to the university. Among the most notable of the books published by D. C. Heath & Company are: JoynesMeissner's German Grammars, Fraser and Squair's French Grammars, Wells and Hart's Mathematics, Hyde's Lessons in English, Norton's Heart of Oak Books, Walsh's Mathematics, The Manly-Bailey Elementary English Books, the Arden Shakespeare, edited by the best known Shakesperean critics in England and America; President Wilson's The State; Boutwell's History Wilson's The State; Boutwell's History of the Constitution; Lawrence's Principles of International Law; Gide's Political Economy; Bourne and Benton's Histories; Webster's Ancient History; Buhlig's Business English, etc.

These books have brought to the house great reputation. The bi

has been extended to the Philippine Islands, to India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Mexico, Central America, and to many European countries. Recently Dewey's "How We Think" has been translated into the German language, and Woodrow Wilson's "The State" has been translated into that language.

Since the reorganization of the company the publication department, which is directed by its president, Mr. Pulsifer, has added very largely to the excellent list of books which were published during the

time when Mr. Heath was the head of the house. Among these new books are: Wells and Hart's Algebras and a Plane and Solid Geometry; Webster's Ancient History; Bourne and Benton's Elementary and Grammar School Histories; Gerrish and Cunningham's English Con position; Buhlig's Business English; three new German grammars; Fraser and Squair's Shorter French Grammar; a revision of Grandgent's Italian Grammar; the Davis-Julien Read

ers; the Walsh-Suzzallo Arithmetics; the Manly-Bailey and Sanford-Brown Language Books and Grammars, etc. The aim of the head of the publication department. is to produce books of the highest educational merit. The motto of the house is "The best books by the best authors." Mr. Pulsifer declares that he would rather really meritorious than to add one poor refuse to publish a dozen books that are

book to the list of the house.

The house has several large offices: One at Boston, one at New York and another at Chicago. There are several branches: One at Atlanta, one at San Francisco, one at Austin, Tex., and a very large branch at London. The San Francisco office is in charge of Mr. G. H. Chilcote, who is assisted in California by Mr. Charles F. Scott of Los Angeles, two men who are well and favorably known to the educational people of the State.

STATE TEXT BOOKS California's experience in publishing school text books at taxpayers' expense ought to be a lesson to Oregon. The California State Law provides for the leasing of the plates of text books now on the market, or for the leasing of manuscripts or purchase of same, and for the publication of common school books in the State Printing Office in Sacramento.

Politicians have for the last thirty years or more, ever since State publication went into operation in California, used the State printing office as a political machine and as a batteringram for one administration against another, each administration claiming that they have saved more money than the preceding administration.

Two years ago a free text book law went into effect so that new books are shipped out to districts all over the State free of charge, transportation charges prepaid. The present administration claims that it is saving the people thousands, if not millions, of dollars annually, but the fact is that a whole lot of overhead expense has never been included in the cost, the interest on their investment in the State printing office of over a million dollars is not included, they never take into account when comparing their prices with the prices of publishers the exchange allowance which the publishers make when a new book is introduced. The secondhand books scattered all over the State are a dead loss.

Under the California system they are continually changing books more frequently than they have in Oregon and yet no allowance has ever been made either for secondhand books or for new books on the hands of dealers, or owned by the districts.

In discussing this whole question one thing to be taken into consideration is-how and where the best books for children can be obtained. The United States Commissioner of Education in his last report shows that only about $14,000,000 is spent annually in the whole United States for school books, and shows that the total cost of text books is less than two per cent of the cost of education, therefore, the economic end of the business may be regarded as a minor matter.

Under the California system it has proven suicidal for any publisher who owns the copyrights of first class books to submit them to the State Board of Education on the present basis; therefore in the recent adoption which

took place last month the California State Board of Education was able to secure very few of the leading text books in the country. Houses, both large and small, which had first class books refused to sumit them. We refer to such houses as Benj. Sanborn and Company, the American Book Company, D. C. Heath and Company, Ginn and Company, Houghton-Mifflin Company, and scores of others. As a result, California cannot secure under its present system of state publication the best that there is, except by making large appropriations for supplementary books and books for the library.

There has just gone into operation a law providing that not less than forty cents nor more than eighty cents per pupil shall be spent for supplementary books. In Massachusetts and, in fact, in most States throughout the country, somewhere between forty and eighty cents would be found the total cost per pupil for school books. It is plain, therefore, that California is really paying twice for her school books. She is bound to support State publication as the political end of the business, and then in order to secure some first class books she has to make appropriation for thousands of dollars' worth

er to point out the mistakes of the old, and why it fails to produce results.

The old geography, still generally taught today, is a description of the earth. Multitudes of facts are presented, while little is said about their relation to each other. It is little wonder from our present-day standpoint that such a geography is growing in disfavor. If that were all that there is to it we could not blame those who would do away with it as an independent subject and distribute its materials among others.

One has only to read the absurd statements sometimes made as to the essential nature of geography to realize how little the new geography is yet understood. Men who are leaders in educational thought in our country have said that geography is an agglomeration of facts from different sciences without inner relationship or coherence; that it is a catch-all without

From the Oregon "Voter."

WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY?

Every one qualified to judge will admit that the condition of elementary school geography in California at the present time is deplorable.

Many new ideas have been introduced into the schools and the older subjects are being adapted to present-day needs. Geography, alone, goes on its ancient way but little changed. Owing to the fact that the new and modern view of the subject is not generally understood by those who train our teachers and plan our school programs it is losing the esteem in which it was once held.

Properly taught geography is a subject of the utmost practical value. It is farreaching in its conceptions and fitted more than any other to awaken a lively interest of the pupils in the world about them and give that broad culture which is so essential to a proper perspective of life.

What do we find to be the actual condition of geography in the schools? As a rule it is the same memory work that was presented a generation ago only a little less thorough-going. This method by a longcontinued hammering does so impress certain arbitrary facts about the world upon the brain that some of them remain. But through what an enormous expenditure of time and effort are they acquired. The dull routine of memorizing them creates a dislike for the subject with the result that the most of them are soon forgotten. This dislike on the part of a large proportion of children for the subject of geography is in itself an indictment against our methods of teaching it.

The present-day ignorance on the part of the pupils of the essential facts of geography is not due to the lack of time given to the subject. Three or four years with a daily recitation is sufficient, if right methods are used, to give a good working knowledge of the home region and clear conceptions of the broader world relations. The present condition does not call for a return to the more severe memory drill of past years, as some teachers would have us believe, but rather for the introduction of the methods of modern geography. The conceptions of the new geography are so completely in accord with a true pedagogy that wherever they are tried they produce most astonishing results. However, it is not the purpose in the present paper to follow out the methods of the new geography, but rath

as a matter of economy be distributed among the other school subjects. The well and favorably known Gary System of Gary, Indiana, carries out this idea and almost ignores geography as an independent subject.

Another factor which has worked against the betterment of geography teaching in

Our

country is the sort of textbooks which are offered for use. Textbooks exert an important influence upon the teaching of a subject and upon the arrangement of the courses of study. The arrangement of the material as given in the textbook is not always followed but it is easier to do that than to make a new outline.

No great change has taken place in our textbooks of geography during the last generation. The new geography has found expression in some of the recent books for the German elementary schools, but in our country it is chiefly confined to articles in the educational magazines.

The geography in use in our own State, although it goes farther than any other American text in its attempt to develop the casual notion, has very serious drawbacks and is very far from being the ideal which we are seeking. No important

change for the better can take place in the teaching of geography in the California elementary schools until we have a series of textbooks planned more distinctly along the lines of modern geography.

The practice of geography in our schools fails in another way because the nature of the subject is not understood. Supérintendents and teachers fail to recognize that in its essential nature it is a science. As such its successful handling demands special training on the part of the teachers, a training in observation of geographic facts of the neighborhood. The ability to teach modern geography successfully can never be gained from the study of a textbook. It must be gained in the real world.

The neglect of home geography so general in our schools brings two serious consequences in its train. In the first place pupils leave school knowing little of the region in which they live. They are almost totally unprepared to make use of their environment in their life struggle.

In the second place there is an inability on the part of the pupils through lack of an understanding of that which is near at hand and open to observation, to form mental images of that which is beyond their horizon. They learn the book statements and appear to have their lessons, but farther questioning shows that they have little comprehension of that which they have learned.

Thus it comes about that, in spite of the time and effort expended in the three or four years devoted to geography, the pupils leave school with their minds almost a blank as far as concerns their ability to interpret and make use of the facts of the world at large.

Replying then, in conclusion to our question as to what is the matter with elementary school geography we can say in the first place that it is not understood, and in the second place, that its emphasis is wrongly placed and its method or presentation is pedagogically incorrect.

Dr. H. W. Fairbanks. Box 176, Berkeley, Cal.

STANDARD SCHOOL AWARDED GRAND
PRIZE AT THE PANAMA-PACIFIC
INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION
(By Harr Wagner)

This successfully conducted school heid its official graduation August 30 in the Court of the Universe, under the personal direction of Mr. Alvin E. Pope, chief of the Palace of Education, and Honorable Edward Rainey, representing Mayor Rolph.

The day was perfect, the aticndance of parents, friends and Exposition visitors ran into several hundred. The setting was gorgeous-Italian skies and the marvelous architecture of the artist Mullgardt, the presence of the Exposition band, and the beautiful decorations or living boys and girls stirred the hearts of everyone.

Mr. Pope stated that this school had set the standard for all other commercial schools; that it was the only time where a school had been organized at an Exposition and where the course of instruction had been completed on Exposition grounds, and where all who entered had met every requirement and had been graduated on the ground. Mr. Rainey stated that he was at the exercises as the personal representative of the Mayor, "who wished to put his decided approval on this school and the work it had done."

All of the speakers referred in the highest terms to Mr. John Robert Gregg, who made it possible to have this exhibit at the Exposition, and to Mrs. Frances Effinger-Raymond, who personally initiated and supervised the work. Especial emphasis was laid by each speaker on the thorough work done by the students as well as their concentration under most trying conditions, their courtesy to visitors and their desire to co-operate with the work of the other exhibitors by getting out a daily bulletin for the Palace of Education. This is probably the first school in the world where no teacher ever wrote a note of complaint to a parent and where no parent ever uttered a word of complaint to a teacher. Mr. Pope called attention to the fact that althouh the students of the Standard Commercial School were young and very attractive and had the freedom of the Exposition grounds and concessions, yet they had never abused this liberty nor caused word of criticism or complaint.

a

The students will perpetuate the school in an Alumni Association, Mr. Ernest Wilkens, presi

I. Blanchard Student Body.

dent. They gave a dansant Saturday afternoon, September 25, in the Missouri building and will hold regular meetings during the coming year. Every student who wanted a position was spoken for before school closed. Eighteen are acting either as stenographers or bookkeepers in the following offices: University of California (3 here), Chief of Palace of Education, Director Philippine Exhibit, F. H. Abbott Company, Provident Life and Trust Company, Carson Glove Company, Electrician, Hayward; State Normal School, Santa Barbara; Wolverine Brass Works; Southern Pacific (2 here); Columbia Steel Works; E. Clemens Horst Company; Chinese Commission, P. P. I. E.; Office Assistant, Standard Commercial School.

The other graduates return to their respective high schools. Each one is an accurate and rapid stenographer and typist, an excellent penman and a most competent and efficient office assistant-as office training and the use of office appliances, filing, etc., were strong features of this unique, practical and successful school exhibit.

Mark Keppel on Text Books

One of the most interesting and enlightening addresses delivered during the week of the N. E. A. was made by County Superintendent Mark Keppel of Los Angeles upon the subject "The Economical Aspect of Supplying School Books." Mr. Keppel was at his best and spoke with more than his usual clearness and force.

Mr. Keppel surprised his audience by asserting that the figures issued by the State showing the cost of manufacturing school books did not include many items that justly entered into the cost and should be included. Some of the items enumerated were: The salaries of the superintendent and his staff, insurance, freight, postage, expressage, clerk hire, telegrams, to say nothing of the items for deterioration of the printing plant and a reasonable interest on the $1,500,000 which the State has already sunk into the printing plant.

Mr. Keppel called attention to the relative amounts spent by children for school books, on the one hand, and for gum, candy and the "movies" on the other. He thought the latter items exceeded the former by more than twenty times.

Lastly, Mr. Keppel expressed great regret that the attention of the public was always focused upon the little things and that the big ones were allowed to go without notice. For example, he said the public is kept in a state of hysteria about the prices of school books, which are now so low as to threaten their quality, while no attention whatever is paid to the item of repairs of school buildings, the greatest leakage on the school funds. He asserted that during the months of June, July and August of each year a sum amounting to three times the cost of school books is paid for needless repairs upon school buildings.

A NEW VIEWPOINT ON ALGEBRA.

Algebra, long ranked as a dead subject, is showing signs of life. Thirmuthis A. Brookman, formerly head of the Department of Mathematics in the high schools of Berkeley, has achieved the impossible in pruning the the non-essentials from high school algebra, rearranging the essentials and utilizing to some extent geometrical concepts. In this book, algebra has not merely been applied to concrete and practical aims, but what is more, has been derived from concrete and interesting sources.

Particularly, it has been linked up with the shop and this is, by far, the best attempt I have seen to furnish shop mathematics of an algebraic character. It seems to fill all the requirements for college algebra, placing in the appendix portions in which requirements of various universities differ.

It may well be used as a book of shop mathematics in technical schools or for the regular algebraic work in schools not technical in character. It comes from the press of Charles Scribner's Sons, and bears the title of "A Practical Algebra for Beginners."

LEWIS B. AVERY,

Assistant Superintendent of Schools.