That is what community cooperation will do. The Connecticut State Employment Service has made a study of the applications for work of more than 43,000 young men and women. "The outstanding fact revealed by this study", states the report, "is that over 73 percent of the young people seeking jobs through the employment offices were untrained for any skilled occupation; over 40 percent were untrained to do any kind of work * They seemed for the most part to have obtained the few jobs they had had by a chance method rather than by any planned selection of occupation and careful training to enter it. All too often the young man or woman came to the employment office with the statement, 'I'll take anything!'" * * * * * How can they get the vocational guid- Connecticut is doing much to remedy The retraining program of Williams- A report on a survey made by the New 1 See SCHOOL LIFE, October 1935. for boys and girls another very important problem presents itself. Some of those individuals or agencies who are attempting to help young people may actually be hindering their development. If a program is arranged by adults, the leaders are adults and the planning and work are done by adults. When this happens, the programs are not for boys and girls but for adults; the adults are receiving the training and youth is being entertained. Would it not be possible sponsor programs which can be planned Sect * * * 5,000,000 Youth TATISTICS compiled and collected by the Committee on Youth Problems in the Office of Education indicate that of the 20,100,000 young people 16 to 24 years of age, inclusive, in the United States 4,000,000 are in full-time schools and colleges. 500,000 without employment are taking part-time school work. 2,800,000 are young married women not employed and not in school. 7,800,000 are employed at full-time or part-time nonrelief jobs. 300,000 are out of school and unemployed but not seek ing employment. 4,700,000 are out of school, unemployed and seeking employment. These figures show an increase of 150 percent in the unemployed youth group over the United States Census figures for 1930. Independent studies of highschool graduate placement indicate that approximately 46 percent of graduates continue their education; 24 percent find remunerative employment; 2 percent are classified as married (girls), unreported or deceased; and 28 percent are unemployed. The greater need for further education and employment lies in the 16- to 19-year group as against the 20- to 24-year group. to and developed by the young folks themselves? Well-trained adults might give wise guidance when needed, but the young folk would work out their own problems in a way satisfying to them." Is this possible? Several years ago a group of small boys in Washington, N. C., got together through a common interest in natural science and started an amateur museum. As their collection of bugs and birds grew, older people became interested. The museum began with quarters in a private building, progressed to a vacant room in the city hall and finally to a brand new structure erected specially for it in the city park. The Bug House Laboratory, as it is called, is now the largest amateur museum in the country. There is a membership of 25 young men and women between 16 and 30 years of age, with a junior associate group of about 20. This organization sponsors, maintains, and directs the museum. All of the actual work, including field trips for the collection of specimens, classification and preservation of material, and arrangement of specimens for exhibition, is done by the members. The museum is divided into five departments, with weekly courses of instruction in each section. Quite an achievement for a little town of 7,000 population! The Job-Finders' Club of Cleveland, Ohio, proves that young people can organize for work as well as for hobbies. In 1931 a number of unemployed boys gathered daily in the waiting room of the vocational employment department of the Cleveland Y. M. C. A. Someone suggested that the group might meet regularly in an adjoining classroom and discuss topics of interest. The Job-Finders' Club was the result. Luncheons are held once a month, and all young men registered with the employment department of the "Y" are invited. The members of the club look for work individually, and when one discovers a vacancy which he himself cannot fill he refers it to the employment department. An honor roll is kept of men who have referred one or more jobs to the department. In this way members are fortified with the knowledge that others are helping them, and are reminded that they are helping others. Some of the 5,000,000 unemployed young people are in every city, town, and hamlet throughout the country. They constitute a national problem, but one which must be met in each community according to the particular needs and resources of that community. A plan that works well in one place might be worse than useless in another. Many of the plans described are being, or may be, modified as time goes on and circumstances change. The point is that these communities, and others equally progressive, have heard the call of youth and are doing their best to respond. They have made a start. In a King's Reign HE SCHOOL medical officer of London in his report for the past year very happily used the king's jubilee as an occasion for a review of school health work in that city during a quarter of a century. This was highly fitting for "the organization and growth of care for the children's health in the London schools are exactly contemporaneous with the reign.' "Preparatory work had begun but it was "not until the year of his Majesty's accession that the school medical service of London took shape," and the first treatment centers were opened. We quote from Dr. Menzie's report: "In 1900 the school board for London by special resolution put on record their grave concern that 96 percent of scholarship children were found with advanced dental decay. At that time nothing could be done about it, as there was no provision for dental treatment and no power to provide it. In 1910 the first dental center was opened. Now, there is provision for the treatment of 150,000 children annually, and only 4 percent of the scholarship candidates are found with advanced dental decay. "The effect of the nurses' patient and unremitting work is shown in the improvement in the appearance and cleanliness of the children. In 1912, 39.5 percent of the children in the schools were infected by parasites, in 1920 this percentage was reduced to 13.8 and in 1934 to 4.5. "Ringworm of the scalp, formerly one of the greatest scourges of school children, is now rarely found. In 1911 there were 6,214 new cases of this disease, in 1920 there were 3,983, but in 1934 only 265. "In 1912 the proportion of children with subnormal nutrition in London was 12.8 percent. By 1934 it had been reduced to 4.6 percent; but these figures do not tell the whole story of improvement, for the children now returned as subnormal in nutrition are practically all slight cases, whereas formerly a large proportion were severe. It may help the reader to visualize the improvement which has taken place in this respect more accurately when it is pointed out that in the winter of 1909-10 the school doctor in a single school in Bethnal James Frederick Rogers, M. D., Office of Education Green counted 91 children very seriously "The early reports of the school med- "His Majesty's reign is distinguished from all those that went before by consideration for the health of the children. The above figures and facts serve merely to illustrate the great advance which has already been made. "The school children, many of whom were formerly unhappy, ill-nourished, defective, unclean, and prematurely old, have been replaced by a generation which approaches more nearly to the ideal of a population healthy, wholesome, and full of the joy of living." Health is not a measurable quantity, but decayed teeth and running ears are very definite conditions. Children with and without these conditions can be counted and the accomplishments of the medical service of the London schools in the brief span of a quarter century are very heartening. Part of this improve ment is the result of preventive measures. We in this country have never found the vision of girls significantly worse than that of boys. The cause of this in London was believed to be due to too early use of the eyes for needlework under conditions of lighting which were none too good for the purpose. Poor nutrition is always conducive to the development of visual and other defects. The cause of excessive eyestrain in young girls has been removed and their nutrition has been improved with apparent effects. The striking results of dental treatment does not mean that the teeth of the child of 1935 are much less subject to decay than were those of his father and mother when they were attending school, but it does mean that most teeth which the parents lost at an early age are now preserved during school days and beyond. Some day we will prevent this most common of diseases-dental caries, but in the meanwhile the best we can do (and it is a very good best) is to compensate for poor tooth building by tooth repair. Some of the school health services of our cities have accomplished as much as have those of London but some have not done so. The secret of getting things done is to do them and the school medical service gets nothing done by the mere finding of defects. While many schools secure the treatment of a large proportion of abnormal conditions some communities are unblushingly content with reporting as low as 15 or even 10 percent. In other words, the cost of finding defects in 85 children out of 100 has gone for naught. The teeth of these children continue to rot, their ears to run, and their eyes to strain. Perhaps Dr. John Sundwall was not unduly pessimistic when he recently remarked that "the average school or college health program is the art of not getting important things done." As Richard Jefferies made the old toad say, "If you are only going to do a thing, it would be no use if you lived a thousand years, it would always be just the same." Educators' Bulletin Board New Books and Pamphlets Helps for Debaters Socialization of Medicine, comp. by Julia E. Johnsen. New York, The H. W. Wilson Co., 1935. 335 p. (The Reference Shelf. v. 10, no. 5.) 90 cents. Selected material of general, affirmative, and negative nature, with brief and bibliographies. Free Medical Care Socialized Medicine. Comp. and ed. by E. C. Buehler. New York, Noble and Noble, Publishers, Inc., c1935. 360 p. (Debater's Help Book, v. II.) $2.00. Material on every phase of the subject for the debater and the debate coach. Includes: Principal arguments for and against socialized medicine; Questions and answers pertaining to the interpretation of the ques tion; Definition of terms; Bibliography; Selected articles. Describes methods and instruments which have been devised for measuring the personality adjustments of school children. Guidance Working Materials for Junior and Senior High Schools, by Frank Jones Clark. Seattle, Wash., 1935. 117 p. mimeog. $1.00 plus postage (From Frank Jones Clark, Roosevelt High School, Seattle, Wash.). Suggestions and practical helps for working out guidance plans, includes 46 forms in use at the Roosevelt High School. School Library Aids Essays on Modern Authors, an index for high-school use, by Muriel Augusta Crooks. Chicago, American Library Association, 1935. 21 p. 35 cents. An index to sources of interesting material about 82 modern authors, generally studied in high school. Petroleum, the story of an industry. Prepared and published by American Petroleum Institute, 50 West 50th St., New York, N. Y. 95 p. illus. 15 cents. (Free to any school library.) The story of the operations and services performed in transforming a natural resource into useful products. The Story of Milk. Philadelphia InterState Dairy Council, 20th and Race Sts., Philadelphia, 1935. 6 folders (loose leaf). illus. Free. Assembled for classroom use under the following topics: 1. Rocks and soil. --2. The growing plant -3. The cow. 4. The dairy farm.-5. Transportation and distribution.-6. Milk, the food. SUSAN O. FUTTERER Recent Theses A LIST of the most recently received doctors' and masters' theses in education, which may be borrowed from the library of the Office of Education on interlibrary loan, is as follows: ALSHOUSE, HERMAN S. What errors in the mechanics of English survive college training? Master's, 1930. Syracuse University. 56 p. ms. ANDREAS, LEWIS P. Summer recreational programs for adults and children in 26 New York State cities receiving State aid. Master's, 1935. Syracuse University. 54 p. ms. BALDWIN, SADIE LOUISE. Civic values in social science clubs. Master's, 1935. Boston University. 138 p. ms. BOBRITT, J. STERLING. An evaluation of home study as measured by teachers' marks in the Spanishburg high school. Master's, 1935. West Virginia University. 55 p. ms. CONNELLY, MARY ELIZABETH. A remedial drill for correcting the language errors of children. Master's, 1935. Boston University. 92 p. ms. CORKERY, OPAL GRACE. The training of social studies teachers as provided by 26 leading teachers' colleges in the United States. Master's, 1935. George Washington University. 60 p. ms. DOYLE, Sister MARY PETER. A study of play selecTeachers tion in women's colleges. Doctor's, 1934. College, Columbia University. 75 p. FENDRICK, PAUL. Visual characteristics of poor readers. Doctor's, 1934. Teachers College, Columbia University. 54 p. HURD, W. CHANDLER. A study of individual differences and failures in algebra. Master's, 1935. Boston University. 57 p. ms. MACKENZIE, DONALD HERSHEY. Effects of various physical activities on the physical fitness of university men. Master's, 1935. Boston University. Research quarterly of the American physical education association, 6: 125-43, March 1935. MYERS, THEODORE R. Intra-family relationships and pupil adjustment: the relation between certain selected factors of the home environment of junior senior high school pupils and the adjustment and behavior of these pupils in school. Doctor's, 1935. Teachers College, Columbia University. 115 p. PRIOR, WILLARD F. The junior high principal of New York State. Master's, 1935. Syracuse University. 88 p. ms. RANCATORE, MARIAN ELVIRA. Appreciation units in chemistry based on practical applications in an agrarian community and in the home. Master's, 1935. Boston University. 89 p. ms. ROCK, ROBERT T., jr. The influence upon learning of the quantitative variation of after-effects. Doctor's, 1932. Teachers College, Columbia University. 78 p. SHERMAN, ALLAN H. A study of the pitch preferences of children. Master's, 1935. Syracuse University. 479 p. ms. SIDDALINGAIYA, M. Reconstructing elementary education in Mysore, India. Doctor's, 1930. Teachers College, Columbia University. 211 p. SPENCER, STANLEY EARL. The history and philosophy of the Latin grammar school in the Massachusetts Bay colony, 1635-1780. Master's, 1935. Boston University. 101 p. ms. STREBEL, RALPH F. The nature of the supervision of student teaching in universities using cooperating public high schools and some conditioning factors. Doctor's, 1935. Teachers College, Columbia University. 154 p. VAN ORNAM, FRANCIS HUNT. The possibility of reducing the range of individual differences within the grades of an elementary school through regrouping on the basis of composite grade, reading or arithmetic scores. Master's, 1935. Syracuse University. 147 New Deal in Schoolhousing T HE PERIOD from 1920 to 1930 was the greatest school-building decade in the history of our country, due to an era of prosperity, making bond issues easy to be voted and sold, and to studies and surveys of school officials to determine the needs for adequate housing of pupils in both cities and rural areas. Thousands of poorly planned, inadequately constructed buildings were replaced by schoolhouses of modern design. Records show that many States more than doubled their public-school property values during this decade. The progress was so great that business men, politicians and economists sounded notes of warning against overbuilding. But careful check-ups clearly revealed the fact that probably with all this aggressive building program more than 2 million pupils of the Nation, generally in the rural sections, were still housed in overcrowded, insanitary, unsightly, poorly equipped buildings which neither inspired civic pride nor provided proper health protection. As has been previously pointed out, this school-building program continued fairly steady through 1931. But there was comparatively little schoolhouse construction in 1932 and 1933, although the school enrollment continued to increase very rapidly, due to special emphasis on attendance and to a sharp decrease in the employment of children in industry, farming, and other activities. Not only was there a sudden drop in the normal annual schoolhouse construction programs, but because of lean school budgets and lack of satisfactory continuous plans for school-plant upkeep, a large per S. L. Smith, Director, Southern Office, Julius Rosenwald Fund, Nashville, Tenn., Addresses National Conference on Schoolhouse Construction centage of existing school plants were Indebtedness were Added to the acute problem of financing current expenses of public schools in this period of depression, which emptied public coffers, school officials staggering and trembling under the heavy burden of bonded debts incurred mainly for buildings in the past decade. The best estimates revealed the alarming fact that the total school indebtedness was more than 3 billion dollars (half as much as the total value of all publicschool property). School-building officials should so plan their programs in the future as to prevent a recurrence of this condition. It is right and proper to issue bonds for school buildings, but provision should be made to retire them by setting up equal annual payments with interest over a period not to exceed 15 to 20 years, otherwise undue and unjust burdens are passed on to handicap the next generation. An additional demand for special types of buildings or classrooms has been made necessary because of adjusted curriculum offerings to meet the changing needs in the new social order, which has probably affected the high schools more than the elementary, because of the unemployment situation and special stimulation which has brought in abnormally increasing numbers of pupils from 16 to 20 years of age. C. W. A. The first ray of light thrust through this dark picture giving hope to school officials was the C. W. A., in 1933-34, which helped to stimulate the improve ment and rehabilitation of thousands of school plants, ranging from a very few hundred in some States to several thousand in others. But because the very nature of the C. W. A. emergency program, in efforts to provide immediate employment for millions who had lost their jobs, required quick action, and because public-school officials necessarily go slowly in developing projects and are not always in complete accord in presenting their requests for Government aid, this fine program ended in March 1934, just as a large number of counties and communities were about ready to begin their projects. Those who acted promptly received a larger share of aid. The average number of schools per State receiving C. W. A. aid was about 1,000, and the average amount per school was $1,000, averaging from less than $100 to several thousand dollars per school. data from all States are not yet available. Reports from about half of the State superintendents and public works administrators indicate that an average of about 1,000 schools per State were improved and rehabilitated under the F. E. R. A. in 1933-34, the average total cost being about $1,000 and the average aid from relief rolls approximately $600 per school. Work ranged from the grading of school grounds, planting shrubs, setting trees, building walks and sanitary privies to major repairs such as remodeling and modernizing existing school plants, painting them inside and outside, and in the building of several small, modern rural school plants. The Federal Office of Education estimates that up to November 1, 1935, P. W. A. aid for new school-building projects throughout the United States totaled $338,932,614. The total estimated cost of educational building projects under the old P. W. A. which comes to a close December 15 was estimated at approximately $200,353,708 on August 1. P. W. A. grants and loans authorized under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, better known as the $4,000,000,000 works-relief act, amount to approximately $205,863,502. Counting in funds supplied by the borrowers, the total estimated cost of all P. W. A. school building projects to date is approximately $503,690,000. It is interesting to know that John W. Studebaker, United States Commissioner of Education, recently announced that the P. W. A. has directed approximately 40 percent of the total amount of the 1935 P. W. A. grants and loans available into educational building channels. On October 1 there were 2,133 educational building projects of various types included for a share of the new P. W. A. money. Total P. W. A. school building projects to date, 3,100. W. P. A. The Works Progress Administration program is just getting under way. To October 24, there were 11,200 school and college projects amounting to $97,222,890 approved by the President for the W. P. A. A few statements from State public works administrators and from State departments of education indicate that this program will be very extensive during the current school year, particularly in substantially improving and beautifying existing rural school plants, and in the erection of small school buildings and additions of classrooms to existing plants. The following statements from a few States are given which show the trend of the W. P. A. program: Measurement Today New Tests The Manwiller Word Recognition Test, published by the World Book Company, is a measure of the ability to recognize word forms. There are norms available for grades 1 and 2. Symposium on Educational Research.— The October number of the Journal of Educational Research is composed of a symposium on the participation of field workers in educational research. There are 12 articles, not counting an introduction and an editorial by Carter V. Good, who arranged the symposium. This series of short articles gives a very good picture of the need and opportunity for research for those in regular educational work. The articles are more or less on different topics, avoiding overlapping of material. This method of conducting a symposium does away to some extent with the possibility of presenting different views on the same subject, but has the advantage of having each subtopic presented by one who has a special interest and experience in the area covered by the subtopic. The meaning of research is discussed by J. Stanley Gray. A. S. Barr and Clifford Woody describe methods of instruction which the two institutions, Wisconsin and Michigan, respectively, follow in inculcating research methodology. Carter Alexander shows how instruction in library methods aids research. Warren W. Coxe discusses the function of a State department of education in furthering research, while W. W. Charters indicates how an institution of higher learning may encourage and aid in research in the field. J. Paul Leonard and A. K. Loomis discuss the methods of curriculum research, coming to some disappointing conclusions in regard to teacher participation. Harl R. Douglass and William A. Brounell take the opportunity to present in new style their criticisms of such research methods as the control-experimental group and certain statistical techniques. Jesse B. Sears describes how workers in school systems can be used in making a school survey. The relation between the problem-solving method and research is brought out by both Gray and Good. Current emphasis on character education brings about new demands on our research facilities. We need to know much more about the influence of various factors in and out of school which may influence character before much can be definitely said on the subject. A revealing article is that of Martha C. Hardy in the September Journal of Educational Psychology called "The Out-of-School Activities of Well-Adjusted and Poorly Adjusted Elementary School Pupils." In this study the behavior factors of children outside the schoolroom were related to the behavior difficulties of children in the schoolroom. In general, it was found that the relationship was weak. As far as the activity on the playground and at home was concerned, poorly adjusted pupils in school had about the same responses as the adjusted pupils in school. Insofar as this result can be substantiated by further research this means that the adjustment in the classroom is a specific adjustment and does not follow very closely the general expression of the social traits of the child when unhampered by the schoolroom. This conclusion has considerable bearing on character education practices. DAVID SEGEL |