6251 5 py 1 ■> METM. EDGE, INC. 2008 BUTRTrtQiiPAT Ill LC 6251 III .F5 ''■■'■■■ Copy 1 A PLAN for a UNIVERSITY EXTENSION DEPARTMENT by EDWARD A. FITZPATRICK Director, Society for the Promotion of Training for Public Service to be used AS BASIS OF DISCUSSION at the CONFERENCE ON UNIVERSITY AND PUBLIC SERVICE Wednesday Afternoon, August 25, 1915 Price 50 cents Society for tke Promotion of Training for Public Service Box 380, Madison, Wisconsin August. 1915 D A PLAN for a UNIVERSITY EXTENSION DEPARTMENT by EDWARD A. FITZPATRICK Director, Society for the Promotion of Training for Public Service '"ClFTY millions of men God gives us to mould; burning ques- ■■- tions, keen debate, great interests trying to vindicate their right to be, sad wrongs brought to the bar of public judgment,— these," says Wendell Phillips, ''are the people's schools." He continues, "Trust the people— the wise and the ignorant, the good and the bad— with the gravest questions, and in the end you educate the race. At the same time you secure, not perfect institutions, not necessarily good ones, but the best institutions possible while human nature is the basis and the only material to build with." That is the fundamental faith back of the extension move- ment. It is the faith of democracy. It finds expression in the potent influence of public opinion among us. It is the advice of Washington in his Farewell Address : ' ' Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffu- sion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a govern- ment gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened." Tke Problem of University Cooperation in Helping the State ' There is going on everywhere the educational extension move- ment. The establishment of evening schools, summer schools, continuation schools, chautauquas, reading circles, short courses, are only so many evidences of this. The movement has found, however, its most significant expression as a state movement in connection with a state university. Massachusetts now under- takes pioneer work in a new phase of it. Massachusetts has no 3 state university. Its university extension department raises a somewhat different problem than carrying "the university to the people. ' ' It must create its university. Merely another college or university in Massachusetts is quite unnecessary. There are now twenty-one colleges or universities in the state and twelve public normal schools. The problem of securing effective cooperation of these institutions in a state program of university extension is new. It ought not, however, to be difficult. Universities cannot in any case proclaim them- selves as private institutions. Their functions and purposes are public and that gives color to their whole character. A private university is an anomoly. A state agency that will facilitate university service to the community ought to be welcomed by the existing educational in- stitutions of the state. In all probability it will be heartily wel- comed. President Mezes, now of the College of the City of New York, in his valedictory upon retiring from the presidency of the University of Texas defined a university in the modem sense in these terms : "The first duty of the university is to help its students, in and out of residence, and all other citizens who feel its influence, to perform the duties of citizenship with greater efficiency, broader knowledge, and fuller loyalty. "The second duty of the institution is to train leaders and skilled workers for every occupation carried on in the state whose leaders can be helped by higher education ; making a special point of training scientific investigators, teachers for schools and colleges, and prospective public servants. "Its third main duty is to gather a body of trained investi- gators to study the social, governmental, industrial, and physical problems of the state ; to give these investngators the best facili- ties for carrying on their work ; and to publish their results. ' ' The fourth duty and opportunity of the university is to carry to the people useful knowledge concerning the state and its prob- lems in forms usable and easily understood. Knowledge as it exists in the minds of scientific workers, valuable as it is, is gen- erally too technical for popular consumption and understanding. It is necessary to translate this knowledge into the language of the people, simplifying it and adapting it to their practical uses, 4 in order that they may profit by it; and the university should have a body of workers competent to perform this difficult task. ' ' Universities have long recognized the last three duties named, but unfortunately they have not seen exactly how they might perform these duties without being accused of "mixing in politics," and doing other unacademic things. Massachusetts proposes pioneer work in providing machinery through an ex- tension division to facilitate the performance of these vital social duties of universities. It is an experiment of very great sig- nificance to university education in this country and to our po- litical, economic and social life. There comes also into the situation a new force of practically unlimited influence, the alumni of our universities. At present alumni associations are more or less instrumentalities of the uni- versity administration to carry out its financial program. They ought to be, on the other hand, of tremendous significance in bringing to bear fresh lay comment on educational practice and policy. The epoch-making— the word is chosen advisedly— activ- ity and report of the Alumni Association of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on "Organized Cooperation" augurs very well for the future. Certain Fundamentals The fundamental purpose of a state educational extension division ought to be clearly defined and may be defined in these terms: the purpose of state activity in this field is to stimulate and reinforce local and individual initiative, local and individual planning, local and individual programs and local and indi- vidual activity. Such a view of state activity enables one to formulate certain fundamental rules of conduct : That it shall correlate present efforts to the same ends; That it shall show existing agencies new opportunities for service ; That it shall not do any work that any other agency is equipped to do and is doing with the best social results; That it shall help the local community or group to organize its own work, particularly its quasi-public work; That it shall stimulate permanent community organizations to focus consciousness of local problems; 5 That, tlirougli cooperative arrangements, it shall work through local organizations, particularly local government. In its work to meet individual needs the formulation of rules of conduct is not necessary. It must aim to satisfy these indi- vidual needs but it must be sure in its success to keep Walt Whitman's words in mind: "That out of every fruition of success, no matter what, shall come forth something that shall make a greater struggle necessary." Or Browning's words, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp." AiVLy Massacliusetts is Used by AV^ay or Illustration The legislature of Massachusetts passed a law providing for the organization of a university extension department to be placed under the State Board of Education. It was Governor Walsh's recommendation in his message that it be placed under a separate board, but this the legislature refused to do. The following plan for a university extension department is especially intended for a state without a state university though it has suggestions for those where there are state universities. Because of the action of the Massachusetts legislature it was thought advisable to word the plan somewhat with reference to the Massachusetts situation. It is easy for anyone interested, in Connecticut, say, or Pennsylvania, to find out the facts or condi- tions similar to those quoted for Massachusetts. It is the re- ceptive attitude of mind in Massachusetts and the immediately pressing nature of the university extension department there that decided us in using Massachusetts by way of example. P. S. In Massachusetts, agricultural extension is made spe- cifically the function of the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst. A Word or Caution What we call university extension has been slowly developed through the centuries. The letters of the elder Cicero to Quintus Cicero are an excellent illustration of a correspondence course in practical administration, just as the Pauline epistles are of a correspondence course in practical ethics. The New England town meeting and the school district meeting are prototypes for the modern social center movement. Socrates is a superb ex- ample of the traveling instructor — the peripatetic university. And so with other of the activities of university extension. They have had a long development through the ages, sometimes dis- appearing entirely to be revived later in a considerably changed form. The contemporary phase of the movement was inaugurated about 1890. Considering the present stage of development the movement has been proceeding gradually and cautiously. Its further development should be guarded by the same care and caution. The variety of things-to-be-done suggested in this plan is not intended for immediate adoption anywhere. The purpose of this plan is to state a program a few years ahead, one that should be in the minds of the men organizing a department at the very beginning of things. The amount of money available will de- termine what things can be done at the start. What things should be done can be determined only by careful study on the spot. And once begun this study of local conditions must be continuous during the existence of the department. There is one further condition— given the things-that-ought-to-be-done, and a sufficient amount of money, there remains the fundamental question: "Are the men available who can carry the program through ? ' ' In most cases at the present time, men for university exten- sion work are not available. They must be developed. The development of men in a new field of work is a comparatively slow process. The work of a university extension department nuist await its full scope upon such a development. In attacking the problem locally the first impulse is to plunge right into the midst of things and get something started and something done — to show "results." The wiser proceeding would be to step back, take a view of tlie whole situation, de- cide your first step, and your next and next, and then go to work. Results may be slower at the beginning, but you will be building not for the hour or the moment, but for years— and re- sults will be durable and real. THE PLANNING DIVISION Perhaps the greatest need of the university extension move- ment is an intimate correlation with community needs and indi- vidual needs. Universitj'- extension must differentiate itself from the ordinary academic education by its more intimate relation to life. University extension must not be simply our academic system writ large. It must not deliver university lectures in the community centers of the state. It must not be merely an ex- tension of the existing system. Its motive must be more prac- tical, its subject matter more real, its method more personal, its range the whole extent of education, and it must aim at the gradual raising of the many ever so slightly, which Jane Addams tells us is far preferable to the raising of a few ever so high. In the present organization of extension departments there is no provision for making the correlation of the extension work with community and individual problems systematic and organic rather than accidental and haphazard. The imitative character of a good deal of the extension work is due to lack of such a provision as is implied in the previous sentence. To remedy this there ought to be in each extension department a planning di- vision providing for the continuous and systematic study of the economic, political and social needs of the state upon which an extension movement must base its educational program. There is another aspect to the problem. After the needs are discovered what shall be done? The university extension move- ment might attempt to satisfy the needs by independent effort, but this would be socially wasteful. There are abundant agencies now in existence that could help solve these problems. Because of this lack of knowledge of state and local needs the problems and the means of solution are never brought together. It is the function of a university extension department after revealing the community problems to focus on their solution the agencies that are organized to solve or help solve them. To this end a study of the agencies of the national and state government and of the many quasi-public agencies in state and nation must be made with reference to their possibility of assistance. 8 The planning division would therefore take the form outlined below : I. The planning division provides for systematic continuous study of the economic, social and political needs of the state. A, In the university extension department : 1. By the department staff, both office and field un- der the direction of the director of the univer- sity extension department. 2. Through the advisory councils provided by the law. B. Through cooperative arrangements with the educa- tional institutions of the state, particularly the uni- versities. 1. By devoting seminars in the universities to a study of state and municipal community needs. (a) Courses are now given in universities in "special study of administration of Cali- fornia," Iowa problems, Nebraska prob- lems, etc. (b) In the University of jMinnesota a seminar in Labor Problems is described as fol- lows: "Original investigation and re- search, conducted in cooperation with the various agencies interested in promoting investigation of labor problems, afford training for practical work in the field of the labor problem." (c) An excellent illustration of such courses is given in Nebraska, to wdt: "Practical Legislation: Nebraska Problems— Intro- ductory study of Nebraska's historical development, social, political, constitu- tional. Present problems in Nebraska law-making and administration. Sub- ject-matter and methods of legislation. Drafting and criticism of legislative bills and information briefs in cooperation 9 with Nebraska Legislative Reference De- partment. Practice work at state house during legislative session, January to April of odd numbered years, 2 hrs. at- tendance, 2 hrs, credit. First semester. Given in 1914-15. Credited in the Col- lege of Law." 2. By designating existing or creating new fellow- ships in universities, particularly traveling fel- lowships, to study state problems, e. g., (a) The best opportunity now existing not only in Massachusetts but in the country for such study is the ' ' Frederick Sheldon Fund for Traveling Fellowships" at Harvard University. This is a tj^e of gift to universities that ought to be imi- tated. (b) Fellowships and scholarships for special purposes, for example: (1) The holders of the Gilder Fellow- ships at Columbia University shall devote themseves to "the investiga- tion of the political and social con- ditions in this country or abroad; to the examination and analysis of the practical working of legislation enacted for the purpose of improv- ing civic conditions or to practical civic work, in accordance with plans approved by the Professor of Politics and the ProfessoT of Soci- ology." (2) The George William Curtis Fellow- ship at Columbia University shall be devoted to the study of the sci- ence of government with a special view to its application to the then existing condition of the United States or to the state or city of New York. 10 (3) Research Fellowship for study of Problems of Urban Growth. Mr, F. M. Smith of Oakland, Cal., has - ■ established a research fellowship for investigation of certain prob- lems incident to the growth of cities in the San Francisco Bay region. Attention is directed especially to questions relating to the develop- ment of paries, playgrounds, and other community interests demand- ing particular consideration of space available for growi:h. II. The planning division will develop such constructive plans as will in its judgment meet the needs of the state as de- veloped by its research work. A. Through the aid of its advisory councils. B. Through the cooperation of the experts in the various educational institutions of the state. C. Through the cooperation of the various civic organi- zations of the state. D. Through the cooperation of the various official agen- cies of all the governmental units, including city, state and nation. E. Through the cooperation of the various national or- ganizations such as the National Playground Asso- ciation, The Russell Sage Foundation, etc. 11 DIVISION OF COMMUNITY EDUCATION Education of Communities and Individuals Where there is educational need there is opportunity for uni- versity extension, or more properly, extension work. This need may be felt by communities as well as by individuals, and this forms a convenient basis of division of extension work. The work may be directed toward communities or community organi- zation, or it may be directed toward individuals. This estab- lishes the two main divisions of our university extension de- partment : I. The Division of Community Education, II. The Division of Supplementary Education. A word may be needed regarding the second title. The direct and formal education of the individual is the function of the local community as an agency of the state in the conventional educa- tional system. The supplementing of this education is necessary, and the most effective organization of it at the present time is through a direct state agency. Public Inrormation Service Everywhere and in many ways propagandists of all sorts are spreading information emphasizing their theses, their points of view or their programs. It is a good thing that such activity is being carried on so energetically. But unfortunately in the work of the propagandist there comes over-emphasis and a tendency to see things out of their relations. Moreover into the ''pot pourri" of public information all kinds of half-truths, special pleading and misinformation are thrown. Moreover the public is passive and usually accepts information without sift- ing. It does not ask for additional facts or relations, and if it wanted them to whom should the inquiry be addressed? There ought to be an educational agency whose function would be the diffusion of accurate information on all manner of social ques- tions. A department of educational extension is the logical agency for this. 12 Tliere ought to be provided in an extension department as its primary basis a public information service where citizen or citi- zen agency could secure information on all sides of public ques- tions. Here no special interest would be served and no personal predilection would enter. The department would be an imper- sonal, unbiased source of information with no object but truth. Information would be collected on all social subjects of current imterest, available upon a short notice to anyone in the state. Sometimes the material might be sent, sometimes a digest of it with proper citation, or if inquiries were frequent enough, a pamphlet would be prepared outlining the whole subject. xTclping Government Help Itself Modern government is inextricably bound up in modern life. It touches our daily activity in a thousand different ways. Upon its efficiency depends to a considerable degree the public welfare. Municipal policies and municipal administration are at times, at least, not the result of careful study and the best information. However, communities are beginning to realize the necessity for this; they are beginning in fact to demand informed and trained city officials. As a first step they are establishing muni- cipal reference libraries to provide current information for officials. They are having the administrative side of their gov- ernment "surveyed" by experts. They have realized the need for both accurate information and expert service. In any state few cities are large enough to establish municipal reference libraries of their own or to call in high priced experts. The establishment of these services in some form or other is a legitimate and a highly desirable function of the state. Ex- tension departments of state universities, municipal reference bureaus are prominent factors. To its purely information func- tion there is gradually being added an engineering advisory service. This service may be either in the nature of a consulta- tion with reference to prospective plans or of a criticism of exist- ing organization or equipment. The landscape gardening fea- ture is being added, too, in cooperation with colleges of agri- culture. A still further phase of this work has been developed best at the University of Cincinnati. It is the utilization of univer- 13 sity laboratories to test the materials purchased by the, public agencies. The organization is called the Bureau of City Tests and is part of the work of the Department of Chemistry of the College of Engineering of the University. "It analyzes, ex- amines and estimates the value of all materials submitted by the city engineer or the purchasing agent of the city. Samples obtained by the representatives of these departments in the course of regular business are sent with numbers to the bureau which tests them independently without knowing from whom they come or what their money values are." A laboratory ser- vice doing this service for the cities of the state or state depart- ments is an excellent opportunity for service for a university extension department. High schools in some of the cities of the country have done in the school laboratories some testing of the kind proposed. This use of high school laboratories ought to be encouraged and extended. Perhaps along with this should goi a permanent municipal ex- hibit. "Whether this should be undertaken is primarily a ques- tion of appropriation. Two other alternatives are possible. It might be financed or managed by a citizens' organization, or it might be made self-supporting in part at least. The permanent municipal exhibit would aim to show "how other cities are doing it." The merely ornamental and pictur- esque would be taboo. It would show actual city plans before and after, it would exhibit lamp posts, pavements, etc., it would show accounting forms, — everything that the modern cities need for their major functions would be shown as far as space per- mitted. The story of what the community wants to know may at times best be told by means of exhibits, by charts, diagrams, pictures, and plans. A live extension department should not forego this opportunity to serve. It may be necessary to provide for the sending of exhibits only in connection with a similar exhibit of local conditions made by local people. Or perhaps the story can be told in moving pictures, or by stereoptican slides. A live extension department will not forego that opportunity. The suggestions of the Massachusetts State Board of Educa- tion are pertinent. One of their alternative plans for a substi- tute for a state university is an "agency to secure cooperation between the higher institutions of learning in Massachusetts and 14 state and municipal departments." The functions of this or- ganization are threefold: "(1) To accumulate information bearing upon various ques- tions connected with the public administration * * *. " (2) To keep on file a list of experts in various fields of study competent to aid, by advice or assistance, commissions charged with different departments of the work of the state. Such a list would include the names of experts in sanitary engineering, mechanical engineering, public health, prison administration, taxation and many other fields. In the event of state or local board or commission desiring the services of an expert, the or- ganization would conduct negotiations with the higher institu- tions in whose employ the expert would be, and make arrange- ments for securing the needed service for the state or muni- cipality. " (3) To arrange that specialists in higher institutions should conduct research work on problems growing out of the work of departments and commissions. Problems are constantly arising relating to the uses of materials and to matters of construction in- the technical field, and also in the field of economics and so- ciology which require special experimentation and investigation before the policy of the state in administration or legislation can be intelligently defined. It could arrange for such research work and, after conference with the higher institutions, select the per- sons most competent to carry on needed studies. "In addition, the organization might arrange with properly equipped higher institutions for the training of students to enter fields of public service. Beginnings have already been made in this field in training the health officers, under the joint auspices of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Har- vard University." lielping Clubs and Other Organizations Help tne Community The number of community organizations are legion : chambers of commerce, boards of trade, women's clubs, municipal leagues, city clubs, civil service reform associations, parent's clubs, school alumni associations, labor unions, etc. All are potential factors for the betterment of the community. An extension department ought to have their cooperation and has but to make the sug- gestions to secure it. 15 The people have to have an institutional expression of their community life. In our com m unities there are two possible in- stitutions that might serve— the school and the library. Because of the existence of schools everywhere the movement for a com- munity center has fixed upon it. It would be helpful to have definite community organizations with the schoolhouse as the meeting place. New England's leadership in this field is well known. But as communities increase, and particularly in our large cities, the community is a heterogeneous grouping of smaller units. It is upon these smaller units that a new ex- tension department at least must work holding always in mind perhaps the other as an ideal. Perhaps the first step in this direction is a union of interests on some community problem, but this is always a matter of local initiative. The extension de- partment would welcome the opportunity to render to the ut- most of its power whatever technical assistance it can. What may an extension department do for these clubs'? The public information service outlined above is equally at its service as it is for individuals. It can inform local organizations what similar organizations are doing in other parts of the country. After an organization or a group of organizations have decided to undertake a study of the community it can lend it advisors and directors who will be glad to "stay on the job" to help local people study themselves, and then hold the mirror up to nature. It will help, too, in short in the organization of the exhibit to show the findings concretely. The extension department would not make surveys of com- munities. In accordance with the philosophy of the extension movement it would help the community study itself. Whatever may be accomplished directly in better community conditions as a result of such a study, the indirect educational effects on all the individuals who take part would be immeasurably more val- uable and produce even greater community improvements. After a month's or several months' study and in connection with the exhibit there might be conducted what is variously called a community institute, or a social welfare institute, or it might be a public health exhibit, or a public school week or a budget exhibit. This would be a program of speakers, the local officials, perhaps state officers and some outsiders to dis- cuss the problems raised by the exhibit. 16 Following either the local survey by local people and the com- munity week, or without either, communities have organized clean up week, movements for better babies, a safe Fourth, fire prevention. In this work, too, the principle of helping the com- munity to help itself will be followed. Expert assistance will be rendered to help the community outline its plan of organization. Advice as to what should be done, assistance in working out its program, and help in the publicity campaign will be given. A further step is necessary. Many of these civic organiza- tions have paid secretaries. That many of these men were not specially trained for their positions and particularly on its com- munity side is no reflection on the ability of these men. Such training involving both its theoretical and its practical aspects is nowhere provided for in this country. These men have in many places developed a remarkable aptness for their jobs. And from the viewpoint of the extension department they are in a strategic social position. Short courses once or twice a year emphasizing new developments in their field and giving foundation work in municipal and state government, in statistics, in the social sciences, etc., should be given. This work, however, should be organized under the division of supplementary education. Helping tLe Community Organize Itselr The social center movement has done a distinct service in its Avork of educational propaganda. The movement has been more or less of a definite propaganda to secure for the modern, dense, heterogeneous community the advantages of the gathering in the old red schoolhouse. "The old double seats weren't comfort- able," we are told. "The light from the kerosene lamps, with their tin reflectors, wasn 't any too good ; but there was a human spirit in those gatherings, a man-to-man frankness and democ- racy that made America mean something to us young fellows. And there was a spirit of neighborhood there— not only in the sociables, the spell-downs, and singing schools, but in the meet- ings where folks just listened to speakers, and talked. Getting together about things we had in common— whether it was what kind of a bridge we should have across the creek, or the tariff— we felt a first-hand responsibility for being citizens. ' ' "The schoolhouse in the simple primitive community," the leader of the movement continues, "began to be the focal center 17 of the common life. But as the community grew older, and es- pecially as it grew more populous, there came in the wedge of division, of separation, of specialization." The movement, how- ever, as a practical affair seems to have neglected this funda- mental change. As it is part of the movement for the wider use of the school plant for social purposes its achievement is even at this time significant. As an organ for the promotion of a civic and social comraderie it is a welcome addition to many other factors. For a university extension department the mder use of the school plant for social purposes is a movement to which it should lend its active assistance. It is part of its own philosophy of education and society. To the acceptance and development of this movement a university extension department ought to de- vote some of its energy. For the other side of the movement, as an all-inclusive organi- zation of citizens to discuss the common problems of citizenship, a little different emphasis on the community center idea is needed for a university extension department to take advantage of its opportunity. The modem conmiunity is not so much a coimmunity as it is a group of communities. It is stratified both vertically and horizontally. The coalescing element is not an organization, but issues. A conununity has not one common meeting ground; it has many, — chambers of commerce, women's clubs, civic centers, labor unions are only so many community centers. They are what Professor Ross would call so many "radiant points of social control." All of these are agencies through which a university extension department must work. A wider opportunity presents itself. It must help a commun- ity or a group of a community organize. It will help communi- ties or public departments organize agencies of information such as municipal reference or other special libraries. It will help communities or groups in the communities organize community or group clubs. It will help communities organize campaigns for the improvement of local conditions. It will promote state-wide contests of communities in matters of public welfare, creating a friendly emulation in the interest of the common good. It will stimulate public discussion through the organization of local or state-wide conferences. 18 DIVISION OF COMMUNITY EDUCATION The services of a division of community education may be out- lined as follows: Public Information Service I. To Whom: A. To the public official who desires to know what other communities in the state or out are doing to solve problems similar to his. B. To the alderman who wants information on matters pending before the city council. C. To candidates for office who are anxious to acquaint themselves on all sides of public questions, D. To the community required to vote on a referendum on a municipal or state issue. E. To the club or other organization desiring to stir or create public opinion on a matter of public health or sanitation or other community problems. F. To the citizen who wants to know about government or political issues. G. To the high school debating class or league who de- sires information on subjects of debate. II. Types of Service: A. Reference library service : 1. Without duplicating existing facilities, current information on all social topics would be col- lected. 2. The information would be through its classifica- tion available on call. 3. Lists of experts as recommended by the State Board of Education would be available. B. Research service : 1. Preparation of Inbliographies on social subjects. 19 2. Preparation of digests on community problems. 3. Special investigations of pressing local problems. This particular service may have to be limited to public officials or governmental departments or bureaus. C. Laboratory service : 1. This will have to be developed in connection with existing laboratory facilities in the uni- versities of the state. 2. Preparation of specifications for supplies for governmental use in cooperation with govern- ment officials. 3. Testing material purchased by government to determine standards. 4. Working out standards for government officers. D. Technical service of experts : 1. In an advisory capacity on practically all ques- tions of public administration. 2. In a cooperating capacity on the ground work- ing through and in connection with local offi- cials or local organizations. 3. The experts of the university extension depart- ment or the cooperating experts' services are available only in an advisory or cooperating capacity. 4. List of experts to take charge of work will be kept on file as recommended by the State Board of Education. E. Legislative drafting service : 1. Municipal ordinances will be drafted in accord- ance with specific instructions from city offi- cials or organizations. 2. Technical assistance will be given to organiza- tions in connection with the drafting of legis- tion. The field to be covered by the university extension department will not duplicate any existing facilities for either legislators or citi- zens. 20 General Information Service Note— This service is more properly the func- tion of a state library commission and it is outlined here for states that do not have such a commission. I. To Whom: A. To the community which has no public library facil- ities. B. To the community whose library does not meet the special needs of an organization or an individual. II. Types of service: A. Traveling library service: This is intended for responsible public or citizen organizations like a board of education or a woman's club. A committee of five citizens may also secure a traveling library. A traveling library is a collection of books, usually twenty or more, on a general sub- ject or it may be miscellaneous. These books are loaned to a community or an organization and are loaned without cost to any resident. B. Books by parcels post: If the traveling library or other library does not satisfy an individual's need, he may receive directly from the university extension department the par- ticular book he wants upon endorsement of his ap- plication by some responisble citizen. Organization Service I. Local municipal reference libraries. For the communtiy that desires a municipal reference library of its own the university extension department will send a representa- tive on the ground : A. To help in its arrangement of space. B. To have the new organization placed on the mailing lists of governmental agencies and private organi- zations supplying currently valuable material. 21 C. To work out a library classification to suit the needs of the particular community. D. To stay on the job during the first week or first month to get the machinery working in good order, II. Special libraries for state departments. For the state de- partment desiring to establish a special library in its own field a service similar to that outlined for communities desiring a municipal reference library wall be performed. III. Community clubs. For groups of men or women desiring clubs for community purposes the assistance of the uni- versity extension department may be secured : A. In outlining the purposes of such an organization. B. In placing at the disposal of such an organization the experience of similar organizations elsewhere. C. In preparing tentative drafts of constitutions. D. In suggesting, if requested, names of efficient secre- taries, if these are available. This service could not be done very well during the first year. E. In suggesting programs for meetings, speakers, or things to be done. IV. Public school debating leagues. These will be organized through or by the city superintendents of schools and the high school principals. V. Organization of a community campaign. Know-your-eity weeks, clean-up weeks, fire-prevention weeks have be- come a part of many a community's desire to better it- self. More cities would do it if expert assistance were available to help organize. The university extension de- partment would render such assistance. VI. State wide contests. The "clean town" contest that is be- ing conducted under the Utah State Board of Health is a type of work that a university extension department may well do in connection with state departments. VII. Organization of state wide or local conferences: A. The organization of state wide conferences is now an important phase of work of university exten- sion departments. Perhaps the most significant 22 of these have been organized in the state of Ore- gon in connection with a proposed constitutional convention. B. After an educational campaign as suggested in " V. " above the community may desire a group of ex- perts on its special problems to come in and lec- ture to it, and answer questions in a community institute. This is practically a conference with various recreational features to relieve the awful seriousness of it all. VIII. Chautauqua service: A. Three or five or six day sessions, which will provide in varying degrees instruction, entertainment, music and recreation, will be organized for com- munities. 23 DIVISION OF SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATION A university extension department is an expression of the ef- forts to make more democratic our educational system. It is not an effort to give everybody a college education or any kind of a uniform education. It aims to give each person that knowl- edge, or skill, or appreciation which will enable him best to realize his social possibilities, or in other words, to enable each person toi make the greatest contribution to the common good. A university extension department will go wherever there is educational need. To the vast number of children who leave school on their fourteenth birthday, to men and women in com- munities without adequate day high schools or other higher in- stitutions of learning, or evening schools, or special schools, to working men and women who have not the time or the leisure, or for any reason do not attend local evening schools, to those who are inadequately served or who are skeptical about the pri- vate correspondence schools or other private educational agen- cies—to all these the university extension department must carry its message. To what extent any particular university extension depart- ment will undertake to satisfy the unmet educational needs of a state is a local problem to be determined by local conditions, ap- propriations and the priority of the specific needs. As else- where in this plan the Massachusetts situation is kept in mind, but the wording of the proposals is intended for a wider use. There are four obvious methods of meeting these needs avail- able to a university extension department. They are (1) by lectures, (2) by correspondence, (3) by direct instruction, and (4) by conference. Lecture Service The lecture has been the most widely used means of university extension but nevertheless as a method of instruction it is grow- ing in disrepute. In elementary education it has never secured any great foothold. One of the criticisms of a teacher that is most keenly appreciated is that she talks (lectures) too much. 24 But for some time past quite pertinent and effective criticism has been directed against college and university lecturing as a method of instruction. Professors talk on and get so absorbed in their subject that they forget their student audiences — some- times the same old lecture notes are used for years and are read in the same old monotonous way. Public addresses have also tended to be of this pancake va- riety to be served anywhere at anytime to any audience irrespec- tive of needs. A rather striking illustration came within the experience of the writer about a year ago. A city of about nine thousand was having a community week. The community was genuinely interested in public recreation. A person from a near by state, prominently identified with the recreation movement, was asked to speak out of the abundance of his experience on "Practical Suggestions on Playgrounds for a Small City." He made a speech abounding in general suggestions, applicable everywhere. It was a ready- made program. After the lecture we rode around town and passed through one of the most beautiful natural parks in the country with an abortive recreation development. The writer asked the speaker if he would have delivered the address he did if he had had this ride before the lecture instead of after. He quite frankly confessed that he would not. How many predi- gested lectures now being delivered everywhere in the United States would be shown to be useless if local conditions could be flashed upon the speaker ts they were in this ride ! But one needs merely to recall to mind Emei*son's work on the lyceum platform and more particularly Wendell Phillips to know beyond a doubt that there is a place and a function for the lecture in any public educational program. As an inspirational force and as an agitational force its influence is very greatly needed. There may be a function for the lecture as pure en- tertainment, but for a university extension department this func- tion must be made to serve its educational purpose. In the large number of organizations established for all man- ner of public purpose the lecture as a method of public educa- tion is less open to objection than the general lectures for the general public. Where, as in these clubs, specific problems are under discussion and the audience is made up of persons inter- 25 ested in these problems, the lecture is a very useful agency, particularly if it is followed by discussion. The lecture has, too, a value in giving a general survey or a rapid sweep of a broad range of knowledge, activity or personal experience. A striking illustration of combining the inspira- tional and the informative values of lecture with its cultivation of appreciation were the lectures given by Dr. Frederick H. Sykes on Shakespeare and Nineteenth Century Literature under the auspices first of the extension division of Columbia Univer- sity and to general audiences under the auspices of the depart- ment of lectures of the New York City department of education. A warning may be given against the abuse of the lecture. It is directed particularly against the hack-lecturer who is every- where in the land. One of the most familiar type travels from state teachers' association to state teachers' association repeat- ing verbatim the same memorized stuff to be greeted by teachers with applause and "how interesting," and never being recalled thereafter. Lectures could frequently be cut in half with profit, particu- larly if the time saved would be given over to a genuine discus- sion where the experience, the problems, the thoughts— yes, and even the prejudices of the audience would find expression — and we hope direction. The finest illustration of this I know of was in the People's Institute lectures at Cooper Union, New York, when Charles Sprague Smith directed them. Many of the speakers were amazed at the range of information and depth of thought revealed in the discussion. I recall when S. Parkes Cadman came one Sunday to talk on the Puritans, that before the discussion had gone very far he was so taken by genuine surprise that he said he ought to have been in the audience and a representative of the audience on the platform. This was no mere oratorical trick but a sincere confession. Where lectures are given in series there should run along with them a fairly definite outline of the material, together with questions and suggested readings. The syllabi furnished by Dr. Sykes in his lectures noted above were excellent illustrations of the use of the syllabi. But most syllabi furnished with lectures are useless. When the lecture is supplemented by some means to bring the lecturer and the audience together it serves its best purpose; 26 namely, it opens up discussion and stimulates thinking. A re- vival in some form of the Greek symposium is a consummation devoutly to be wished for in American life. We must cultivate the hahit of public discussion — not public listening. By this test the lecture as a form of public education must be judged. Correspondence Instruction Service Our academic friends continue toi express their sneers when correspondence instruction is mentioned. "He's only a corres- pondence school lawyer" and the expression that accompanies the remark tells the story. Even when correspondence school instruction is carried on by reputable universities like the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, the academic protest is heard both from within and -svithout the university. There is an alleged cheapen- ing, or the word more frequently used, a vulgarizing of knowl- edge. The proposition to give college credit toward the ordinary academic degrees for correspondence work is still a preposterous idea to^ many. As a rule the universities and colleges have looked askance at the correspondence method of instruction and left it to be developed under commercial auspices. And despite the low educational standard of some of the correspondence schools and their obvious commercial method, the correspondence method is becoming rather rapidly acknowledged as legitimate and a very desirable and efficient method of instruction. The final answer to the sneers of the academic person and the doubts of others is the thousand upon thousands of students that are registered in the private correspondence schools of the country. One of these schools alone has students numbering in the hundred thousands. In the state of Wisconsin alone, mtli all the activities of the extension department of the University of Wisconsin there are upwards of forty thousand students, and in the city of Madison in the shadow of the university itself there are twelve hundred students. Perhaps the greatest problem of correspondence instruction is its high mortality of students. A former president of a great railroad who investigated the subject says that this is the prob- lem of correspondence instruction. The one way that seems open to work out this problem is through the traveling instructor. By periodic visits stimulating interest, explaining difficulties, 27 showing relations, tying the instruction up with the daily work or the prospects of the student, the traveling instructor may suc- ceed in carrying the student over the "plateaus" of discourage- ment, or laziness or indifference. Whether the traveling in- structor is too great a cost is a matter for practical determina- tion. When he is tied up to a district organization the cost can be greatly reduced. The flexibility and the adaptability of the correspondence method to individual needs makes it peculiarly fitted to the sup- plementary education side of university extension. At present this method is in a rudimentary state and needs conscious ex- perimentation to determine how it may reach its very great pos- sibilities. Class Instruction Service The organization of classes for groups of persons interested in the same subject is an obvious service that a university exten- sion department may render. It needs no discussion at this time. Conducting this work for professional or trade organiza- tions as the University of Wisconsin does for an association of stationary engineers is a form of this service that is capable of further development. Conference Service Conferences where special problems confront particular groups of individuals or general problems interest all citizens will be organized by the university extension department as the need becomes evident. But unfortunately the one thing people do not do at conferences is to confer. Conferences are usually used as "get-acquainted" parties and a time to deliver set speeches. Both of these uses serve helpful purposes, but there ought to be added to them the practice of genuine conference. For this purpose it is proposed that papers should be supplied in advance and made the basis of careful study so that the meeting will be devoted to serious and thoughtful discussions of the problems. This, too, is a familiar form of service and needs no further elaboration now. Snort Course Service The time is not long past since it was thought by college au- thorities that students must enter at the end of September and 28 study through to June to get educational benefit from study or at least college credit. The annual idol was broken when semester courses were recognized and students were admitted at mid-year. The colleges of agriculture in particular have come to question any exclusive rights of either the year or semester as a unit of study. They have been giving, for example, a four- teen weeks' winter dairying course, and a single week's farmer's course and a parallel course in homemaking for the farmer's wdfe. Instead of the education of the individual fitting into a particu- lar time mould, the time element must be flexible enough to meet the individual needs. Courses of one week or five weeks or a year ought to be given as the educational needs of indi- viduals or groups indicate. The part-time student ought to be given as much consideration as the whole-time student. The conference service outlined elsewhere provides for giving to secretaries of various clubs a week's course through discus- sion and an exchange of experience. If more direct discussion is desired that, too, could be provided for in these short courses. A study would be made of the various "closed seasons" or "dull seasons" of various classes of individuals whom the uni- versity extension department is planning to meet. A part but not all of vacation periods might be used for the same purpose. The short course is a valuable means for supplementing cor- respondence instruction. If plans could be worked out, that is, if there are a sufficient number of correspondence students, short courses of even a few days at the beginning and end of corres- pondence work would add greatly to the efficiency of such work and help solve its great problem. 29 Tke Plan The services to be rendered by a division of supplementary education may be outlined as follows: SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATION DIVISION I. To wJiom: A. To minors (14-17) who are working. Note : " It is estimated that only 40,000 of these are at work ; 34,700, then, are neither at work nor in school."* B. To minors (14-17) who are neither at school nor at work. Note : Both of these classes should be handled in public continuation schools: the first spending a certain number of hours a week out of the em- ployers ' time ; the second spending a whole day in the school unless some other provision is made for education that meets the approval of the state. If there is no provision for both these groups in continuation schools the university extension division ought to interest itself in them at once. C. To minors (17-21) as soon as the continuation school system drops them. D. To persons desiring a change of vocation. E. To persons desiring to be foremen, superintendents, executives or administrators. Note: "Long hours of monotonous employment, and the fact that under present conditions work- ers are being restricted to the operation of one or a few machines, with little opportunity to gain a general knowledge of the trade or business, make it imperative that part-time schools be established * "The Needs and Possibilities of Part-Time Education": a special report sub- mitted to the Massachusetts Legislature, 1913. 30 to give to young workers a broader knowledge of the industry than they are now able to secure. Under the present industrial system there is a dearth of capable foremen and superintendents, due to the lack of opportunity to obtain a general knowl- edge of the industiy, a situation which should be met by part-time schools."* F. To secretaries of chambers oi commerce, women's clubs, city clubs, voters' leagues, etc. G. To persons desiring to enter the civil service or secure promotion in the civil service. H. To public officials desiring special supplementary knowledge as governmental accounting, report- writing, etc. I. To recent college graduates who desire supplement- ary theoretical and practical training for voca- tional pui*poses, particularly for the government service. J. To men trained in the professions who desire a more intimate knowledge of the social sciences, and es- pecially of government structure and function than the ordinary professional schools give. Note : ' ' Colleges of mines, agricultural colleges, and schools of technology form a group under which the courses offered must be scientific and practical. These schools are primarily designed to prepare for one of the professions or vocations and there seems to be neither time nor occasion to give at- tention to such an impractical matter as govern- ment. If one may judge from the utter neglect of the study of political affairs in many such schools it seems that there is at present no recognition of the fact that the incipient miner, farmer or engi- neer may some day be called upon to take an in- terest in the aff'airs of his country. Nor does there seem to be any thought that it might be worth while, for but a small portion of time, to learn of * "The Needs and Possibilities of Part-Time Education": a special report sub- mitted to the Massachusetts Legislature, 1913. 31 the responsibilities and duties of social beings as well as of ways and means to earn a livelibood. That the miner, the farmer and the engineer should receive training along the line of their duties and responsibilities as social beings and citizens seems scarcely less imperative than that they should be trained as efficient producers. There is ample evidence that the efficient producer without a social conscience has worked much havoc and injury. If society is to be protected and its best interests conserved, the scientific, in- dustrial and so-called practical schools must find both time and opportunity to give instruction in economics, sociology and political science. Both economics and sociology have slowly made their way into many of the technical and vocational schools. A few technical schools and agricultural colleges have introduced the important elementary courses in government, and there is no indication that the standard of work in technology has suf- fered particularly because the curriculum has been enriched by courses in political and social affairs. It remains to be seen whether society as organized in its legislatures, courts and administrative agen- cies will become a matter of sufficient significance to be given some consideration in all of the tech- nical schools and may be deemed worthy of more attention by that group of institutions which de- pend almost entirely upon the state for exist- ence. ' '* K. To corporations, labor unions or other organizations : 1. Who desire to give apprentices or other em- ployees or members a knowledge of govern- ment, of safety devices, of markets, etc. 2. ^ho desire to conduct classes for their members or employees to give them a wider vision of themselves and their job. * "Report on Instruction in Political Science in Colleges and Universities," p. 253, 1913-1914. 32 3. Who desire to undertake educational work of any kind. L. To individuals of whatever vocation or status who want further guidance in their studies. M. To immigrants who desire a knowledge of the lan- guage or of our institutions to prepare for naturalization and citizenship. II. Types of service: A. Lecture service : 1. Single lectures, to be followed by discussion, on social subjects anywhere in the state. 2. Courses of lectures of three or more for com- munities or organizations. A syllabus of lec- tures will be provided in advance as far as feasible. Note : This work is closely related to the direct class instruction. B. Correspondence instruction service: 1. Instruction by mail wherever there is genuine demand for it. 2. Courses by mail followed up by individual con- ference with traveling instructors. 3. Courses to be of various lengths— 10, 20, 30 and 40 assignments— with emphasis on the shorter assignments. 4. Courses to be more in the nature of a series of problems rather than as a series of instruc- tions. 5. Courses of study organized with reference to specific vocational needs, leading to certificates or diplomas. 6. College courses to be credited in partial fulfill- ment of the requirements for a degree will be offered if arrangements can be made with the colleges and universities. Note: A year's residence at the college will be al- ways required, of course, for the degree. 33 7. In the beginning courses of existing corres- pondence schools might be adopted, by ar- rangement, if adaptable to the needs of Massa- chusetts. C. Class instruction service: 1. Class instruction will be provided for groups of twelve or more as needs arise. 2. Class instruction will be organized in connection and for any organization desiring to conduct such classes as part of its educational work. 3. Leaders will be provided for clubs using club- study outlines. D. Conference service : 1. Conferences will be organized for particular groups or persons, e. g., the secretaries of women's clubs, the secretaries of chambers of commerce, etc. 2. The specific problems arising in the work of the particular group Avill be made the subject of the program. 3. The meetings will not be given over to lectures though there may be occasional lectures actu- ally delivered. 4. The papers to be discussed will be prepared in advance, printed and distributed at least a month before the meeting and made the basis of discussion at the meeting. 5. After one of these conferences has been organ- ized, committees might be appointed to work on problems ad interim and these would be submitted in advance as under "4." 6. Or a special subject or subjects might be decided on for these conferences and submitted to the extension division currently which would act as a clearing house of information and might tentatively outline a report, but this last fea- 34 ture had better be done by members of the group making the suggestion or operating in that field. E. Short courses : 1. Short courses of a week will be held for special groups of persons, e, g., controller or other financial officers of cities, secretaries of cham- bers of commerce or boards of trade, etc. 2. Short courses as above of two weeks duration. 3. Short courses for correspondence students at end of work. 4. Short courses for teachers during the shorter vacation periods. 5. Summer sessions— length to be determined— for various classes as opportunities arise. 6. Short courses or summer school to work in con- junction with a plan for training men now in the public service for greater efficiency and promotion. 35 PROMOTION DIVISION The plan up to this point has given attention solely to the services to be rendered by a university extension division. These services will have to be expressed in organization units. These will follow in its broad outlines the description of the services given and need not detain us now. The business side of the organization will also have to be taken care of and this also need not detain us now. But there is a further problem that does need explanation in this connection. Many social service institutions "vvith splendid facilities for doing things are working on a twenty-five or fifty per cent basis because of their failure to make known the things they were ready to do. The people who would have called on them did not know either of their existence or of their service. Carrying the university or anything else to the people is a diffi- cult thing — or an impossible thing — if the people are not in- formed as to the services the university extension division may render and how they may secure them. In short, a plan of edu- cational publicity, or promotion, if you will, is an integral part of the work of a social service institution like a university ex- tension division. The newspapers, the magazines, and all other forms of pub- licity must all be used in telling the public of the existence, the service and the willingness to serve of the university extension division. All the effective features of an advertising campaign should be used. Every agency working for the common good must be enlisted in the cause. Plans and schemes of cooperation must be worked out. The advice of these agencies must be sought not only after plans are made but while they are in process of making. It will be good for the plans and better for their successful execution. Probably the best method of carrying on this educational propaganda is a district organization. It is easily demonstrable from Wisconsin experience that without the district organiza- tion much of the work done would have been impossible. A re- 36 port has been prepared on this subject on the Wisconsin experi- ence. The opening statements of this report follow : "1. It is the only effective way to reach the people. A study of the statistics for one single district shows this conclusively. The 4th, or Superior District, has been taken as an exam- ple. It was organized July 15th, 1912. Students enrolled to July 15, 1912 (6 yrs.) 52 Students enrolled since July 15, 1912 {2% yrs.)___ 1089 Students, per year, without organization 6% Students, per year, with organization 378 2. Field organization is especially important in developing the vocational work. Taking Superior District again. Vocational students to July 15, 1912, 11, or 2 per yr. Vocational students since July 15, 1912, 870, or 316 per yr. Vocational students to July 15, 1912, were 21 per cent of total. Vocational students since July 15, 1912, are 84 per cent of total. Numbers in vocational courses have increased 80 times. Numbers in other courses have increased 4 times. Similar statistics for Eau Claire District show 35 stu- dents in 7 years A\dthout organization, while 240 new stu- dents were added in first 8 months after reorganization." All publications and correspondence should express the spirit of the organization. All persons meeting the public in any way must be conscious that they are representatives of the depart- ment and express its fundamental spirit of courtesy, of coopera- tion, and of its willingness to serve. The work of this division may be outlined in more detail as follows : I. This division works in close cooperation with the planning division. II. Keeps in touch with all helpful agencies in the state : schools, clubs, etc. A. Keeps lists of such agencies with names of officers, purposes of organization, meetings, etc. 37 B. Keeps them informed as to developments and plans of university extension division. C. Suggests opportunities for helping university exten- sion division. III. Keeps district organization under close observation. A. Makes first recommendation as to number of dis- tricts, territory to be included, needs, etc. B. From current records of district work makes sug- gestions as to efficiency and proposes subdivision of districts, etc. C. Acts as clearing house for district organizations. D. Makes independent inquiry of district work. lY. In charge of all publicity work. A. Prepares bulletins describing university extension service. B. Writes newspaper notices or articles. C. Proposes and executes plans for using: 1. Moving picture shows, 2. House organs of business houses, 3. Newspapers or magazines, 4. School papers, or 5. Any other publicity means. V. Supervision of all publications as to form. VI. Responsibility for handling public. A. Handles inquiries, B. Handles suggestions and complaints. C. Outlines follow up letters and methods. D. Trains those in the service in courteous efficient handling of the public. 38 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 029 928 863 8 METAL EDGE, INC. 2008 PH 7.5 TO 9.5 PAT LIBRARY OF CONGRESS «. 029 928 863 8