Since Last We Met

Future craftsmen:

City youth will have opportunities comparable to those opened up to farm youth by the Future Farmers of America if the plan for a future craftsmen of America organization completed in committee at the Future Farmers of America convention in Kansas City is approved by the American Vocational Association.

Christmas present:

Beginning with the December issue, SCHOOL LIFE will have eight more pagesat no increase in subscription rate. This will enable us to provide better service to readers: Health-education suggestions, new books, what the States are doing, education in the news, radio calendar, and other features.

A la carte survey for New York:

66

"We are going to try to list everything in the curriculum on a cost basis", says Owen D. Young, director of the new $500,000 general education board survey of New York education. "This is your menu", we can say to the taxpayer. "You will see listed the price of each dish-the old dishes by actual computation; the new dishes by estimate. It is for you to say what you want. Then, when the bill comes in, you will have no quarrel, since you yourself have given the order."

On Fresno air:

High-school students of counties near Fresno, Calif., are presenting some of the best radio dramatizations that have come to our attention.

C. C. C.:

Howard W. Oxley, director of C. C. C. camp education, has written a very good account of "Educational Activities in the C. C. C. Camps." Mimeographed copies are free. Address the Office of Education.

50

52

Two Thousandth Birthday Celebration-

53

The Vocational Summary. CHARLES M. ARTHUR...

54

56

Teaching a Class of 10 Million. J. W. STUDEBAKER.

56

Youth-Adult Hearings. KATHERINE GLOVER

57

William John Cooper. MARIS M. PROFFITT..

58

59

60

Harris dinner:

65

Dance of 18 Nations. JACQUELINE DORMINY.

66

New Government Aids for Teachers.

Electrifying Education. CLINE M. KOON.

Indian Education____

Measurement Today. DAVID SEGEL--

Educators' Bulletin Board..

High-School Correspondence Study. W. H. GAUMNITZ

In the Libraries. SABRA W. VOUGHT.

67

68

68

69

70

71

In memory of William Torrey Harris, one of the great leaders of American education, a one-hundredth anniversary dinner will be held in Washington, D. C., December 9. State superintendents of education then in session, Office of Education staff members, and other educators will hear former Commissioner P. P. Claxton and Dr. Payson Smith, Massachusetts commissioner of education. Commissioner Studebaker will preside.

[Continued on page 56]

The cover design for this issue of SCHOOL LIFE is by R. W. Perry, State Supervisor of Trade and Industrial Education, Providence, R. I. See page 71.

28612° -35--1

HE publication of the Survey of Cincinnati Public Schools marks the completion of the 73d school survey made by the United States Office of Education during the last 13 years of its nearly 70 years of existence. In accepting the invitation of school officials to make this survey the Office continued its stated policy of making surveys of schools only under certain conditions: First, when the situation indicates good prospects for constructive action following the survey, thus justifying local expenditure for the survey; and second, when the situation to be surveyed is typical in some respects of those existing in other parts of the country so that a survey may throw light on these type problems, thus justifying a Federal office in contributing the time of its staff members.

Cincinnati met both of these conditions. Like other cities having faced the depression for several years with its responsibilities increasing and its resources dwindling, the Cincinnati Board of Education very wisely decided that a comprehensive survey of its responsibilities, its practices, and its resources was the best basis upon which to base future growth. Accordingly in May 1934 the board's committee on educational policy reported as follows: "Every human system should be subjected to the process of periodic appraisal. One as complex and as important to the future of our democracy as the system of public education should not go without at least an occasional attempt at surveying the past and plotting the future. A survey of this character ought to be welcomed by the staff and teachers of the schools, inasmuch as it should serve the of showing clearly the great purpose merits of the system, as well as those directions in which it is capable of improvement. Moreover, owing to the present status of public finance, it is essential that wherever the chance for economies may exist, it should be discovered and seized." Followed then a resolution unanimously adopted that "the board of education hereby request the Cincinnati Bureau of Governmental Research to make, or arrange to have made, a comprehensive survey of the Cincinnati

Bess Goodykoontz, Assistant United States Commissioner of Education and Director of the Survey Reports Why and How the Investigation Was Made Together With Certain Survey Recommendations

public-school system covering all its various departments, functions, activities, personnel and the costs incident thereto. * *

Following the adoption of the resolution the United States Office of Education was officially invited to conduct the survey. The staff consisting of 22 persons, 10 from

Dr. Bess Goodykoontz, Assistant U. S. Commissioner of Education, and Director of the Cincinnati Survey.

the Office staff and the others carefully chosen to represent certain specialized fields, began field work late in September and continued until early in December. Altogether the survey staff itself spent approximately 265 days in Cincinnati visiting schools and administrative offices and collecting data. A technical advisory committee consisting of seven persons from outside the Office, was appointed to assist in mapping out the general plan of the survey, to serve in a consultative ca

pacity throughout the duration of the survey, and to advise in regard to the final recommendations. This committee also met in Cincinnati.

In general, the survey follows the outline so well mapped out by the committee on educational policy. The first section of the report gives a brief picture of the community of Cincinnati and its educational problems and follows with a brief discussion by Dr. Bode, of the technical advisory committee, of the school's aims and purposes. This section attempts to answer the problem posed by the committee on educational policy: "What is the purpose of public education, not only in general, but in these days, and in this community of ours with its unique character and problems?" The second section of the report describes, in order, (1) the school's present program of education at all levels, from classes for the youngest children to the adult educational opportunities; (2) the status of and provisions for the teaching staff; (3) the administration of the schools and the services afforded through the superintendent's office; (4) the present provisions for housing and equipping the schools; (5) administration of business affairs; and (6) the present program of financing the schools.

Each chapter of the report after Part I aims to take the following three steps: First, to describe present practices; second, to evaluate the effectiveness or adequacy of present practices; and third, to make recommendations looking toward further growth or improvement of services. Accordingly a summary of findings and recommendations follows each chapter. Space will not permit any extensive listing of these, but the following brief quotations may serve as illustrations of the major recommendations in certain chapters exclusive of those specifically on administration, physical properties, and finance.

SCHOOL LIFE November 1935

ET NOT him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as him that taketh it off."

This, you will remember, was the wise message of Ahab, King of Israel, to Benhadad, King of Syria, in ancient days.

And this message immediately came to mind when I received your letter requesting me to present some opinions regarding vocational training as I begin my service as a member (representing American agriculture) of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. The proverb from Ahab would seem to make it more discreet to wait till I have served longer on the Federal Board before sending you the desired article.

Nevertheless, when one has been studying any problem almost continuously for nearly 30 years, he should have his general philosophy about it pretty well matured while of course still keeping his mind open to all further information. Consequently, I take pleasure in dilating upon what has always been one of my favorite subjects, that of making our farm schools train for farm life.

My interest in this subject really goes back to the little country school I attended as a boy and particularly to the day when one of my schoolmates came to me and said, "Well, Clarence, I am not going to school any more."

"And why?" I asked.

"It won't be any use", he answered, "I have decided to be a farmer."

There indeed was a tragedy for you-a boy who had come to the school with the hope that it would give meaning and richness and color to his life, now going back to his work hopeless of the help that should have been his, going back to a work that ignorance has made a life-long drudgery, but which science and practical education should have glorified into a joyous art.

Not only was there no Smith-Hughes teaching at that time and no 4-H club work, but the textbooks in use in rural schools did not even suggest to the farmer's child the possibilities of science and training in agricultural work. On the contrary, the natural and logical inference from much of our rural instruction was that education was not indispen

Dr. Clarence Poe Visits a Young Dairyman.

your arithmetic, you will find all about foreign exchange and commissions and bank discount and British money, latitude and longitude, and the metric system of weights and measures, but never a word about how to calculate a feeding ration for cows, or a fertilizer formula from certain quantities of potash, phosphoric acid, and nitrogen. Is it not high time to say that we will, if necessary, let the farm boy learn less about far-away Australia and Kamchatka, but anyhow

let him learn more about the soil he walks over and plows every day of his life? The farm girl, too, must learn of food values, of the chemistry of cooking, the principles of hygiene and sanitation, etc."

Since that time, of course, invaluable and almost incredible progress has been made through vocational training, but much still needs to be done. The great need is to develop a system that will carry inspiration and richness and color into the daily tasks of the great masses of our people.

Nor need we be disturbed by those who say that in training for work and for efficiency the schools will become less useful in building character or in developing genuine culture. There is probably about as much culture and charactertraining in learning how to calculate a fertilizer formula as there is in learning how to calculate latitude and longitude; just as much culture in learning the food values of the various vegetables as there is in learning to parse French sentences; just as much culture in learning to fight the bacterial invaders of one's own body as in learning how some Roman emperor repelled martial invaders 2,000 years ago. The idea that character and culture cannot be found in anything that has to do with sweat and horny hands, with the hiss of steam, the smoke of factories, and the smell of plowed ground-this is an inheritance from the dudes, fops, and perfumed dandies of courts that we have no more

use for in America than we have for powdered queues, gold snuff-boxes, and velvet knee-breeches.

I also believe that agricultural leaders everywhere should not only seek to enlarge vocational teaching, club work, etc., but that the majority of farm pupils who are not reached by these agencies should also be awakened to the importance of scientific knowledge (1) in increasing farm profits, and (2) in increasing the farmer's happiness in his work by increasing his range of intellectual interest.

One fact, however, let me make clear. In saying all this, I am not pleading at all for a merely commercialized or utilitarian view of farm life. We need to keep ever in mind Ruskin's saying: "There is no wealth but life", and that indisputable truth contained in the following anonymous paragraph I have often quoted:

"A boy or girl who likes a beautiful picture, a sunset, a rose bush, a robin, a sky full of stars, a fine old melody, a courtesy, a generous deed, or a good book, is better educated than a boy or girl could be without them, even if he could work all the sums in algebra and parse everything in Virgil."

And here an experience of my own comes to mind. When I was a country boy I came across a battered old astronomy, part of the leaves and all of the maps missing. Nevertheless, with the aid of the descriptive pictures, I located constellation after constellation, fixed star after star, while the story of the wonders of God's universe, its planets and suns and systems, filled my imagination, broadened my vision, and stimulated my thinking as no mechanical language drill could ever have done. And while I have wholly forgotten the little I learned of Latin and Greek, it is still a pleasure when I go out at night to find myself under the light of friendly stars, and to recognize the same ancient guardians of the sky that looked down on Job when the Lord answered him from the whirlwind: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season, or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?" When Vega, with her twin attendants, glitters above me in the summer evenings, or in winter red Aldebaran glows like a ruby in "the rainy Hyades", my soul lifts with a knowledge of their sublimity and of the illimitableness of the universe of which I am a part.

Let us see to it, then, that agriculture is taught in the schools, and let us see to it also that, unlike Markham's "Man With the Hoe", the countryman of the future is no longer indifferent to the beauties of nature "the swing of the Pleiades, the rift of dawn, the reddening of the rose."

ABOUT nineteen and a half centuries ago Horace wrote, "I shall not wholly die." His prophecy will be fulfilled this year when his two-thousandth birthday (65 B. C.—A. D. 1935) will be celebrated throughout the world. Prof. Roy C. Flickinger, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, is general chairman of committees for the bimillenium horatianum sponsored by the American Classical League.

State chairmen have been appointed as follows:

Arkansas.-Prof. H. W. Kamp, Hendrix College, Conway, Ark.

Illinois.-Miss Florence Brubaker, Oak Park High School, Oak Park, Ill. Iowa.-Dean Carrie T. Cubbage, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa.

Kentucky.-Dean F. C. Grise, Western Kentucky State Teachers College, Bowling Green, Ky.

Michigan. Miss Thelma Hunt, Ionia High School, Ionia, Mich.

Minnesota.-Mr. Leonard H. Hauer, St. Thomas College, St. Paul, Minn.

Missouri.-Prof. Eugene Tavenner, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo.

Nebraska.-Prof. Clarence A. Forbes, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebr. North Dakota.-Prof. A. M. Rovelstad, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N. Dak.

Ohio.-Prof. Dwight Nelson Robinson, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio.

Oklahoma.-Miss Isabel Work, Southeastern Teachers College, Durant, Okla. Wisconsin. Miss Lena B. Tomson, Milwaukee-Downer College, Milwaukee,

Wis.

California.-South: Mrs. Jane M. Infield, Classical Center, Los Angeles. North: Miss Claire Thursby, 856 Contra Costa Avenue, Berkeley.

Colorado.-Prof. Milo G. Derham, University of Colorado, Boulder.

Delaware.-Miss Frances L. Baird, Friends School, Wilmington.

District of Columbia.-Mr. Stephen A. Hurlbut, St. Alban's School.

Florida.-Mrs. Clara M. Olson, University of Florida, Gainesville.

Idaho.-Prof. Paul Murphy, College of Idaho, Caldwell.

Indiana.-Prof. Lillian G. Berry, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Kansas.-Prof. L. D. Whittemore, 1615 College Avenue, Topeka.

Mississippi.-Miss Clara E. Stokes, Central High School, Jackson. Montana.-Prof. W. P. Clark, University of Montana, Missoula.

New Hampshire.-Prof. John Barker Stearns, Dartmouth College, Hanover. New Jersey.-Miss Edna White, 127 Summit Avenue, Jersey City.

Oregon.-Prof. Frederic Stanley Dunn, University of Oregon, Eugene.

Pennsylvania.—Prof. Horace W. Wright, Lehigh University, Bethlehem.

South Dakota.-Prof. Grace Beede, University of South Dakota, Vermillion.

Wyoming. Miss Edythe M. Faivre, 2309 Evans Street, Cheyenne.

No chairman in Arizona and Nevada. Copies of the University of Iowa Service Bulletin, giving selections from Horace for use in high schools, will be sent free upon request. Address your letter to Roy C. Flickinger, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, enclosing return postage.

Department of State

TO PERSONS in the United States planning to visit and study institutions of higher education and research establishments in Germany, SCHOOL LIFE submits the following letter, sent to the Department of State through the German Embassy, and referred to the Office of Education, United States Department of the Interior:

MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: Pursuant to instructions from my Government, I venture to invite Your Excellency's attention to the following:

Of late, many subjects of foreign governments have, in ignorance of the circumstances, presented requests to make a survey of institutions of higher learning and research establishments which are under the jurisdiction of the Minister of the Reich and of Prussia for science, training, and national education, not through diplomatic channels but directly to the heads of individual institutions. While in principle there is no objection of any kind against the survey of German institutions by subjects of foreign governments, it appears to be desirable that suitable applications should be presented, as early as possible, through diplomatic channels. Since the occasional rebuilding, convocations, necessary intermissions, et cetera, of an institution might prove to be hindrances, the danger arises that a survey desired could not be made.

I would therefore be obliged to Your Excellency if persons concerned could be requested to present, through diplomatic channels, and well in advance, applications for surveying German institutions of higher learning and research establishments, so that a notification from the institution in question, or, if the occasion should arise, a decision could be sent to the applicant in due time.