Thanksgiving Thankfulness MANY educators who one day taught reading from the old McGuffey Readers may recall the story of "Harry's Riches." Although not particularly "timed" in the book to be studied at Thanksgiving, it is nevertheless a good Thanksgiving thought. The young American had been playing with another youth "who lived in a fine house, and on Sundays rode to church in the grandest carriage to be seen in all the country round." Harry was downcast, so the story goes, because Johnny had "money in both pockets and could get ever so much more if he wanted it." A wise old uncle used some effective pedagogy. He diverted the lad's depression by offering him huge sums of money for his eyes, for his hearing, for a right arm, for a left, for his hands, for his feet, for his nose, and finally further astonished the "poor little boy" by an offer of $10,000 cash for the boy's mother and $5,000 for the baby! The young American learned in this lesson that he possessed treasures which "money in both pockets" can never buy. His final words in the story are, "Isn't God good to make everybody so rich?" When we ask ourselves what we would take, in mere money, for our treasures comparable to those of the boy in the story, our spirit of Thanksgiving becomes more real. Our American schools are recovering their ground lost during the years of world depression. For that we can be deeply appreciative as a Nation. Today approximately 33,000,000 boys, girls, and adults are seeking education in schools and training classes. More than 6,000,000 youths are enrolled in America's high schools and 1,000,000 young men and women are pursuing higher learning in our colleges and universities-the highest numbers for any year in the history of our country. Other educational trends in America today show: A tremendous increase in civic education through an aroused interest in public forums and discussion groups under both public and private auspices. There are additional opportunities in vocational education for training of skilled workers to meet the needs of changes in industry; better training and extended placement for the physically handicapped and disabled. We have better school buildings and facilities and further consolidation of small rural schools in the interest of economy and better educational opportunity. And today there is a smaller proportion of illiterates in our Nation than ever before in its history. These are but a few of the many educational "treasures" for which we, as American educators, as American citizens, have genuine appreciation. In the words of the little boy in the old McGuffey Reader, "Isn't God good to make everybody so rich?" I wish you all a cheerful Thanksgiving Day. J. V. Studebake Commissioner of Education. I 'N THESE days of modern theory and practice, it is sometimes profitable to enlarge one's perspective by the examination of some of the beginnings of ideas or institutions that long have been accepted by civilized peoples. Just as we look back with pride over three centuries to the founding of Harvard College and see its influence in the extraordinary growth of higher education in this country, we may go back much farther for important sources of educational subject matter and inspiration of different kinds now in use by our universities and colleges. In original Greek Greek language and literature for centuries held a high place of honor as educational mediums in colleges of arts and sciences. But other subjects have been substituted for them in most colleges today. In spite of this there are still a number of institutions that keep alive the ancient fires, and in a few colleges the fires have been burning brightly. Among these we call attention to RandolphMacon Women's College, Lynchburg, Va. For nearly 30 years under the leadership of Prof. Mabel K. Whiteside, head of the Greek department, with the aid of the departments of art, music and physical education, the Greek department has presented the leading dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripedes and other ancient Greek dramatists. Year after year the large class of Greek students all young women, has in addition to its regular class work, presented a drama in the original Greek with such accuracy as to diction, costuming and acting that the presentations almost perfectly recreate the dramatic scenes of centuries past. Walton C. John, Senior Specialist in Higher Education, Office of Education, Describes Presentation of Early Greek Plays at Women's College The play given this year was the Suppliant Women of Aeschylus who was one of the oldest and most significant of Greek dramatists. He lived between 525 and 456 B. C. The play was composed between 499 and 472 B. C. and it is the oldest European play extant. Ideal stage The natural theater lying between hills on the campus is an ideal stage for the presentation of such plays. The Suppliants deals with the flight from Egypt of the 50 daughters of Danaüs of Greek descent to Argos, Greece, where they seek asylum before the altars in the sacred place just outside the city. They have come to escape forced wedlock with the 50 sons of Aegyptus. The King of Argos hears their story which proves their ancestry but hesitates for some time as to whether he should defend them from their pursuers, because he dreads war with the Egyptians. The suppliant maidens with the wool-wreathed suppliant boughs make their supplications with increasing intensity and are driven up higher on the altars in fear of the Egyptian herald who is attempting to intimidate and seize them before the close-following Egyptians arrive. Finally, King Pelasgus decides in favor of the Danaids and frustrates the plans of the Egyptians. The drama closes with a chant of joy because justice has prevailed. Centuries old Sitting on the grassy slopes of the natural theater surrounded by hundreds of visitors from all over the country it seemed almost a dream to witness the expressive chanting, the beautiful dance movements, and above all the richness of the Greek language which expresses so perfectly those deep emotions which were given dramatic expression in this play over 2,400 years ago. Experiences of this kind help to give students as well as other observers a more adequate meaning of the power of the great classics and show clearly why this literature 25 centuries old still lives to inspire and influence our lives. Their Inspiration Lives On "Wise to resolve, and patient to perform."-Homer. "Suffering brings experience."Aeschylus. "He hears but half who hears one party only."-Aeschylus. "Report uttered by the people is everywhere of great power."Aeschylus. "Thy wish was father to that thought."-Aeschylus. "Light sorrows speak, but deeper ones are dumb."-Aeschylus. "He is not a lover who does not love forever."-Euripedes. A Century of the Kindergarten T HE kindergarten celebrates its centennial-next year marks its one-hundredth birthday. It was in 1837 that Friederich Froebel conceived of his work for the nurture and healthy development of young children as an educational institution and gave it the name kindergarten. Having had a lonesome and somewha neglected childhood, Froebel founded hi kindergarten on a philosophy that each individual has inherent ability to grov and develop, and rightfully should hav opportunity and guidance for a happ childhood and normal development. Be fore centering his attention on the edu' cation of young children, Froebel hac varied experiences which increased hi belief in the need for developing wha today might be called creative individuality and self-government. He was a natura scientist, curator of a geological museum an architect, a soldier, which was dis tasteful to him, and a tutor of older boy'l and girls. A breadth of interest in science, philos ophy and social welfare has also char acterized many of his students who regarded the kindergarten as a means of improving the race. In Germany his philosophy of education appealed not only to a group of progressive teachers but to other people of culture and broad social outlook. To these groups America owes its introduction to the kindergarten. First in this country Among the refugees to the United States following the German Revolution of 1848, were Mr. and Mrs. Carl Schurz, a future general in our Civil War and United States Minister to Spain, and his wife who established the first kindergarten in the United States. Emigrating to Watertown, Wis., Mrs. Schurz opened a kindergarten in 1856 to benefit her 3-year-old daughter. Two years later a teacher from Germany, Caroline Frankenberg, returned to Columbus, Ohio, after studying with Froebel and in 1858 established a kindergarten. In 1860, Miss Elizabeth Peabody of Boston, an active member of the Concord School of Philosophy, became interested in the philosophy of the kindergarten Mary Dabney Davis, Nursery-Kindergarten-Primary Education Specialist, Office of Education, Reviews Kindergarten's 100-Year Span of Development 1932 when 83,271 men and 54,792 women received their first degrees. It it estimated that 82,069 men and 54,070 women or 136,139 of these are still living in 1936. Forty percent of the 2,515,343 living graduates in 1936 are below 30 years of age, 70 percent are below 40, and only 16 percent are 50 years of age or over. Only 2 graduates of each 100 reported have reached their allotted three score and ten. 140,000 130,000 120,000 1 through Mrs. Schurz and opened a The greatest rate of increase of graduates per unit of population seems to be over, and in future years we may expect a greater percentage of older living graduates. Secondary rate greater The number of secondary school graduates has shown a much greater rate of increase than college graduates. In 1936, years later, at the request of Mrs. Caroline B. Severence, known as the "mother of women's clubs in America", Miss Marwedel went to Los Angeles and opened a kindergarten and a teachertraining institution. Her first student was Kate Douglas Wiggin, whose "Story of Patsy" probably did more than any other book to popularize the kindergarten. From these geographical points, the East, Middle West, and the far West, came the introduction of the kindergarten in America. Each pioneer gave her characteristic slant to the teaching methods and all of them attracted I 'N THESE days of modern theory and practice, it is sometimes profitable to enlarge one's perspective by the examination of some of the beginnings of ideas or institutions that long have been accepted by civilized peoples. Just as we look back with pride over three centuries to the founding of Harvard College and see its influence in the extraordinary growth of higher education in this country, we may go back much farther for important sources of educational subject matter and inspiration of different kinds now in use by our universities and colleges. In original Greek Greek language and literature for centuries held a high place of honor as educational mediums in colleges of arts and sciences. But other subjects have been substituted for them in most colleges today. In spite of this there are still a number of institutions that keep alive the ancient fires, and in a few colleges the fires have been burning brightly. Among these we call attention to RandolphMacon Women's College, Lynchburg, interested in kindergarten work and one of the organization's original objectives was to promote the kindergarten. The first public-school program to make the kindergarten available for all children was organized in St. Louis in 1873 under the superintendency of William T. Harris. A kindergarten demonstration at the centennial exposition in 1876 caused a rapid increase in the number of public-school systems accepting the kindergarten. The record of enrollments reported to the Federal Office of Education from public and private kindergartens shows 1,252 in the garten and primary-grade program"some of the good results associated with kindergarten institutions are already naturalized in our primary schools" (1870); size of class-"6 to 12 children" (1871); tests of the value of kindergarten experience with reference to later school efficiency-"the primary teachers find kindergarten children are more intelligent, capable, and well-behaved than the ordinary run" (1873); supervision of instruction; legislative limitations upon the organization of kindergartens-"The effort to introduce kindergartens in public education is attended with embarrassment. In proposing to accept children at the age of 21⁄2 and 3 years the kindergarten anticipates the legal school age in different States by 2 and 3 years" 1879); the application of kindergarten nethods to the blind, feeble-minded, and Orphaned child in institutions, to Sunday chool work and to the training of Walton C. John, Senior Specolored nurses following the Civil War. Reports of problems increased when Office of Education, Descrihanges developed in basic principles of Greek Plays at Women's Colganization following the advent of child The play given this year was the Suppliant Women of Aeschylus who was one of the oldest and most significant of Greek dramatists. He lived between 525 and 456 B. C. The play was composed between 499 and 472 B. C. and it is the oldest European play extant. Ideal stage The natural theater lying between hills on the campus is an ideal stage for the presentation of such plays. The Suppliants deals with the flight from Egypt of the 50 daughters of Danaus of Greek descent to Argos, Greece, where they seek asylum before the altars in the sacred place just outside the city. They have come to escape forced wedlock with the 50 sons of Aegyptus. The King of Argos hears their story which proves their ancestry but hesitates for some time Among those problems reported in the years 1870 to 1879 were the adequate preparation of teachers-"the primary department of education is at once the most important and difficult and requires in its teachers, first, the highest order of mind, secondly, the most general cultivation, and, thirdly, the most careful cherishing, greatest honor and the best pay, for it has the charge of children at the season of life when they are most entirely at the mercy of their educators" (1870); the setting of standards-"to protect from false imitations"; evaluating teaching methods; coordinating the kinder eaching methods, curriculum, and or sychology and research in child developnent initiated by G. Stanley Hall and John Dewey. Progress in the solution of these problems is also reported with lue recognition of the support given by ational professional organizations and with accounts of the addition of kinder n S arten and primary services through the e Government office. t During the past few years there has been discussion of Nation-wide and State-wide planning for the education of children below the age of 6. These reports of the kindergarten in American education coupled with current suggestions to make the kindergarten the first elementary grade and to incorporate some of the emergency nursery schools in the school program, suggest Nationwide and State-wide planning as an appropriate way to celebrate this centennial of the kindergarten. Whatever planning may be done, it is interesting to revert again to the 1870 report and note the confidence felt in American hospitality to an educational program for young children. nor "But to no country is it (the kindergarten) adapted so entirely as to America, where there is no hindrance of aristocratic institution, mountain of ancient custom, to interfere with a method which regards every human being as a subject of education, intellectual and moral as well as physical from the moment of birth, and as heir of universal nature in cosovereignty with all other men, endowed by their Creator with equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." SCHOOL LIFE November 1936 High-School and College Graduates T HE INCREASE in the educational level of the people of the United States is well illustrated by the increasing number of college baccalaureate degrees and the number of secondary school graduates each suceeeding year. Beginning with 1870 and ending with 1936 there were 1,840,937 men and 1,035,527 women or a total of 2,876,464 firstdegree graduates of colleges and universities. During the same period 6,746,406 boys and 8,653,991 girls or a total of 15,400,397 graduated from the commonly accepted courses in public and private secondary schools. Due to the recentness of the majority of these graduations 87.4 of the college graduates and 93.4 of high-school graduates are still living in 1936. Census life tables Assuming that college and high-school graduates live as long as the general average of the entire population, the number of those still living is calculated by using the life tables of the United States Bureau of the Census. These life tables give the number of persons dying at each year of age. The question may arise as to whether or not individuals with more educational training may not live longer, but this problem has not been taken into consideration in this article. Life tables for white men and women have been used throughout, as only a relatively small number of Negroes has been reported and in most instances they have not been segregated in the statistics. The average age at which high-school pupils graduated has been assumed to be 18 years and the average age of college graduates is taken as 22 years of age at their last birthday. Any older graduates would be compensated by graduates in schools where the elementary and secondary are 11 years. In 1870, 7,591 men and 1,780 women or a total of 9,371 college graduates were reported to the Office of Education. Using the Bureau of the Census life tables it is calculated that 338 men and 118 women or a total of 456 of these were still living in 1936. The greatest number of college graduates reported in any one year was in |