HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN SUGGESTIONS FOR EFFICIENT COOPERATION WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS BY ELSA DENISON OP THE NEW YORK BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCH ILLUSTRATED HARPER &- BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON MCMXII Cv ^\ \y^i COPYRJGHT. 1912. BY HARPER ft BROTHERS PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PUBLISHED OCTOBER. 1912 i Ut! I? '£CI.A328023 TO MY MOTHER CONTENTS OHAP. PAeS Foreword xv Preface xix I. IS EVERYBODY INTERESTED IN SCHOOLS? Active interest is overestimated 1 Latent interest an available source 6 Outside interest via criticism 7 A mechanism to stimulate interest 8 II. THE TRUSTEESHIP OF TALENT AND TRAINING Opportunities for occasional service 10 Help from institutions of higher learning 12 The social settlement idea 15 The social worker's greater opportunity 16 Private charitable schools as experiment stations 19 The school beautiful 21 Making artists 23 Schools and the art museum 24 A landscape gardener for schools 25 Music in schools 28 III. PRIVATE GIVING VIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS Notable giving for schools 33 How superintendents would invest gifts 39 The Charlotte R. Schmidlapp Fund 42 Shoes and clothes for poor children 43 One public school relief association 45 What one outside reUef agency has done for schools 46 Charity's broader opportunity 49 CONTENTS OHAP. PA8B IV. SHORT CUTS TO PUBLICITY ABOUT SCHOOL NEEDS A "twenty questions" index to school needs 51 Fostering interest in school reports 51 Newspapers and superintendents 57 The schoolman as advertiser 58 School inquiries 61 Making school news easy to use 64 Budget exhibits 67 Does your town know what you are doing for schools? .... 72 V. COMMUNITY PROBLEMS SEEN THROUGH SCHOOLS Truancy and tramps 75 Anti child labor or pro compulsory education? 79 Making citizens in our public schools 82 The Boy Scouts vs. juvenile delinquency 84 Public schools athletic leagues 86 The opportunity for service by religious societies of young people . 89 Schools and peace 92 The public library and the schools 93 Illustrators of natural history 96 Other city departments and the schools 98 How children's institutions help educate 100 Working for playgrounds 103 Kindergarten associations 106 Moving pictures for education 108 Social centers in schools 112 VI. ORGANIZATIONS SOLELY FOR HELPING SCHOOLS Organized parents 115 A parents' association and a socialized school 118 What some mothers' clubs are doing 120 A mothers' council for the school board 121 The fathers' club 121 Educational associations 123 What New York City offers in cooperation 125 A central city coordinator 128 What rural schools need 133 Rural school improvement leagues 135 State-v;ide combinations for education 138 vi CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE VII. SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN Women on school boards 141 Visiting schools with official sanction 143 Who's responsible for school sanitation? 145 Clean rural schools 153 Clean ventilation 155 The bubbling fountain 156 Good light vs. poor eyes 158 School lunches 160 Housekeeping by continuation schools 164 School gardens and natiu-e study 166 Fresh air summer work , 170 Teachers' visits or visiting teachers c . . . . 172 The social efficiency of teachers 175 VIII. HOW WOMEN ORGANIZE TO HELP SCHOOLS The General Federation of Women's Clubs 177 The National Congress of Mothers 180 The Association of Collegiate Alumnae 182 School patrons of the National Education Association 183 A legislative campaign by women 188 A Permanent School Extension Committee 189 A civic club that made school history 191 Colored women's clubs 193 Club mechanism 196 A state program for women's clubs 200 IX. PHYSICIANS AND THE HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN Medical inspection for transmissible diseases 202 How examination for physical defects starts 205 Free treatment for physical defects 209 The school nurse 212 Where the visiting nurse helps 214 Watching work as it progresses 216 What one physician can do 221 Physicians and the school budget 223 Physicians on school boards 224 Specialists and the abnormal child 225 Open air schools 227 vii CONTENTS <1U*.P. PAOK 'I'he crippled child's friend 230 Hygiene teaching, social and physical 232 A substitute for sex hygiene instruction 235 Health day in schools 237 Publicity for school health 240 National associations for school health 243 X. THE DENTIST'S MESSAGE How far awake are we dentally? 247 Origins of dental inspection 250 Clinics for free treatment 252 Individual interest 256 Dental societies' work for schools 259 Pubhcity about dental needs 260 XL WHERE CHURCH AND SCHOOL MEET Are ministers interested? 264 How luinisters may inform themselves 267 The Laity League for Social Service . . 269 Sermons about schools 271 What one church has done 272 The minister's opportunity 273 Ethics in public schools 276 Vacation schools by city or church 278 XII. THE BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION A measure for his interest 280 How organized business men help 284 The manufacturer and industrial training 288 Day continuation vs. night schools 291 "Taking schools to the shops" 293 Commercial training 294 A high school advisory committee 295 Vocational guidance 297 Opportunities for vocation choosing in schools 301 How and where to look for work 302 The "three Rs" 304 Wasted capital, non-promotion 306 Talks in schools on business success 308 School savings banks 310 viii CONTENTS CHAt-. PAGR School legislation 311 School voters' leagues 313 Business men as school commissioners 315 The business man and the school budget 317 XIII. HOW SUPERINTENDENTS USE COOPERATION ASSETS The kind and amount of outside interest 321 A standard for cooperation 325 XIV. NOT-YET-GRASPED OPPORTUNITIES The United States bureau of education 329 A national clearing house for school cooperation 331 APPENDIX Cards and blanks used in this study 335 A dozen "don'ts" for volunteer inquirers 338 INDEX (by topics) 339 Persons and organizations mentioned 345 Places mentioned, with population of cities 350 ILLUSTRATIONS FATHERS pay: MOTHERS PLAY: CHILDREN MAKE FLOWERS GROW . Frontispiece ^ A FEW OP THE "EDUCATED ANDS" LISTED BY POOLE'S INDEX . . Page 2 ONE WAY OF MEASURING COOPERATION " 5 BEAUTY making: NEEDED EVERYWHERE: POSSIBLE EVERYWHERE Facing p. 22 SCHOOL GROUNDS IN OTHER CITIES NEED LANDSCAPE GARDENERS Page 27 ELIZABETH MCCORMICK MEMORIAL FUND : FOR CHICAGO CHILDREN Facing p. 38 SOME STIMULATORS OF INTELLIGENT INTEREST " 64 ONE WAY HOBOKEN WAS INTERESTED IN SCHOOL EXPENDITURES Page 69 OUTSIDERS PROMOTE DOMESTIC SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS Facing p. 72 THREE ROUTES TO EFFICIENT CITIZENSHIP " 82 THE MOUNTAIN COMES TO MAHOMET " 96 HELPING HOMES VIA SCHOOL HELP " 116 THE BLACK SPACES SHOW WHAT IS STILL TO BE DONE .... Page 129 GOOD ROADS TO RURAL SCHOOLS Facing p. 134: SHOULD OUTSIDERS PROVE THE VALUE OF SCHOOL FEEDING? . . " 160 "live nature" study " 170 WOMEN ARE PROMOTING PLAY " 178 ALL-THE-YEAR-ROUND interest in BISMARCK " 198 OUTSIDERS PROMOTE SCHOOL HEALTH " 210 HOW MANY MORE T>q NEW YORk's SCHOOL CHILDREN NEED? . . Page 249 SUMMER PLAY MAKES WINTER HEALTH Facing p.278 BUSINESS AND EDUCATION EXCHANGE VISITS IN DENVER ... " 282 "learn TO BE WHAT YOU WANT TO BE" " 298 LECTURES SUPPLEMENT THESE CHARTS " 302 HELPING SCHOOLS SOLVE LOCAL PROBLEMS ** 322 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN FOREWORD OUTSIDE private interest in a public school not known ten miles away seems unmentionably small when compared with Mr. Rockefeller's giving $30,000,000 at one time to higher education and with $10,000,000 given by Mrs. Sage for the study and improvement of social conditions. Yet the stories here contributed by a thousand spokesmen of public and private agencies in city and country tell of benefactions greater even in dollars and cents — and vastly greater in the number of persons in- terested and in the momentum added to normal social forces — than the annual benefactions of the General Education Board, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the two Carnegie Foundations combined. The Bureau of Municipal Research considers this study an important contribution not only to handbook material, but to the inspiration heretofore available for citizen in- terest in every phase of public business. Helping School Children is unique in several respects: it gives information which was never before sought, for all parts of the country and for all kinds of contact with schools; to its preparation have contributed 350 city and state superintendents of instruction and 650 business men, club women, physicians, dentists, ministers, and editors; itself a volunteer study, it suggests numerous kinds of profitable activity for thou- sands of college graduates and other citizens who have a super-interest in public welfare; it illuminates from many FOREWORD angles the intimate connection of public schools with two other vast fields — private giving for public purposes and general government efficiency. Its message and its facts are needed wherever there is a public school or a civic organization. As I know social workers, school superintendents, law- yers, ministers, editors, and public-spirited women, they need and will welcome this record of practical interest shown by individuals and organized outsiders in their local public schools. Yet few even of those intimately connected with public school work will be prepared for such an overwhelming array of evidence as Miss Denison gives in this book that public schools both need and welcome continuous, intel- ligent, outside cooperation which stimulates and does not paralyze taxpayers' responsibility. The $10,000,000 which she estimates is spent outside of schools to help work inside of schools is a small part of the giving. Many mil- lions more are voted in taxes on account of this outside interest. Infinitely more important still is the beneficial effect of this outside interest upon the efficiency and spirit of the annual spending of nearly $450,000,000 for public education. Since Miss Denison began her study numerous inquiries from all parts of the United States have come from within and without public schools which show how contagious is the story of cooperation. The three letters cited on page 287 from one chamber of commerce are typical. The first one said, ''Our chamber has confined itself to business questions"; the second, ''We have been thinking more of your question about the relation of our chamber to public schools. What have other business men's organizations done?" The third asks, "Will you please outline the kind of cooperation which you think our chamber in a FOREWORD city of 50,000 might give to our public schools next year?" At this time of increasing demand for better schools and better government, and for lists of next steps and higher standards of efficiency, this statement by a volunteer of how other volunteers in all parts of the United States are learning about and cooperating with their public schools will be of unusual helpfulness. William H. Allen. PREFACE PROBABLY $10,000,000 is being spent every year by agencies, public, private, and semi-private, to supple- ment the work of public schools in the United States. Enormous as this sum is, more than the income of the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations combined, and equal to the cost of two battleships annually, the esti- mate is conservative, including, as it does, the coopera- tion of hospitals, museums, civic and relief agencies, and the great national associations whose work touches in- timately the problems of public schools. Thousands of men and women scattered over the country are specializing in some form of school cooperation. To outside interest the schools owe largely their present kinder- gartens, domestic science and manual training, playgrounds, social centers, vocational training, open air classes, medical examination, and dental treatment. There is no specialist, no professional or business man or woman, whose expression of intelligent interest in one of the various adjuncts to school life and work — aside from voting and paying taxes- would not be valued community social service. From men and women in 400 cities, large and small, have come to the Bureau of Municipal Research stories of work done for schools, stories that show keen interest and un- bounded desire to cooperate. A medical society has in- spected all the children in public schools, and offers to give free treatments for physical defects. A chamber of com- PREFACE merce is ready to help secure business training. A woman's club is supporting vacation schools until the school board is able to carry them on. From superintendents and school people come expressions of thankfulness for what the schools have received through outside interest. This is one side of the picture. On the other are the ever increasing array of criticisms, the thousands of sick, overage, and retarded children, illy taught children, chil- dren turned out unequipped, the poor teaching, unhealth- ful, unethical schools, wasted money, inefficient adminis- tration, and the fundamental apathy of a majority of the public on school questions. Comparing what really exists in our school system with the needs of schools and of school children, much remains to be done. In the great fund of available outside interest lies one indispensable means of doing it. The term ''outside" is infelicitous because no one is outside, beyond the need of public school products, and no school is beyond the need of citizen support. It is used to distinguish volunteer, unofficial assistance from help which comes to schools through the tax-supported system itself, through teachers and other school employees. Since so much time and money are available from out- siders, a wise and progressive superintendent or outside agency wishes to make it do the work needed. Because there are so many valuable suggestions in what each woman's club, each public education association, dental associa- tion, or chamber of commerce has done, we are passing on some of the most helpful facts in the belief that one community and one organization may wisely learn from the experience of another, may be saved from experiments and from the wasting of time, money, and, most precious of all, enthusiasm. The instances here cited are not given as all-inclusive. PREFACE They are, however, representative, and from them I hope will stand out many unknown, undreamt-of funds of help- fulness, many necessary "next steps" which may just happen to fit in the program of superintendents and outside agencies for their local work. My gratitude to the Bureau of Municipal Research, which suggested and supervised this study, can only be ex- pressed by saying that its help made the work possible. My thanks are also given to the many women and men through whom the greater part of the iiiformation in this book was secured. HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN IS EVERYBODY INTERESTED IN SCHOOLS? Active Interest is Overestimated SPEAKERS, educators, journalists, women's club lead- ers, never tire of talking and writing about public education, its developing powers, its blessings, its relation to everything mental, moral, and physical under the sun. ''Every one is interested in public schools." ''The one thing people do not go to sleep about is children." Ex- president Eliot some years ago said that of all the inspirit- ing and moralizing agencies in American society the public schools alone had gained in influence and increased in strength since the Civil War; that legislatures have de- clined in efficiency, the courts are less respected, the church has been left behind; that education alone has retained its hold on democracy, becoming more and more effective. If this assumption were correct men would welcome an increase in school taxes more generously than in other HOW MAGAZINE WRITERS SHOW THE CONNECTIONS OF EDUCATION *^ \ — * 1 \ \ a: / '^%.. V ^ \\ \ ^y ^ ^^" '^^'^/cs^^ ^\ ^ % X. ^^^^^^^^WlNl'^^ SERVICE EDUC ATION\^ — ^ i\rfc «^\.'\n AMJ *"••• ■ ivu. JD Z;-^ DEMOCRACr ^mfi^"*''''^ y i ^ C^ .^^^^~^^%C5 ,v«'#''*^ -/ 7 / X \, '% / \ 1 X- A FEW OF THE EDUCATION ANDS" LISTED BY POOLE'S INDEX, 1902-1910 IS EVERYBODY INTERESTED? taxes, and would vote more conscientiously at school elec- tions than at other elections. Yet the old New England town meeting, where the school budget is read, approved, and passed, but usually without discussion, is rarely at- tended by the townspeople. Voting increased sums is at times the easiest thing to do, and does not necessarily mean intelligent interest. Where women have had the school franchise for years they frequently admit that they have shown no special interest in school elections. Ask the average citizen a few questions about school administration or finance. He thinks the school, like democracy and graft in politics, will go on anyway, whether he pays at- tention or not. Children have always seemed to get "educated" somehow, at least they stayed in the school- house from nine until three and brought tattered books home to study from. Since school boards are made up of good men ''serving without pay," why bother about school administration or school budgets? Public schools are state or city business. The usual situation is described by a former member of the board of education in a southern city: ''We have a large number of citizens who take a great deal of interest in schools, and who would like to see even more and speedier progress made in the way of useful knowledge and culture. On the other hand, many people who incline , to follow old methods are opposed to any kind of innova- tion. The latter class has dominated. People are in a receptive state of mind, and with proper presentation a great deal of interest can be aroused." Those whose contact is closest with help from the outside and who logically should know best what has been done are the superintendents of schools. What they say about outside help is shown by the chart (Fig. 1), based on answers from 315 city superintendents to the question, 2 3 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN "What have citizens, individually or in groups, done to help the schools of your city, aside from voting, paying taxes, and serving on school boards?" The black space tells that the large majority of superin- tendents report no work along all but one of the lines sug- gested. This does not necessarily mean that in 190 of these 315 cities nothing has been done about medical inspection. It may mean this. It may mean that physical examination of school children was secured by superin- tendent, health department, or board of education without outside assistance. It may mean that unofficial aid was sought and refused, or that the help given was not in the superintendent's mind worthy of being so called. Moreover, where superintendents have mentioned civic cooperation it does not necessarily mean that 100% of a particular need has been met. It may mean that a frac- tion of a problem has been solved with the assistance of outside organizations. In the matter of decorations, for example, "help received" may stand for anything from one picture in one school to the complete aesthetic arrange- ment in all schools of photographs, statuary, rugs, wall- coloring, and furniture. Referring to budgets, it may stand for one letter written to a newspaper or for a year's cam- paign to get increased appropriations for open air classes. Schools are competing constantly with charities and philanthropies, both for official support and — as yet lamely — for the attention of those with leisure and means enough to be interested in "community work." One superinten- dent writes that his city is not one in which citizen par- ticipation has been marked in educational affairs; the citizens have, however, been active for the hospital and Y. M. C. A. Four of 142 superintendents, writing of needed gifts, mentioned bequests to schools by will-makers. In a New xn O O W o O P PL, W O H Ph O O O O I— I > o 73 02 p^ I— I .t: !2; o a, CD ^ .^ '4 n a^ O +^ _2 M « .S OQ ^ •4-. =§ GO a ^ o S ^ .2 -2 ^ J3 ;i OD 3 O o H W pq £ ^ S f- °- ^ — UJ o o tt: z o ■ {■:-■ ' .\ o o ■ ■ ? I o._ 1 1 1 10 UJ O — c COL 00 cu cu CXj cu CO = N> g 05 CO 1 H : w En O 1 § P .2 u ; a; Kenet ot needy Playgrounds Recreation G .O '-(3 o & tc o '3 CQ a 1— 1 '5 d "-J3 -a 1 p 0! a > 1 .£ >■ 1 'S 02 _g in fciC a b£ G 02 3 o J o o ^^ a a ^ ■ ^ c3 O) « a) o Qpq o g a go ■t^ a^ o-g a^ a >fM02 5Q^^^ ^ f . i^^ #jlt'gr f. * • GIVEHS, SCHOOLS, CITY, CIVIC LEADERS, WORK TOGETHER FOR OPEN AIR FOR EVERYBODY ELIZABETH MCCORMICK MEMORIAL FUND: FOR CHICAGO CHILDREN PRIVATE GIVING help, we shall most of us fail to see continuous opportunity for giving to children through schools. To will makers and donors schools offer a permanency of investment. Few other forms of philanthropy can be sure to adapt themselves as conditions change. Public schools are pretty certain to adapt because they will be under pres- sure to do so. How Superintendents Would Invest Gifts Some superintendents are beginning to realize that people are ready to give if they only know what to give and whom to give it to. They have learned from mentioning casually something the schools need and having it eagerly furnished. And to make it easier for people to give they have occasion- ally listed needs in annual reports. The Hyde Park, Massachusetts, school report for 1910 gives the details of desirable improvements and additions for the schools, with the cost of starting and keeping up by commissioners or by outsiders. The superintendent estimates, for example, a school museum at $310; school gardens at $500, for annual running expenses. This is, however, unusual for a school report; and because so few superintendents tell us every year what they would like to have money for, we sometimes think they have no plans for spending extra donations from the outside. How far this is from being the case was proved by the returns which came from a questionnaire sent to superintendents by the Bureau of Municipal Research asking ''Do will makers in your city remember your public schools?" and "Is your city ready to receive a gift of $10,000 for public schools?" We had been asked by a woman of moderate means who was making her will in a middle western city for suggestions about a bequest of $10,000 a year to benefit children under 16 years of age in public schools. We passed it on to the 39 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN men and women who should be best able to answer that question for their cities, and incidentally for the whole country. The replies which came from 142 city superintendents showed needs for lump sums of over $3,000,000 and annual maintenance funds requiring the income on $7,500,000. The national work suggested to reach 20,000,000 school children and 100,000,000 citizens would justify combined legacy foundations of $20,000,000. When superintendents stopped to summarize they found long lists of new buildings, new equipment, new services which they said their general publics are not yet prepared to furnish but which the children themselves ought to have. Athletic fields and playgrounds, for example, are needed in 61 cities; school buildings in 47; equipment, vocational schools, medical and dental clinics, decorations, gymnasiums, school nurses, open air schools in many others. The list is long. Superintendents realize clearly that many of these needs are so fundamental to successful and eflficient schools that taxpayers must be taught to meet them. The school people do not want private gifts for school maintenance which ought to be forthcoming from taxpayers, but they do want in almost every case the power to demonstrate and prove to taxpayers the value of improvements. Our le\^ for educational purposes is at the limit; yet we constantly lose our best high school teachers from inability to pay them. We need decorations and apparatus which we cannot buy. I regret that our wealthy people do not remember these things (playgrounds and athletic fields) in their wills. Innumerable things could be done which cannot be obtained through taxation. The citizens of this community can be depended upon to maintain and support an industrial or trade school, but it is a problem to secure the plant. The philanthropic side of open air schools — physicians, nurses, dental clinics — should be privately supported until the city takes over the whole. 40 PRIVATE GIVING One superintendent, describing how outsiders might start much-needed kindergartens, says: "I feel sure, after having founded kindergartens upon this complete system, public sentiment would be so educated that no difficulty would be found in providing for their support." The size of the city seems to have little bearing on the intensity or variety of things which superintendents feel should be done at once. This letter by a southern superin- tendent summarizes the way most schoolmen with 1,000 or 500,000 children feel about private giving via schools: If a city of 15,000 should receive a gift of S10,000 for educational purposes its school authorities would feel that an educational millennium was at hand. . . . Your efforts toward directing benevolences to the public schools of the country should meet with the hearty approval of the friends of education everywhere. Pretty nearly every school super- intendent in America could write you a book in reply to your questions. I merely wish to add to my answers the suggestion that benevolences to pubhc schools, if they are ever secured, should be directed to the erection of school plants and the maintenance of institutions and departments not possible from the revenues obtained through the ordinary channels. "I am glad you are agitating this question," writes another superintendent, ''and I hope something may be done to convince our very rich men that the public schools are as much in need of some of their money as the colleges and technical schools." The lack of material relief and of scholarships that will enable worthy children to finish their education is men- tioned'in so many cities that it seems almost a general need. But most of the investments with nation-wide value sug- gested by superintendents — investments which will prob- ably not be appreciated for years by taxpayers — have to do with publicity and investigation about school administra- tion and methods, such as "a complete and comprehensive record of every child born; standardization of the courses 41 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN of study; endowed agencies for the study of school problems in poor sections of the country; promotion of educational standard units and educational scientific management; pub- lication of reports; special investigations of physical condi- tions, delinquence and vocational training; any amount for research and general information; for model schools; to dis- seminate more information among those who would be interested if they understood the needs; to collect data as to modern movements and how to bring the right thing to pass." Not only comparatively large lump sums and annual in- stalments could be invested to demonstrate desirable school improvements or give relief through schools, but infinite numbers of small things could be used — easy and attractive gifts as the superintendents list them: Small gifts of from $25 to $100 for lantern slides, moving picture films, dental clinics, concerts; annual instalments for excursions to historical and literary places near Boston. . . . Fund for prizes for essays, decla- mation, or debating societies. . . . Victrola and records for each school building; $500 a year for library purposes; health instruction through nurses in the homes; a limited sum to endow vocational training schools, etc. There is no question but superintendents are ready to invest gifts, small and large, without relieving taxpayers of legitimate duties. The Charlottte R. Schmidlapp Fund Let me tell you what it is and does, then you can judge for yourself the value of this giving. Mr. J. G. Schmidlapp, of Cincinnati, founded the bureau bearing his name in memory of his daughter by a gift of $250,000, which sup- ports three departments of a Bureau for Women and Girls. The educational department assists individual girls to secure an education. This is scholarship giving, careful 42 PRIVATE GIVING record being kept of each girl applying, her family status, former employment, and references. Each beneficiary promises to repay the amount advanced her by the Fund, not as a legal obligation, but because of her desire to extend the same privilege to others. The employment department places over 1,000 women and girls a year in positions that seem most suitable after personal interviews. Record is kept of these girls, the length of time they stay in each position, their earnings and reasons for leaving. Each firm, with which arrangements have been made previously, also keeps a record of the applicants sent by the Bureau. The third branch of the Bureau is the vocation depart- ment, which, in cooperation with the board of education and the Child Labor Committee, is watching every child who leaves school at the age of fourteen years. The details of this work are given on page 303. Everything done by the three departments of the Schmid- lapp Bureau is aimed toward the solution of vital problems which schools and employers are facing. The records, care- fully kept, are so much clear light on a complicated industrial- educational situation. While helping thousands of girls each year to get positions, or to finish equipping themselves for industry, the Bureau's work has a permanent bearing on school administration, child labor, and vocational guidance. Is such giving worth while? For blank forms and information concerning the three branches of work, write to the Schmidlapp Bureau, 200 Union Trust Building, Cincinnati. Shoes and Clothes for Poor Children It is not always such a simple proposition as in the one city where the superintendent writes, "Mr. R. helps our needy." 43 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN In a civilized comnuiiiity there is no excuse for a child's missing school because he has no shoes or clothing. In the first place, the teacher, knowing his general condition, can guess pretty well why he stays at home, investigate and report. Where there is a truant olhcer he is not only for the purpose of returning truants, but of finding out why children are absent. Yet there are to-day thousands of children out of school for want of shoes and clothes, and superintendents write, for exjunple: \N"e need from $300 to SolX) a year io use for Tioody boy^ and girls. We could spend S2lX1 a year for shoes and elothing to enable poor chil- dren to attend school; §oO for sptvtades for the scune purpose. We could use SolX) a year to pay for eye glasses and proj^er treatment of various diseases of children and of indigent parents, atul much larger amounts to provide school luuchevms and dotliiug for such children. As a rule there is no school organization corresponding to the church's neetilework guild, which supplies garments when needed, but some mothers' clubs and teachers' societies have been securing the necessary relief for their schools. Of course, where there is any sort of relief agency it ought to be enough for the teacher simply to refer a needy case to this office. It frequently, not always, happens that there are funda- mental remedies to stop that poverty which is making the child stay out of school. In Philadelphia, where the Biu'eau of Compulsory Education cooperates with three organized charities and two big church benevolent societies, "not only do they furnish clothing, food, shoes, and coal, but frequently the entire family is benefited. Parents and cliildren are sent to hospitals, families are persuaded to move into better homes, and work is secured." TMiere there is no special agency, occasionally a woman's club has taken up the work of relief for schools. The Civic Club in Kalamazoo maintains a clothing-and-shoe fund for needv school children. It requires not much monev, 44 PRIVATE GIVING and little time and energy, to collect old clothes from those who have clothers they want to get rid of and to pass thern on to the schools that need thern. The alurnni of some schools have formed themselves into relief societies giving a yearly ?jazaar to raise funds and sending out appeals for clothing. An interesting relief organization is the Public School Children's Aid Society of Quincy. "Each of the twelve schools of the city is looked after by one of the Protestant churches," writes a minister. "We raise money for the fund in various ways, from giving outright to public enter- tainments in the high school auditorium. This fund is at the command of those detailed by the churches to look after their schools. The money goes principally for shoes and clothing. All the Protestant churches are interested in this plan, and the Jews and Christian Scientists, and I think it lias been a good thing for the churches as well as for the schools." Is it advisable to Btart local relief work when organizations exist solely for tPiat piirjjose? Where relief agencies are basing their appeals on the efficiency of their work, should teachers and principals be forced constantly to appeal to other sources for clothing? Don't teachers know about the rehef agencies? How can the rehef agencies afford to let the schools go elsewhere for help? Has your relief agency a school visitor who gets lists of needy children from principals? Does the central office of the relief agency keep record of the schools whicli are attended by children of their families? Does the agency emphiasize its school cooperation? Do churches offer rehef to the public schools of their districts? One Public School Relief Association One of the outlying boroughs of New York, like many cities and towns, has no charitable agency. The Public School Relief Association in Queens is composed entirely 45 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN of te-achers, members of mothers' clubs, and three laymen from the vicinity of each school. This body was organized at the suggestion of the district superintendent, who in- vestigated cases of truancy and found that many were caused by lack of shoes and clothing. Monthly meetings are held at the school for business discussions and entertain- ments by teachers and children. The yearly income and expenditure on relief for two school districts is about $1,000, one-third of which is guaranteed by the teaching force and the rest by the mothers. When a child needs clothing, application is made person- ally or through his parent or teacher to the principal of the school. The case is then investigated by a member of the committee for that district, who issues an order on a local dealer with whom previous arrangements have been made. At the end of each month all the schools send to the treasurer of the organization their bills and duplicate vouchers for clothing purchased. After careful auditing by another committee the dealers are paid. During the year there are purchased about 600 pairs of shoes and 500 garments. Through the home visiting of the Association's committee, many family readjustments have been brought about and funds secured for special needs. When the winter season closes and demands for relief are less pressing the Association takes up new interests. It began playground work with tent equipment supplied by the district superintendent. Local mothers' clubs of two districts, to raise funds for playgrounds, a supervisor, and apparatus, gave entertainments which resulted in a success- ful season of six weeks. What One Outside Relief Agency Has Done for Schools For over a half-century the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor has been emphasizing 46 PRIVATE GIVING the advantages of close school cooperation. Its work con- tains many suggestions for relief agencies in cities large or small. Long before general interest in schools was even pretended, in 1845, a list of rules for visitors included the instruction: "Endeavor by systematic attention to the edu- cation of the children of the poor through the aid of the public schools to fit them for the proper pursuits of life and to be introduced into society as industrious and useful citizens." Eight years later the Association led in a successful legislative campaign which ended in provision for the care of idle and truant children. The first two truant officers in the borough of Manhattan were secured by the Associa- tion in 1860, and two years later defects in the enforcement of the law were shown by citing cases of children not reached by these officers. To this relief agency is due the extensive system of vaca- tion schools which has resulted from the first two opened in 1894 and conducted by the Association for three years. At the beginning of the school year, 1905, teachers re- ceived from the relief department a little bulletin stating that it wished to cooperate with them and asking that school children in undesirable home conditions be referred for in- vestigation. A study of the school children guests at the Association's fresh air summer camp supplied the first estimates about children with physical defects. The percentage of children found to need attention was proved even larger by the de- partment of health's extensive examination, which showed that thousands were physically unable to meet school re- quirements. A committee was thereupon organized by the Association with expert investigators to find, from the board of health records, children needing medical, dental, or ocular care and better nourishment; to visit such children in their 47 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN homes in order to ascertain whether their need arose from deficient income or from other causes; to secure proper treat- ment, where possible, either from parents, from pubHc free cHnics, or other estabHshed agencies, and the proper physical surroundings for children while at school, playgrounds, baths, etc. An effort was also made to establish a system of school records and reports which would automatically disclose sig- nificant facts regarding backward pupils, truancy, regularity of attendance, registered children not attending, sickness and physical defects. The third purpose of the committee was to "utilize available information regarding school needs so as to stimulate public interest and thus aid in securing adequate appropriations to meet school needs." Investi- gations, lectures in public schools, and talks to teachers' and other associations, newspaper articles and magazine stories, were the first work of this committee. A comparative study of the methods employed in 100 cities to record, classify, and present significant school information was later published, entitled School Reports and School Efficiency, by David S. Snedden and William H. Allen. A handbook was prepared for teachers which located dis- pensaries and hospitals and gave directions how to use them. Unfortunately, it was never published, though the city's health department later issued a directory of the same agencies. Because so many children were found with defective teeth, one member of the conmiittee opened at the Children's Aid Society a free dental clinic. The most significant result of the committee's work was increased public interest in the physical examination of school children and the support given through budget hear- ings to the health department's request for more physicians. The many indirect results included the opening of a second free dental clinic, a thorough investigation into the question of school feeding and sanitary improvements, agitation for 48 PRIVATE GIVING playgrounds, ventilation and the disuse of dry sweeping, and bathing parties for 20,000 children taken to the puljlic baths in groups of from 50 to 200. During all this investigation and the activities resulting the Association was specializing and perfecting through the relief department the work with school children and teach- ers. About 1,000 families a year are referred for relief by school officials, and 66% of aU other cases are fam- ilies having school children. The amount of material relief given to these families approximates S60,000 a year. Every summer in its fresh air work the Association tries to accommodate as many school children as possible. Teachers and principals are notified early in the spring that the Association will be glad to have the names of children who are especially in need of an outing. About 2,000 a j^ear are given a nine days' outing at Sea Breeze, while for 9,000 or 10,000 more a day at the seashore is provided. The open- air school at Sea Breeze Hospital for children with bone tuberculosis, which has a teacher from the department of education, was the first in the country. From this record of long and multiform cooperation with schools the Association's feeling is clear — that the most valuable members of the families to deal with are the children, and that public schools are natural means of reaching them. Chariti/s Broader Opportunity In Elmira all the social, civic, and philanthropic agencies combine under the Social Service League, which, with relief as its foundation, has broadened, absorbed, launched boldly into various supplementary activities until it has become more than a relief agency — the clearing house for social service throughout the city. One outcome of this relief society's 49 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN broader interest was the preliminary medical examination of school children by the Academy of Medicine. In Harrisburg the Associated Charities, with a membership largely of men, aside from providing food, clothing, and eye- glasses, has been interested particularly in the night schools, and is helping to bring about the opening of school buildings as social centers. Besides starting playgrounds and social centers, the Associated Charities in Waterbury, cooperating with the Anti-Tuberculosis League, secured the use of anti-tubercu- losis textbooks by the upper grades of all schools. The Charities are now cooperating with the board of education in establishing an open air school and in securing special instruction for defective children who, the teachers say, are impeding the progress of the class. Principals are encour- aged to refer all cases of destitution. A relief society does its relief work better when it has the close cooperation of other organizations interested in the physical and mental uplift of children. With the fund of information about ''causes" which is contained in case rec- ords of school children's families the relief society has an excellent opportunity to point out next steps in big, pre- ventive, constructive work. The innumerable " whys " that only the school can answer and correct, the innumerable re- lief cases in the making that only the school can discover, possible readjustments, possible closer connections between teacher and parent — these are the relief agency's broader opportunity. IV SHORT CUTS TO PUBLICITY ABOUT SCHOOL NEEDS A "Twenty Questions" Index to School Needs 1. Does the school report interest you? 2. How often do you visit a school in session? 3. Do you talk "shop" to school teachers? 4. When is the school budget voted? 5. How much money is spent on schools? 6. How many children ought to be in school? 7. How many are in school? 8. Are children prepared for the vocations which they are likely to enter, because of industrial conditions in their cities? 9. Is there medical and dental examination of children in school each year? 10. How many children are repeating their grades this year? 11. Are salaries high enough to secure efficient teachers? 12. Is any one watching child labor enforcement? 13. Is any one interested in school sanitation and decorations? 14. Have school children the right kind of physical training or organ- ized athletics? 15. Are there hospitals or clinics where children can receive physical and dental treatment? 16. Do libraries and museums cooperate, or send loans to rural schools? ' 17. Do ministers ever preach on school questions? 18. How many parents' associations are there? 19. What is being done by schools and outside agencies for defective children — cripples, blind, deaf, mentally deficient, chronic truants? 20. What does the superintendent say the schools need most? Fostering Citizen Interest in School Reports It probably never occurred to you that a school report could be really interesting. They do exist, fascinating, help- 5 51 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN ful ones, far more than mere statements of statistics for the past year. Increasing emphasis is being put on the need for humanizing and making uniform school reports ''to secure more rehable information concerning the schools through better reports on the part of superintendents and other school officials." Every change which makes a report an attractive story with a meaning for the layman increases the superintendent's opportunity for getting at his con- stituency and the parents of his children. The form of reports, the arrangement, the use of illustrations and charts, the type, the number and kind of statistics, are always im- portant, but especially so when considered as a means of interesting the layman. To hold the parent or the interested outsider who wants to know how he can do something about schools, superinten- dents have found that it promotes good feeling and prepares the way for future requests for assistance to acknowledge the part taken by outside agencies. The superintendent in Newport says, "I always give credit where possible for anything done by our citizens for the schools." The super- intendent in Waco has a section in his report, "Mothers' Clubs and the Club Women," giving the details of women's interest which has resulted in decorations, drinking foun- tains, pianos, flagpoles, and improvements in school grounds. The Bureau of Municipal Research made an analysis of 70 school reports for the year 1910. The superintendent in Adams says that parents flock to the schools to become in- telligently interested; Leadville tabulates the number of parents' visits for the last three years; Salt Lake City notes the increased number of visits and resultant increased at- tendance and enrollment of pupils; Cedar Rapids tabulates the number of visits of teachers to homes and of parents to schools; Columbus speaks of parents' associations which cooperate to treat defective pupils and of physicians who 52 PUBLICITY AND SCHOOL NEEDS give practical hygiene talks at mothers' and teachers' meet- ings; Hyde Park mentions that the parents' association of 100 members bought a projection outfit for two schools and decorated the walls of school rooms; Pasadena speaks of the parents' clubs which have formed child study circles to cooperate with teachers; Decatur thanks the Mothers' Club which conducted medical and dental examinations in one school; Mt. Vernon notifies parents by printed cir- culars concerning changes and innovations in school work; Portsmouth writes that the Civic League conducted an evening school. But out of 70 reports only 21 made even brief acknowledgment of help received from the outside. Besides having their cooperation officially recognized, citizens want to know what is the superintendent's ideal for the schools, the points of special excellence and signifi- cance in the system, the most deplorable gaps, and, above all, the most necessary changes. Though a citizen may be greatly interested in schools and may have current informa- tion about school work, it is hard for him to know what to do to-morrow and the next day, how to begin, whom to con- sult, whose advice to follow. With this principle in mind the trustees of Bryn Mawr College have arranged a list of gifts with their prices, which includes everything that the college can possibly want in the way of endowment, buildings, equipment, gardens, and statues. It does not leave out any factor, any detail of a complete picture which stimulates and guides the desire to give, while obviating undesirable '^gift horses" whose mouths may not be safely inspected. The same may be done for any school system. Horace L. Brittain, when superintendent in Hyde Park, outlined in his report school needs in order of their im- portance, giving the cost of installation and of running ex- penses for one year, or for a certain number of years, until the experiment should be taken over by the school board. 53 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN HOW HYDE park's SUPERINTENDENT LISTED SCHOOL NEEDS Improvements and additions Expenses of equip- ment Annual running expenses Appropria- tion neces- sary for 1911-1012 on account of equip- ment Appropria- tion neces- sary for 1911-1912 on account of running expenses $250 $250 $200 $200 500 500 Extra liKhtint; aud ventilating in physical labora- 50 50 1,300 to 2,000 1,300 to 2,000 75 37.50 1,000 500 1,000 500 250 to 1,000 400 250 to 1,000 200 Household science in High School 250 400 250 200 150 75 100 150 100 75 SOO 1,000 800 500 310 310 Projection apparatus 300 360 l.OtX) to 1,500 500 to 1,000 1,000 to 1,.500 250 to 500 500 250 5CX) 500 Part-tinie inilustrial school 750 375 Increased equipment of textbooks and classroom GOO GOO liaising maximum of grade teachers' salaries to 500 250 School libraries 200 200 Full time for Truant Officer 400 200 Totalis 0.470 to S,420 6,S25 to 7,325 6,770 to 8,720 3.G12.50 to 3,SG2.50 54 PUBLICITY AND SCHOOL NEEDS In making their annual reports superintendents are asking themselves : What have other cities done about the things I am especially interested in — school gardens, for instance, or a free dental clinic? Is there ever a danger of reporting too many needs, since in this way I make it possible for people to choose the type of cooperation in which they are most interested and also show how complete is my 100% picture of what schools need? Is it wise to rank the lists of needs according to their urgency, thus directing outside help to the most pressing matters? In listing needs can I show in my report (a) first cost, (b) maintenance cost, (c) whether proper public charge, (d) or suitable object for private giving, (e) whether money or (/) service is needed? Is not an index indispensable in the complicated modern school report to enable the outsider to find at once the particular topics in which he is most interested? Is it more sensible to make my constituency think that the schools are perfect or to give a frank statement of needs and recognized inefl&ciencies? Am I afraid that if outside interest is encouraged people will suggest impossible, impractical things? This sort of interest is going to do harm if it is not brought out into the open and directed. There is cooperative energy there which needs a program. It is safer to have open criticism than simmering misunderstanding. As Prof. Simon N. Patten says, "It is better to support in an almshouse a man who cannot earn $1.50 a day than to have him at large in the community." Can I not contrast special needs which are the outcome of our local situation with the ways such needs are met in other cities? The superintendent who is at odds with his board finds in his report and in newspaper publicity his best opportunity for so bringing out facts that cooperating agencies, inter- ested individuals, and the press may reach their own con- clusions, and personal elements may be avoided. A situation of this kind in one city recently called forth a newspaper story from a prominent minister in defense of the super- intendent whose dismissal had been ordered by an "over- 55 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN conservative" board. In a new town where it is hard to start things the school report is the superintendent's oppor- tunity for interesting people and for disseminating informa- tion. Granted that reports can be made so attractive that they will be read, inviting cooperation in school reports means that teachers and parents are brought closer together and that school work is stimulated because the teachers feel that the head of the system is really interested in welcoming aid from outside. It means giving parents a wider vision of usefulness through schools, and of their part in bringing about school improvements, no matter how trivial. Suppose the superintendent says, ''My dear Mrs. Smith, if you come to visit our school to-morrow, and ask how you can be of use, you will hearten the teacher, encourage the pupils, stir up intelligent public opinion among your friends, and do yourself a world of good." Will not Mrs. Smith see a simi- lar opportunity when presented less personally in the annual report? In Houston the superintendent has interested a large number of business men in school work by educational banquets, for which this letter was sent out last year: You are cordially invited to attend a banquet of men interested in education in Houston, to be given at the Rice Hotel, Tuesday evening, March 28, beginning promptly at 7 o'clock. Incidentally, you are also invited to pay $1.00 for the same, just as all of us expect to do. If you know of any other men who are interested in education, and whom you would like to bring with you, you may do so, provided you notify us of your intention and see that the dollar is forthcoming in each instance. Those who have attended our former educational banquet will under- stand tliat the evening is to be given over to good-fellowship, with per- haps a little business at the close. The committee appointed at our last banquet will report at this one. We do not wish you to come unless you feel confident that you will 56 PUBLICITY AND SCHOOL NEEDS really enjoy it. If you do not accept this invitation we shall take it for granted that you lack either the time, the inclination, or the dollar. In either instance you will have our sympathy, and not the slightest offense will be taken. A little thirty-page booklet, called St. Louis Public Schools, served to give visitors at the National Education Asso- ciation Convention a bird's-eye view of that system. Why not have an attractive synopsis of school administration for distribution in your city? Newspapers and Superintendents Additional publicity about school needs and opportunities for cooperation is given through the press at the time the school report is published and throughout the year. Fre- quently the superintendent's report is printed in full, or a synopsis is prepared for the newspapers by the superin- tendent, who is thus sure of having the important points brought out. Through the newspapers of Marlborough the superintendent makes a strong plea for the formation of school and home associations, for parent visiting, and at- tendance at exhibits. He does not, however, suggest any next steps for getting these things done. In Lawrence an association of teachers publishes weekly a series of articles called Pedagogues and Parents, taking up timely questions and recommending definite ways in which parents may get in touch with school work. The aim is to inform the public as to what the schools are trying to do, why they are trying to do it, what the schools need, where the schools are weak, that the pubhc through its intelligent cooperation may help schools. These teachers, feeling that parents "ought not to sit down and wait for this information to be imparted to them," constantly urge mothers and fathers to visit the 57 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN schools and explain that no formality is involved, and a ''cordial welcome from the teacher and a hearty although unspoken greeting from the children are included." Most cities have little difficulty about getting school news into the papers. In Jamestown the superintendent wrote: We have the ready cooperation of the city press. The editors are al- ways ready to give us any needed space, and occasionally editorials call attention to special needs. One of the daihcs sends a reporter to the school nearly every day for news items. The superintendent in Wausaw gives credit for the excel- lent system of medical inspection *'to a skilful presentation of facts through the newspapers/' while in another city, during a rather difficult situation when a corrupt govern- ment was blocking all attempts at progress, the superin- tendent, with the cooperation of the leading daily, was able to go ahead with needed reforms. In New York four lead- ing dailies publish school pages, columns, and sections. The superintendent in Elmira writes of making a personal call on editors, "talking the situation over with them, telling them just what I wished to do, and asking for their co- operation. In every case the editors assured me that they would be more than glad to use anything of general interest which I would furnish them." From editors and those who understand the technique of using type the schoolman may draw suggestions for the set- up of his report, for the arrangement of headings, charts, and photographs that will best tell his story. A bulletin by the Bureau of Municipal Research, The Improving Repu- tation of School Reports, gives instances of the best form in some seventy reports. The Schoolman as Advertiser Information may be also disseminated by a school bulletin. Houston, for example, publishes a School Mirror, which every 58 PUBLICITY AND SCHOOL NEEDS pupil may take home. It gives a chatty story about dif- ferent schools, pointing out where each excels, noting athletic competitions, and reprinting prize essays. The Elmira School Bulletin, published monthly by the school board, contains suggestions for teachers and for parents, school notes, and reports of parents' meetings. Ithaca's Our Public Schools and Alameda's School Bulletin, both monthly publications by the boards of education, are in- teresting reading. Exhibits in schools gather all the parents together once in a while to see what the children have been doing. '' School Exhibit Is Attended by Thousands," said the newspapers in Altoona when it was opened with a social program prepared by teachers and pupils. In Selma's annual exhibit are in- cluded specimens of writing taken at random, maps, basketry, cardboard construction work, paper folding, sloyd, sewing, and woodwork. In other words, the purpose of the exhibit is to demonstrate as far as possible the routine work of the schools. A further purpose of the exhibit is to create an opportunity for teachers and school authorities to become acquainted with the patrons and friends of the schools. ; A superintendent, speaking recently about how he secured outside cooperation, said that it takes very little time and personal supervision on his part to keep going with a definite program an affiliated organization which is once started and on its own feet. A parent-teacher association working with a consistent policy requires only a small amount of direc- tion, given perhaps through a teachers' association or through the superintendent as a director. Superintendents must, however, have a strong enough connection with outside organizations to regulate the work done. ''We move slowly," says many an outside agency, "because we are afraid of going beyond the extent of our usefulness, and we do not wish to be considered rash." There is no reason 59 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN why, when a quick campaign is necessary, activity should be blocked by a tortoise-like group accustomed to move slowly. As one superintendent put it, the schoolman must ad- vertise as well as the business man who is trying to secure patrons. "Parents and the general public are our patrons. We must keep them in touch somehow with what we want to do." This is well expressed by the superintendent in Trenton, writing of the school needs which are most pressing: Probably the most fundamental need is the awakening of the minds and hearts of our citizens and taxpayers to the needs and possibihties of a really efficient system of public schools and the enkindling of a constant zeal on the part of Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, aristocrat and common people, to have a system of pubhc schools that will render the largest and best possible service to the city. For this purpose we should need a fund ample to support a school advocate, a sort of press agent or educational evangelist who, by articles in the newspapers, by pubHc addresses, by special letters to parents in various languages sent with the children to their homes, by personal conferences with individuals or groups of citizens and in other ways, would do all that might be done to establish the right ideal of the function of the pubhc school in a democracy and secure from all the people active, Uberal support and cooperation in making the schools all that they ought to be for the progressive reahzation of that ideal. The superintendent in Selma has repeatedly offered his wares to the parents, throwing open wide the doors of the schools by this letter: To My Patbons, — I am inclosing herewith a copy of my daily schedule of study. The purpose of this is twofold. First, I want every parent to feel free to visit class work at any period during the day, and this will enable any one to tell just when to come to see language, read- ing, arithmetic, etc. Second, this schedule will inform you exactly as to what classes recite each day, and you may thus be able to keep an eye on the child's preparation at home. I would hke to go further and say that 3^ou are invited, even requested, to visit our work at any time you choose. It is especially necessary that you see those classes at work in which your boy or girl gets poor marks. 60 PUBLICITY AND SCHOOL NEEDS And lastly, it will aid materially the progress of your child if you will kindly see that he is in school every day. One day's absence cannot be made up, though the work is done at home or during extra hours by the teacher, because the child loses sequence of work and continuity of thought which is beyond recall. The superintendent in Dayton gives on his letter head special office hours — "For Parents, Tuesdays, 6.30 to 8.15 P.M." Through school reports, exhibits of work done, news- papers, and personal or advisory connections with outside organizations superintendents have done their advertising, and according to their success have the schools benefited. Several superintendents have explained that the interest of citizens in their cities is limited by the lack of school funds and by the economic connection of schools with general prosperity. "We can count on the support of citizens as soon as the financial situation will justify our board in undertaking improvements." The superintendent in South Carolina writes that "public school interest is deep and wide spread. If the next five cotton crops sell at five cents, unprecedented educational development will most certainly follow." If constant measuring of schools by a money standard and emphasis on budgets seems to you pecuniary and distasteful, remember that every advance step means a school budget increase. Anything which cannot eventually be proved "worth its salt" to the common council or board of estimate will inevitably languish in the hands of outsiders and superintendents. When a need for increased appro- priation arises the superintendent who has steady support from the outside, besides his board of education, finds him- self better able to do for his schools what he sees should be done. School Inquiries Because of criticism from those inside and outside the school system has come the need for accurate, constantly re- el HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN curring statements through press comments, school reports, and special studies to show what the schools are doing, what they ought to do, and how they can be made to work with greatest efficiency. School inquiries like those for Newton, Greenwich, Dobbs Ferry, Syracuse, Wisconsin, and New York City have shown how helpful may be the right kmd of constructive criticism. The time will come when a com- munity will be considered backward if a thorough exami- nation of its school mechanism has not been made. The Tribune, in September, 1911, wrote of New York's inquiry, then under way: If public education has got into any ruts, this inquiry should show the people what the ruts are and how to lift the schools out of them. No matter how well the schools here are conducted, the stimulus of in- telligent outside criticism will be sure to be beneficial. The principle of having school inquiries conducted by out- side agencies is not new. In 1881 the Citizens' Association of Chicago set its educational committee to work on a general inquiry into the system of public schools. They took up four distinct problems, discussed the present situation, and suggested changes in legislation and increased appropriation. William H. Allen said recently: For the first time in the history of educational discussions in the United States, we are getting a democratic basis for the consideration of school problems, where the able man can by reporting facts as to retardation, physical examination, or arrangement of curricula earn higher rank as an educator than the superintendent of a large city school who neither seeks nor admits the truth. Inquiry and challenge being in the air, editorials in newspapers and magazines have raised questions in the minds of the parents, taxpayers, mayors, etc. Each schoohnan has come to feel that until he has explained the situation of liis schools to his own constituency he is on the defensive. School inquiries have been proposed by boards of educa- tion, by money voting bodies, public education associations, 62 PUBLICITY AND SCHOOL NEEDS boards of trade, newspapers, teachers, women's clubs, and superintendents themselves. In Amherst the School Al- liance has taken upon itself the burden of conducting a whole school inquiry. There is no reason why an outside organization cannot act as a constant school inquiry by engaging experts when necessary, bringing to bear the ex- perience of other cities and using the information of years of constant watching and intimate acquaintance with school affairs. But the Bureau of Municipal Research writes: Potentially — the best school investigator is the superintendent who wants to know his problem and his product. Potentially — the best tester of a class is the teacher in daily contact with that class wishing to know his or her problem and product. The Russell Sage Foundation has stimulated veritably hundreds of self-inquiries, by offering to tabulate and inter- pret, at its own expense, material collected on the proper blanks. There are certain fundamental principles on which an in- quiry by school officials or outside experts should be based. "The inquiry's plan and method should be explained to the public over and over again; the inquiry should start with problems uppermost in the public mind. As rapidly as con- clusive facts are obtained, and as rapidly as forward steps are possible, reports should be made to the school and to the public. Inquiries should be made obviously construc- tive from the first day — each forward step taken by the school brings new needs and new facts to light. No more should be reported at one time than the public can understand. School officials should be publicly put on record as to each subject or field reported upon by the inquiry." A thorough inquiry is a practical preliminary to out- lining a program of school cooperation by outside agencies. 63 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Making School N^cws Easy to Use During the last two years siiperinteiulents of schools, other educators, municipal officials, and the chief news- papers in cities of 7,000 inhabitants and over have re- ceived over 200 post card bulletins and small folders on all kinds of school matters. This is the method of meeting a nation-wide opportunity which the Bureau of Municipal Re- search of New York is using to universalize best methods, new facts, and self-inquiry in all fields of municipal ad- ministration. The details of this method arc given here, not only be- cause it has brought results in many cities, but because it can be used by any woman's club or chamber of commerce to keep those citizens currently and progressively informed whose interest in school matters is desirable. The theory is that even the busiest person is pretty certain to read small cards giving one idea at a time. (Fig 3.) ]\Iany bulletins like those on school reporting, non-promotions, and medical inspection are the results of questionnaires which have been sent out to superintendents with the pronnse that the re- turns will be made available for all schoolmen. A random selection of Efficient Citizenship bulletins, reprints of news- paper comments on school questions in other cities generally, brings out these headings: Plan Aid for Retarded Pupils (St. Paul) ; Medical Inspec- tion of Rural Schools (, Philadelphia) ; Lessen Strain on Pupils' Eyes (New York); Publicity Helps Education's Cause (California); ''Chicago" is New Study in Chicago Schools (Chicago) ; Teachers Physically Fit (New York) ; Grammar School Proficiency (New York); Training the Infant Citizens (Philadelphia) ; Bad Air in Schools (Kansas City); Do Rural Schools Need Health Supervision? (New York); What Subject is More Important than Doubtful 64 W:;l You Write Us What Extent Dentistry In Y Is Licenced or UnJicensei Violators Of Li City rensed? Prosecuted? ^Co^^ U,NL!CEN'SF.D DENTISTS Vdfl upon unliccnF^d denti/ <^-^ •'Oq_ ^^^ c->^ ^-^ Se«- HYGIENE '' ^ SCHOOL M.^0,,,^^^^ S^oo, Editor of The Glob. ■^i'- '"ethatth. ■'-"--J-ildren-s teeth""-' "°""°""^--' '"me piece of news when,, ""yeonferenc. Will there "P «>.- matter of ,„.. VV.ll they ever ,. ^ present coim^' tocho' '^ya'-efoiagtohold tfeth. TH. :. "■■"'" certainly a tooth. 3ny and be discussed at '"''"^ to take to iroslrationT 'Jnder the f^A :rj:..^K-^ ^'*'^^''^ :,# DENTAL HYGIENE CONFEEENCB AND EXHIBIT ■*» -A 1 Life BHg.. IS Eart 24th Street Mi; 12 -U, mo Qurlty OrganlsatioD Society Children 'e Aid Society Dental Hy^leiie Conncfl AsoocIatioD for JmproviD^ the Condition of the Poor Evening Meeting - See Newspaper Notices - Speakers: Senator Owen, Irving Fisher. Dr. Woods Hntchlnson, Dr. Lntber H. GuHck, Dr. George W. Goler, William Church Oebom, etc . Day-time StereopUcon Lectnree for ChikJran Fig. 3 SOME STIMULATORS OF INTELLIGENT INTEREST PUBLICITY AND SCHOOL NEEDS Pupils? (Williamsport) ; The High School (Montclair) ; School the Year Round (Cleveland); Some Newspapers Which Value School News (Rochester) ; The Need for School Investigations (New York) ; Handicap Race Toward Gradu- ation (Hoboken). On the bulletins sent to newspapers is usually printed, '^Will an editorial on this help your city?" Four and eight page folders like The Improving Reputa- tion of School Reports; When Do, Why do, Where Do Chil- dren Fail f are also distributed widely, as are reprints of articles in school journals and abstracts of addresses. It costs about $9 to print a double postal card and $5 to send it to 500 superintendents in 52 states. Newspapers are often glad to furnish the matrix for reprinting what they have said about school work, so the expense of this sugges- tion-circulating is comparatively very small. Handy in size and unique in coloring and set-up, the bulletins do not im- press the receiver as formidable or onerous communications. The Bureau has kept on sending bulletins to schoolmen, without asking how many profit from them. Sometimes, after a hundred bulletins have been sent to him without a re- sponse, a superintendent will write for more information about some particular fact that has caught his attention, advise a uniform size and form for filing, or ask to have his school trustees placed on the mailing list. Eighteen months after a card was sent out asking some questions about non- resident pupils the answer came back from one superin- tendent who had evidently not been interested in that particular question until then. That the bulletins have met a need in many cities, sample letters from superinten- dents show: Altoona, Pa. — I appreciate very much the copies of Efficient Citizen- ship, which you have been forwarding to me from time to time. Some of the suggestions contained in these articles are being appUed in our Altoona schools. 65 111^1 ri Nil scTTOOi nn iPKKN Cleveiaxp, Ohio. — I havo to thank you for copy of Scfux^l Ston'csi, which is tsii^i^ji^stiYO and intoiiNstin^. C")ur ofUoo ha^^ onioitni a few aii- ditional oopii^. and wo shall probably not\i mori\ 1 oonjjratulato you upon this helpful stinuilus to oiluoational progivss. Dk.nvkr, Col. — I have Kvn inioiiding for somo tin\o to write you oxprx^ssina: nn- appnviation of the wonderful work which you are doina; in eonntvtion with the Ruri\'Ui. . . . As a result of your work 1 shall wrtainly exennse gre.-uer eare in the pivparation of the local report and have alri\ady niatle nunieivus chansji^s in the character of the statistics to be sr:\therv\l for another n^ix^rt. Caixsiut^g. III. — I wish l\en^ to thank you for copies of Ejfident Citi:(t)ship you have sojU nie. I ftvl that they contain most vaJuable infi>rmation and that they will bo of jiriwt help to nie in my work here. Ijttle Fali^, X. Y. — We desiiv to thank your Buivau for its monil supiHirt in lines of activity new to the public and for its nw^onable sug- gt^stions in taking up those lines. Our school manual, inspircti to some extent by your citizenship letters, will be forwanltxi to >ou. WiLMiNinxtx. X. C. — During the past year I have btvn excivdingly intert\ you will i^mtinue ti> mail to mo whatever litoratuiv \ou ha\e. Special funds of from $50 to $10. (XX) ^lil^o the Dorothy Wliitnoy Riiui. page oo") havo boon givoit to the Buroaii for speoial sots of bullotiits. .V gift of $;^cX) was made to send out "follow-up" cards on the St. Ixiuis meeting of superintendents. 1912, The pin*pose of these cards was to give "one poiitt at a time, suggestions attd new facts that promise to be helpful to schoolmen throughout the eountrj'." The cards dealt with imiform methods of reporting with- drawals from school, overage children, non-promotions and failures, rural school problems, school inquiries, school census, school publicity, and steps in making an aiimial report . Of this tnethod of school work the Boston Transcript wrote in 1911. "This movement makes itself a sort of clearing house of everything new of value that is discovered to work well in ;iny part of the country." The Bureau's method GO PUBLICITY AND SCHOOL NEEDS has proved that proportionately large results can be secured by a small amount of money spent through some central agency to keep superintendents currently informed about the best things being done by schoolmen, no matter how obscure or small their schools. Any other outside agency can maintain this constant watchfulness of what is being done in other cities. Press comments, clippings from other cities, school reports, and letters from scPiool people give information which may be used to throw light on local situations. In New York, for example, suggestions from school reports in other cities have led to important changes in methods of reporting. Budget Exhibits Most people do not get a clear idea of what schools are doing when they read that the board of education is asking for 810,000 or .$25 for manual training and SI, 000 for special teachers. For the first, suppose you su?jstitute the sight of carved taborets, book racks, tables, shirtwaists, mechanical drawing plans, iron candlesticks, and home made bread, or charts showing a black section in a circle for the number of children who do not take part in making these things. For the second, suppose you substitute books used by h)lind children in learning to read, pictures of children singing, and perhaps an original musical composition. No one can look at, hear, and handle these things without a definite understanding of how most of that .S10,000, S2.5, and .$1,000 is going to be spent during the next twelve months. Very few people visit schools or see enough kinds of school work to comprehend even vaguely the thousand and one things that schools are doing. We receive a condensed and vivid impression through concrete objects and graphic representations by pictures and charts and figures. And 6 67 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN the effect is the same whether the money involved is $100,000 or $100. Any exhibit of school work is interesting and worth while, but no exhibit is quite so worth while or quite so unforget- able as a school exhibit which is combined with the story of what teachers and administrators want to do next year. That story can be told completely only at budget time. Suppose, for example, that vacation schools are tried ex- perimentally in your city and found to be very successful. Pictures and perhaps a demonstration of children doing raffia work at the budget exhibit show that clearly. "We need $10,000 more next year to give 20,000 more children this opportunity," says a chart. Supplementing this there is perhaps a talk by the director of vacation schools, or the superintendent of schools, who tells just what they want to do with the extra money. The public understands and approves. It says so through the newspapers and at tax- payers' hearings, and the extra vacation schools are easier to get. Of course a real budget exhibit does not limit itself to school material, but includes health, streets, finance, pav- ing, and police. There is nothing more thrilling than the yearly show held just before New York's budget is voted. You see, for example, a booth where measures with false bottoms and sides and hoppers made over-heavy by pieces of iron underneath are shown to wondering housekeepers. There is a model dental clinic with chair and equipment. The last word in motor fire engines and the Bertillon system of catching crooks are explained by city employees. Hun- dreds of processes, hundreds of acts being performed every day by 85,000 employees, are here demonstrated, explained, revealed to everybody. And there is no doubt about people being interested. Eight hundred thousand visits were paid during four weeks in New York, and thousands of columns 68 HOW SI 00 IS SPENT KEY feoc/ien Saloriei 7 Manual Troiniha 10 tTediMl Inspection II Pn'niinij O/ficiolj ondjon'tori 3 pvemng School '" ' Repairs B< fUrnitvrs 3 /neuron cg Supplioi s Tact Books . , l-4-GiijiPkctric Li<)ht IZ J ojiitor]' Supplies IS Water 13 Transportarion 16 Rert of Hi tlio scIkh)! ourrii'uluiu move micivsi'xui^ ami I'lvativo work which may bo I'ontiuiuHi after school hours and keep boys busy on (irawini^-, wood carving-, ilesigning, and iron work. At the same time a scries of pictures anil talks in schools can show the dangers and unpleasantness of tranij) life. Sotnething like the boy scout movement, reaching boys through normal adventure, might be extendeil to smaller conununities. Better preparation and higher standanls for teachers are most fundamentally necessary. \'oluntary organizations, women's clubs, or civic leagues can be used at once to further this social, preventive work. Irregular attendants in schools are potential tramps, and teacher or attt>ndance otlicer should be enlisted to see why these boys do not come regularly. ^^'luM•e truancy is the result of {physical defects, treatment by physicians is needed. ()ur schools are su{>posed to have every boy just at the ilangerous age. If our schools are inadetiuate ami children do not attenil, the entire conununity shi>uld hel{) them lead the tight against truancy. How in;uiy truants woro ropiMiod last year by poIit'cuiiMt? l\v iH'i\ato I'iti/.rns? In montioninji truain-y in liis annual roport, iloos tho suporintomliMit toll tlio supposod i-ausos? Wlmt is tiio use of ivfonuing-, at groat oxih"i\so. ohronii-ally bad boys, if si'hools jviui homos are going right on nianut'ai'turing moro bad boys in spite of known prevent ivo measures? Are ohildren. oondonmed by the teaohor as uninanagoablo, put on probation? Sontonood without [M'obntion? l)ro[){vd from sohool without provision in a detention homo or parental soiiool? How nuu'h money does tho oity, state, or ommty spend on its eor- reetional institutions? How nuu'h would it eost to put preventive, soeiali/.ing activities into the sohools? To start " bati boy " solu)ols? To have aikniuato probation? Is it praotieable to give partioular attention to "bad boys" by special classes in the regular schools? 7S COMMUNITY PROBLEMS Anti Child Lahor or Pro ComjmUf/ry EducM'lon? W>ir3n our schools shall reach out and give practical help to every child, the pro?jlerri of child labor will be largely solved." The National Child Labor Coirunittee and its local branches throughout the country are connected with schools because they endeavor to secure laws for the pro- tection of working children; to agitate for technical educa- tion, vocational guidance, and special classes; to standard- ize state and city school reports; and to interest the public in birth and registration laws. In Connecticut the Child Labor Committee and the Con- sumers' League made it possible to have a vocational coun- selor in the sctiools and planned his work from a previous study of vocational guidance in other countries. The New York Committee has made studies of school attendance and truancy. Its two expert investigators help the department of health see that working certificates to children leaving school at fourteen are based on actual evidence of birth, school attendance, and health. This has convinced school author- ities that the issuing of certificates is not an unnecessary form. Scholarships are secured for some of the children who otherwise would be forced to leave school. Truants and illegal workers are reported to the school officers by the Committee's visitors, and are watched for a month to see whether their school attendance is regular. In most states, however, anti child labor interest has to do exclusively with legislation. But the child labor expert is more than a state capitol lobbyist. He knows how laws should be enforced, and locally he can give constructive suggestions about meeting problems of truancy and non-attendance. A sec- retary of one state committee writes, ''In some places, though representing only a private association, I was able 79 HELPINC SCHOOL CHILDREN to have almost the authority of a state inspector simply through my kno\vledf2;e of the subject." Anti chilli labor work has readily won the cooperation of org;anized women, hi Rhode Island, for example, where the child labor committee grew from the State Federation of Women's Clubs and the Public Education Association, statements about the labor laws for women and children and how they should be amended were sent to all the mothers, clubs in the state. Women in rural conununities were urged to use these arguments in personal appeals to their local representatives in the legislature, while talks in cities to meetings of business men, women, and ministers created widespread interest. After three years of this campaigning the desired amendments were passed. Through the Con- sumers' League in Mt. Vernon cooperation in giving working papers was secured between the schools and the health department. The League's child labor conmiittee investigates children whose parents cannot furnish sufficient evidence, supplies temporary scholarships, and" refers needy cases to relief agencies. It keeps school officials and teachers stocked with publications about industrial conditions and legal facts that assist them in their work, and interests merchants in the enforcement of laws regai'ding mercantile establishments. The first move against child labor or for compulsory education is to find out how many children should be com- pulsorily educated. In St. Cloud the Woman's Club made a house-to-house canvass of the whole city, with uniform blanks. Not a child escaped the \vatchful eyes of these mothers, and their work made the city intelligently aware of its assets in children. This school census brought big returns to the givers. It meant a permanently honest esti- mate of school facts. Any individual or any agency can make preliminary studies to find out how the compulsory education so COMMUNITY PROBLEMS law is being enforced or to show the need for such a law. ''Last week a member of the school board attempted to satisfy himself as to the statement that the compulsory education law is not being enforced. For half an hour during school hours he questioned each boy and girl of school age whom he met on the streets. A dozen or more were found, and in not one case was there a legal reason for absence. Several confessed they had not been in school for months. A similar test can be made by any resident." In this Pennsylvania city arrests had not been made for several years and the penalizing privilege of the attendance officer seemed to mean nothing. Your city might be compared with others as to the number of arrests made per population. Pin maps, locating the at- tendance officer's activities, show graphically what is hap- pening to the compulsory education law, and which dis- tricts need more attention. Model forms for recording truants and visits by officers are available from every child labor committee, with descriptions of systems under one, two, or ten attendance officers, and information about the most up-to-date arrangements for special "bad boy" classes or for parental schools. A state department of education may draw upon the ex- perience not only of its state, but of all other states, through the National Child Labor Committee. Suggestive details about method are available — about using newspapers, writing letters to prominent citizens, getting state author- ities to withhold school revenue until attendance officers are appointed, instituting prosecutions, and cooperating personally with superintendents. One secretary writes of districting his state in a campaign for a school law and making visits of enlightenment to 50 city superintendents. The problem of the working child is closely, inextricably mixed with school administrative problems, health ques- 81 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN tions, vocational training and guidance, industrial demands, the needs of defective and indigent children. The child labor committee in your city might easily be the center of school cooperation, the "children's bureau" to correlate all other agencies. The latest information regarding state work for child labor and compulsory education may be obtained from the National Child Labor Committee, 105 East Twenty- second Street, New York. Making Citizens in Our Public Schools Courses in civics have been included in the school cur- riculum for years, and outside agencies have organized to supplement what seems to them perfunctory teaching by more personal training in the meaning of citizenship. One of the laboratory methods by which children in several cities learn to be good citizens is the school city or re- public, a type of pupil self-government which imitates the municipal activities most familiar to children. There are in some schools a legislative body, a judicial body, and a mayor, with his council and board of aldermen. When a boy is mayor he just about runs the school, and his com- missioners see to it that his administration is a notable one. After a long fight in one school, the suffragists elected a girl as mayor. The earnestness and sincerity of the chil- dren under this regime cannot be questioned. Some prin- cipals say that it makes discipline easier. Others think it does no good, and still others that it takes too much time on the part of teachers or encourages embryo grafters. The truth is that the success of the school city form of self-government depends almost entirely on the intelligent interest of teacher or principal, which in turn may be de- pendent on outside interest. For information, address School Citizen's Committee, 2 Wall Street, New York. 82 ■ „i^ilL» .^ i i i P:tPf\, fWKH ■TFyi 8' t! 1 "m^^ r^ T- BOYS CIVIC club: jersey city: in a school house VACATION community SERVICE: ELMIRA : THROUGH A CHURCH MY TOWN : NEW YORK: BY A CITY HISTORY CLUB THREE ROUTES TO EFFICIENT CITIZENSHIP COMMUNITY PROBLEMS Another helper in civic training is the City History Club, which forms groups in settlements, chiu*ches, and occa- sionally in public schools. In New York these children are taken by trained teachers to see the sights of the city. They visit sessions of the board of aldermen, investigate in person the work of the park or street cleaning commis- sioner, and are made to feel responsibility and pride in the city property. Before extending this personal civic training through the public schools teachers must be made intelli- gent about the workings of city government. This is done by special training classes and lectures. Still another agency in New York, the People's Institute, maintains a clipping bureau with files of printed matter on all topics, civic, legislative, and municipal, for distribution among schools. The National Municipal League discusses instruc- tion for citizenship at its meetings, and maintains a per- manent committee to promote the teaching of civics in public schools. There are many other agencies, groups of women and men throughout the country, endeavoring to make more effective the civic training in our public schools. But no one method of doing it has been found much better than any other method. Each experiment is considered adequate by its supporters, and yet the years go by and our children are turned out no better acquainted with the cities they live in and their duties as citizens than they were fifteen years ago. There is no doubt that children are interested in "civics," if presented in the right way. A perfectly apathetic class will wake up and take notice when the teacher begins to ask, "What can you do to help the street cleaning de- partment?" Denver publishes a little weekly paper telling just what is going on in all departments; and to keep school children informed and interested in the innumerable processes of 7 83 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN city government, Mumdpol Facts is used by public* school classes as a textbook. Business men and organizations might see that tielil work in eivio training is inehuiod in the sylhvbus and that nuMiey for supervisors and extra teachers is inchided in the school budget. There are many oppor- tunities for individual members of good government clubs, voters' leagues, and short ballot associations to give talks in schools. With the development of the social center and the formation of civic clubs in the public schools several ways of making citizenship interesting are being discovered, which give men and women in public atl'airs a chance to interpret their experiences to school children. The Boy Scouts vs. Jurcnile Delinquency "A scout is a friend to all and a brother to everj^ other scout." Scoutcraft organization, with the forms and regalia of military service, appeals by its romance and spirit of ad- venture, its drills and "liikes" to the country. Almost any day a patrol of sturdy boj's with the flag at their head can be seen marching through our streets. One of the basic arguments for the existence of the boy scout movement is that it trains boys to feel their relation to society and the state, not by fostering militarism, but by developing man- liness, self-reliance, and generosity. Several scout masters say, however, that the organization is hampered by not having recognized connection with any permanent institu- tion. Scout literature still fails to mention public schools as one of the recruiting grounds, which include churches, Y. M. C. A.s, and settlements. In a few cities close co- operation exists between scouts and schools, in which nine- tenths of the Denver patrols, for example, are formed. They meet at the school buildings and use large auditoriums for their genenil conferences. 84 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS In Washington, D. C, troops meet in one of the schools once a week just after hours. ''The school authorities," writes the secretary, ''are interested in the experiment, and if it succeeds, troops in schools will be quite general through- out the city." Meanwhile the use of buildings for this pur- pose is questioned legally, and until the corporation counsel makes a favorable decision the Boy Scouts must stay outside the schools. If the preliminary organizing of the movement were now as closely connected with the schools as are, for example, public school athletic leagues of twenty cities, there would proh>ably be less difficulty in securing permission to use school property. The alleged reason for the absence of special school connection among scout patrols is the diffi- culty in getting enough male teachers to be able and willing leaders. Athletic leagues have found no such difficulty. Teachers and principals have responded with time and in- terest, and sometimes with money. A scout secretary recently wrote me asking how scouts in other cities cooperated with educational authorities. When I wrote for this information the national headquarters re- ferred me to the same secretary who had asked the ques- tion. What more important object has a national associa- tion than constantly collecting information from all branches and making available definite suggestions about methods, such as this secretary wanted? If Denver and Washington and some of the smaller cadet organizations in rural coun- ties are finding cooperation with schools successful, every scout master in the country should know about it. The national headquarters should be an up-to-date clearing house. It is interesting to know that the labor unions oppose the scout movement because it fosters militarism and obedience to law. From Reading we hear that a troop of scouts in the high school "has met much opposition from the so- 85 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN With all this, the grade teachers, as well as the physical training instructors, have been heartily in sympathy, giving their afternoons freely. Yet the League could not have reached its present success except for the constant co- operation of outside men and women who have given money for its support, have sought publicity for it, and endeavored to make the community realize that athletics ought to be a recognized part of the school system, and ought to reach every boy and girl. Here is a continuous opportunity for individual members of athletic clubs to help in umpiring games or serving as referees and timekeepers. One man in another city, who has reached the dignified position of a legislator for his state, acts as chief coach for football and baseball in the public schools. In training the girls, also, volunteers give their afternoons to act as coaches and referees. Field hockey especially, which is suited to high school and upper grammar school girls, needs volunteer cooperation in its development. Since its foundation, this New York League has been imitated all over the countr}", some twenty cities now hav- ing organized athletics in public schools. They have been started by school superintendents, by groups of business men, or by the alumni. It is comparatively simple in any city to have a flourishing athletic league under way within a short time. For information concerning by-laws, rules, and championship contests, write for the year book of the Public Schools Athletic League, 500 Park Avenue, New York. Spalding sells for ten cents an official handbook of the League, giving all the rules for each event, records, and championships, and also a handbook on girls' athletics. But in order to have any kind of athletics, it is necessary to have the proper fields and equipment. This requires private money until budget changes can be secured which 88 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS recognize athletics as simply a part of the sensible physical training of school children. In Reading the alumni of the high school have made possible the purchase of a large ath- letic field, and the Olivet Boys' Club sends its athletic di- rector among the schools to talk to boys and teachers about physical training and athletics. What it means to children in a large city, some of whom have seen no place big enough to play in except the streets, hard-paved playgrounds, or dirty vacant lots, to have all the fun and inspiring experience of organized athletics, of team play, of inter-school competition, of doing things to- gether, is proved by the happiness and health in their faces and bodies. Similar benefits are bound to become a part of every public school system sooner or later. The Opportunity for Service by Religious Societies of Young People Through its national, international, intercollegiate and local groups the Y. M. C. A. is in touch with schools in several ways. It aims to cooperate '4n all good efforts," and has direct access to the schools through teacher mem- bers. In one of the New York branches, for example, 25 teachers meet weekly in the Association rooms to discuss school matters. Members for Y. M. C. A. summer classes are secured by circularizing the public schools. It has po- tentially as close a connection with individual schools as has any public education association and an equal chance to study actual school needs and initiate school improvements. Y. M. C. A. workers in some cities have undoubtedly given much time to school questions, especially to physical training and vacation schools. Local branches make special rates to school boys for gymnasium classes and swimming lessons, and train them as leaders in school athletics. In a 89 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN western city all the selux^ls had the use of the pool free one sunnuer, and the Association otTered a prize to the sehool which sliowed the hu'gest number of boys able to swim. Of this and poultry clubs formed in the school, the superin- tendent writes, "It is to be rej;retteil that these activities were not made permanent features of the Y. M. C. A." Some branches in New York give free lessons in swimming to public school boys in sununer time. One branch intends to see that every boy in the district's schools knows how to swim. Several branches employ high school secretaries to secure speakers for assemblies, arrange for series of talks by business men on vocations, and act as vocational coun- selors to the boys. This much-needed work should be ex- tended until vocational advising and the cooperation of manufacturers and business men with schools is made a delinite part of a. city's business. School cooperation on a large scale means publicity and action at budget time. AA'hy should not a Y. M. C. A. support the board of education's rec|uest for more vaca- tion schools, more gj'nniastic equipment, more and better teachers for special classes? This kind of cooperation is not yet a definite part of a Y. ]\I. C. A. program. School work may be very important in one district and completely ignored in the next. In large cities the central organiza- tion does not try to keep all branches in touch with the best work done in any one, though eventually the news spreads. It was declared impossible at a central oflice in one of oiu' Lu'gest cities to tell where the best things were being done by Y. M. C. A.s for schools throughout the country. It was necessary to send out a (luestionnaire in order to secure this information. Is not an opportunity lost by not having a central fact-collecting bureau for the Y. M. C. A.'s work with schools or a clearing house for suggestions from the ex- perience of lociil associations? 90 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS Too often the Y. M. C. A., instead of helping and forcing the school system to be efficient, seems to argue that the school system is inefficient; therefore, private supplementary- work should be started on a small scale. Why should the Y. M. C. A. have to maintain a day school for retarded pupils when the board of education is supporting un- graded and vacation classes? Why should public school and Y. M, C. A, be working separately for the same end, when the Y. M. C. A. might use its work as an argument for similar attention to all boys under the school system? Anything that a Y. M. C. A. considers worth doing for its members and associate members is worth getting done for all boys. Has a Y. M. C. A. ever said frankly: ''We are doing about one-half of one per cent of the work needed along these lines. We cannot ever do what needs to be done. We must work until the schools themselves are made able by public support and budget increases to do this for 100% of those needing it"? Using the Association as a laboratory, anything learned about summer instruction or special classes for backward boys should be spread broadcast throughout the country. For example, the Young Men's Hebrew Association in New York is using motion pictures to supplement class work in elementary subjects. The course given by this Association is correlated with the regular school syllabus; any advantages discovered will be made public property, and an effort will be made to get the same thing into the schools. Granting that the Y. M. C. A. is doing splendid work, it has an opportunity for more extended usefulness by calling attention to, instead of ignoring, the struggling school system in each community. The time and money spent in advertising school needs not only advertises what the Association is trying to do, but proves that it is in the highest sense working for the betterment of all mankind. 91 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN As a special group, young Christians or Hebrews have more than a light trusteeship. The fact that they are able to join these associations means that they are receiving opportunities which others are not receiving. Everything true about a Y. M. C. A. and Y. M. H. A. is true for the corresponding organizations of women. Special classes for handicraft and modes of recreation are carried on with inattention to the bulk of girls who are not getting these privileges because they cannot belong to the Y. W. C. A. In schools only is U)0''(^ ot" the problems facing these asso- ciations of men and women seen. When opportunities through schools have been recognized and seized, communities will be even more ready to fin*nisli funds for the support of these outside agencies. Schools and Peace Our national bureau of education has asked all American schools to observe Peace Day, May 18th. The 20,000,000 children who have their attention called over and over again to arguments for universal peace during twelve school years will help make future public opinion strong for inter- national justice and fraternity. This is the purpose of the American School Peace League, 405 Marlborough Street, Boston, though at present the work concentrates on the teachers through normal schools and conventions. Because children should be steeped in the spirit of good will, the Massachusetts branch of the League has worked out a grad- uated course of talks beginning with the first grade. Little children are led to be kind to pets and playmates, older ones to appreciate the ties of city or town by a "course in moral training based on lessons in civics, literature, geography, and history." to be correlated with the regular school work. State branches of the League distribute literature among school and college libraries. History courses are being re- 02 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS modeled to emphasize peace instead of war, on the theory that children old enough to study history are old enough to understand the Hague Conference. Prizes for peace essays are offered yearly by the League and by several chambers of commerce to pupils in secondary and normal schools. A charming pageant was given at a public school com- mencement when lovely Peace and dread War, with all their minions and followers in allegorical costumes, strug- gled for power over the mind of a little school child. You will be glad to hear that, though sorely tempted by the glamour of battles and adventures, the child finally sided with Peace. During the year the eighth-grade classes in this school — under the principalship of Katharine D. Blake, treasurer of the National Education Association — had written to the secretaries of war in every country in Europe and Asia, asking how much the nation spends on war and how much on education. The answers came even from China and Brazil; foreign potentates showed themselves much interested in this phase of the peace movement at least. Whatever the arguments for and against international peace, the value of training children in the spirit of good will cannot be questioned, or the advisability of having teachers enrolled in the campaign for fraternal feeling. Shall women's clubs and parents' associations carry the peace movement farther and into the children's homes? The United States bureau of education has published as Bulletin 476, Peace Day, with suggested programs for school observances, essays, songs, and bibliography. The Public Library and the Schools It is really astonishing how long it has taken libraries and schools to realize that they have something to give each other. Even now school cooperation is just beginning in 93 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN some libraries, and has not been considered by many others. Some hbrarics have children's rooms or special stacks where children may browse. Others keep story hours or send books to scliools. Stimulating cooperation is given by the Newark Public Library under the direction of John Cotton Dana. In a pamphlet, The Library's Work with the Public Schools, the connections are described — cases of books for each classroom, reference work with children, exhibits, clipping files, and collections of textbooks for teachers. Inspectors are sent to keep school libraries in order and mend mutilated volumes; for in Newark all books in schools are provided by the Library, and any classroom may have as many as it pleases if the teacher will take the trouble to write or ask for them. When children have essays to write they find ready help at the library in selecting reference books. The ones most frequently called for by essay writers are kept on handy shelves. Yet years have been consumed in getting about half the teachers interested in these opportunities and in showing them concretely just how their work may be enriched and sim- plified by cooperation with the library. To get directly in touch with teachers, some branches of the New York Public Library have ''school assistants" who visit each school, and tell the principal and teachers just how the library w^ants to help. Teachers bring classes during the last morning or afternoon period to the children's room, where a brief talk is given about inventions, or flying machines, or history; and the most interesting books for boys or girls, as the case may be, are spread out for them to handle. Teachers themselves have special privileges in taking out reference books. Notices about books of in- terest to teachers are posted on school bulletin boards. Similar work, but perhaps more personal, is being done by the small library at Wliite Haven, Pennsylvania. y4 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS Library work even in Newark and New York is only with some of the schools, with a comparatively small per- centage of teachers. From the point of view of both li- brary and school, it is ''an extra" as yet. Only by patient offering of wares will the teachers be convinced. Much more could be done in some cities if the heads of school systems would emphasize the library's message, would make a point of showing appreciation for what is offered and suggest new ways, changes in method, perhaps, which would make cooperation more valuable from the school point of view. How much initiative should rest with the library, how much with the superintendent of schools, does not matter. The library's value to schools and the school's importance to the library has been thoroughly proved. It does not need to be tried out any longer. It will soon be considered evervwhere a test of school and library efficiency. One obstacle to the combining of library and school is the attempt of schools — ^very successful in some cases — to do library work, to distribute their own books. When as- suming work that a library is prepared to do, duplication is unfortunate because it makes it harder for the library to develop its logical place among educational institutions in the city. It is especially to be deplored when a large, forced circulation among school children is used as an argument for spending more money on school libraries. In one city every child is required to register and take home a book Friday night. It frequently happens that a boy of ten will have only books on sociology or mechanics to select from. The figures of books registered — not read, mind you — are used to prove the success of the school libraries and the need for larger appropriations. The same situation prevails in other cities. Women's clubs give a school library without finding out whether they are crippling the public library. 95 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Everybody agrees that money should be spent by the eity on books for children. AVhen s]>ent thronjih the library an entire expert force is available; business can be done wholesale, and, therefore, more cheaply. When spent tln-ough the school, supervisors are required, and repairs, which detract just so nuich from the appropriation for books. Logically, as the Library Journal has said, it is probably true that in the great city, as in the small one. the best results would be reacheil by having the school libraries branches of the public library. In the issue of that magazine for April. 19L2. you will find several excellent papers on school work from the librarian's point of view. lUusiraiors of Xatural History Just how a museum, that vast collection of things in cases, can be of practical use to school teachers and children is shown by the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Loan collections of stuffed birds and animals, charts, cases of insects and minerals, were distributed among 385 schools in 1011 to illustrate work in nature study. The nuiseum bears the entire expense of delivering and call- ing for exhibits. This work was later supplemented by lectures at the museum and the establishment of a room where children can come to use specimens, draw, and make models in clay. Special opportunities are offered to lure teachers with their classes, for, as with the art nuiseum, they do not at once see where this institution can be of actual service to them in their routine work. Notices posted in schools and individual letters to principals tell just how the nuiseum would like to help. A demonstrator will take teachers through in groups. Free admission is, of course, a stimulator, and then there is a lantern with stereopticon slides which may be borrc wed. COMMUNITY PROBLEMS Other museums are handicapped in their work with schools by not having money enough for delivering to the schools the loan exhibits needed. They are thus able to benefit only those teachers who are already interested enough to call at the museum for things. This necessitates slow de- velopment of cooperation. To establish definite school re- lations with the Field Museum in Chicago, Mr. N. W. Harris has given a foundation of $250,000, thus enabling the museum to send its collections broadcast and encourage children to visit the institution itself. But even in the most progressive museums the school work is as yet rather a fad, not a legitimate part of the scientific guarding of treasures. Zoological gardens and aquariums have the same educa- tive resources. "School" ought to mean occasional visits to the zoo, where things you learn about in geography and nature study are pointed out. The joy every child feels in seeing beautiful, alive things reflects in school work. Why should not each room have its pet animals to teach children the care and understanding of pets? Some people hold that our museums should be broken up and divided among schools so that each will have its own reference museum for nature study. The Natural History Museum is bringing about the desired result by starting permanent exhibits in some schools. A few objects, per- haps duplicates from the museum cases, are the nucleus about which the children themselves make their own collection. Each gift or "find" may be labeled with the child's name, thus stimulating individual pride, school pride, and science pride. When schools have their own collections it is pos- sible to specialize, to give the high school what is needed for more advanced work in natural sciences, the lower grades the simpler things. In cities where there is no museum the citizen who wants to give has a great opportunity. An 97 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN initial $100 or $200 will establish equipment for the finest sort of museum. One gift in a city makes for others. Scientists and science teachers will cooperate. People will find things tucked away in their attics which will prove valuable. A spare store room may be utilized until enough material is collected by all the schools to start the city museum. Other City Departments and the Schools Has your city a special division or office in its health de- partment for children's work? With the development of health work in schools the health department inevitably is brought in touch. When there is no definite appropriation for inspectors under the board of education, the department's physicians usually make inspection for transmissible diseases. It is a much mooted question in many cities whether the medical work for school children ought logically to be a part of the educational system or a part of the health board's duties. Outsiders, fortunately, can work for the health of school children through either department. The formation of ''little mothers' " leagues in New York has shown how nurses and physicians can approach the problem of infant mortality by training girls from six to sixteen in the care of their younger sisters and brothers. Prizes are offered at the health department's clinics for the best-kept baby. The lectures held on recreation piers and in playgrounds throughout the summer months especially are thronged with these little mothers. Clubs of big mothers, too, have been talked to in school about health by the department's physicians. A woman's club can arrange for such conferences. Hospital cooperation in treating children for physical de- fects has been stimulated by health departments. In New York cards were distributed for use by all hospitals. 98 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS HOSPITAL-DISPENSARY To the Department of Health: Uving at has received (surgical) (medical) treatment at this (hospital) (dispensary) for — — - — - — — on the following dates: Date M. D. Date M. D. Date M. D. This card is to be kept by the child receiving treatment and presented to the doctor at the dispensary or doctor or nurse at the school whenever called for. More complete illustrations of cooperation for the health of school children follow in Chapter IX. It should not be necessary to request the police board to report any children under school age seen on the streets during school hours. The police, a census board, or group of men and women can locate each child in the city to discover whether he is in school, or vv^hat he does if legally at work. Park departments and those who have charge of piers and docks have given valuable cooperation by making space available for athletic contests and playgrounds. School gar- dens for children in parks, the use of greenhouses for nature study, supplies of seeds — through these can park depart- ments help. To assist the overworked street cleaners juvenile leagues were organized among school children in New York by Colonel Waring. As one league announced, ''their purpose is to keep the school and the district wherein the school lies clean." Is there any department in your city which is not in some way connected with schools? Most mayors and council- « 99 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN men. obeying the tradition that there is somethinc; sacred and "dil^Vrent " about schools, have kept their hands otT and left systems to educators. The mayor of IMontpeher, how- ever, hohis that as "the schools are the big-gest spenders of money, they shoukl be the greatest concern of the city's chief executive." He does not see why, though he has never been a schoolmaster, the educational department should be more immune from close cooperation of the mayoralty than are streets, bridges, and other public works. Is he right? How Children's Institutions Help Educate How many children of school tigo in your state are not attending pubhc. private, or parochial scliool, because they are in institutions, or hiilden away at home? Is the instruction in institutions as good as that, given to more for- tunate children? Is it adapted to special mental or physical defects? Do private or semi-pubUc institutions in your citj'' examine all children in their care for physical defects? There are hospitals where children, chronically ill or crip- pled, must live their neglected little lives. There are re- formatcn-ies, few of which, apjiarently. reform. There are asylums, prisons, and segregated villages for epileptics. It is fortunate that the bedside-visiting, flower-giving kind- ness with which good people have brightened lives in in- stitutions is being supplemented by attention to the funda- mental possibilities of each child. Singing to children in a hospital on Sunday eveiltng is in itself a beautiful thing to do. Is it beautiful enough if those children are sut^'ering every day and every year from inefficient teaching or from lack of individual attention mentally? In one city hospital a little blind girl went mad because, with work for other chronic cripples, the teacher supplied COMMUNITY PROBLEMS by the board of education had neither time nor skill to teach this single, doubly-handicapped child. Education within institutions should be adapted not only to the major classifications — i.e., deaf, blind — but to tv/o classifications. Where should a child be educated who is both deaf and in- corrigible, who is crippled and mentally deficient? Problems like these must be solved by visiting committees of State Charities Aid Associations, or other bodies whose purpose is to watch what is happening in all institutions. It is comparatively easy to tell that education is inefficient, that handicapped children are not having the chance they should, or that more vocational work should be given. But to secure better-trained teachers, scientific methods, psychological examination, and vocational equipment is quite another matter. A visiting committee armed with definite information which is supplemented by personal ob- servation is a powerful ally for children in institutions, and should certainly be free from subservience to any party or politics. With our present knowledge of what can be done with and for defective children of all kinds, there is really no excuse for having in our institutions systems of education that were considered adequate twenty years ago. After years of contact with the defective children in in- stitutions, the State Charities Aid in New York has con- cluded that all children, normal or abnormal, should be under the jurisdiction of school authorities, with provision for the special education of those who cannot attend the ordinary public schools. We should like to see every child's case studied by the department of education and educational opportunities provided to meet the needs of all children, whether normal, feeble-minded, blind, deaf, crippled, or otherwise abnormal. If this requires legislation, we think that legislation should be secured to accomplish this purpose. I understand that at the present time the truant officers pay no attention to cases of abnormal 101 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN children. Of course, if such children were provided for, there would have to be very careful pliysical ami mental examinations and special schools for those who could not go to the regular schools. Every institution where there are ehildren can, as a kiboratory, gi\'e nuieh help to the piibhc school sj'steni in its city or state. In homes for the bhnd things are being discovered constantly which should be introduced in public school classes for the blind. Hefonnatories are finding out the causes of degeneracy and what preventive measures are necessary to lessen juvenile delinquency. Through prisons full of juvenile criminals serving sentence the crhni- nologist has a chance to prove what modified education can do to keep these boys from coming back again. Tiie troubles of one bad boy or one blind child, when studied at close range by specialists, are easy to diagnose. Dr. E. R. Johnstone, of Yineland, has said that a child's mind or body is like an automobile. Y\'hen it is standing still you can inspect or overhaul it, take it to pieces, and put it together. When it is moving slowly you can at least see what make, size, and color it is. But when it is going as fast as it can you have a blurred impression, nothing more. Wliat specialists find out from the child who is standiiig still should be made available to all those who deal with normal or slightly deficient children, for the mechanism is the same. Public schools and institutions stand together to deal with the many children "on the edge." Some of these might be hopelessly hurt by being sent to an institution. Others might hurt public schools and their schoolmates. The school alone can find, watch, and diagnose all cases which need testing. Schools are doing for the crippled and the blind what was inconceivable ten years ago. They have recently assumed responsibility for finding high types of mental defectives. Perhaps some day, with modified school 102 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS courses, we shall not nc3ed any institutions except for those with diseases or deficiencies which make their presence at large a danger to the community. Until then, however, a woman's club or any group of citizens can tell by plain, common sense what sort of edu- cation institutional children are getting, and can then learn from experts what needs to be done for each class. This outside interest can be of immense service to public schools, to state and city departments of charities and corrections, courts and probation associations, public and private hos- pitals, and all volunteer agencies interested in one or more types of defective. Because defective children are the state's care. Catholic and Protestant institutions alike should benefit by this watchfulness. If the schools run by Catholic sisters— small schools often lacking the facilities and expensive equipment found in public schools — are able to turn out thoroughly trained children, are there not lessons to be learned from them by city systems? Working for Playgrounds Anybody can start a playground. Real estate owners give land; initial funds are secured by public subscriptions or yearly entertainments; business concerns or individuals equip and donate playgrounds; estates of rich men give land; parent-teacher associations give apparatus; mothers' clubs provide swings, trapeze, rings, horses; playground com- mittees get all citizens and organizations interested; play- ground associations start about a nucleus of women ; children themselves take petitions around to influential citizens; 300 citizens petition for playgrounds; private citizens loan land; residents of a district purchase land. These are just samples of how playgrounds begin. 103 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN The aim of all volunteer playgroiiiul work is, of course, to have the city ollieials take it over. This requires a buciji;et appropriation. Since cities are conservative about speniiinfi; money for recreation pm*e and simple, the necessary allow- ances for playground and recreation center sometimes come more easily under the board of education's expenditures. In Waterbury the school board, after planniuii; a playground in one of the most congested parts, found that no appro- priations from the city were forthcoming. The land was therefore turned over to the Associated Charities, which eciuipped and ran the playgroimd that sunnner. This is one of many interesting combinations made during the transition time between volunteer and public sup]K)rt. A playground connnittee in Richmond is made of delegates from the city council and the IMothers' Congress. In Den- \'er the executive body includes representatives of the school board, playground connnission, and JNlothers' Congress. The branching and flowering of playground work into dancing, games, and industrial training under supervision calls in new experts to make play for school chiklren more educational. Folk dancing under the Guild of Play in New York, for example, has given exercise and happiness to hundreils of children in the city's playgrounds. Wading and swimming pools add to the summer's attractiveness, and skating rinks to winter's. Newspapers offer trophies for baseball games and athletic contests. Ice cream is given by some firms for playground festivals, while other com- panies supi>ly sand for playboxes. Exhibits of work, carpentry and basket weaving, games and dancing, when given early in the existence of new volun- teer playgrounds, advertise what has already been done, and make it easier to get money for what the playground wants to do. Happy children doing things are the biggest appeal in the world for the extension of playground facilities. 10-1 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS Milwaukee was convinced by figures which showed that children in a school where there was a playground were late only one-half as often as children in a school without a playground — the same kind of children — because the boys and girls came early to use the swings and trapeze, and when the school bell rang there they were, xmavoidably corralled. It is now a question of getting enough play space, the right kind of supervision, playgrounds near schools, and play- grounds open all the year round. When part-time schooling has been combined with playground facilities we cease to feel that children are being robbed of their education. One- third play and two-thirds school has been proved to work especially well with younger children. But more education by ''doing" in playgrounds requires more space to do it in. It should be impossible in your city for a school building to be planned without adequate provision for play space, not only so that school and play will be associated in the child's mind, but so that open space will bring better light and air to the school rooms inside. In buying sites playground and garden opportunities should also be considered. It is generally conceded that playgrounds without super- vision are not as desirable as playgrounds with supervision. Fewer children are reached, and the results do not prove the value of play. The public-spirited citizen who donates land can double the effectiveness of his gift by making sure that funds for equipment and supervision will be provided by the city or private agencies. Training for playground teaching is included in the course of some normal and training schools. The University of Pittsburg in cooperation with the Pitts- burg Playground Association gives general and special courses in playground and allied work. Here and in other universities a volunteer can easily become skilled in this mode of cooperation. A thousand suggestions about starting, developing, and 105 HKMMNC SCHOOL Til I L ORE N porfcH'tinji" playiiToutuls iiiv i'ouiul in The rhu/groumi, the ofiii'ial org;au of the Playgrouiul and Recreation Association of America, 1 Madison Avenue, New York, which will furnish lecturers and or»;anizers, as well as information. Each month an attractive little bulletin comes with its ''Play- ground Facts," everythiuii' about management and organ- ization. The issue for January, 1012, sunuuarizes play- ground work throughout the country, with all its allied activities in recreation centers, organized athletics, and street, play. It tells how playgroimds are managed and supported and to whom to write about any particular one that happens to interest you. There are articles on "How to Start a Play- ground" and ''First Steps in Organizing Playgrounds." Kindergarten Associations In many cities the establishment of kindergartens is due alinost entirely to outside interest. In Denver, Dubuque, and ]Mt. \'ernon, for instance, they were started by the Woman's Club and later taken over by the boai'd of educa- tion. In Galesburg the parent-teacher association has sup- ported one to induce the board to start them in all schools. So it goes throughout the country. In New York the Free Kindergarten Association was formed to "create public opin- ion in favor of incorporating kindergartens as part of the school system." By maintaining, at private expense, kinder- gartens in missions, settlement houses, and institutions, by giving them over to the system when their \alue has been proved, and by holding conferences and lectures for kinder- garten teachers, the Association tried to show to the school authorities and the public the necessity of adequate school- ing facilities for children under six. Like too many other kindergarten associations, however, it has not kept emphasizing the need for kindergartens in C M M U N ri' Y \' li V. \. K M S Kchorjls becauHC of sentiment about it;-: own private ven- tureH. The opportunity for publicity which budget time u'iUtv'^ has not been used. Iliere seems to be an impelling tf^ndency to argue that the pubUcly supported ones are some- what less efficient, less thorough, less complete in their efjuipment than those run by outside agencies. This really does harm to the kindergarten idea unless there are private funds ample enough to supply facilities for all children under kindergarten age. How many children in your city are of kindergarten age? IIow many are accornmofJated in public or in private kindergartens? Can you show on a map where the existing kindergartens are and the gaps where .lew ones should be started? Do 50 children who have been through kindergarten make more rapid prr^gresH or kjjarn more easily than U) more who enter school at the first grade? Should an association in its own kindergarten see that no child is sent on to the public school v/ith adenoids, defective eyes or teeth, or an unclean hea^l? IIow can an outside association see that children are started physically right in the public kindergartens? Through kindergartens the school is being brought more closely in touch with homes. Kindergarten mothers' clubs meet in th^e schools to discuss problems of child welfare. In the summer time the moth^ers' clubs in New York have a camp at Coney Island supported ?jy parents and friends. Here mothers and children can spend a day witli trained kindergartners to look after the babies while the mothers rest. Every public kindergarten teacher in New York is expected to do home visiting. She knows the background for each child in her care. V/hy should not this valuable infor- mation go on with the child through school? If every child has kindergarten training, every child's family will be used to helpful visits from the teacher. Every child's 107 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN family history, like his physical record, will go with him through the grades. Why should not home visiting be con- sidered a privilege for all teachers as well as for kinder- gartners? And now comes Madame Montessori with her methods for developing younger children, the essence of which — so some of our educators say — the best American kindergartens have been using for years. There will undoubtedly be ''Mon- tessori Associations" to further this particular idea through the public schools. Moving Pictures for Education We are not teaching children intelligently, says Thomas A. Edison. We are not making an appeal through the eyes or to the curiosity of the children. Mr. Edison claims that truancy, backwardness, and dullness will disappear when geography, history, and arithmetic are taught by moving pictures. He said in a recent interview: Suppose, instead of the dull, solemn letters on a board or a card, you have a little play going on that the little youngster can understand. The play begins with a couple of little livelj'^ fellows who carry in a big letter C. They put it down, and it stands there. Then they carry in an A. Next to it they put down a T. There you have the word "cat." In the same way they bring in tiie letters, or Uio letters run in or dodge into place, until the sentence stands there, "This is a cat." Then a hand appears, pointing, antl in runs a cat for it to point at. Of course, the teacher gives the children the names of each letter and pronounces each word as they go along. You can see how eagerl.v the youngsters will watch every movement on the picture-screen, for there will be some- thing going on there every moment. Nothing like action — drama — a play that fascinates the eye, to keep the attention keyed up. I don't think it'll take them long to learn the alphabet that's lively and full of character. Take a pump. Did you ever learn out of j'^our school book how a pump pumped, and why it pumped? No* but as soon as you actually 108 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS saw a pump at work you understood right away. Well, in the moving picture drama I'll have a man build a pump, make all the parts, and put them together. The section of tube facing the camera will be made of glass, so the children can see all that's inside of it. They'll see the piston drive down, the httle valve or trap-door fly up as the plunger is forced tmder water, close down again as the plunger is drawn up and the water raised up the tube. Steam engine the same way — they'll see the water boil and the steam go through the cylinders and drive the engine. Children have described to me months afterward the story of a particular photo play. I wish I had been taught history by the Edison United States History Series. It begins with the battle of Lexington. You see the minute men on the farm, the call coming, the determined march, and the fight on the bridge — the very same bridge on the very same spot where the battle actually occurred; and you see the pitiful slaughter, and the women caring for the wounded. It is so vivid that your ears feel cheated when, with the puff of muskets, comes no explosion of powder. The crossing of the Delaware was taken in bleak January weather. Every detail follows the pictures and legends that children love, and with every historical story is a pretty romance to ''draw" the crowd. The producers of films are so overwhelmed with demands for new pictures that they must satisfy first the popular taste. They are beginning, however, to forestall the inevi- table demand for educational films. The Edison studio is particularly glad to have scenarios on educational subjects. They have cooperated with the Russell Sage Foundation, National Kindergarten and Playground Associations, Milk Committees, and other uplift agencies, in producing films for which the agency furnishes the central idea. The General Film Company, 200 Fifth Avenue, New York, has published a catalogue of Education and Entertainment hy Motion Pictures. Think what opportunities for instruc- tion this list includes: philosophy, religion, mythology, 109 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN sociology ("The Visiting Nurse," ''Lily of the Tenements"), local government, the army and the navy, education, customs, and popular life, folk lore, chemistry, physical geography, botany, zoology, all the useful arts from canal engineering to milking, the fine arts, outdoor sports, literature of all languages, geography and travel in all countries, and his- tory. One of the most wonderful films, taken by a com- bination of x-ray, microscope, and camera, shows the embry- ology of the chick, how the tissues form and develop. An- other gives the folding and unfolding of beautiful flowers. A third shows the butterfly emerging from the cocoon. Cur- rent events are told in motion pictures by the Viiagraph Monthly and the Paihc Weekly, which are advertised usually in the larger theaters. Most of the films now pro- duced are su])mitted to the National Board of Censorship, a voluntary group of men and women whose decision is considered final by a large majority of producers. Over 6,000,000 feet of film have been cut out by this board, not to mention changes made by manufacturers themselves before they submit their photo plays. With many films proving what can be taught by pictures, with the un([uestionable popularity of moving pictures among children, it remains only to cheapen and perfect the reproducing arrangements. It is possible now to buy a small machine for $50 suitable for home or school use, and the films arc in circulation like library books. The flicker is becoming less noticeable and less hard on the eyes in the work of better companies. Many of us are looking forward to the day when each school room will have its picture machine, and when special series of films will be used to supplement our elementary, high, and technical education. Before this happy time for children comes, parents and teachers must be convinced that motion pictures are worth while and interesting. At 110 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS teachers' conventions some picture companies are exhibiting motion pictures for school use. To hasten the day when our children may benefit by this new educational method we must make the smaller theaters fit places to go, well lighted, well ventilated, and fireproof. This requires law and the enforcement thereof. For information about the best regu- lations of motion picture theaters write to the National Board of Censorship, People's Institute, 50 Madison Avenue, New York. As a factor in recreation and amusement pure and simple (in more ways than one) the motion picture has been used by settlements, social centers, and public lecturers. To prove that good pictures with educational tone are a paying proposition, the People's Recreation Company, 147 Fourth Avenue, New York, has among other ventures leased and run two regular motion picture theaters, one in Bridgeport, and the other in Brooklyn. At the end of six weeks the the- ater in Brooklyn was clearing a profit of 27% on the invest- ment. There is a chaperon on duty every night to look after girls and children. The exits have been enlarged, and an extra fireproof booth installed. The motto of this company is : An audience is an opportunity. A church has one audience a week. A picture theater has seven. And its experiments have shown that a theater where no expense has been spared in having it safe and comfortable can make money. On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays special programs for children are advertised. A club of women in the West is planning to buy a small machine and tour the state with educational films to waken interest in good motion pictures for school use. Their possibilities are so vast for children and education that none of us can afford to let commercialism blacken the whole art. Ill HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Social Centers in Schools Edward J. Ward, speaking of social center development, contrasts the school work with the Y. M. C. A. by saying: "All you need is the A — Association. Drop the first three letters because the social center is for old as well as young, for women as well as men, for Jews and unbelievers as well as Christians." The Public School as a Neighborhood Civic House Non-partisan PoHtical Headquarters Local Health Office Branch Pubhc Library Free Lectm'e Center Recreation Center Moving Picture Theater Pubhc Art Gallery are some of the topics prepared by the committee on school extension of the National Municipal League, and show what is being planned for the use of the school house, when it shall be related in fact as well as in essence to everything in the community. Rochester school reports telling of the work of Edward J. Ward, Clarence A. Perry's Wider Use of the School Plant, the first conference on social centers in Madison, 1911, and the columns and pages in news- papers and magazines about phases of the social center movement have greatly helped to popularize an idea which has not always been successful in practice. Simply because it is such a very good idea, the social center is going to be established in many places before there is any social spirit to utilize it. It is, however, thrilling for even the most skeptical to read that all St. Paul's schools are to be opened for courses in vocational education, public lectures, and entertainments under the St. Paul Institute. I was present at the first social center evening in Hoboken, when a party 112 COMMUNITY PROBLEMS was given under the auspices of the board of education and the board of trade. I had to pass by ten saloons and their groups of hangers-on in a short walk from the car. The pleasant school house did seem a partial solution of this problem. It was packed for the program of speeches and music by local talent, and more packed for the dancing. In Jersey City a remarkable social development has taken place in the last year. A group of young men and women calling themselves the '' School Extension Com- mittee" secured permission to use certain buildings at night, and opened a series of dances, "everybody welcome." Each night two of the committee were present, prepared to enforce the few simple rules — no rowdyism, no improper dancing, and hats off. The first two or three parties were marred by the forcible ejection of some intractable 'Houghs." Nothing like that happens now, and the dances are growing in popularity. Other buildings have been opened, and clubs, classes, and concerts have been started. The work grew so in six months that a paid director was put in charge of the volunteer committee. Groups of business men have seen the value of the social spirit in their cities. The South Bend Chamber of Com- merce is urging the wider use of school buildings. In Los Angeles the practicability of schools as polling places was proved because the City Club and the Woman's Club took up the matter. To illustrate what can be done with centers in rural communities, Mr. Frank P. Holland, publisher of Farm and Ranch and Holland's Magazine, has campaigned through Texas organizing the Southwestern Social Center Conference. The Troy State Normal School and other institutions in Alabama, using social opportunities to induce people to stay on the land instead of abandoning their farms for city life, have arranged entertainments in the schools. They are mostly lectures, lantern shows, and selections on 113 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN the victrola. Occasionally dinner is furnished at the school, and an all-day session is held. Most of the entertainers give their services without charge, and transportation is fur- nished by owners of automobiles. "Friends of the new movement anticipate that it will be a powerful factor in adding to the pleasures of rural life by furnishing additional opportunities to the country folk for recreation, culture, and social intercourse." To facilitate social expression through schools, we must have more free access to school property or recognized appro- priations in the budget for this purpose. Parents' associa- tions ought to be able to meet in their schools without endless petitioning and red tape. When we want to start a club of high school girls, we ought to be able to use a room in the late afternoon or evening. But this putting in action a feeling already present is quite different from "starting a social center" with elaborate equipment before there are enough people who want to be social in a school house. The social center movement opens an endless variety of opportunities for paid and volunteer workers, for teachers and school patrons, and groups of men and women. It is the universal cry for the right to express the feeling of close relationship to schools. VI ORGANIZATIONS SOLELY FOR HELPING SCHOOLS Organized Parents TEN years ago a few brave women were arguing the po- tential benefits that might follow a closer bond of interest between the parent and the school. It seems almost absurd that a time really was when parents were supposed not to be interested in schools and that some principals and superintendents to-day still consider them intruders when they visit schools. At present the question is how to have parent-teacher associations in every school, and how to give them information and programs which will directly benefit the school. A parents' association somewhere has been interested in everything — school gardening, decorations, music, play- grounds, libraries, equipment, kindergartens, medical ex- amination — the whole category of "good things." Where a wholly outside organization might fear to tread, the parents' \ association, secure in its logical intimacy with the school, has ' rushed in boldly. Indianapolis claims that the "first parent school organi- zation" in the country was formed in its midst, and the first federation of parents' clubs. Parents' associations may be purely social and cultural, and with this purpose alone they are extremely worth while. But only when the social, friendly relation is supplemented by real cooperation in solv- ing school problems do they fulfil their greatest mission. 9 115 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Purely child-study mothers' clubs or associations that do nothing but talk about class work do not attract the tired teacher and apathetic parent. Why should they? It is the superintendent's business to add new fuel, to suggest new things to be thought about and done, to present school affairs as interesting possibilities and definite steps to be taken. In extending parents' organizations the National Congress of Mothers through its parent-teacher department has spent some of its best efforts. Circulars and "hows" about or- ganization, method, and constitutions are supplied as well as women to start new mothers' clubs. Initiative has also been taken by many women's clubs and education associa- tions. Charitable agencies and civic clubs have parent- teacher committees. Principals themselves may take the initial step, or the superintendent may send out the call to parents generally. The invitation to visit schools in Selma (page 60) is accompanied by tables showing just what is happening in each grade at each hour. Suppose your child is in the sixth grade. You can see his drawing lesson if you go to the school at ten o'clock. When many teachers and parents have met and talked thus informally, the organi- zation of a strong parents' association is a natural and logical result. A parent's interest is intrinsically local. He cares first and foremost about his child and his child's school. Each as- sociation of parents is a local group, working for detailed changes in one school. Unified city- wide interest is, there- fore, unlikely unless there is a central organization to formu- late programs, disseminate knowledge, suggest methods, and make each local group feel its relation to the whole school problem and each school's dependence on every other school. Most large cities, where there is not already a central federation, need first to know in which schools there are 116 DEATH TO dandelions: FOREST GROVE ■■^W ^ i . ._ . ^^^Ji^NI ^^B'! 1 1 F. mM ..-__ji[ '^"i^r-r^. # -. a. BEFORt AMj 'AFTEJi I W ALTHAM PUBLIC EDUCATION ASSOCIATION HELPING HOMES VIA SCHOOL HELP R G A X I Z A T I X S parents' organizations and in which not. To discover this in New York it was suggested that the following questionnaire be sent to principals in 500 schools. How many parents' organizations are connected with your school? Parent-teacher associationB? Mothers' clubs? Official name of lorganization, if any? How many members? Parents? Teachers? Dues yearly? When organized? Are meetings held yearly? Are meetings social? semi-yearly? cultural? monthly? on school matters? . . . bi-rnonthly? weekly? Was the organization started by principal?. . . .Teacher?. . . .Parents? .... What school improvements are due partially or entirely to the work of parents' associations? If there is no parents' association in your school, do j^ou plan to organize one? When? Remarks It was also suggested that a pin map be based on the returns showing by little black dots where each school is, by red pins stuck on top where are parent-teacher associations, and by blue pins the mothers' clubs. As federations the Philadelphia Home and School League and the Boston Home and School Association are perhaps as good types as one can find. The Boston body acts as leader for 30 local associations by publishing a weekly News Letter which tells what parents are doing and what special school questions need their concentrated effort. The table of contents of the issue published by the committee on vocational guidance indicates the concrete helpfulness of this little bulletin: 117 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Conference of Parents' Associations To Parents A Few Instances of ^'oc:ltional Cuidance at the Trade School for Girls How Parents C^\n Help Their ChiUlren in Choosing a Life A\'ork Helpless Children How One Vocational Counselor Used the Mason Street Lectures To Every Boy and Every Cirl Cases of \'ocntional Cniidance The Opportunity of the Pai"ents' Association The Association has also published a list of books for children and for parents. Two visitors are employed to look up cases of children needinjx school relief. Theater, school decoration, hygiene, and home and school gardens com- mittees unify the 30 local associations. Thus, one local group of parents is not working; out its salvation in school gardens all by itself, but is able to benetit by the most jirt)- gressive ideas of gardening that the committee can obtain. As a central body the Association is in touch with all other agencies which cooperate with schools, drawing on them for help and reciprocating with combined parent support of others' interests. How it is done Mrs. Fannie Fern Andrews, 405 ]\Lirlborough Street, Boston, will be glad to tell you. If you think the Boston Association leaves any stone un- turned, write Mrs. Edwin C. Grice, 3308 Arch Street, Phila- delphia, for the story of the Home and School League, its work for school lunches and playgrountls, its cooperation with all other agencies in the big carnival of parents' clubs representing over 00 associations and 38 alhliated organi- zations. A Parents' Association and a Socialized School "We believe that parents are essential to the school and the school to them." Thus the principal of a school in the most congested part of New York introduces his tale of lis ORGANIZATIONS how the parents' association of 600 members investigated moving picture shows, gave material rehef to 80 of the 160 cases looked up because the children were staying away from school, supervised Arbor Day exercises, ran a school paper, held an anemic class in a park pavilion, furnished materials for children's clubs and milk for anemic children. Largely because of the interest of parents and the success of the principal in showing how parents might help> the school is doing for the neighborhood what a settlement ordinarily does. Every child who has not successfully avoided the compulsory education law is forced to benefit by these socialized activities. Clubs — athletic, musical, arts and crafts, dancing, literary, walking — are open to all. A Teachers' Child Interest Committee keeps in touch with ''agencies which may be of help to the school, follows up chronic cases of disorder and places children that are weak under the control of strong teachers." A visitor is employed by the school to investigate home conditions and take chil- dren to hospitals — the time-consuming work that grade teachers cannot do. A garden for ungraded children is maintained by the parents' association. More than $800 has been spent on decorations for classrooms and assembly hall, and other funds on milk and blankets for the anemic class, a piano, and equipment for crippled children. Even all this is a "small amount of what the neighborhood de- mands," These activities the board of education has not yet money to support. One of them, giving relief, is said to be neces- sary because of the inefficiency of agencies which ougnt to be doing it; others are logically "special" for the district. Settlements are appealing for and getting plenty of money for just the same sort of work; but because this service happens to be given by a school, supposedly under public support, the parents' association has difficulty in raising 119 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN money. Parents and teachers together see what needs to be done. The next step is to convince the city and philan- thropists of the opportunity in sociaUzed schools. What So7ne Mothers^ Clubs Are Doing Here is a story from Richmond, Vu-ginia, where every public school has an active mothers' club working for its best interests. By federating themselves these mothers are aiming at a complete cooperative system between schools, city officials, and volunteer organizations. They, the mothers, have a room in the old Richmond High School, with couches, tea- table, and books, where they meet teachers or have a nice social time among themselves. ''It places mothers where they should be — in the school." With this room as head- quarters, cooperation has developed. Playgrounds have been established in almost every school yard, financed by the city and run by a joint committee of the city council and the mothers' club. One mother is responsible for and supervises each playground, though a paid dii'ector oversees the games. In matters of school health the mothers call with unfailing responsiveness on the city health board, the visiting nurse association, and the medical or dental societies. A nurse has been placed in the high school, and several schools have had continuous service from the visiting nurses who are on call also for playground accidents. The mothers, by stim- ulating professional interest, have arranged many health lectures with a view to securing medical inspection, and at their suggestion dental treatment has been given free to several hundred children. There are scores of similar stories from other cities, which all prove beyond a doubt that mothers organized with a 120 ORGANIZATIONS program of things to be done make excellent "social brok- ers," to bring together organizations public and private, individuals professional and lay, as required by each school's problems. A Mothers^ Council for the School Board Six years ago a woman on the school board of Denver decided that somehow she must get in touch with each dis- trict through the mothers of children attending schools there. Therefore a committee was appointed, made of one member from the mothers' circle of each school. Thus 65 women, representing all kinds and conditions of homes — women with the best and poorest opportunities, of different nationali- ties and different races — were brought together to work out a method by which all parents might help meet the problems which daily present themselves to school officials. Members of the council are appointed from year to year, but some of them have served ever since it started, and twelve of these devoted mothers have not missed one of the monthly meetings from October to May. Each member visits her school each month, talks with the principal on the question which is to be discussed at the next council session, attends and reports all meetings of parents in her district, notes the progress or needs of her school, and gleans sug- gestions from similar reports of other districts. Any new question which is to be considered by the board of education is thoroughly discussed by the council, and the superin- tendent knows that each district is familiar with new steps which he wishes to take. The Fathers' Club What are the fathers doing while there is so much talk about mothers' clubs, mothers' meetings, and mothers' interest in schools? There are fair sprinklings of fathers 121 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN in parents' associations. Fathers all by themselves in one district of Rockford raised $250 to improve the school grounds. Their interest called the attention of others to that school, and the result was a fine playground. For seven years in Reading the Olivet Fathers' Club has maintained school gardens. This work began in the boys' club of the district, but as it expanded a larger organiza- tion became necessary. Consequently the Fathers' Club came into being. No employees are hired, but the fathers themselves have plowed the land, measured the garden- plots, laid water pipes, and furnished the seeds and monthly prizes for the best kept gardens. At the end of the season there is an ice cream treat for the 150 children who have used the garden plots. It takes considerable land to accommodate these embryo gardeners, and the Fathers' Club might not have been able to do this work but for the generosity of one of Reading's citizens. Mr. Baer had a quantity of land used only for rubbish dumps. He was willing to have this cultivated by the children, and year after year has made no charge to the Fathers' Club. In the meantime the property has be- come more and more valuable, but so have the gardens, in the estimation of Mr. Baer, who has recently given to the city for park and playground use a dozen acres of land, valued at about $30,000. "The gift," writes a business man in Reading, ''may be regarded as the legitimate out- growth of the Fathers' Club gardening. It is likely that the idea would not have occurred to Mr. Baer had it not been for the tillage of waste places which this club of work- ing men had been engaged in. Mr. Baer, though not di- rectly interested in the movement, and knowing little of it beyond his annual loan of land, probably thought the work was too good to cease, and was in this way led to make the gift." 122 ORGANIZATIONS The Fathers' Club during its half-dozen years of existence has enabled several hundred children to raise produce worth S 10,000. Combined with really efficient gardening are all the advantages of social gatherings for the men, as shown in the following letter: Dear Sir, — The Olivet Fathers' Club will open its fall season with a rally on Monday evening, Oct. 3. We hope to have you meet with us on that night, in the Neighborhood Room of the Olivet Boys' Club building, entrance on Eisenbrown Street. We have in our book many names of fathers who do not often attend the club meetings. We are hoping to have all of these members meet with us on this night, and we are also hoping for new members. The membership fee is but ten cents a year. We particularly desire that the men who have gardens should be members of the club; also the fathers of the hundreds of children who visit our playgrounds. There will be a brief program of music and an address. Then Hght refreshments will be served, and there will be an inspection of the club building. It will be a pleasant, sociable evening, with none but men present. This is the time for the semi-annual election of officers. Educational Associations In 1820 this meant an association of ''men and females to develop thousands of able and faithful ministers to penetrate into the wilderness"; later, a ''ladies' society to send to western states competent female teachers of un- questionable piety"; and, in 1838, the Otsego County Edu- cation Society had as its purpose "to improve common schools in this county" by means of a school improvement association in each town. The purpose of the New York Public Education Association, as stated in its original charter, in 1899, was "to study the problems of public education, investigate the condition of common and cor- porate schools, and to proporse from time to time such 123 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN changes in their organization, management, or educational methods as may seem necessary or desirable." At present there are enough public education associations to make their yearly congress a stimulating and worth-while affair. The oldest and best known of these, in Providence, Waltham, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, have all acted as cradles for many cooperative plans with schools. From the Waltham Society sprang separate playground, kindergarten, and school garden associations. In Provi- dence child labor work, sanitary surveys, and hygiene in- terest have called the Public Education Association foster- mother. There is very little happening in Worcester schools to which the society there has not lent a helping hand. It is as a central, initiating, guiding force that a public edu- cation association does its best work, no matter what name it goes by, cooperating with everybody interested in schools and stimulating public opinion. As such an agency it has unlimited opportunity. The weakest part of public education associations gen- erally seems to be their lack of an efficient method for their routine, everyday work. When a crisis comes, these bodies, full of enthusiasm and fervor, give splendid service. But in some large cities, the daily, hour after hour work has usually been less helpful to schools and communities because of lack of facts, lack of funds, lack of continuous con- structive program, and lack of supervision of volunteers. With these serious lacks in method, other associations may perhaps meet, or deserve to meet, the fate of the Newark Education Association, which for twelve years had done such splendid work that in 1910 the authorities decided there was no reason for its existence. It had started kinder- gartens, manual training, and playgrounds as part of the system, and helped to secure a smaller school board. There seemed to be nothing left to do, so the Association dis- 124 ORGANIZATIONS banded. Was it not almost prodigally wasteful for the superintendent to allow it to die after having proved its efficiency and value? For when the schools are flourishing is the very time to keep the town interested, informed, proud; and every city needs a central outside agency con- stantly interpreting schools to the community. What New York City Offers in Cooperation There is, of course, enormousness in the story called Outside Cooperation with the Public Schools of Greater New York, a report which is available from the Bureau of Mu- nicipal Research, 261 Broadway. It is probably true, how- ever, that the situation for both school people and out- siders in New York is typical for most other cities. Sub- stitute for the numbers given here the proportionate figures for your city, and both significant facts and constructive suggestions will in all probability fit. Since this study was made, three other cities have stated that similar investiga- tions would be helpful to them. The New York story, like every good story, begins with its best foot foremost, by telling how much cooperation is available for schools. There are nearly 200 separate, dis- tinct agencies in touch somehow, and this does not include individual parents' associations, whose name is probably very much like legion. Some of these organizations are simply using schools in carrying on their propaganda, like the Anti-Cigarette League or the Boy Scouts. Others, like the Y. M. C. A., make special concessions to public school pupils and teachers. But the great majority of these organizations, relief societies, hospitals, museums, are either cooperating directly, actually doing things for school chil- dren, or spreading broadcast information, interest, and en- 125 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN tliiisiasm about school activities, through press comments, meetings, bulletins and reports. These are the schools' assets; and what has resulted? Just the same sort of thing that follows the work of any woman's club or civic league. The list of improvements initiated or supported and of experiments now under way is long enough to put a considerable bm-den of gratitude on school and city officials, for it includes fundamentals like special classes for crippled children, the physical ex- amination of all children, organized athletics for both boys and girls, backward children studies, exhibits for natm-e work, lectm'es on art and botany, commercial training, pu- pil self-government, budget increases, school ''news," and school gardens. It is simply because there are more people to work in New York that the list is so long. JNIany of these good things were not the "first'' in the country. Some were. It really is not safe to make that assertion about anything, nor does it matter particularly. 'WTien school niu'ses, vacation schools, anemic classes, vocational training, and recreation centers are due almost entirely to outside initia- tive and perseverance, a city is to be congratulated. As another measure of outside interest, several years of minutes of the board of education and the board of super- intendents were studied. Here again the numbers are huge. Seven hundred conununications in five years are recorded in the official documents; I should, perhaps, say hidden, be- cause it seems as if the framers of minutes had tried as hard as possible to cover up simple little petitions from outsiders with heaps of procedure and referring. To follow the course of a petition is like trying to find your way out of a ''house of labyrinths." However, these 700 conununications, offering cooperation, recommending, requesting, objecting — letters from individuals, taxpayers' associations, business concerns, and other volunteer associations — show that people 126 ORGANIZATIONS are so interested in almost every particular of school affairs, buildings, equipment, course of study, that they want to register their sentiments at headquarters. From these figures and the authentic reports of agencies themselves you get a clear picture of a great city with great school problems and a great number of persons willing to help with time and money, said to total already $1,000,000 a year. What appreciation all this cooperation receives is '^ another story." One way of testing that is through official documents wherein superintendents and school officers record the year's progress. When what these 200 agencies say they are doing for schools was compared with what the annual school report fails to say about outside cooperation, instances like this were found: The New York Public Li- brary reports branch work with teachers and pupils, special arrangements for teachers' circulating libraries, visits to schools by school librarians, visits to libraries by classes, and vacation school libraries. The city superintendent mentions only the cooperation of the library in ''providing our summer schools and recreation centers with abundant reading matter." No mention is made in the school report for 1911 of ex- periments carried on in the interest of school children by outside agencies; of the Free Dental Clinic for School Children and its campaign for school dental clinics; of relief agencies spending yearly several thousands of dollars on public school relief; of agencies which exist to support budget requests made by the board of education; of agencies work- ing on problems of truancy, recreation, or school health; or of the Public Education Association's work for schools. On the other hand, a critical analysis of the reports of the agencies themselves showed what an infinitesimal proportion of each school problem they are touching, and how duplication and lack of follow-up work have kept them from 127 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN being more efficient. These same lacks in cooperation are probably apparent in your city, be it large or small. (Fig. 5.) The results of this study for New York indicate that several changes are desirable. The most important, a central clearing house for outside cooperation, is outlined later. The next most important is that there shall be at headquarters some one individual to keep track of com- munications from the outside, to steer petitions safely by the rocks of committee meetings and resolutions, and to collect from teachers and principals definite lists of things about which outsiders could help. Because newspapers, especially school editors, were found very willing to tell the city what the schools need, it was suggested that agen- cies might make more use of this opportunity for securing public understanding of their work. Plans for coordinating the work of several agencies on one problem led naturally to the suggestion that a conference of all outside agencies, city departments, and school offi- cials be called to discuss cooperation. This was done by the city's board of estimate, and the need for a coordinating agency was so clearly shown that a budget cooperation com- mittee was appointed for immediate service, and a second committee was asked to plan how a central organization might take upon itself the duties and opportunities of di- recting cooperation with the public schools of New York. The president of the board of education promised to appoint a committee of the board to confer with the outside organi- zation. A Central City Coordinator A few cities only have seen the need, and met it, of a clearing house for outside agencies and individuals inter- ested in schools, a convenient meeting ground for school people and laymen. In 1909 the Educational League was 128 ANAEMIC CHILDREN WITHOUT OPEN AIR TREATMENT. 2J''/o IN OPEN AIR CLA55E5 97^ UNOERNOURISHED CHILDREN k NOT YET BEING ^ ARE HAVING LUNCHES Fig, 5 THE BLACK SPACES SHOW WHAT IS STILL TO BE DONE HELPl^C SCHOOL CUILDKEN organized by roprosontntivos from 74 business men's nsso- eiations, patriotic orders, educational, social, and philan- thropie societies, "to concentrate the forces now aiming independently to give Philadelphia the best possible system oi public schools." The danger of such large-scale organiza- tion not independently supported is that after one or two joint canipaigns. successful ones in Philadelplna. the weld- ing ingredient dissolves and each agency slips natiu'all}' back into its own little groove. The UXy,^-, needs of schools are lost sight of. and smaller organizations again become rivals in appealing, rivals in being useful to schools, in making their particuhir interests the most important ob- jects in the world. To combat such a situation, which some cities are iilreadj' facing and othei^s are trying to cover up, a strong, well- financed central agency is needed for organizing, coordinating, and " clearing *' outside cooperation with public schools to: H:u-o on file reports and literature of nil .iscencies cooperating with public schools in the city, plus important school data: Provide information concerning all such agencies and the schools to givers, school people, interested citizens aiid associations of teachers and principals; Analyze promptly the amiual and interim reports from schools and point out the opportunities for helping disclosed bj' facts, recommenda- tions, discrepancies, and omissions; Cooperate with the board of education in issuing and keeping up to date a handbook of agencies available for school cooperation and of fields not adei^uately coveroil; Secure independent financial support sufficient to employ a number of exjx^rt supervisors and investigatore for the affiliated committees of vohmteers. and to use and make public the results of their work; Maintain a mailing list of persons who should be kept prepared for in- telligent action on important school problems through current, cumula- tive information: Keep constantly before the pubhc through the school cohunns of news- papers and speci;U :irticles the e-\tent and kind of cooperation being given ; 130 ORGANIZATIONS Outline 100% of sc?iool needs not yet met, showing gaps where nothing or too Httle is being done by outsiders; Show other cooperating agencies that it is worth while passing on the information gathered by their experience to the central agency, which should help apply it to the problem tPa-oughout the whole city; Affiliate all cooperating agencies by giving them active membership on central committees in which they are interested and to which they should be able to contribute; Invite representatives from teachers' and principals' associations to serve on committees; Act as a placing bureau for volunteers wishing to work on school problems; Arrange conferences on school needs with teachers, pjrincipals, super- intendents, and parents; At budget time and at other critical times help each agency to see and to do its part in getting necessary facts so as to give to the community the ?jenefit of the work and judgment of all agencies; By virtue of its facts and its expertness, maintain independence of school authorities as the only way to be progressively helpful. It does not require a new, separate agency to make such a program a vital force in the community. The work is especially suitable for a public education association, but can be done equally well by a woman's club, a rehef agency, or a settlement. Of course, every city must formulate its own program, but the method of carrying it out is the same. Without a h)asis of fact, an appreciation of the whole problem and continuous watching, recording, and suggesting, no agency can attain its maximum efficiency. As a ''social broker" a central agency is hindering itself when it assumes functions more logically carried on by other agencies; yet it is also responsible for showing special- izing agencies where and how they are not meeting 100% of their particular problems. Initiative in starting things should not be left entirely to either school people or to the outside agency. Having teachers as members of the central organization means being continuously in touch with at least some schools. 10 131 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Only by keeping constantly in view the larger purpose of the organization can special committees escape without losing their sense of proportion and their feeling for solid things. \Mien a public education association has aroused "public opinion" and interest in one experiment, it nmst be proved feasible for the entire system; it must have means of permanent support tlu"ough the budget before the asso- ciation can honestly stop '^ mothering" it. Whatever the special needs and interests of the town, there are certain committees in a central agency that should be permanent, including health and budget conmiittees. Temporary investigations, like the visiting teacher and vo- cational guidance studies made in New York, are important, but the actual contact with schools of many sincerely inter- ested men and women is even more valuable for the schools. There is no criticism too severe for the organization which, because it rests on a tradition of being a leader, prevents the development of a ''live" agency with a program and vision. Could amihing be more unaltruistic than to misstate facts and mis- quote officials; to duplicate another's field; to conceal existing ineffi- ciency by diverting the attention of outsiders? Is tliere value in having people on committees who do not work but lend prestige? Should volunteers decide on which committee they wish to ser^-e, no matter how unfitted they may be for it? Should a volunteer be kept on a committee when doing recognizedly inefficient work? Should conunittee workers be allowed to visit schools without knowing beforehand what the schools ought to do and what they are doing? Is there any excuse for uninformed cooperation when school reports and past newspaper thscussion of school questions are so easily secured? Because the opportunity for this type of organization is so boundless is reason enough for being impatient with 132 ORGANIZATIONS agencies, however worthy their purpose, which are not ''making good." What Rural Schools Need They need nearly everything — ^and usually they need it badly — that city schools need, clean buildings, efficient teachers, adequate equipment, and medical examination. They usually need more money, and a great deal more interest from town and city women and men. What Oregon women did about the sanitation of rural schools is described on page 153. The State Federation of Women's Clubs in Missouri, through its committee on edu- cation, wrote to every county superintendent a personal letter explaining what the women hoped to do for schools, and inclosed the circular which was being sent to all clubs, to 500 principals in small towns and villages, and 500 school patrons in other rural districts. These questions were in- cluded: Are your school buildings and premises regularly inspected as to sanitary conditions? Have you a county high school? Why not? Could you have better schools and teachers if several adjoining dis- tricts united in one larger school? Why does not your school dis- trict move in the matter? Have you talked with the state super- intendent about it? Cannot you have a patrons' meeting at j^our school building and talk matters over? Each of the nine chairmen of the nine federated club districts was asked to have her committee visit a rural school and report on its condition. One woman visited every rural school in her county. Almost every report emphasized the need for good roads as a fundamental school problem. The National Congress of Mothers, through its country HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN life department, is forming parents' associations to help in small town and rural schools, though they are not always successful at first. In Stanberry, the parent-teacher asso- ciation (which formed in an undertaker's shop, by the way) thought it could not interest either townspeople or school superintendent. By advice of the organizer it started a *' clean-up day" for the town and was so successful that papers, citizens, and superintendent "sat up and took notice." "I send the newspaper reports of meetings in one town to timid circles in order to spur the latter to activity," writes the organizer. At the Louisiana State Fair a "model home," built by the State Congress of Mothers, is entirely furnished by handiwork of the children in the Shreveport public schools. "Better roads for little children" is the slogan in rural districts. Stereopticon lectures on conditions "before" and "after" changes have been made convince townspeople that they should spend money in this way for school improvement. School associations for good roads, road cadet companies, and pick-and-shovel clubs get the children interested. State and national departments of highways and agriculture are cooperating. I wish there were space enough for the details of what parents' clubs in rural districts are doing. The}' suggest so many ways of helping. For example, one club by a box- supper and school entertainment raised money to paint and light the interior of the school building. Another secured the installation of a sanitary fountain and individual drink- ing cups in the schools. A third raised several thousand dollars for road improvement, organized a fathers' associa- tion to carry out the plans, secured money for a fireless cooker with which to furnish warm luncheons for the country children who came in to the school, took subscrip- tions for a stereopticon for the consolidated school, framed 134 ROAD CADETS AND BRIDGE BUILDERS EVERYBODY HELPS IN THE COUNTRY GOOD ROADS TO RURAL SCHOOLS: LOUISIANA CONGRESS OF MOTHERS ORGANIZATIONS a large gift of pictures for the school, and assisted the Girls' Mushroom Club in the raising and sale of mushrooms. For detailed suggestions about rural child welfare, address Mrs. Frank de Garmo, Country Life Department, National Congress of Mothers, 2186 Washington Avenue, St. Louis. State granges have frequently done much for the better- ment of rm-al schools, as the superintendent in Maine says. They are seeing the advantages to farmers of having good grammar schools and high schools that teach sensible sub- jects like scientific agriculture. But the things really wrong with rural schools lie deeper than mere lack of school facilities and equipment. They are to be found in state supervision and county boards of education, in the relation of schools to universities, in budget making, census taking, school expenditures and accounting, training schools, administrative problems, methods of re- porting attendance, promotion, or age distribution, and in the need for agricultural courses. Wisconsin, through ex- perts from the Bureau of Municipal Research employed by the State Board of Public Affairs, Madison, has had made a complete survey of rural school administration. Similar studies might be made by a state university, with students to do the field work, or by a state federation of women's clubs. And it is only by thus getting at funda- mentals that rural school problems can be efficiently solved. Rural School Improvement Leagues Of the 200 school improvement associations in Arkansas, with a membership of 10,000 men and women, the super- intendent writes: These organizations have been and are continuing to be of very great benefit to the schools, and the citizens are coming to understand more fully and much more definitely the needs and defects of our public schools, as well as their advantages. 135 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN The three points that are distinctive in the work of school improvement leagues are the value set on newspaper pub- licity, the advantages of close cooperation with state and county authorities or with lay organizations, and the sim- ilarity of needs existing everywhere. In the reports from each state the words ''better buildings," "ventilation," ''physical welfare," "playgrounds," "home economics," and "agriculture" reappear constantly. "Frequent notes to newspapers," or a press bureau sending at regular in- tervals articles to parish papers and notices to the county papers, make^ known these needs to the towns- people. A few years ago the club women of Kentucky suddenly realized that their state ranked low in educational efficiency. At the instigation of the Southern Education Board a trained organizer was employed for four weeks by the State Fed- eration. Women raised $4,000, of which $800 went to build a model school and support it for three years, as a demon- stration of what a rural school might be. The rest of the Federation's fund was spent on traveling expenses of the organizers, who reached 112 out of 119 counties. Many club women went on the road as volunteers to start school improvement leagues and outline programs for those al- ready organized. What fundamental work had to be done was shown, for example, when one county league built itself a school house, saw that elementary agriculture and domestic science were taught, and provided a wagon to transport children in bad weather. In 1910 the women's clubs agreed to a two years' trial under the following co- operative plan: The expenses of a full-time, salaried organ- izer to be paid by the Southern Board and the State Fed- eration; the state department of education to furnish office room, stationery and postage, and the state superintendent to supervise. For the bulletin on school improvement 136 ORGANIZATIONS work, write to Mrs. Charles P. Weaver, Department of Education, Frankfort. This semi-official arrangement will probably end in a state bm-eau like the School Improvement Department in Tennessee, under Miss Virginia P. Moore. Her story of what has been done since 1908, when she began working under the Southern Education Board and the Cooperative Education Association, is extremely suggestive as told in the reports of the state superintendent of schools : 750 asso- ciations formed; visits to the most remote rural schools; uniform ''clean-up day," when every school house and ground was made thoroughly spotless by teachers, pupils, and parents; 60 flourishing county school improvement asso- ciations; 17,000 teachers pledged to organize leagues in their schools — it is almost too good to believe. Bulletins suggesting forms of organization, regular school improve- ment columns in local papers, and the wholesale distribu- tion of a button with "Health, Comfort, Beauty for our Schools" on it, have added to the popularity of the move- ment. At state and county fairs prizes of from $10 to $50 are offered for the best photographs and sketch of 100 words illustrating the schools ''before" and "after" the league got into action. The things accomplished by committees of each league include abolishing stoves and pipes in several hundred rooms and putting strong shades at the windows. "Hundreds of schools that were never scrubbed since the houses were built, have had frequent scrubbings." In reading the list you will be astonished at the sensible, fundamental things parents and teachers do, and at the years which had passed without their being done. The social-betterment side of school improvement means new roads, bridges, agricultural instruction, libraries, town- beautiful movements, and health lectures. It is conununity 137 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN work. Tennessee has solved satisfactorily the problem of efficient outside cooperation with rural schools by having each district a center and each improvement league a clear- ing house for everything needed in that school. When the tasks of organizing are over, the mechanism of county and state leagues will help secure the legal, fiscal, and admin- istrative changes necessary for all rural schools in the state. State-wide Combinations for Education The story of a cooperative effort in Texas made by edu- cators and other citizens is told so well in the little pam- phlet, The Conference for Education in Texas — Its History, Its Aims, Its Work, that I shall quote bits and advise you to write to Mr. Lee Clark, Austin National Bank Building, Austin, for samples of the bulletins, reports, and calls to action which are being sent out constantly by this organization. In 1907 an invitation was issued to business and professional men and other persons interested in schools. More than 500 enthusiastic citizens representing all sections of the state and various lines of business and professional activity met, and a permanent organization was effected. "Educational evangelism" is its watchword; its method, cooperation with press, teachers, superintendents, state de- partments of education, various civic organizations, and "with all other agencies that seek to improve the schools of the people." Regularly press items are sent out to the newspapers in the hope that some of the subjects may be of sufficient interest for publication. "Any or all of the items may be used without giving credit." "All-year-round campaigns," "all forms of educational endeavor," "organize and unify effort," "to perfect ma- chinery of school administration," are well-sounding ideals, and what the Conference has done justifies them. In 1910 138 ORGANIZATIONS the Conference possessed 10,000 members and the indorse- ment of organizations as widely representative as the Texas Bankers' Association, the Texas Farmers' Congress, the Federation of Women's Clubs, State Teachers' Association, Texas Lumbermen's Association, Texas Women's Press Association, Central West Texas Federation of Commercial Clubs, and the Texas and Pacific Teachers' Association. Lectures on school conditions have been delivered whole- sale throughout the state. Over 300,000 bulletins have been distributed containing reliable information on the need for rural high schools, local tax action, and school buildings. Comparative measures of school efficiency show where Texas stands in relation to other states. Increases for ten years in school funds, in teachers, and school houses tell in the taxpayers' language what education in Texas is doing. Model plans for pretty one-room, two-room, three-room school houses have been sent free to officials, and maps of Texas have been prepared, giving by counties the scholastic population, the average daily attendance, and the number of days in the school year. From it the sections needing help or needing administrative revision stand out clearly and raise questions in even the ''most lay" mind about uneven distribution of school funds in counties where $4.09 and $49.53 represent the per capita tax. The Conference has also supported progressive legislation on educational questions, and organized successfully ''the most effective state-wide campaign ever waged in any of the southern states for a constitutional amendment authorizing better financial support for conmaon schools and other school im- provements." Advances to be taken by Texas's educational system during the next year are outlined also. Appealing to school people and outsiders for help in legislative campaigns, keeping definite educational needs constantly before a large group of citizens, and acting as a 139 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN central office for school affairs, the Conference fills a place in Texas that in most other states is vacant. It is not rivaling any other organization, because it is all other or- ganizations, non-partisan, efficient, progressive, and, above all, continuously ''on the job." VII SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN Women on School Boards " A 71 7" HEN the right woman becomes a candidate she will be Y Y easily elected. A mediocre man is not such a mistake as a mediocre woman." In the majority of cases women have such a struggle to get on the board that only the superfine succeed. For two years in Denver a school elec- tion was contested before the legality of the woman candidate was proved. Many people think that the mere fact of being a woman fits one for service on a school board. Given the choice between an intelligent man and an equally intelligent woman, the latter will probably have more time and more interest in details. Ask any woman on a school board who does most of the work. It would be interesting if board members kept time-sheets. The argument is, of course, logical, that women are especially interested in children, that their training, experience, and environment fit them especially for work with children. But because our present standard for school commissioners is not nearly high enough, either for men or for women, we cannot afford to lower it one degree even for women. We cannot excuse them for lack of information simply because they are women and know how to rear children. The best way to prove women's ability is through club school cooperation. Few educators know more about 141 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN school business than an efficient club leader with years of experience along various lines of school activity. Con- versely, one measure of communities' valuation of club work so far may be the small number of women school board members in the cities where so much cooperation is reported. Of 125 cities reporting, 15 have one woman, 11 have two, throe have three women, and 9G have no women on the school board. In Oregon, of a possible 9,000 school directors, only 100 are women. A woman never has a bigger opening for community service than when on a school board; her beneficiaries are every teacher, pupil, and parent in the city. There is unlimited opportunity not only for improving the methods, admin- istration, and personnel of the system, but for the so-called *' educating" of the rest of the board on the sociological aspects of school work. A western school board member told me most graphically of her efforts to make the men members see the community value of social centers, school nurses, and efficient attendance officers. School board service is some- thing to be ''called" to, something to make ourselves worthy of. Though they may well consider themselves more capa- ble than a great many men now serving, how many women can honestly consider themselves fit for the position? With the present tendency to smaller boards and spe- cialized interest, it becomes more important than ever to keep the standard for school service high. "Wlio should be appointed as school commissioners, whether they be men or women? This question was recently asked of the Bureau of Municipal Research by a New Jersey mayor. The answer was epitomized in these questions: Are they (men or women) interested in the success of the public schools? Do they (men or women) know reasonably well the local conditions which the public school is supposed to express and the local needs wliich the public school is supposed to meet? 142 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN Are they (men or women) in the habit of basing judgment on facts? Are they in the habit of working from first-hand information instead of hearsay? Are they capable of managing any other business where, as in Mont- clair, there are one hundred subordinates and twenty-two thou- sand patrons? Can they use effectively the six sources of information — annual report of board of education and its superintendent; monthly statements submitted to the board at its monthly meetings; statements made directly to the commissioners by teachers and principals; personal observations; state and national reports on pubhc schools; and general discussion of school topics by newspapers, school journals, popular magazines and citizens? No school trustee can fulfil his trusteeship who is not conscientiously seeking to make the most of these six sources of information for himself and for the public. Is any one (woman or man) qualified who despises records of work done and of needs unmet, which she or he is apt to call "mere statistics"? Who thinks that 20% of the children are predestined to fail each term? Who has contempt for the public and thinks it can never understand the intricacies of school management? Who in intellect or strength of character is inferior to teachers or principals? Who has never had experience in applying efficiency tests to subor- dinates and to her or his own results? For the children's sake we may be grateful that the time is coming when it will no longer be considered sufficient for a school board member to be simply willing to serve, just as it is no longer sufficient for a social worker to give willing service unless that service is efficient. Visiting Schools with Official Sanction A local school board is little more than an outside visiting committee. The principle behind it is to have, besides the central group of commissioners with executive powers, a local body which is acquainted with each school, its condi- tion and needs. This is practically what rural school im- provement leagues are, though they have no state authority 143 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN with which to do their visiting. In some cities local boards in each district are required by law. In the New York City charter their powers of investigation and reporting, of publicity and pressure from facts, are practically without limit. But when the members are mostly business men, they are frequently too occupied to attend meetings and visit schools, and they then complain that local school boards have no ''power." With the foundation of facts and actual observation of district schools, and with the public support which local school boards can command, there is no end to their possibilities when the right people are working with the right method. And this is true of practically any lay body in any sized city or rural com- munity. A college graduate who has for years been helping with entertainments for charity and supervising a small class of defective children has been appointed to the local board in her city. She has now seen in miniature how the entire school system works, while still having the joy of contact with individuals who want her interest and sympathy. She sees the relation of organized charit}' to schools, the need for playgrounds and vocational guidance, and, while doing only part-time work, feels herself a part of the great school mechanism. Every bit of her personality counts, every piece of constructive service means help for that district and suggestions for other districts, and for other cities. It is one of the most stimulating opportimities open to men and women who want social service, and it is potentially the very best training school for the school commissionership. But because members of local boards or of visiting com- mittees with official authority have so far been at liberty to serve efficiently or otherwise, no standard has been set for what members should know or how they should work. Many suggestions for local boards and their relation to 144 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN outside agencies in their districts are contained in the report of corresponding bodies in London, i.e., Children's Care Com- mittees, made up of two teachers and three lady managers for each school. They act as intermediaries between schools, dispensaries, relief societies, and employment agencies. The need for these committees grew out of a situation similar to that now existing in many of our school districts, where " much charity was dispensed in a haphazard way. . . . Side by side with this stream of charity child misery flowed on unchecked." While there are numerous agencies ready and willing to help schools in our cities, needs have been unmet because for years there has been no such ''social broker" to bring individuals and outside agencies together. Should not every school visitor in city or town have filed a list of agencies available for cooperation, notify teachers of these resom-ces, and know the needs of each school and of each child who is a care or worry to his teacher? Is not the local school board or visiting committee the logical clearing house for outside cooperation in each dis- trict? Who^s Responsible for School Sanitation? No one with a conscience can answer ''Not I." We are supposed to be a civilized nation, yet what shocking things one sees and reads of! Think of the mothers of a city letting some 500 children stay in a condemned fire trap, ill-heated, badly lighted, and unclean, simply because "nothing could be done about it." It is everybody's affair, physicians', business men's, and primarily women's. Much can be done by remedying bad things, more by making the repetition of mistakes impossible. May a school board build a cheap, unhygienic building in your town? Are the janitors allowed to clean with dry, dusty rags or feather dusters? If you rated each school building on a basis of 100, taking off 10 points 145 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN for pour ventilation, unclonn rooms, insiitru-iont liij;ht, ami lack of fire precautions, how would each school stanil? Have you ever listed the detailed concrete changes that each school requires before it Cixoi be a healthful, safe place for children to spend their days? How does housekeepinti; in the schools conijiaro with hovisekeeping at your home in cleanliness, heating arrangements, tlie efficiency of servants, and the promptness of necessary ]-epairing? Is it right for a school to be less clean than a home? This hist question has made mothers work in earnest for school sanitation as a tieki in which they walk on familiar gronnd. Individual mothers go to see schools for them- selves. Croups of women make more or less scientific studies of school conditions. Yet for every woman actively concerned with this question there are 1,000 who either do not consider it an important question or do not see how anything can be done about it. In only 51 out of 125 cities have women told us they are paying attention to school sanitation. Are conditions perfect in the other 74, and in the many other cities which did not report? A standard for scientific investigation was set by the Boston branch of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae in 1S95. .Alice Freeman Palmer, as a member of the board of education, realized that you cannot have high-grade teaching without having sanitary schools. With the full cooperation of state, city, and school officials, the Association made a sur- vey by districts, using uniform questionnaires and methods of investigation. To decide technical matters of plumbing and ventilation expert inspectors were secured, and samples of air found in classrooms were analyzed. The questions to be answered by head masters and teachers referred to building sites, materials, fire escapes, sanitaries, heating, cloak rooms, sweeping, dusting, window space, seating capacity — in short, to every matter affecting healthful school conditions for teachers and pupils. The invest iga- 146 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN tion was made quietly, with no publicity, but with prompt- ness and thoroughness. TVTien it had been going on for a few months the mayor announced that he was going to appoint experts to "report on existing sanitary conditions in the schools." So the Association's committee finished its work .quickly and submitted to the mayor, with recommendations, 'its report to be used as a basis for the constructive work of the experts. The summary tells of fire escapes found locked, of uncleaned cesspools, worthless systems of ventilation, inadequate air space, and about every other "bad" that schools can be party to. As a result of this study janitors are required to use damp sweeping; adjustable desks were recommended; build- ings utterly unfit for school purposes were condemned; and an appropriation of §300,000 for a part of the needed changes was raised. As an indirect result, Boston received a new school code. For copies of the exhaustive questions used in the investigation, write to Mrs. Caroline S. Atherton, 82 Ptuthven Street, Roxbury. Twelve years ago a similar survey was made in Balti- more by the Arundell Club, whose sanitary connnittee, primed with questions on specific subjects, went to all the schools. Visitors were asked not to use the questionnaires openly or visit "with a critical attitude." As a result of this study many changes were made by the authorities. In Providence a study of conditions in 80 schools was undertaken by a committee of the Public Education Asso- ciation. The investigation was based on the Boston ques- tions, remodeled to suit a smaller city and completed by suggestioEkS from the superintendent and a physician. The report takes up separately provision for wraps, base- ments, cleaning, sanitaries, and heating. It advised that a permanent visiting comnaittee with an expert for the in- spection of ventilation and lighting be appointed, that the U 147 HELPING SCHOOL C H I L L^ R E N feather duster be forbidden, that slates be abohshed, and that tests for eyesight be introduced. Emphatically the committee urged the adequate physical examination of children by a staff of inspectors who should also have charge of sanitation and hygiene. The report is full of interesting details, and is available from Mrs. Carl Barus, 30 Elmgrove Street, Providence. From the questionnaires used by these three cities the N(iw Jersey Federation of Women's Clubs has evolved a blank for a state-wide study of school conditions. It covers the most important points without demanding detailed answers which tax the patience and ingenuity of lay inves- tigators and is reproduced here with additions for use in rural communities. Stories of ''clean-ups" inaugurated and carried through by women would fill volumes — of shocking conditions found in some schools, of the splendid arrangements in others that make you want to keep working until all children ev(;rywhere have ccjually helpful environments to study in. Clean schools require watchfulness. A good housekeeper inspects (constantly. What would happen to dust and weekly cl(;anings if she did not? Investigating and reporting on conditions which actually exist is only the first step. So often the sense of responsibility for clean schools stops after something, anything, no matter what, has been accom- plished. Women write, "We secured sanitary improve- ments." You ask what, and learn that dry sweeping, perhaps, was abolished in one school. That is highly com- mendable, and the more reason for keeping on until all buildings are thus improved. For a series of articles with definite suggestions about "School Janitors and Health," by Dr. Helen C. Put- nam, write to the Child Welfare Magazine, Philadel- phia. 148 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN I— ( 2 > > oj O el ^ ^ OQ o +^ m >> '^ 25 3 OS IS -M •T3 03 i=l o3 -IJ (D w T3 g-s fe iS § s a, o3 -tJ -tJ A QJ o3 03 J3 J3 -a -t^ l^i^^ HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN S .2 S :S S S W).S I ^ § ~ =5 S o o H I— I > ■*J D. 3 3 o3 j3 5 o, a; © ^3 -^ j:5 O CO +^ S "^ Q ^ OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN &. .2 a o •n o ^■^ c3 o CD %-H M ^ o 3 "2 03 02 -c OJ 3 o +3 > .r^B g -^ ^^^ g . 02 -^ . 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The state is not thickly populated, club organizations are new, and great distances make concerted effort difficult along any line. But the women of Oregon have triumphed decidedly. First, a questionnaire was sent throughout the state asking for information in regard to school buildings and grounds. "The replies from city, town, and rural districts show that, while interest has been taken in the direction of improve- ment, much remains to be done." Then a circular was sent to the school boards of the state, calling attention to suitable ventilation, to whether light comes from left side or rear, whether desks are suited to children, whether there are individual drinking cups, and whether stoves are sur- rounded with a jacket. Emphasis, with suggestions from experienced authorities, is laid on proper attention to toilet arrangements, "which are often entirely inadequate." To secure public opinion in each community which would stimulate and support the school authorities in making necessary changes, a little four-page folder reproduced here v/as distributed among the women's clubs: SCHOOL SANITATION What to Observe School Grounds: 1. Are they covered with sod? 2. Are they well drained? 3. Are the walks in good condition? 4. What kind of walks — board, gravel, etc.? 5. Are there any trees and shrubs? 6. Is there a fuel room? 7. Are the grounds attractive and homelike? 8. Is there any place where children may play, sheltered from in- clement weather? 153 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Outhouses: 1. Are the outhouses kept locked before and after school hours? 2. Are the outhouses as far apart as the grounds will permit? 3. Are they screened and vines planted to overrun the screens? 4. Are the walls kept free from obscene language and pictures? 5. Are the stools kept clean? 6. Are the vaults kept in a sanitary condition? a. What plan of disinfecting the vaults? b. What kind of disinfectant is used? The School Building: 1. What color are the walls? 2. Are the walls free from marks? 3. Are there a few good pictures placed on the walls? 4. What are the pictures? 5. Is there a janitor employed, and does he do his work well? a. How often are the floors washed? b. How often are the blackboards cleaned? 6. What method of ventilation is provided? Is it effective? If not, why not? 7. Does the teacher use good judgment in ventilating her room? 8. Is temperature of room above 68°? 9. Is the stove placed in the corner of the room and surrounded with a jacket? 10. Is the general atmosphere of the room homelike? If not, why not? 11. What method of lighting? a. Number, size, and position of windows? b. Arrangement of window shades? 12. Are the desks and seats the right height for the children? 13. What provision is made for drinking? 14. Are the walls well Ughted? Ventilated? 15. Is the building provided with fire escapes? 16. Do the doors open outward? 17. What place is provided for pupils in which to eat lunches brought from home? 18. Is there a shelf for lunch pails? 19. Is there provision for warm lunch? 20. Is there a place to hang wraps? 21. Is there a book case? Suggestions: 1. The lecturer should have a copy of the state board of health bulletins. 2. It might be well to invite the county superintendent and the 154 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN teacher of the district in which the meeting is held to take part in the discussion. 3. The school houses in the district represented in the grange should be inspected prior to the date of the discussion of these topics. 4. As a result of this discussion some one should be appointed to confer with the school boards to the end that needed improvements may be made. Clean Ventilation After a visit to an open air class for 25 children in a school of 2,000 children, coming in to the ordinary classroom with 40 boys in it was like going from the ice box porch into a kitchen heavy with stale odors. Is it not wrong to encourage the open air class for 25 without trying to correct poisoned surroundings for the 1,975? Superintendent Ella Flagg Young, by ordering every school room in Chicago opened to fresh air three times daily, has done more to make people think straight on the question of fresh air than all the open air rooms in the country can do. The test of pure air and successful ventilation is in what your own nose tells you when you come in from outdoors. If you visit a school and find foul air in cold weather when it "interferes with the ventilating system" to have windows open, something is wrong. If it is the system, consult an engineer; if it is the principal who will not let windows be opened, consult the superintendent, the press, the mothers' clubs; if it is the individual teacher, consult the principal. Occasionally you hear it said that parents are not to blame for the air in school rooms. Parents are to blame, everybody is to blame, who has a nose and lungs that tell her the truth. Engineers are beginning to agree that there is something wrong with ''systems." It is unfortunate that such expen- sive ones have been elaborately incorporated in many new schools. Recently there was a meeting of the Society of American Engineers for the sole purpose of discussing 155 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN the problems of public school ventilation. In New York the Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers is cooperating with the board of education in making a study of ventilation. Women's clubs would do well to consult the General Federation Bulletin for November, 1911, for a brief sug- gestive outline of next things to be done for fresh air. Some of the suggestions may be helpful here: Have the health committee secure a practical manual on ventilation, like Dr. J. S. Billings's Ventilating and Heating; Enforce building laws or secure adequate ones; Have lectures and demonstrations by experts or by agents of ventila- tion apparatus; Consult boards of health, medical societies, or the National Association for Study of Tuberculosis; Secure and study local or state regulations, and see whether they are enforced; if not, why not, and who is responsible; Ask city and state boards of health for leaflets; Hold meetings and help editors report strikingly; Form fresh air leagues among children; Hold a conference Math local architects; Secure the cooperation of a commercial club, or other groups of business men. Shaw's School Hygiene gives expert advice about the best ventilating systems and their dangers. Fresh air, like all other good things, must be watched. Spasmodic visits between recesses will test the maximum staleness of air. Even when the superintendent fixes the number of times windows shall be open, there should be watching from the outside to see for sure that some unlovely or anemic teacher is not taking away from her children the blessing of clean air and all that it means to mind and body. The Bubbling Fountain A torrent of abuse is being heaped on the common drink- ing cup. People who cannot quite grasp the advisability of inspection which will keep out of school the children who 156 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN have infectious diseases or are exposed to contagion at home can understand the danger in the cup which passes, germ-laden, from mouth to mouth. The bubbUng fountain is usually one of the first demands after a survey of sanitary conditions. It may come as a result of a campaign for this one purpose. Physicians con- demn the cup scientifically and leave the education of public opinion to women's clubs. Once the proposition is brought squarely before the public, there is little difl[iculty in getting everybody to agree that the common cup ought to go. In San Rafael the entire town set aside a day for the funeral — burning, smashing, breaking — of every drinking cup used in public places. There are now a few state laws doing away on paper, at least, with the common cup; but when unsupplemented by provision for drinking fountains, laws are likely to go un- noticed. Years afterward you will find the same old cups, the same old faucets that little boys can conveniently put their mouths around. To secure individual paper cups or bubbling fountains eventually requires public money and an added appropriation in the budget. But to connect the cup with the taxpayers' pockets you have only to show how many children are excluded from school, fall behind, or miss school work as a result of communicable disease, which means not only measles and chicken-pox, but colds, sore throats, and grippe — ^practically every ill excepting broken bones and over-eating. Even when sanitary fountains are installed, their location and construction often make them far from beneficial. A school survey in Syracuse, for example, discovered a foun- tain in an illy ventilated toilet room above a sink which caught the drippings of a waste pipe from the floor above. What kinds of fountain are installed, and where, must be watched. 157 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN And when you stop to think, you will see what a very small portion of the health problem is remedied by doing away with the common cup. Your child may use her own tumbler to get a drink, come back and sit next to a child with tonsilitis. A great deal too much attention has been centered on the cup without putting it in its position of relative importance. The same amount of energy which will get physicians interested, write articles for the press, hold mothers' meetings, talk to school people, secure and enforce a city ordinance or state law about the drinking cup will create the same sentiment and get the same result for school nursing and medical inspection which bring comprehensive sanitary changes. For no school physician is willing to allow children to be unnecessarily exposed to contagion. The drinking cup is disappearing in any number of places as a result of medical inspection, while, on the other hand, people who have struggled most energetically for the pure bubbling fountain alone are finding, alas, that it is a school "stunt" to get your mouth right down on top. The laws of hygiene and health which apply to a drinking cup apply also to a roller towel, to sanitaries, to desks, erasers, and slates. We cannot logically crusade against one without crusading against the others. Good Light vs. Poor Eyes Did you ever know anybody who did not feel a thrill of sympathetic pity for a blind person, especially a blind child? Spasmodically we have epidemics of agitation about the eyesight of school children. Some one will say, and truth- fully, that the eyes need as much attention as the teeth, or that we must provide free eye glasses for the poor. Yet all the time children, millions of them, go on studying in 158 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN rooms so dark or so poorly lighted that even strong eyes are tried severely. Though your own eyes are good guides for judging the light in school rooms, there are accepted scientific standards about light — the amount, direction, and intensity desirable. One square foot of window space should be allowed for five of floor space in a room not more than 25 feet wide. This is easily measured either in the building plan or by personal visits to the schools. The majority of the light should come from one side. Consult the school architect, and, perhaps by consultation with other architects, outline detailed changes for each building, so, when possible, windows may be cut to bring enough light and from the proper direction. The school architect will be glad to let you see the plans for new buildings. If sufficient light and the right sort of light requires more money, get the press inter- ested, talk to a group of business men and tell the board of education you will support their request at budget time. Unless adequate means for getting good light are secured through official channels, women's clubs might just as well go elsewhere with their interests, for no amount of talking will accomplish anything unless it leads to a budget change. Adequate inspection for eye diseases, testing children when they enter school, giving those with weak sight places in the front of the room, will supplement proper lighting of classrooms. When a child's eyes are very bad a teacher can generally find an oculist who will gladly examine him. I once saw a little girl in a 1 B grade peering through great spectacles at the blackboard. When I asked about her, the teacher said that the child, after six months in school, was discovered to be totally blind in one eye and losing her sight in the other. She was then put under a physician's care. But think of those weeks of not understanding, of shame for poor work, of dulled appreciation — and how un- 159 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN necessary ! The epitome of everything known about Hghting in schools — the best shape for windows, the direction and amount of hght needed — is condensed in Shaw's School Hygiene. School Lunches There is first of all the school lunch which is a business proposition, run on a lunch counter basis at moderate prices. This is of especial value in high schools where many children come from a distance and would otherwise eat cold food brought from home. A teacher has said that unhealthful lunches are perhaps the greatest cause of poor health and poor work among high school children. But as even children of 16 and 18 years have not sense enough to eat wholesome things if pies and cake and sweet stuff are provided, it is often advisable not to have a school lunch counter in charge of a money making concern. In Newburyport, for example, the Woman's Club runs a high school lunch for 400 pupils. The city gives the room, and the club furnishes the salary of a woman to do the cooking and waiting. The lunch room has always paid for supplies and enough over to add any desired improvements. Sometimes, after experimentation by a woman's club, lunches have been carried on by the board of education, as in Louisville, where members of the Alumnae Club of the girls' high school demonstrated for four months the value of a school lunch. It was then taken over by the school commissioners, and now a fine lunch room is being built with one member of the club in charge. Mothers' clubs have provided lunch rooms in some schools, and in others parent- teacher associations. In Boston the school committee put in the equipment for lunch rooms in high schools, while the New England Diet Kitchen prepared lunches at cost. This work has been carried on since 1907 by the Woman's Edu- 160 ONE OF SEVEN EXPERIMENTS: NEW YORK SCHOOL LUNCH COMMITTEE TABLE D HOTE: HOME AND SCHOOL LEAGUE: PHILADELPHIA SHOULD OUTSIDERS PROVE THE VALUE OF SCHOOL FEEDING? OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN cational and Industrial Union. In Newark the High School Alumnse Association maintained a lunch room in the high school building, the prices charged just covering expenses. Some schools have lunches provided at cost by the girls in the domestic science department. One of the most unique arrangements exists in Chelsea. The civic com- mittee of the Women's Club manages a high school lunch counter, where every day a committee of women attends personally to the students. It is so arranged that each member of the committee serves only once in two weeks. The superintendent writes, "By this personal service the members of the club come in actual contact with the high school pupils in a very helpful way." Not as a business proposition, but primarily to enable those children who would otherwise buy a penny's worth of candy from a push cai't to get something hot and nour- ishing at noon time, lunches in elementary schools are springing up all over the country. Some are fostered by women's clubs or promoted by committees which exist solely for that purpose. Though the two or three cents which children pay for lunches practically cover the cost of food, voluntary contributions are necessary to cover the expenses of administration and supervision. In New York the School Lunch Committee runs seven lunches with menus which vary according to the nationahty of the majority of children. Where I had lunch in a ''slum" school we were given (for three cents) a big tin of tomato soup with vegetables and two large pieces of bread. We could also buy for a penny a jelly sandwich or a baked apple, a cookie or plate of salad. The food was served by children chosen by the teachers to work for their lunches. They ladle out soup, put bread on the plates, wash the dishes, and clean up the room. The administrative expenses are met by the committee. 161 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN In 1910, when the lunches were started, an investigation was made by the department of health's medical inspector of 959 children in one school and 1,000 children in another school. Of these, 283 were described as suffering from mal- nutrition. They were then divided, one group receiving lunches and the other going home for lunch for three months. They were watched as to weight and school work. A visitor was assigned to record home conditions, to note whether the mothers were at home all day, whether a good noon meal was supplied at home, and whether the children brought lunches to school. At the end of this study it was shown that the children who were given school lunches gained on an average more than the children who went home. No one doubts that nourishing food is good for children, and that those who otherwise would not have hot lunches are likely to gain in weight if they have hot lunches. The School Lunch Committee has, however, not yet proved that giving hot lunches to children makes a measurable difference in their school work, that the children who need hot lunches are getting them, and that all the children who are now coming to the lunches need to have an extra school activity run for their benefit. Until these points are brought out the board of education cannot logically ask for a budget allowance to take over the work. In making its demonstration, the School Lunch Com- mittee of the Philadelphia Home and School League, with the cooperation of the Psychological Clinic, took physical measurements and mental tests of two groups of children, one taking dinners and another not taking dinners, and proved through lesson averages and conduct averages that there is an educational value in giving children enough to eat. To get publicity before a budget campaign the Phila- delphia Committee is urging other organizations to supply money for equipping and running one school apiece. For 162 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN $250 a woman's club can give hot lunches to the children of one school during the year. A woman, in memory of her son, has endowed a settlement with enough to pay for hot lunches at one cent each for all the neighborhood children. It is a beautiful and practical memorial, and might also be made through a school where the dreaded paternalistic and pauperizing effect is minimized. The criticism is often and justly made that school lunches are superficial, are taking the children away from the home, and relieving the parents of their duties. One square meal a day of nourishing food is better than none; but after all, what is the use of giving a child good food at five lunches if he is going to live on tea and coffee for breakfast and supper and lunch the rest of the week? To meet this argu- ment the committee in Philadelphia is cooperating with practical housekeeping centers to give lessons in the homes of the same children who are being fed at school. A visitor points out to mothers the advantages of good food for the children, and shows how to prepare food and market eco- nomically. Destitute cases are reported to organized charities. Much that we have learned from experimenting in a dozen cities was discovered years ago by the London County Council. The Children's Care Committees proved that the only efficacious way to remedy so-called malnutrition was to find out whether children were suffering from unsuitable feeding, want of sleep, or overwork out of school hours. "They require, as a rule, much more done for them than merely feeding them on school days, and whatever is done must be placed, as all sensible people see, on a more scien- tific basis than wholesale free feeding can ever supply if they are to be helped efficiently and not allowed to remain forever on a feeding list." When, after a visit to the home, the Committee found 12 163 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN that a child really needed food at school, the number of dinners each child should receive was scheduled, and at each meeting of the Conmiittee it was again decided whether feeding should be continued. Where milk, rather than dinners, was needed, this was also provided. The London schools have given up the wholesale feeding of children as unscientific and futile. Why should not we in America profit by this experience? For data about the physical and mental effect of school feeding on children, write to the Committee on Tuber- culosis, 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York; or The Home and School League, Philadelphia. Housekeeping by Continuation Schools Many new ideas about domestic science which deserve the enthusiastic support of women are being tried by superintendents. Within the same week three excellent sug- gestions came to my notice. The first was a story in the Journal of Education called *'The Home School in Providence." It told of the school board's experiment in teaching housekeeping by applied work after school hours. A flat was rented and turned over to the girls in the Tech- nical High School to renovate and furnish. Study of de- signs, experience in buj^ing, floor painting, and making curtains were included in the preliminaries to good house- keeping. Afternoon classes for girls in the grammar schools were then started, and evening classes for factory girls in sewing, cooking, and general housework. The girls are shown how to air a bed, how to keep it clean, how to tuck in sheets, and how to make a bed for an invaUd. They clean, sweep, and dust in the easiest and most practical way. They learn how floors, curtains, mops, and brushes should be taken care of. Another lesson is in setting the table and serving a meal, either as a hostess or as a wait- 164 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN ress. Another group washes all the hnen that is used for a week, from five to seven dozen pieces; and another does the ironing. » A library, social Friday evenings, and direct instruction for mothers in the care of babies are part of the extended use of this continuation school, which was so immediately successful that a similar home making tenement school was started for factory girls by the Boston school board. The second suggestion came from Trenton, where the superintendent says that one of the chief needs of schools in crowded districts is a day nursery in charge of school nurses. "Over two hundred of our pupils have had to lose a great deal of their schooling this year because they were kept at home to take care of younger children while their mothers went out to work. In many cases the mother, a widow, was the only wage earner in the family. These buildings might be used also in connection with our do- mestic science department for lessons and demonstrations in the care of children and in housekeeping." From a third city, Marlborough, came the annual report telling about the superintendent's plan for practical courses in cooking, sewing, basketry, gardening, painting, and music, as high school electives to be supplemented by work at home under the guidance of mothers. To stimulate this valuable home work he urges the adoption of an individual home rank card. "This card should be kept by those parents who wish to have their children participate in such work. For instance, several mothers might agree to study with their daughters some definite phase of home management. I am sure that one of the women's clubs would arrange a course of lectures for such a group. At the end of the season the girls could present their records of progress and accom- plishments which should receive some recognition in the total rank for the year. A certain number of points should 165 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN be given for excellence in any systematic and continuous home work supervised and ranked by the parent cooperating with the teacher." Would not one or more of these schemes be practical in your city? School Gardens and Nature Study One of the nice things to do for schools is to put growing things about for children to watch. In our big cities the absence of nature and live things around schools is too often taken for granted; in smaller places the artistic and peda- gogic value of gardens has been neglected. But now comes a group of specialists who have discovered that the garden is a source of manifold benefits to children, mentally, morally, and phj^sically. There are whole associations simply to foster in children the love of grubbing in the earth and of raising things. Usually, however, garden work has de- veloped as a part of another club's activity. For example, the Women's Civic League in Kalamazoo has a special committee to cooperate with teachers in promoting school and home gardening by selling each year over 15,000 packets of seeds. To stimulate children's patience while things grow, prizes of money and bulbs are offered for the best products raised either in the gardens at home or in those connected with the school. The Woman's Club in Dubuque has for the past ten years been distributing packets of seeds, providing window boxes, giving flower and vegetable shows in the schools, and offering cash prizes for the best exhibits brought by children. Like so many other school activities, when proved of value, school gardens have often developed under the board of education, as in Newark, where the first school garden was run for a year by the Woman's Club, then taken over. The prime necessity for garden work is, of course, land. 166 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN Any one may give or loan land. Vacant lots are more pleasant to look at and more salable with a crop of healthy vegetables and healthy children working over them. Real estate companies have seen the business advantage of having lots used for this purpose. The initial expense of preparing the ground is quite small, because the children are willing laborers. Seeds are seciu-ed from plant guilds, or are some- times given by merchants. Sometimes a state or local grange will supply enough to fill each child's garden. Once started, the garden needs only occasional supervision by a teacher and the loving care of the children for ''my things." School gardens are especially desirable as a laboratory method of teaching agriculture. With increasing emphasis by everybody on "back to the farm," the appeal of scien- tific and intensive farming should be made to the boys when young. The United States department of agriculture sees the advantages of these early beginnings, and is offer- ing to help smaller communities with their agricultural work in schools. An interesting account in a recent issue of the Survey tells of the intensive farming done by school children in Oregon. County contests in raising anything, from pigs to pop-corn, have stimulated young farmers throughout the state. This campaign grew out of a pop-corn collection taken six years ago in a school located in the heart of a rich farming country. The young county school superintendent, who is now the state superintendent, was thus led to try the experiment which has resulted in 5,000 children growing their own corn, melons, and vegetables. "Few boys in Yamhill County to-day have to send to stores to buy pop-corn, or are tempted to enter their neighbor's melon patches at night," says Calvin C. Thomason, field manager for the industrial contests, "for almost all of them grow their own, and have much left for market after sup- plying their own homes." 167 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN The value of outdoor work in gardens for delicate children or those inclined to have tuberculosis is patent. Many a little cripple is enjoying to the full the moderate exercise and opportunity to do things in the sunshine. Through the delicate children school gardens are connected with phy- sicians. Any one who is interested can locate on a map all schools and the gardens they should have; can show on a map where vacant lots would be of service as gardens; can con- vince real estate dealers that giving lots for gardens is a practical move; interest business men in this work; get ministers to set aside a Sunday as School Garden Sunday, just before budget time; ask the local grange or state bureau of agriculture to furnish seeds; emphasize con- stantly that the city must ultimately do the work, and that everybody must help on the budget fight; get a taxpayers' association to recommend the necessary appropriation, or ask the park commissioner if there is not some extra space for children to grow flowers in. In spite of the crowded conditions about most of the schools in the city of New York, half of those already built, so says the School Garden Association, have some grounds, even if only a little plot in a playground, on which school gardens might be installed. Consequently strenuous effort is being made each year to get a budget appropriation which will enable the board of education to do this work as it should be done, and to establish a department of nature study and school gardens. Parents in some cities have shown interest in school grounds by giving trees and shrubbery, fountains, walks, and pavilions. Arbor Day is the logical time to interest, by some appropriate ceremony, both parents and children in the school grounds. Arbor Day in the Pittsburg schools started with the Civic Club, which took the initiative by 168 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN giving talks to the children. To encourage this celebration the Woman's Club in Dubuque presents vines, shrubs, and trees to the schools. The planting becomes a ceremony and makes the children feel partial responsibility for the welfare of these growing things and for the beauty of their school surroundings. Newspapers in a third city employed a landscape gardener to plan the beautification of school grounds by using the native flora. The children them- selves, hundreds of them, are voluntarily furnishing plants to carry on this scheme. In big cities scores of "slum" children and many mod- erately well-off children never see parks from one year's end to another, and their only knowledge of growing things often comes through the outside agencies which collect and distribute from rich people's conservatories or dinner tables the extra flowers that are full of wonderful beauty for these children. The National Plant, Flower, and Fruit Guild, with headquarters at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York, is trying to furnish natm-e material to the schools that most need it — plants, bulbs, and seeds for kindergartens and primary grades. Once or twice a year the Guild combines with other committees interested in nature work for a mammoth show in a public school. Parents and children from other schools come to see the flowers, and thousands of eyes are brightened by this little glimpse of lilies and roses. Could plant and flower giving in your city be systematized so that no school room would be without some growing thing? Cut flowers from greenhouses, extra flowers from private hothouses, soil, window boxes, pretty jars to grow plants in — there are endless things to give; and for the out-of- doors gardens, land, implements, and seeds. Public gardens and parks are storehouses of delight for the children. Since 1905 the New York Botanical Gardens have been giving to groups of school children lectures which 169 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN are correlated with nature study in the school. Owing to the great distance of the gardens from most of the schools only a limited number of children can take advantage of the talks about seaweeds, mushrooms, hemlock forests, and fern groves, or of walks in small groups along the pretty paths. It has been seriously argued that some ar- rangement should be made with the traction companies whereby children may be given a free ride to the gardens during non-rush hours as part of their school work. In smaller cities all schools may profit by park greenhouses and gardens. ^ ery soon the progressiveness of an institu- tion of this kind will be measured by the extent of its school cooperation and the value put on its work with children. Are there enough school gardens for all in your city? Is some child without a growing flower in his school room? Fresh Air Summer Work Have you any idea how many cliiklren of school age do not leave town for the whole summer? For how many children are plaj'ground and recreational faciUties pro- vided by the city or outsiders? What do the rest of the children do in the city during the three months' vacation? Those of us who leave town with our children as soon as school is finished and find mountain or shore resorts just as crowded each year, do not realize what a small percentage we are. It has been estimated (p. 278) that the families which cannot afford to send their children to high school cannot afford to leave town, and that the number of vaca- tioners will nowhere exceed the high school register — about 6% in New York. Through successful vacation schools and supervised play- grounds we have learned that normally healthy chikh'en can 170 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN be happy and well in the city during hot weather. I was astonished when first told that it was no kindness to take the average city child away for the whole summer, but I believe it now, after watching the thrilling and adventure- satisfying life in park and street. Hand organs with groups of little girls dancing beside them, games, fights, moving' picture shows, recreation piers, ice cream carts — what more does a child want? The problem for fresh air workers is rather to give short vacations to many, according to the urgency of their need, than to keep a few in the country for three months. And the many can be reached easily through the schools. Every spring teachers in the crowded sections of New York are asked by numerous agencies, like the Association for Im- proving the Condition of the Poor or the Tribune Fresh Air Fund, to make out lists of children who would profit by a vacation. Visitors are sent to the homes to make sure that the children's families cannot afford to give them the outing. Then during the hot days the children, thousands of them, are taken to the sea shore or country for a week, or perhaps only a day, of digging in the sand and chasing waves. But the settlement camps, and even the great houses at Sea Breeze and Chappaqua, where a thousand people a day can be comfortably stowed away for a noon dinner, only accommodate three per cent of the mothers and chil- dren who would be equally benefited by an occasional outing. What is now most necessary to make all children comfort- able in summer is the fundamental work of securing enough park and play space, having streets kept extra clean for the children, collecting garbage frequently to keep the air pure, teaching mothers how to prepare cooling food, opening enough public baths, and compelling space for light and air in tenements. Otherwise, children come from their joyful 171 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN outings in the country only to lose vitality and strength in dirty streets and stuffy homes. The time is surely coming when school-all-the-year-round will solve many of oiu" summer problems, when teaching and play will be so attractive that trips to the sea shore will not be necessary life-saving for the city's children. For results of experiments, write to the city superintendents of Cleveland, and Newark, New Jersey. What happens to the teachers in our big cities during the summer . How many of them get the change and recreation and fresh air they need? Do their salaries permit vacations at the sea shore or in the country? Teachers' Visits or Visiting Teachers This much-mooted controversy, to settle which thousands of dollars a year are being spent annually by outside agencies and schools, offers women a particularly good opportunity for efficient cooperation. Shall the city pay for one, two, or ten visiting teachers when it has employees supposed to be doing that work? Wliat does the visiting teacher do that cannot be done by the combined force of efficient nm-se, attendance officer, relief visitor, hospital physician, and grade teacher? Money voting powers are saying to the outside agencies who are exploiting the visiting teachers, *'You can show us." The Public Education Association in New York has been administering for several years a fund which now sup- ports seven home and school visitors. For two years they backed the board of education's request for a budget ap- propriation to have visiting teachers in the school system; but in 1911 they withdrew this request, hoping that the findings of the school inquiry would show where efficiency 173 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN within the system would obviate the need for the visiting teacher. The desirabiHty of considering each child as an individual with peculiar needs that somebody should pay attention to is unquestioned, and good people have grasped at the visiting teacher as the easiest way of bringing it to pass. Settlements, parents' associations, women's clubs, have all welcomed the visiting teacher, but they have not yet settled the controversy. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that the average teacher has 35 children in her class, and that one-third of them are in such a condition, physically, mentally, or morally that patently they need somebody's attention. Let us say that one-fourth of those 12 need physical care by the school nurse, one-fourth need the care of a truant officer, and one-half need extra care in their lessons and sympathetic home visiting. Thus each grade teacher will have six children on her visiting list. They do not require daily or weekly calls at their homes during six months, for after the first few visits matters may have completely ad- justed themselves, though perhaps new children needing special attention will take the place of cases already straight- ened out. The indirect argument behind the visiting teacher is this: We have school nurses, but not enough, nor do they do the work they are supposed to do; we have attend- ance officers, but either recognizedly inefficient ones who do not catch the truants or unskilled ones who cannot read the complicated conditions back of truancy and juvenile delinquency; we have grade teachers who have six months of intimate contact with their children, but who are too burdened with teaching from nine to three, with clerical re- porting and outside matters, to visit the homes of the chil- dren. Instead of getting enough school nurses, instead of 173 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN making attendance officers efficient, instead of releasing teachers from clerical work to do home visiting, let us pay for an extra person, a visiting teacher, to act as go-between for home and school, to put the child in touch with agencies which will meet his particular needs. When the item of $25,000 for visiting teachers was cut out of the New York budget, the city superintendent gave a general order that high school teachers should do the visit- ing themselves. It met with a howl. Some argued that home visiting would expose teachers to health dangers, others that it would consume all their leisure time. But for the most part, when teachers tried it, they realized the potential benefits to themselves and their work from this individual knowledge of difficult children's home situations. And it did not mean visiting all 35 children every day, which is the usual picture people get when you suggest that teachers visit in the homes. I spent one afternoon with a visiting teacher in the slums of New York. She found out the real age of one child who had applied for working papers; sent another to a pre- ventatorium for tuberculosis; advised a mother to take her child to a clinic, etc. Not one thing did she do which was not the logical duty of one of the six large relief agencies or of the city's health department. To each of the squalid tenements she had been sent at a school teacher's suggestion. Is it not a fair measure of a teacher's estimate of charitable agencies that not one of these families needing relief was referred directly to a relief agency? If the visiting teacher were labeled ''I am here because you are inefficient," she might serve as the great moral and practical lesson to schools and outside agencies, which she is — underneath. Teachers, nurses, and outsiders cordially extend to her the difficult problems in their own fields. Naturally, they indorse the visiting teacher; naturally, she has even more than she can 174 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN do. She is a living appeal for problems to settle; and because problems are plentiful, she is apparently the only solution. Meanwhile, city councils are saying, ^' Prove it." It is in this situation that women outside schools can help. They are in touch with relief agencies, and can measure efficiency there. They are interested in hospitals, probation associations, settlements; they work with groups of parents, and they know the school nurses and grade teachers. They have within their grasp the tests for efficiency of each, and can prove or disprove the need for the visiting teacher, not by putting one in the school and showing how much she has to do, but by studying carefully what each school employee and outside agency fails to do for the very children who are supposed to need a visiting teacher. The Social Efficiency of Teachers In the early days of western towns teachers were the most important people socially. The positions to-day of a public school teacher in Philadelphia and in a small middle west city are radically different. With the growth, or rather rediscovery, of parent interest in schools has come the re- discovery in large cities that the teacher is human and must be socially recognized. Women's clubs, churches, mothers' clubs, with their strong school interests, have realized that the teacher is the educational authority, the potent factor in child training. Socially there are many ways in which public school teachers can be brought more closely in touch with outside men and women. Does yoiu* church hold a reception for teachers? Does your club put aside a teachers' day? Do the "culture clubs," literary, musical, dramatic, welcome teachers for membership? Have you considered that the difficulties experienced by your parent-teacher associations 175 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN may come because you are not interested in teachers as social beings? Of course, it is narrowing that teachers ex- press themselves socially in associations that are almost unions. But the bond of sympathy is just as natural as that which welds together members of any trade. There are hundreds of teachers working in localities where no one else is their equal in mental training. One of the most beautiful things done by Miss Julia Richman, who, as dis- trict superintendent, did so much in one of the poorest districts of New York, was the maintaining of a '' teachers' house," a home on the same principle as a settlement, but for public school teachers instead of social workers. Until the relative value of public school teacher, settle- ment worker, charity visitor, and society girl is clearly felt the fundamental barriers between home and school will remain largely social. VIII HOW WOMEN ORGANIZE TO HELP SCHOOLS The General Federation of Women's Clubs ITS educational committee holds relatively the same position to local clubs that the United States bureau of education holds to local superintendents in collecting information and data for reports, stimulating local work along definite lines, and sending out frequent suggestions. In these three ways its opportunity is limitless; but just because the field is so immense and lapses in club mechanism do occur, proportionately little has been accomplished. The United States commissioner of education has un- doubtedly an advantage over the General Federation's chairman of education, because he knows just who each superintendent is, what his record shows in annual reports, and that he is likely to stay in office for some time. Com- missioner Claxton can put his official finger on Walla Walla, Peoria, or Philadelphia with equal ease, and be sure that they are all going to be interested in suggestions about improved methods of reporting, new ways of teaching geog- raphy, or better adjustable desks. The Federation chairman serving for only one or two years does not know every local club chairman of education, nor can she, without second sight, learn of each one's particular field or personal hobby in time to give and get suggestions before a new chairman comes in with a change of policy. 177 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN The General Federation has three means for distribut- ing information and suggestions to its 800,000 women — through the biennial meeting and report, through state and local chairmen of education, and through general publicity, newspapers, club bulletins, and special articles. The biennial report goes to practically every city with its message of what has been done, but generally without sug- gestion as to what might be accomplished before the next meeting. It is purchased often by a club; but when there is no club house, it is not available for easy reference by members who are not officers. The educational platform adopted at the St. Paul bien- nial, ''That all children in the United States shall have equal educational opportunity," is divided into planks of more or less definite things to be worked for — strong and well- enforced child labor and compulsory education laws in every state; sufficient well equipped and cared-for school houses in every community; properly trained and paid teach- ing force; expert paid supervision of all school work; training for the hand and moral instruction in all public schools. For the two years which ended in 1910 the last item was emphasized, and in 439 towns club women re- ported having assisted directly in introducing industrial activities, besides having made studies and reports on the same subject. In the last biennial report one-third of the precious four pages of the educational committee's report for 1910 is given to the discussion of the ''Rhodes scholar," one in- dividual of the 20,000,000 children that the committee wants to help. The brief summary of work done by clubs and the tables showing where it was for medical inspection, for decorations, or for libraries, make one proud of the Federation, proud of the scope and possibilities of clubs' helpfulness for schools. But we are not told definitely 178 X\SING SCHOOL GROUND'^^: WALTHAM IN THE MIDDLE OF NEW ORLEANS STORY HOUR FOR PROBATIONERS: ATLANTA WOMEN ARE PROMOTING PLAY HOW WOMEN ORGANIZE what remains to be done, or how to do it. Next steps and a next two years' program are not suggested, for all this de- pends on the new national chairman with a new program, a new slogan, a new policy. Should the biennial recapitu- late, or plan ahead? Should a definite goal be set for two years hence and reports be made in the light of what re- mains to be done? Why not supplement rivalry in reporting the amount and character of work done with rivalry in reporting constructive, practical suggestions for future work? Because state chairmen change every two years and, therefore, the headquarters of committees move from city to city, a central bureau enables the General Federation to collect from clubs, individuals, magazines, and newspapers all the available information that will be of help to indi- vidual clubs or workers. As far as funds permit, outlines for meetings, programs, and bibliographies are suggested to club leaders. The chief work of the bureau has been the club directory, in making which the managers say they are much hindered and delayed by women's lack of promptness, accuracy, and common sense in answering blanks. Mrs. Mary I. Wood, head of the bureau, realizes fully the opportunities that lie before such a central clearing house for club information. The bureau has to-day as large a scope and more immediate opportunity to benefit schools than has the Russell Sage Foundation. It can be the directing force in passing on the best ideas of school progress through the mechanism of club organization to every city and county in the United States. Yet, it has practically no money for an office staff, for postage, or for the printing or distributing of uniform schedules necessary in measuring club work. Without any money a great deal is being accomplished, and the bureau deserves the hearty support of all club women. If local clubs will go half way in supplying information quickly, systematically, and 13 179 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN definitely, the bureau can be even more helpful, until it receives the endowment which it will use so advantageously. The official organ of twelve state federations of women's clubs, the General Federation Bulletin, aims to make available to 800,000 federated women notes from state work, reports of national committees and departments, and ideas of general interest. From time to time the educational de- partment tells of its programs, and gives suggestions through the Bulletin. Thus chairmen have a chance to make known to everybody interested the sources for information, at least. One chairman was asked by a recently appointed local chairman, "Will you please plan out the work for me and tell me where I can get full information as to what other clubs have done?" To this the department chairman answered, ''Have you not been reading your Bulletin?" and referred to a series of articles running for over a year on this subject. The Bulletin as an official organ has great opportunities for educational leadership. It is already interesting reading even for the non-club woman. It makes one realize that a great deal of excellent work is being done by women. It is sincere and straightforward. But until local clubs realize the mutual benefit which comes from keeping the central department chairman informed about their work in order that they in turn may draw on the experience of others, the Bulletin cannot be as useful as it might be, however inter- esting and worth while. There is a way of reporting plain, ordinary club news so that it stimulates and describes next steps which may be taken by any club. The National Congress of Mothers Nation-wide in cities and towns mothers are organizing for the study of child welfare and for intelligent cooperation 180 HOW WOMEN ORGANIZE between home, school, and city. The program adopted at the second international congress shows what the organiza- tion aims to secm-e for schools: the training of children in the privileges of citizenship; legislation to abolish the com- mon cup; best preparation for non-college education; nor- mal, domestic, and moral training in curriculum; careful selection of janitors; definite methods for cleaning and ventilation; medical inspection; special classes for backward children; and probation for wayward children under sixteen through boards of education. These are definite tasks that mothers can take up at once. These are things that every mother wants, that every city should welcome. The official organ of the Congress is the monthly Child Welfare Magazine, whose primary purpose is to ''carry a message of special value to all who see the possibilities of a little child, and who would give to each one the oppor- tunity to develop his highest nature." Here are printed papers, for example, about clean school houses, about school housekeeping and its relation to the health of the normal child. In each month's issue state news is given by the press chairman, with a list of loan papers available from headquarters. There is enthusiasm, earnestness of purpose, idealism, and much sentiment of a good kind in the little magazine. Going to individual homes, to mothers longing for in- struction and suggestions, it undoubtedly brings encour- agement and advice, stimulates and uplifts. But for the organized circle in a city it falls short of doing all this. It is not enough "ahead of the game." It leaves suggestions to be culled only by those who already know how to find them in papers and reports. It does not lead or tell how "I can do it," or how "my club can get clean school houses." Items like this are interesting, "The parent-teacher associa- tion has made visible growth this year both in interest and 181 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN in numbers," but not half so helpful or satisfactory as, "We have now in contemplation two entertainments, proceeds of which will be used to provide our school building with a vacuum cleaner." The latter makes you think at once, "Does our school need a vacuum cleaner?" When one club reports the method it used to get something done, any other club can use this method. Half the popularity and value of the woman's magazines is due to the satisfactory way in which they tell me how to decorate my house, make over my clothes, and earn my pin-money. Club organs do not seem to have learned the secret of answering unasked ques- tions before they formulate themselves, or of being just a little ahead, a guiding light, a leading hand. It is per- fectly possible to use club statistics and reports for the pur- pose of showing what remains to be done and of suggesting methods which will bring the desired result. Why should not monthly club magazines outline next steps along each line; show how far each club has or has not followed last month's outline about inspecting sanitary conditions, for instance, and give further suggestions from its experience? Why not classify state reports under topics, so that the best which was done last month in all states and all cities about getting clean school houses will be available in compact form? With the growth in numbers and efficiency of local groups of mothers the National Congress has as large an oppor- tunity for influencing schools as any organization can well handle. Because it reaches rich and poor, cultured and self-made alike, it needs informed leaders to hold it together, and constant stimulation from headquarters for local groups. The Association of Collegiate Alumnce How much better off are communities for the presence of women with college training? Measured by her oppor- 182 HOW WOMEN ORGANIZE tunity, how does the college woman stand? An occasional piece of work like the Boston sanitary survey shows what can be done by college women. The trouble is, of course, that most of these women, when they are not teaching, are interested in many other problems, civic and philanthropic. But as long as there is an association with committees and conventions there is an opportunity for college women to band together for work, or at least to talk about school questions and add their resolutions to the demand of the board of education for budget increases. Two interesting studies have been made by the New York branch, one of the recreational, playground, and summer school facilities offered to children by the city and all private agencies; the other of parent-teacher associations. There are many questions that college women particularly ought to help answer, as individual workers, as committees of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae and the Southern Association of College Women, or through an educational association outside the school: Is it true that college entrance requirements are forcing unsuitable curricula on high and elementary schools? What happens to the majority of high school students who do not go to college? Why do so many students leave high school without finishing the course? Are they fitted for the trades or business they enter? Is the normal school getting the right kind of material? What tests should be given for teachers' efficiency? Would a school survey help the city see its school needs? How can coUege women be made to realize the opportunities for service as school commissioners or local school board members? School Patrons of the National Education Association The Department of School Patrons aims to coordinate for school work all the women's clubs in each state by means 183 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN of a joint committee, one member of the Association of Collep;iate Alumnae, one member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, one of the Council of Jewish Women, one of the National Congress of Mothers, one of the Southern Association of College Women, and one member at large. The reason for this giouping together of women is, of course, to avoid duplication and to concentrate attention on one or two salient points which need everybody's interest before they can be carried. Some states have not seen the ad- vantages of coordination, and in other states it has taken two or three years for the joint committees to get in running order. The Department of School Patrons aims to be ''con- tinuous in our attention to educational matters through permanent organizations and committees." It endeavors to avoid the dangers of "rotating" chairmen by making its officers as nearly permanent as possible, and by developing a program of cooperation which shall be steady and con- tinuous because it is based on school needs, which do not change as often as do club officers. The joint committee in each state is supposed to be the clearing house for women's educational work, always ready to give suggestions or help to both school people and out- siders. How nearly this ideal has been reached as yet it is hard to say. The president issues a yearly folder telling what has been done by each state, though it is, of course, difficult to locate credit with any one organization when many are working together. At the regular National Education Association meeting topics concerning the relation of schools and outsiders are discussed by the department. In 1912 the addresses were on "Citizen Cooperation" and "Civic and Social Center Development." Just to get some idea of what a joint committee repre- sents, consider the figures for the Michigan branch. There 1S4 HOW WOMEN ORGANIZE are 225 federated clubs, well distributed geographically, in- cluding in all 1,700 women, two branches of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae enrolling about 200 women, and one club of Jewish women located at Detroit, with a member- ship of 500. Through the member at large the Michigan State Grange, with all its local branches, is enlisted. Some joint committees start state-wide work through little bulletins of suggestions. The Georgia committee, for example, sent this letter to women's clubs and distributed it throughout the state university: The Georgia Joint Committee appointed to unify the educational work of the women of the state requests your cooperation 1. In securing the passage of bills by the Georgia legislature providing for : Compulsory school attendance The reorganization of the state board of education so as to pro- vide for a partially professional board The changing of the office of state school commissioner to that of state superintendent, with increased salary and an in- creased force of assistants Some better method than any yet devised for prompt payment of teachers The making of the coimty the dominant unit of school ad- ministration The necessary appropriation to operate the State Normal School at Valdosta already legally estabhshed but not yet financed 2. In promulgating public opinion that wiU demand Medical inspection and better sanitary conditions in schools The introduction and extension of manual training and do- mestic science in schools The opening of schools for mothers for the prevention of infant mortality The creation of a national department of health The establishment of playgrounds The establishment of juvenile courts The legislative section of this program was adopted after conference with the state school commissioner and the state supervisor of rural schools. 185 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN It is noticeable that the most efifective work has been done by joint coniniittees in close cooperation with state and county school officials. The chairman in Oregon writes: We hold conferences with superintendent of state and county to get at the vital needs in an iutellii!;ent way. The su[Hn-intendent has been most helpful, and has printed questionnaires which we have circulated through our respective organizations and also through the state and local granges. We are attempting only feasible things, and thus we require little outlay, else at this earl>- stage of oiu- work we would meet with httle cooperation. Our work this season (spring, 1911) has been in cooperation with the state officials and the grange to urge attendance at the annual school election. In the country we suggest a basket lunch- eon and social features. We find from letters that our suggestions — for they are only suggestions — are most cordially received, and that often the improvements have been gladly carried out. Other suggestions made in Oregon relate to medical in- spection, parent-teacher associations, school luncheons, and rural school conditions. The joint committee asks each local affiliated club to appoint a ''school patron" who shall be responsible for giving school information to each com- munity. And all the patrons received this letter: Will you not take up for the good of the children the questions out- lined in the inclosed circular as a personal matter? Urge all taxpayers, men and women, to vote on scluml matters, ami urge every one, whether a taxpayer or not, to atteml this annual school meeting in order to observe the sanitary conditions and to encourage the school directors in making improvements. The inclosure mentioned is from the state superintendent, who writes, "INIay I not ask for your cooperation to the extent of giving a part of one day in the year to the con- sideration of public school questions." He tells of the plans for a picnic festival on this day and suggests a careful survey of school grounds and buildings. ''Some of our school ISO HOW WOMEN ORGANIZE buildings are very unsanitary, and our schools will not be what they should be until we have the united support of all our school patrons." The program for the day reads: 1. Inspection of grounds Size, condition, freedom from stumps, rubbish, etc. Water If well, when was it cleaned? condition of pump, drainage of grounds If no well, have you an inclosed jar or tank with faucet? Outhouses Are they sanitary? Are the school grounds fenced? Do they need fencing? 2. Inspection of houses Floor: When cleaned? Walls: Do they need painting or cleaning? Heating: Location of stove; it should not be in center of room. Is there a jacket on stove? Wood supply Ventilating: Are there window boards? 3. 12 o'clock — Lunch 4. L30 p. M. Discussion of how the things inspected may be unproved See if some definite action can't be taken to-day The ultimate success of the joint conunittees will require machinery for putting the chairman in each state auto- matically in touch with all the local work. It will also de- mand funds with which to send out constant suggestions, questionnaires, and reports on school subjects. Thus each local club in any of the five organizations will be connected with the whole mechanism of state-wide work. Even without funds much has been done through generous giving of time by public-spirited women. When schoolmen in other states follow the example of Oregon's ofiicials, and, instead of merely tolerating, welcome and guide this joint club ac- tivity, the school patrons will be ten times more valuable to their communities. 187 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN A Legislative Campaign by Women A story follows of how 3,000 women in Michigan, under the joint committee of the Department of School Patrons, thought, talked, and wrote intelligently and effectively about needed school laws. Even if the result of one winter's campaign was not as great as the committee hoped, the force of public opinion roused by this concerted work for school laws is beyond estimation. Needed school laws have occupied the whole attention of the com- mittee. There was already at work in the state, at the time of its or- ganization, a schoolmasters' committee instituted by the city school superintendents and supported by the State Teachers' Association for the furtherance of the same interest. And a systematic cooperation was entered into. Still further, the state grange was inspired by the woman's committee to create an educational conference cormnittee, to take account of proposed measures of special interest in the rural schools, and to ac- quaint rural members of the legislature with the desires of the better class of school patrons in the cities. This step promises to be fraught with permanent benefits. As the biennial session approached, a definite program of three measures was announced, though it was understood that others might seek the support of the women's organizations. These were (1) a new plan for the distribution of the school fund accruing from the railroad tax; (2) a systematized plan for the adoption of textbooks, and (3) a bill to give commission school boards to the cities and towns of the state. Although all the energies, saving those of the agricultural element, centered upon the third, there was httle hope that any but the first could be passed at the first trial. And this proved to be the case. Nevertheless, the idea of commission school government made surprising progress throughout the state, and would presumably have passed one house of the legislature had it not been discovered at the last moment that it threatened to jeop- ardize the property held by two existing school boards, whereupon its champions willingly postponed it till adequate revision could be made. Still further, the women's organizations emerged from their cam- paign with two measures distinctly enacted by their efforts, both very creditable, though less ambitious than the scheduled program. These were (1) an act to assist indigent parents in keeping their children in 188 HOW WOMEN ORGANIZE school, and (2) an act prohibiting fraternities in the public high schools. The former was prepared at the instance of the state federation of clubs, and was pushed through all of its stages by the presence of the legislative committee of that body at the state capital. In the case of the second, a private appeal was made to the women's organizations to turn their attention to a measure that had passed the lower house, but had been pigeonholed by the senate committee after being jBrst side-tracked. Strenuous efforts availed to get the bill favorably reported. And, finally, the governor's signature was secured by a timely effort and preconcerted appeal made in short order by a series of committee correspondence that had sprung up among the women's organizations. We consider that the capacity of women, especially those that are school patrons, for assisting school legislation, has been thoroughly demonstrated by the organized women of Michigan. Two measures have been passed by their influence against such obstacles as indifference in the one case, and an opposition organized by a social society element in the legislature, and supplemented by the governor's disapproval of paternalism, in the other. Some women have brought to the chairman- ship of their several committees cleverness, disinterestedness, and stead- fastness of purpose much beyond what the sex has ever received credit for. The most discouraging feature of the work has been the incapaci- tating of active women teachers for expressing any opinions on any sub- ject relating to school government, school supplies, etc., by the fear of losing their positions. Financially, the women could not have undertaken the system of interviews and correspondence that they carried out had they not been abundantly provided with printed matter by the school- masters' committee, whose efforts they were supplementing. A Permanent School Extension Committee How to establish progressive school activities; How to prove their value; How to get the board of education to take them up; How to concentrate the efforts of women's clubs; How to start and pass along "good things" — the Chicago Permanent School Extension Committee will tell you. It used to be the Vacation School and Playground Committee, with representatives from 69 women's clubs in the city and its suburbs. But when that work was turned .189 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN over to the school board the representatives organized with a program for the ''larger use of the public school plant" under five standing committees — story-telling, playgrounds, civics, milk distribution, and school centers. The more successful and better organized the work done by the committee, the sooner it receives public support or private endowment. The open air schools, which were carried on in cooperation with the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute and the board of education, have been taken out of the committee's hands by the Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund. At the request of Superintendent Young, the committee has added penny lunches to its other ac- tivities. "Our hope is that when this is on a successful working basis it, too, will be assumed by a larger and better- fitted financial body." What schools can accomplish as social centers has been demonstrated in the John Hamline School, which was opened as a neighborhood house in 1905. Its widening, broadening, and increasing influence shows that nothing a settlement does need be omitted in socialized school work. The public is kept aware of the fact that the Hamline School is only a demonstration, but that any club or group of citizens wanting active social center work has a model to follow close at home, and an agency to refer to for data and suggestions. The Permanent School Extension Committee is acting as an executive coromittee on schools for all the club women of Chicago. Superintendent, principals, and teachers know exactly where to appeal when the cooperation of women is needed. Individual club members know exactly where to get work to do or work done. All danger of duplication and contradictory effort is avoided, and women's energy is concentrated and efficiently directed on four or five important questions. Such a committee is advisable in any 190 HOW WOMEN ORGANIZE city where there are two or more women's clubs. It keeps smaller, less active clubs from feeling futile and out of touch with schools, and it makes cooperation more valuable from the school officials' viewpoint. For interesting reports, write Mrs. H. W. Austin, 217 Lake Street, Chicago. A Civic Club that Made School History The Civic Club of Allegheny County, an organiza- tion whose board of directors includes both men and women, has published a report entitled Fifteen Years of Civic History. The record of school reforms initiated and of campaigns to arouse public opinion is one to be proud of, and is summarized here as an illustration of what women in a mixed club can do even when aided by men. To the public schools the Civic Club has been an un- swerving friend. In 1897 it established children's leagues of good citizenship in six schools, but because teachers did not cooperate this work was not a success. In 1896 the first summer school playground was opened, and continued until 1900, when, because of its unquestioned success and the enormous growth of the playground movement, two sep- arate outside organizations were formed, one for Allegheny County and one for Pittsburg, which now, with the help of the various women's clubs and an appropriation from the city, carry on all playground work. Arbor Day cele- brations were inaugurated in the public schools. Tree- planting and songs, lectures, and talks by notable people formed part of the yearly celebration. Evening schools for boys were instituted, which, though later abandoned, were of decided value in proving the necessity for evening in- dustrial work. In 1909 a night school for foreigners was started. Teachers volunteered to work with foreigners until they were far enough advanced to be transferred to 191 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN the nearest public school, or iiulil (ho classes were large enough to justify the board of education in opening a special night school. For two years lectures on educntionnl and civic subjiH'ts to the foreign population have been advertised by handbills printed in several languages. During the cani- jiaign for the new school code, which did away with the notcn'ious system of ward control, the Civic Club was un- tiring in its energy. In 1909 it started an open air school at the tuberculosis hospital, and another one has recently been opened on the roof of a settlement. These two experiments, sup})leniented by lectures and widely distributed bulletins, are to convince the board of education that it would be advisable to estab- lish a similar class in each ward school. The initial move for medical inspection was made by the Civic C^lub. During the two years' struggle which followed, individual school boards in each w:u*d were encouraged to install school physicians at their own expense, until in 1910 medical inspection was assumed by the city. The light for school health has received no public recognition. (See page 208). To investigate the truancy situation eonnnit tees were ap- pointed, who decided that there was no need for a separate truant school in Pittsburg. They worked, however, until a successful bill made })ossible an all-year-round state in- dustrial training school for incorrigible boys. The club has secured constant publicity about school matters, and has given in schools many lectures and talks with stereopti- con slides for parents and children. "A great deal of the work of the Civic Club cannot be tabulated because it consists largely in starting movements and arousing public opinion, but through all the years of its existence our Civic Club has worked hard to improve the public schools." Three important independent agencies have been organized 192 HOW WOMEN ORGANIZE as results of the Club's fifteen years of existence besides the Playground Association — the Associated Charities of Pittsburg, the Child Labor Association of Allegheny County, and the Juvenile Court of Allegheny County. For further details write to Miss H. M. Dermitt, 238 Fourth Avenue, Pittsburg. Colored Women's Clubs Since 1896 there has been a National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. Do many of us realize the mean- ing of this organized effort of colored women to better them- selves and their conmiunities, how hampered their work is by race prejudice, how few resources for information, help, and stimulus are available to them? Uncomplaining, for the most part hopeful, the colored women are meeting their local problems with a persistence that might be emulated by similar groups of white women. From a study of Social Betterment among Negro Americans, made in 1910 by At- lanta University, we learn that as an organization the National Association has fourteen departments, including those of social service, domestic science, and juvenile court. There are affiliated clubs in forty states, rapidly increasing in membership and forming state and city federations. Yearly conventions are held to bring together the widely scattered experiences of north and south. Most of the philanthropic work done thus far by colored women seems to be connected on a small scale with churches and relief work. Old folks' homes, orphanages, reformatories, and hospitals are, however, still receiving by far the greatest amount of volunteer attention from colored women, just as hospitals and asylums are more readily helped by white people than are schools. Educational interest among col- ored women is most popularly expressed in kindergartens and reformatories. 193 IIIMIMNU SCHOOL CMlll.niMON In Arkansas tlioro aro I'olorod si-liool ini[M'o\ oukmU asso- ciations throuj2;lunit tho state. "These assist tenclKM-s in beautifying the grounds ami school rooms and in establisliing systems of rewards and incentives for better school work." Ut^hind the reports of rather meager aciH>mplishment it is (\nsy to feel energy and enthusiasm. For t^xample, the Woman's Home Progressive Club of Paris. Texas, com- posed mostly o( teachers, "gave SP2 oti a piano for (he city school." and plans **an educational department with a regular reading course." Another club in Paris tells how it worked for a year to raise $125 with which to aid the city in putting water fountains on the I'ampus of the colored school. The president of the city federation, in presenting the money to the board of education, assureil all present "that the colored women have it in their hearts to do something then\selves to aid in educating the children of their race." One club in Pirmingham has given scholarshijis to ilc^ serving pupils in the negro high sch(H>l and made "large donations" to the industrial depart n\ent. How large is not told. Also "through the work of an organization com- posed of the better I'lass of negro women in Pirmingham an industrial school has been started by purchasing 25 acres of land near Alontgomery at a price of $2,000. Little waifs have already been sent." The KatYee Klatsch Club in Chicago organized the first summer vacation school for negro children, where for two yeai-s an avenige attendance of 19 received instruction in sewing, picture framing, and cooking. The Twentieth C\mi- tury Club of Xenia has fostered kindergartens for coh)red chiUiren. At a meeting of the Texas State Federation, where tl\e topic for discussimi was "The Mother's Part in Pre- venting Piseases." one paper dealt with "what the washer- women have ilone iov us as a race." Educational topics li)4 IfOW WOMEN ORGANIZE form part of some club pro^amij, as, for exampki: "Have We a Voice in the School?" "The Best Education for Our Girls." Ln WaHhingtori the Pnidence Granfiall Association spent Sl,2rX) on rubbers, umbrellas, fi^iofiH, and eye i^snfiH for colored school children. This work wa>: inspirfjd ?jy the cas^i of a younj:^ colored boy who could not go to school becausfi l-jJ:-: r/jolher couJd not afford to buy shoes for him. He became a street loafer and, in a quarrel, stabbed another boy. Prudence Gran da] 1, a colored woman, started the first school for colored children in Gonnecticut, and in- dij^nant white neighbors poisoned her well-water, killed her chickeris, and othei'wise expressed their disapproval. In the reports of these clubs one feels first of all the new- ness of the endeavor. It ls as if children were playing a novel and fascinating game. The forms of organization are there. The chib routine and ritual, perfectly expressed, give joy to tfiese women so new in their self-goverrjmerit. But one feels the pathos of the little accomplished, the minute portions solved of t}je problems which confront the women and children of this race. Golored women\s clubs write reports that sound very much like those of smaller rural white clubs. They are be- ginning with the simplest, easiest things: giving food and clothes to the needy poor. Some clubs have gone deeper into the struggle against injastice to colored cljjldren and the shocking school conditions that exist in some parts of the south. They have attempted big, constructive work, or tried to get better accommodations and teachers with a little more intelligence. But frequently these progressives come squarely up against race prejudice and injustice tfiat has turned them back again to church relief, where at least they can work unmolested. Perhaps ineffectualness among colored women may be avoided, as among white clubs, by a method of cooperation 14 ^ lor, UKl rixr, SCHOOL OH 11. OK EN which has pivvod itsolt' siiicocj^iil tnor ami vn or aiiain. Perhaj^s with a iiohnito pivgram ior txhicational work by women's olubv^ all colored ptx^ple mii:;ht concentrate on a problem ivally worth while. Perhaps the clubs will then numln^r not 2o, but iXX) meinbei's. 1 think no white club woman, however pivjudiced. could ivad the rt^port here quoted without ftvling a great sympathy for these I'olorcii women, who mv like cripples in tlieir haauiicap. trying to expn^ss the woman's longing for activity and for mental growth that uiay benefit her children and her race. Club Mtchanism Of course, each city hjvs its special ills which must he diagnosed individually. It has. however, Ixvn made clear by lettei's and reports from over -00 women in organizations that a certain method of cooperation always bring-s results, while other n\eth«.Hls fail. There is no question about the community service rendered by some clubs, l^ut every one will admit that clubs on the whole ai*e not doing as much as they might. It is only by seeing why more comnumity service h:is not been ivndeivd that we learn how to mend oiu' ways. 1. It is pretty ginierally admit tt\l that women's work for schools is intermittent. "'Wonien by their very nature do not keep on continuously and indetinitely," writes one club woman. Of course, there come sivcalled crises when the very vitality of needs draws all women into the field. But a particular issue once settled, the club again lapses into pi\s^ve interest. The excuse that theiv is nothing important for women to do for schools is really never sound. \\ hen criticism of schools is as wide spread, as intelligent, aiui as serious as it is t(.vday. we are facing a chronic crisis. Where, as one woman writes, "Our conunittee is on the lookout nH> Ti W W M ]■: N \i G A 'S 1 Z E coriBtantly for opporturjitkis for Bervice," and wliero, coujiefl with tiji-H willJrjgrjfjHH to Fx^rvo, wori'j(':;n arfj watchirjg mf/illi- ii^cjiily and findi/jj^ out for thorrj.solvoH whiit tho schools arc rjot doing, intennittfint interest becomes continuous intercHt. 2. One leader of a rnother-' club which had failed to get helpfully interested in its own problem wrote, "We sliall send delegates to the national meeting. i-*erhiips we may do better after thitt." iiut this impetus only affects one or two in ea/;h city. Every club sfifims to need the con- tinuous stimulus of personal leadership. When t?ie leading is interrupted, the club's service languishes. As yet few clubs seem to be so organized tliat a/;tual work does not depend upon the persorjality of the chairman, instead of the ground to be covered; or that programs are not based on the personal interest of the lea^ling members instead of on actual community needs. You hear time and again of irjterriipted work because the chairman of a committee has been ill or gone south. 3. During the years when women were organizing, by- laws and constitutions were apparently more fascinating than service opportunity. Have you ever seen a group of womtjn wrangle — that is the only word for it — for two pnjcious hours over the constitutionality of an amendment, thus shoving into ten minutes' discussion some very im- portant questions about schools and health? 4. One successful club woman has confessed tiiat the "difficulty with chairmen of educational committees in women's organizations is that they tend to rotate, and thus bring in untrained and slightly informed workers every one or two years. We need to have our plans formulated by the studied needs of the field so that we may be steadily in a position to assist new local workers in the existing organizations." This writer hopes to make it impossible 197 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN for a newly elected chairman to upset or bring to an un- finished end a campaign well under way during the previ- ous administration. ^Vhat chairman cares to undertake to secure clean school houses, knowing that six months after her program is outlined she goes out of office and a new leader drops her work to take up lectures on music? 5. W^ile officers are rotating no record is kept of what has been done or remains to be done. One newly elected chairman with an entire state to conquer wrote: *'I am working completely in the dark, because I have not any idea what has been done by this committee. I have lost much time." 6. Pauses in club mterest seem to be due frequently to complete satisfaction when a small part of an undertaking is finished or to the wearing off of novelty. For example, a woman's club in a western town was trying to change seating and sanitation in the schools. One room in one building was bettered by its efforts, and it stopped. Sys- tematic housekeepers use shopping lists, and check off as purchases are made. Do you know any club which ''checks " off to see what remains to be done? Do you know a club which, so to speak, buj's etchings and opera scores when to-day's marketing isn't done? 7. Then, too, women's clubs begin work late in October and end early in May. The sununer lapse makes a break after which the club's interest has to be stimulated all over again. Yet there are usually several women who stay in town. These should be returned their dues in pa3'ment for being ''on the job" in summer when there is usually pressing work to be done. 8. The women interested in public schools are usually the women who are interested in hospitals, charity organi- zations, churches, and fresh air work. "The women have so many civic and philanthropic interests, and there is 198 '-■M^ - " -=?-fl systom of to-ilay cooperation from tnitsido has to bo spooializod, ami tlio physician is logically the man to take the Icatl in matters o( liealth. Of the pliysicians you know, how many liave felt the scien- tific value of schools as an experimenting meilium? How many have given warm-heart eilly of personal service in treating poor chiUlren? How many have endeavored to get schools to (\o what is necessary for the health and healthful environment of all children? It is not necessary to give here the arguments for the physical care of chiUlren at school. IMuch has been written and said on the subject iluring the last years; the news- papers have had colunms about it; nuxlical journals have emphasized tlie connection between schools and health. Convincing treatment is given the subject in William 11. Allen's dries and Hcalfh. "It has been conceded among educators." wrote owe superintendent, "that no improve- ment in rei'ent years has been so helpful to the public schools and to children as the system of medical inspection." The Kussell Sage Foundation is constantly gathering statistics about medical inspection, laws, methods, results, and has {niblished much, including Caihck and Ayres's Medical Inspection in Public Schools. As Dr. Ernest B. Hoag 202 HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN Bays, in The Health Index of School Children, "Only the most unpro^rcjssivo communities now oppose this sort of work, and only careless communities fail to avail themselves of its advantages." This chapter does not pretend to offer information about systems, or to outline the best kind of inspection. We hope here merely to show how physicians and those interested in the health of school children have used the agencies that are available for help in this field. Many physicians have written us that they would be glad to have information about what had been done in other cities, to help convince citizens through the press that medical inspection is a community question. Lack of information, lack of support, lack of knowledge as to meth- ods and next steps, and not lack of interest or lack of en- thusiasm on the physicians' part, are usually responsible for the absence of adequate systems of medical inspection and the presence of gross violations of the health code in our school systems. You often read of the ''wave of interest" which is forcing the health care of children through the public schools; yet the cities where nothing, or only a little, has been done are still in the majority. Several cities report complete absence of medical inspection and no organized work by physicians. Statements of this kind usually imply that some- thing ought to be done, that it is the physicians' duty to do it, and that the time is now ripe for the doing. The superintendent in Flint feels "that a concerted demand from the citizens for medical inspection and a school nurse would result in securing both." A physician in South Beth- lehem writes, "I feel confident that in a short time these important matters of sanitation and hygiene will be added to our school regime, as the people are becoming alive to the necessity, and to the fact that they are very much behind other communities in this regard." In many cities where 203 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN some one has written that there is no medical inspection, we have learned on further questioning that there is either a small group of physicians ready to take up this work, but unorganized and without support, or a superintendent eager to see something done and not knowing how to go about it. An interesting volunteer arrangement for inspection was made by Dr. Paul Paquin, inspector in Asheville. He di- vided the work for white and black schools among twelve competent physicians who for two years inspected the schools, without charge, regularly every week and whenever called upon. Afterward the school committee paid the regular fee, $2.00 a visit. These visits to schools involved investigation of all the sanitary and health conditions of each school: ventilation, heat, water supply, drinking cups, recreation methods, and even the teachers' health. Naturally careful watch was kept for infectious diseases. As a matter of prophylaxis. Dr. Paquin established a system of daily inspection and recording by teachers of the individual health conditions of pupils. This required, of course, the proper instruction of teachers in advance on necessary questions of hygiene. Each classroom was provided with a fever thermometer kept sterilized in a bottle of alcohol. Every morning as pupils passed on their way to the classroom any child seeming flushed or drowsy, or exhibiting signs of indisposition, had his temperature taken. In each case of abnormal temperature the pupil was immediately sent home with a printed explanatory card and a request that he be at once taken to the family physician. By this method the hearty cooperation of the local profession was secured, much contagious disease was prevented, and numerous cases of adenoids and other deficiencies were brought to the at- tention of parents. When the family physician was not called in, the medical inspectors gave such advice and 204 HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN assistance free as the situation demanded, and determined when the child should return to school. While this system was in practice Dr. Paquin volunteered illustrated lectures for pupils, teachers, and parents on private and public health. Is the examination for transmissible diseases in your schools made regu- larly by health officer, school physician, nurse, teacher, or by no one? Are cases of contagious disease investigated by some official before the child is permitted to return to school? Who is watching for communicable eye and skin diseases — ringworms, trachoma, pediculosis? Are children treated for these diseases in school or at home until cured? Who, when necessary, shows mothers how to treat skin diseases and pediculosis? Are teachers instructed to recognize symptoms of scarlet fever, measles, skin diseases, etc.? What facihties do hospitals and dispensaries offer for treating com- municable eye and skin diseases? What happens to the textbooks of children excluded for contagious ailments? How often are all textbooks fumigated? Are books being used^ which are a "menace to all children"? Are the schools notified by the health officials of contagious diseases in families where there are school children? Are these children admitted to school before the health officer has adequately fumigated their homes? Which is better: Send your child to a private school in the belief that transmissible diseases will not be found there, or see that there is a school nurse who is making contagion as nearly avoidable as possible? The latest reports on medical examination and free treat- ment with comparative legal provisions may be had from the Russell Sage Foundation, 1 Madison Avenue, New York. How Examination for Physical Defects Starts The superintendent of the Braddock public schools ad- dressed the local medical society on "The Need of Syste- 205 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN matic Medical Inspection in Schools." He then asked the society to arrange for a general inspection of public school children. It was moved that a committee be appointed to plan this inspection. A certain number of physicians were allotted to the schools in every ward, and each child was examined separately for eye, ear, nose, and throat defects. Where indications of systemic disease were present, a complete general examination was made. The physicians were ser^ing without pay. As a result of this preliminary inspection the superintendent was able to persuade the school board to appropriate money for regidar examination during the next year, and one physician was assigned to each ward at a nominal salary "to put the inspection on a business basis." Physicians were required to inspect each child twice during the year, subject at the same thne to emergency calls from the school buildings. Cases needing medical and surgical treatment were attended to by a group of physicians who willingly donated services to deserving children. The next year Braddock had one physician on an adequate salary. The superintendent had learned that there ought to be a dispensary in the hospital or in one of the school buildings where children might receive free treatment. Clinics for school children and follow-up work through nurses are the logical and almost inevitable sequence. The results of the inspection maj- be taken as typical; of 1.949 children examined, -ISo only were found not defective. The most frequent defects were of teeth in 1,0S4; enlarged tonsils, 375; defective noses, 393. In Kenosha physical examination was backed by the medical society and made b}' one physician serving without salary in each school. Every scholar is examined once a yeaj, and more thorough overhauling is maiie when neces- sary. Correction of defects is suggested by notices, though parents ai'e not compelled to carry out reconnnendations •200 HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN made by the school physicians. In cases of contagious disease, however, the school physician has power to control the pupil's action. The medical society is authorized for this work by the school board, but feels that '^state authority would be an advantage." The origin of physical examination is suggestive in showing who makes the first move. In Aurora the super- intendent and a physician on the school board were re- sponsible; in Fort Smith the president of the board of health and the medical society instituted a plan which was approved by the school board, health authorities, physicians, specialists, and dentists; in Fulton one physician, under the direction of the professor of educational psychology in the University of Missouri, examined 1,000 white and 100 colored children for defects of eyes, ears, noses, and throats, in order to correlate sensory defects with school progress. Members of the Milwaukee Medical Society, after dis- cussing medical inspection, had a meeting to decide on pre- liminary work for schools. Three schools were designated by the superintendent as representative of the school popu- lation, six physicians were appointed, and the result of the inspection was used as a plea for continuing the work. The board of school directors was unable to act until two years later, when a medical inspector was appointed, and later five assistants. Dr. G. P. Barth, chief medical in- spector, has issued a little summary entitled Medical Inspection of Schools in Milwaukee, which details the routine used, rules about exclusion, report cards, special cases, and directions to school nurses. While this system has been developing, all the physicians, dentists, dispen- saries, and hospitals have been "very generous in pro- viding free treatment of whatever nature necessary, upon presentation of a card from the medical inspector's office." In Spartanburg a woman physician suggested to the 207 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN County ^lodii'al Society that it examino j2;ratuitinisiy for one year the grade eehool ehikiivn. The school trustees accepted the otYer. Three nuniical inspectors were ap- pointed by the society. "We hope our report to the scliool trustees when the work* is finished will convinee them of the importance of it, and that hereafter some one will be regularly appointed to do this work." Examination by teachers for physical defects has been declared to be in the same city both adequate and futile. An OutUnv for the Health (inuiinij of the School ('/(//(/.avail- able from Dr. E. B. Hoag. Minnesota State Botird of Health, shows how teachers can find W(> of the defective chihlren. The advantages of a lay backing in starting physical examination are shown, for example, in Elmira, where through the Social Service League women maile a "system- atized etYort to secure examination, winning the consent of the Academy of jNIedicine. They were very willing to co- operate." The health committee of the General Fetleration of Women's Clubs sets aside one month in which all clubs are asked to consider ways of securing medical inspection, or to stuily its etticiency if already required. The story of the Civic Club in Pittsburg shows \\hat a large part of the work can be done by a lay body. The oduoational departiuont in 1005 iuitiatod a campaign for inodiojil inspection in the public schools by sending committees to interview school directors and enlisting physicians who would give their services without remuneration imtil the value of inspection should be established. The tirst inspection took place in Decemlier. 1005, after which the Allegheny County IMeilical Association otYered to appoint physicians to inspect all the schools, provided the consent of the school boards could be si^ eureil. Letters were sent by Mrs. Macreen to tifty-one school boanls— about half of whom sent favorable replies. Twenty-four sclu>ols were inspected. After two years of vohmteer medical inspect iim the Civic Club introduced a bill in the 1007 legislature that failed to pass. In lOOS thev prepared a petition and appeared before the Educational Coui- •JOS HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN mission appointerl by Governor Stuart, at its first meeting, held in Pitts- burg in May, 1908, and urged thiit it embody in its school code a pro- vision for rnodical Lri.spootion in the schools. Conferences were held and correspondence conducted on the subject, which resulted in the Commission embodying in its code the committee's provisions, with the exception that medical inspection was made mandatory in large cities and permissive in smaller school districts. The school code failed at tliat session of the legislature, however. In 1908 and 1909 other attempts were made to secure medical in- Bpection by the city, which all failed, but individual school boards, ten of them, ha/1 now installed physicians at their own expense, as a direct result. Thes/i were almost all cases of the volunteer inspection, and in 1910 medical inspection was taken up by the city, which now has twenty- seven regiilar inspectors who visit the schools daily. We feel that the long figlit of the department of education has been amply justified — thougli we liave never received public recognition of our services. The chief necessity in starting physical examination is a starter. It matters little whether it is the superintendent, one physician, a medical society, a mothers' club, or a chamber of commerce. A preliminary inspection is usually convincing, Imt someone's continuous interest is required — To get facts from other cities and state the case; To bring togetlier superintendent, board of education, physicians, women's clubs, and newspapers; To outline a preliminary examination; To see that the town knows an inspection is to be made; and To suggest to those interested how they can secure the necessary pub- licity, legislation, and budget increase. Free Treatment of Physical Defects With the discovery of adenoids and hypertrophied tonsils, we have taken only one little step toward the goal of school health. What is the use of telling the parents of 85% of our school children that their offspring is not physicallj^ fit to go to school, if parents either will not or cannot afford 209 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN to do anything about making; it lit? Uhto is one city, and probably many others, where no system of inspection was instituted after a vohuiteer examination, because physicians were unable to give treatment and follow-up work, and the experiment was considered a mere matter of paper and statistics. To secure free treatment, school physicians have some- times been able to make arrangements with clinics and dis- pensaries. In Elmira there is a room in the city hall for medical and dental work for school children. In Berkeley cases are treated by a cooperative committee of all health agencies. Children are admitted for free treatment by cards from the organized charity. In Wausaw there is a free infirmary for children, supported by popular subscrip- tion, where the poor can obtain medical and dental care. Work is vohmteeretl by practically all the physicians and dentists of the city, alternating their services. The in- firmary has a visiting nurse who attends to the cases of physical defects reported from the schools. In Covington three specialists volunteer treatment for all cases referred by the school inspector. The truant officer in Beloit, who is not a nurse, sees that the cases referred by the medical inspector receive the necessary treatment. Until a medical and dental clinic is established the physicians have ai'ranged a temporary plan for the free treatment of needy eye, ear, nose, and throat cases. The n\edical inspector gives a card showing in what respect the pupil needs attention. If within a reasonable time treatment is not reported as given, he sends another card. If that is ignored, the truant ofiicer sees the parents and explains to them the necessity of doing something. If they are unable to pay, she arranges with the inspector for free treatment by referring cases alternately to spe- cialists who have agreed to give the service. In cases re- 210 TEACHI.N'C; ril{ST-AID-T(J-THK-IX.ItKF,I): CLEVELAND CHAMBEFt OF COMMERCE MUSKEGON DENTAL SOCIETY MCCORMICK FUND: CHICAGO OUTSIDERS PROMOTE SCHOOL HEALTH HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN quiring an anesthetic, physicians are called in rotation. "We are striving/' writes the chairman of the school board's committee on health, 'Ho work out some plan which will be just to the physicians and dentists, but will not pauperize the poor or repress their sturdy independence, and yet see that full justice is done the children." In Pasadena each medical inspector has a clerical assistant with some training in social work. The teachers are re- quired yearly to secure from the parents, within two weeks after the first notification has been sent, a statement as to what care the child is receiving. Watching individual cases, the teacher or physician has opportunity to correlate removable physical defects and school progress. Accurate records of twenty children who have had adequate medical and dental attention do more to make it easy for communities and school boards to secure medical inspection than a million records of physical defects without follow-up work. Such correlation has been made by teachers in Columbus, Ohio. Every child who had his adenoids removed, his teeth fixed, or eye strain lessened by glasses, did proportionately better work, saved the teacher extra care, and saved the state money wasted on "re- peaters." Women's clubs can suggest special arrangements to hos- pitals and dispensaries, and, as trustees and directors, business men have an opportunity to see that adequate provision is made for special treatment of school children. Dispensaries are usually more than willing to conduct after-school and special Saturday clinics, and to furnish the school with a record of treatment given, if blanks like that on page 99 are provided to make it easy. Some hospitals post notices in or send word to schools in their neighborhood that they are glad to treat children. Social service nurses visit schools and homes of children under treatment. A committee of 15 211 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN women or physicians can see that all hospitals are using the same forms and standards for reporting to the school ''cases treated" and "cases terminated"; can make a pin map showing which hospitals are easily accessible by school children, and which districts are wholly without facilities for treatment; can bring before the public the pros and cons of having school clinics districted, like the tuberculosis clinics in New York, so that school nurses or teachers know exactly where to go. In large cities a map for each school district might be posted in schools for refer- ence use by children themselves and by parents. Hand- books for teachers locating facilities for free treatment are serviceable. The School Nurse Did you ever see a pin map which locates by means of colored pins every school child who has been ill during the year? It makes a significant picture, telling the story of epidemics, of measles and scarlet fever, and of uncared-for physical defects. Each little pin means days of school lost, means a child that should have had some physical care. Did he get it? That is the question the school nurse answers. In the city of Hoboken the Robert L. Stevens Fund for Municipal Research gave to the board of education free for six months the services of a school nurse. Every morning the nurse received the names of children excluded by prin- cipals because of suspicious symptoms, and visited them. As soon as the medical examiners made out cards for physical defects she visited each home and persuaded parents to have their children cared for. She gave treatments in homes for pediculosis and skin diseases, showing mothers how to care for simple ailments. Every case visited was re- ported in detail to the Fund. It was estimated that by obviating only 40 non-promotions the nurse would save 212 HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN her own annual salary. By this six months' experiment the board of education in Hoboken was convinced that a nurse was not only a desirable but a paying adjunct for the school system. So money to continue her services was asked and granted in the next year's budget. The same thing can be accomplished by any group of citizens who will raise the salary of a nurse for a month's or a year's trial; supervise her work and records; make public the reports; and see that budget requests are supported by letters to officials, newspaper articles, and open meet- ings. The only reason every school system has not school nurses is that citizens have not demanded them. It takes money to pay salaries, which means a budget change; and it takes understanding, which means a demonstration with plenty of publicity. There are many clubs of women to-day sup- porting wholly or in part a nurse for schools. They have as authority for this the general consensus of opinion from the medical profession on the absolute necessity for a follow-up scheme to supplement examination by physi- cians. The common sense of parents and teachers will always realize that having defective vision recorded on Johnny's physical card really does not help Johnny to see better. The more common physical defects which are playing havoc with children and their school work are easily de- tected by a nurse who in smaller communities often takes the place of the school physician. Of the two, the school nurse is more important than the school physician. She is less expensive, but works less rapidly. A first-class nurse can be secured for what would pay only a second-class physician. She gets for the child, besides, the best that best doctors can give. I know one school nurse, and there are probably many 213 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN others, who does not see the vahie of systematic record keeping. She says it takes too much time and shows noth- ing. Try, without records, to locate by a pin map, for example, the districts where most work is needed; try to estimate the money saved by absences prevented and non-promotions avoided; try to judge the efficiency of a nurse, and you will see why records are worth while. It is undoubtedly true that any nurse, at the call of the super- intendent and principals, can without an adecjuate system of reporting be of great service to schools, but not of the greatest. School nursing is a phase of the nursing profession that offers exceptional opportunities and attractions. It demands sympathetic understanding of school requirements and the skill and tact of a relief visitor. The nurse is in touch with charitable agencies, with hospitals and clinics, w^ith special- ists who are willing to give free treatment, and with the entire school system. Where the Visiting Niirse Association Helps There is no question about the enthusiasm of superin- tendents for this type of outside cooperation. In Chelsea "the medical inspectors and superintendent are very de- sirous of securing a school nurse, but as yet the school com- mittee does not see that it can be done. There is, however, a District Nurse Association which has agreed to respond to urgent calls made by the school physician, truant officer, or any of the school principals." It w^as the Visiting Nurse Association in Denver that persuaded the board to secure a school nurse. From Harrisburg: "It gives me great pleasure to state that our very complete system of medical inspection originated with the Visiting Nurse Association, 214 HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN an organization supported by a few charitable people. It was their interest that created enthusiasm for the subject." Speaking of the nurse loaned in Marquette, the superin- tendent says, "She has proved a most helpful adjunct in our force for maintaining the good school work we have attempted to do." This is the way it usually happens: "The past winter the Visiting Nurse Association has put into the schools a nurse who does regular inspection and home visiting, reporting each month to the board of education. All the expenses are borne by the Association in order to demonstrate to the public the value of school nursing." It seems so simple. The Association in Reading gave the services of a nurse for two months, and the school board promptly engaged a school nurse for the rest of the term. Through an association of nurses it is sometimes easier to get a system of school nurses than by independent work as a lay organization. Most district nursing organizations are poor, developing their work by inches, with little margin for whole-time work solely in schools. A lay society can furnish the wherewithal to make school work possible. For example, the Social Service League and District Nurse Association of Middletown, Connecticut, together have fur- nished a nurse who does nothing but inspect in the schools and see that suggestions to parents about free treatments are carried out. In Chillicothe a district nurse is main- tained jointly by the Anti-Tuberculosis Society and the Century Club of women, who raise the necessary money for supplies and salary by the sale of red cross seals at Christmas time. " The nurse is in constant coopera- tion with the teachers of our schools, gives talks at moth- ers' meetings, or takes children for treatment to dentists and physicians when parents cannot afford professional care." , 215 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Ask the Visiting Nurse Association in your city whetlier it considers cases founii in schools worth the entire time of one nurse. Seven hundred dolhu's is not nuich to pay for starting a pt^nnanent system of medical inspection. Have one of the mu'ses address your cluh and outline what a school nui-se could accomplisli in your city. U you are a trustee of the Association, get the superintendent to spetik before the board and tell o( the iuhhI for school nurses. Watching Work as it Progi-esses Having secured examination and provision for treatment of physical defects, the same outsiders who have helped thus far are the ones best equipped to see whether the system works. A compulsory law does not necessmily mean that the adenoid disappears. A year after one state had passed an excellent law the state department of edu- cation could not tell in which districts it was being en- forced, what sort of physicians were employed, or what they were doing. The department had an "idea" that about half the school districts had not yet begun to obey the law in letter, and more had not felt the law's spirit, but were making inspection a mere form. Medical inspection can easily be an unwelcome gift luiless some one person or some group is watching to see what sort of a reception those responsible are going to give it. And this means watching for a year or two, testing here and there, going over the medical records of one or U\o schools, or making a thorough sur\ey of the results oi the first year's trial. The blank on the opposite page is being used tor this purpose by all the women's clubs in New Jersey. 216 HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN H U-i Ui .2 a H -t^ a> f^ O 02 p^a O o Oi r- w ^ 2 'n ^ c^ <^ o O o &ri t>rj rf) -^ t; <^ o o <« « o r— 1 ^^ o o " rji ^ ^ ►J c2 5^ ^o ii y Oh o 3 6 1 o K i^ 1^ ffi H «<-( O ^ C/7 ^ "" fe t='S C5 O •-s Sfs; r— 1 ^* >< ^ >, >v 7X^ Q CO 7-^ m Uh <^ -• ^ -H 2 o o o 1— 1 m 1— 1 H J2 o -»^ t-( H ^ c; o -t^ C- O H m .2f4 .2 o o c3 tu »-< -t-s ^.^ p. o «^ o 5 1— 1 1^ . 6 o o o 3? o o 'o 1 1 S S o Q ^ o ^ 'A OJ ■^ 'jS H 2 S c g '•^ 3 f o t> <5 II -b S -5 5 O O S S -2 X2 ^-> 'T3 d o '11 ';2 c K c § o 2 o o r) o -2 o -^ 3 2 o ci ci ^ II^ o o O ^^ !:= ^ ?^ 1^ ^H K H f-< Csl CO '^ lO CO r-< OJ r- 1 Oi O Pi. Eh O Pi l-H < o Q o CO H 217 inox «q*o enoAja^ V^9H s2an7 aoii^Lnna[^I\r qi99x epiouapv eireaox p93j-B['J3; Snu^aj^j aoiST^ _C '> a 3 •2 a 12 O a £ 1 o •§ d a 3 a 3 O TS a _3 2 O o a 3 U C> [In 5 -^ s 2 5 -^ O O "^ a a CO -rt^ 218 CO W > Q r®-^ J^ E-t cu M 03 u ^ s >i (-> a =3 3 -^ >, o o .a s ^ i=i s; .-s !/J -< W K P 5 » ^ « ^1 HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN C-. -P j;;J H O o 12^ H ^ s e 1'^ § u §■> fe P «2 H T3 1r H s -; ^ o 2 O ^ .1^ '^ _>-, J! O) 3 ^■S S 02 .'ti :; > 02 fc/} t^ .^ Cm o 'X3 JO 5 « '0 Y ?, 1 -c 2 "S <*-! S o o ?^ • S - Oi o -^ t? ^ D- w 3 Si f' o 2 oO w< t^Q ^Q tA o o o 2^' .5 2 J 2 2 t-^ Q o F c^ .^ 03 Q ci ;-^' c o ^ S o ~ o 2 t>, "S 13 •T3 =3 "S o a; o So ^ :^ o 03 C3 C? S 5-1 o J: t> OQ > o3 O !S JS 'S "^ %^^ 1:1 p p 003^^^ ^ :=! G P o S 2 S 3 "o +2 > =« 02 i^ (V) O) o 2 o 219 Is <: I— ( o I— I GQ h-5 o o w o CCi o o d .^ 2 o ^ >r-'3 fe 03 03 a o 03 o m o3 03 9^ S S O C! o3 i2 5 -2 -€ 3 .^ 03 -g -o-C o CI- ? :3 C -^^ <^ S^ 02 o3 PH '-1 ^^ ^ r^ O r ^ 13 "^ :;3 03 —^ Qi 02 S o3 c ^ S O g g § S § ^ -c^ - :: -n -^ g ^ i . ^ a 'fi V2 m n\ S o3 O-* _2 00?:-*^ ^J «= i. 03 P t; .2 -^ -t^ p 03 P ■« &£■ . ."ti T O > r- »-" S-i n o ^ ^ 02 02 c3 O O) " o ^ 02 a; S a> wj ^, O -4^ 02 21 ^ o ^QQKQp:W i-< (N CO rfi »0 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN 35 :3 a: C >? o ^ CO o n* r3 rj > =3 O j5 3 „ o .2 > JIT S 3 ^ a: _ -3 c3 5 r c; ^ -3 Ji c - ^ ^ ei i - x = =c ^ " «^ *J ^ ^ ^ 3 2 _ -^ > s — *^ — "^ -1 g> ^ -5 CO O w P5 Q <: a: 5S o •S* s q -^ -a .2 ■J J J J _^^ -^ ^ , III' s. ^ >> s ^ ^ t- 3 jj X C ^ ?-• 1^ >- c -r ^ •§ O C3 ^ ^ c ^ 5 T -e: ^ ^ .X a fi .^ ^ • - i: c ■ 3 V- r; ^-< e3 o a u « t, g 3 p 3 = c _ - "£ aj >- C ^ o X K as '3 'i: c c o 2 a 220 ro -^ "3 «0 HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDREN As proved by the High School Teachers' Association in New York, the parallel column shows clearly how inspection is working: WPxat the Medical IiLspector What He Might Do Does in Nine Schools 1. Examine pupils taken sick dur- 1. Signs name in book ing school hours 2. Leaves building 2. Examine backward pupUs for remediable defects that cause retardation 3. Examine pupils who are fre- quently absent 4. Cooperate with principals and teachers to raise health stan- dard of schools by a. Occasional talks on health topics b. Supervision of Iimcheons c. Advice to individual pupils What One Physician Can Do It is unfortunate that the interest of physicians as indi- viduals has sometimes proved of no advantage to schools because the necessary community interest and backing has not been forthcoming. Three years ago some of the younger physicians in one eastern city volunteered to make daily medical inspection in the public schools. This was con- tinued for about one year, but interest gradually waned and now there is no inspection of any kind. The individual interest and energy of these physicians was not supported by a medical society or a lay organization, and nothing per- manent resulted. In another place one physician made an examination of 100 defective children, and nothing further resulted. A physician in Marshaltown whites : ''For my own information I went into our schools and inspected about 125 children in the second grade, and found defective, gross 221 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN phj^sical conditiorLS in about 33^, which I believe would easily reach oO^c i^ ^ more thorough examination. Kindly advise me in whatever way you chooi?e how to set the ball rolling in Marshaltown." In Orange a few individual phy- sicians give free treatment when ca.ses are brought to their attention. In South Bend individual physicians have given talks and lectures in the schools at inten'als. '"They have no permanent committees to cvx)perate with teachers or others interested. In four years this city imder the Indiana law will have to start a s}*stem of medical inspection. Whether it will wait imtH it is forced foiu- years hence or avail itself of the privilege at once remains to be seen.'' In a Pennsylvania city a phv'sician writes that he is the only ma.n in town interested in school health, and that he finds it hard to secure enough intelligent backing to get anvthing done. It is quite evident from instances like these that vokmteer service alone cannot be successful or permanent. Physi- cians tire, the social service novelty wears off, and unless the work is put on a business basis as part of the school system, or of the board of health, it languishes. It is unfortunately true that oftentimes the interest of individual phv^sicians in school matters has been less spon- taneous because of the fear that any action on their part would be construed as looking for practice, and would thus offend against the ethics of the profession. It seems absiu\i to think that after medical inspection has proved its value in so many ways there are still those who are smaU enough to bring up this accusation. Physicians have given their services, sometimes for several years without pay, and their cooperation has been welcomed by school people. The un- selfish work of hundreds of vokmteer physicians for schools, their eagerness to turn over medical inspection to school sowhere has pre- liminary work been better planned or more etUciently carried through by dentists than in Saginaw, and yet the school children there are still without dental care. As told in the Dcutal Summary, the campaign began with meetings un- der the auspices of the board of e<.iucation, at which talks on oral hygiene were given to parents and school children. A committee of dentists was then appointed to make ar- rangements. Permission for an inspection was obtained from the school board and from priests in the parochial schools. The inspection was made one school a day, a sep- arate dentist for each room, and in a month all the data were collected. Pi'actically every child was inspected, and only 25 of 3.2S0 mouths were found in perfect condition. The cavities averaged four to each child. After all this the board of education voted money for six medical inspectors, and the dentists were discouraged. An otYer of free clinics was looked on by some of the board as an attempt to gain prac- tice, and the whole matter dropped. There was defmite need here for a strong lay organization to utilize the good work done by dentists in awakening public opinion as to the necessity for dental care of children. In demanding budget increases with which to put school work on a permanent basis lay backing is especially neces- sary. PnhJicity about Dental Needs I believe our first work is to oduoato the dentist, the medioal man, the e^iuoator. and the public. Then later come the operative measures to correct the disease. The o^nn-ative work is so vast I think it is useless to attempt to stem it with treatment. Education in the case of the teeth 2C0 THE DENTIST'S MESSAGE could prevent 50% of Ujo trouble that is to come, and tliat, to my mind, is our work for the immediate future. Thus do derjtists realize that any campaign for education needs the support of the public press. One state association is bravely Issuing a series of 48 articles on the care of teeth, written to attract the layman and published in every news- paper in the state. Dental facts are still "news." The opening of a new clinic and the extent of its influence is good reading, and the press has shown itself willing over and over again to tell the story. In Portland, Maine, a group of dentists made an arrangement with an evening paper to give regular space for articles on oral hygiene. Dr. Ebersole cites cooperation with the public press as the most important first step for a dental society's educative work. The story of the Illinois Dental Association and its press campaign is told in Oral Hygiene, April and June, 1911. For any information about up-to-date methods of school cooperation write to Oral Hyrjiene, Indianapolis, and ask which numbers will help you most on the particular point in which you are interested. If Oral Hygiene does not tell you what you want to know, ask the Rochester Dental Society, 606 Aitler Building, P^ochester, for the copies of the Dental Dispensary Record that deal with school work. To let parents and children, especially, understand the truth about teeth, systematic courses of lectures on oral hygiene have been given in schools for parents and children by committees of dental societies. Parents' clubs and women's organizations are glad to have made clear to them the relation of clean teeth, school progress, and retardation, and to learn how children's diseases may be avoided by dental care. The oral hygiene committee of the Ohio State Dental Society has published a little pamphlet. The Popular Oral Hygiene Lectures, based on the experiences of dentists in pul>lic schools. As supplements to talks on 261 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN teeth, and as a popular means of propaganda, the Society plans a series of moving pictures from stories of what happens with good and bad care of teeth. But to interest the lay mind nothing is quite so impressive as the sight of what is actually happening to our teeth. A school exliibit is an excellent way to make children and parents think about what is going on inside by casts of teeth, pictures of mouths before and after treatment, and charts showing how many things can go wrong with one set of teetli. Permission is easily secured from the super- intendent or principal to put screens in assembly room or hallway. A lecturer is sometimes sent to explain the ex- hibit at the lunch hour, or after school, and to give special talks to teachers. Wlien an exhibit is held outside a school building, special arrangements are made with the super- intendent for children to visit it with their teachers. Such an exhibit, when free from the stigma of advertising, is welcomed by school officials, and may serve as a starter for a dental campaign. In Oral Hygiene for May, 1911, are detailed suggestions for enlarged photographs of conmion dental defects and for striking questions like: Tlierc arc 10,000,000 school children in tlie ITnitcd States suffering from direct effect of decaying teeth and unsanitaiy mouths. Is your child among them? In Rochester hundreds of public school children armed with toothbrushes seriously take part in an elaborate drill to music every morning. They have learned the meaning of each move, backward and forward, sidewise, up and down on upper and lower teeth ; and as naturally as if it were a gymnastic exercise, with the rhythm of the music to make it uniform, they go through the motions. Each child, poor and rich, owns a toothbrush, and a ques- tion of personal hygiene has here become one of school 262 THE DENTIST'S MESSAGE administration. The toothbrush drill has come to stay. It is being taken up in other cities, where toothbrushes are listed on the supply lists of schools. The effect on parents of making a school exercise from an act of which some are blissfully ignorant, and which others associate only with unpleasant home discipline, can be measured in after years when these children have proved what a help it is to growing boys and girls to have good, strong, white teeth. Do dentists volunteer free treatment for children in your city? How many mouths in your schools need attention? How much ill health, poor school work, wasted money can be charged to bad teeth? What's the use of trying to teach arithmetic to a child whose capa- bilities are at half their maximum because he cannot chew or properly nourish himself? What happens to children who have defective teeth but cannot pay for dental treatment? XI WHERE CHURCH AND SCHOOL MEET Are Ministers Interested f THE traditional interrelation of school and church is al- most as inseparable in the public mind as that of democracy and education. Do you know a minister who will not confess that his office includes the obligation of co- operation with schools? He will also probably admit that he has a greater opportunity than others outside the school system have, because he has unquestioned access to schools, to homes, and to cooperating institutions. Yet superin- tendents in only one-half the cities that answered gave us the names of ministers who had shown interest in public schools. The assumed close interrelation between church and schools was expressed variously by ministers themselves, who affirmed that : Ministers are vitally interested ; ministers have done almost nothing; ministers have been interested in a half-hearted way, but show little practical cooperation; there is some interest, not what ought to exist; lack of interest on the part of ministers is lamentable and incredible ; ministers do not interest themselves particularly in schools; the relation to schools is helpful and stimulating; ministers are interested to a considerable extent; they are ready to establish a good moral tone in the school; the interest is deep and sincere; the interest is spasmodic; the interest is not as great as it should be; there is a general interest in 264 CHURCH AND SCHOOL everything good, including schools; a minister as such is not called upon to attend to all these suggestions given above; we probably should do more than we do. When ministers in some cities have been quite ready to cooperate, their help has been impossible because the bogy of clerical intrusion is still making Protestant and Catholic feel ill at ease. One minister writes that ''the breaking up into denominations prevents a united and growing in- terest in educational problems." In another city it is re- ported that the preponderance of parochial schools keeps Protestants from having anything to do with public schools. In Roman Catholic communities denominational feeling seems to have a distinctly deterrent effect on Protestants. Yet when one considers how undenominational are the facts and truths about playgrounds, health, non-promotions, teachers' salaries, and school sanitation, is it not almost a relic of the Dark Ages when differences of creed prevent ministers from uniting on such school problems? How can any denomination afford to let its creed stand in the way of community service? It was interesting to find that there is scarcely an advanced step in schools which one minister somewhere has not led or supported. Ministers of New Britain have given lectures in grammar and night schools on history and patriotism, which were translated into Swedish, Italian, Polish, and Turkish. When the subject of a dental clinic for public school children was brought up in another city, a Catholic priest spoke at five masses on the necessity of having the same kind of examination in the parochial schools. In Alameda an active campaign for school bonds had the per- sonal support of many ministers, while the pastor of a church in Aurora went to the town meeting and urged ade- quate school appropriations. Medical examination of school children was greatly helped 265 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN by the clergy in Quincy, while in New Britain again min- isters were partly responsible for securing school nurses. The First Unitarian Church in Cambridge has a social service committee which, with the Visiting Nurse Association, is supporting a school nurse in the hope that the city will take up the matter later. In Manchester medical inspection and kindergartens originated with a minister, then a member of the school board. The People's Church in Kalamazoo started kindergartens and classes for manual training and domestic science, which were taken over by the board of education two years later. In Illinois ministers have helped enforce the state law for scientific temperance instruction in schools. A minister in Quincy, to encourage public speaking, offers a yearly prize of $10 in gold for the best oration. A minister is the director of a playground asso- ciation in New London. In Williamsport, at the town meet- ing, ministers took an active part in the discussion of a new high school building. An investigation of the public schools of Louisville was prompted by the personal study and public addresses of the pastor of one church. It is reported that ministers in Portland are working heartily for a juvenile court. In telling of these instances ministers seem to feel that the possibilities for cooperation are numerous, but vague, indefinite, and not particularly attractive. The traditional sense of obligation does not seem to stimulate effective initiative in many ministers. From one large city a minister writes that the offers of churches to render social service do not very much affect things. Ministers in two other cities admit that much more might be done, and that there ought to be a closer bond between church and school. Many churchmen speak of the need for definite informa- tion, for an easy way of keeping intelligent about school affairs without demanding information from the school offi- 266 CHURCH AND SCHOOL cials or going after it j&rst-hand. "We are busy men, and have not time to make ourselves intelligent in cooperating," and "We have little time for the many things you seem to expect." One man writes of the absorbing, far-scattered work of the modern minister. Another gives the excuse that there is no convenient way of gaining information about school subjects, and a third minister writes that they need vital interest in the details of school government. Speaking of the need for playgrounds, one clergyman writes, "I think that because of imperfect information as to what is desired there is lack of interest in this plan." To meet the desire for information before it is even felt is, of course, the superintendent's opportunity. He is the one to make it easy for ministers to talk about school problems and to secure public support for the improvements he is anxious to make. When superintendents realize the po- tential helpfulness in active cooperation from ministers of each and all denominations they will make it impossible for any minister to be uninformed or misinformed about school facts and needs. How Ministers May Inform Themselves Visiting schools has a double purpose, because the min- ister carries with him to school seriousness and helpfulness, while gaining the "local color" and details he needs for his writing and talking about schools. The amount of school visiting done by ministers seems to vary greatly and depend upon the personal interest of the minister himself. School visiting is not evidently required by the congregation as part of the minister's duty. In one city a minister "visits whenever opportunity offers." Two other ministers write that they visit schools of their own denomination occa- sionally. In another city it is reported that no minister is 267 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN ever invited to visit schools. From a third we hear that no minister ever visits the schools save on invitation, while, in a fourth, one clergyman writes of visiting frequently that he may be able to give intelligent help. The usual ad- jectives attached to school visiting are ''occasional," ''ir- regular," and "spasmodic." School visiting helps establish cordial relations with the superintendents, one of whom affirms that ministers are among his most "loyal supporters." From Muncie a min- ister writes of the intimacy between the board of education, superintendent, principals, and ministers. The superin- tendent in Decatur is frequently asked to speak in the churches. In Cleveland ministers are addressed by the superintendent and members of the board of education, and in Mt. Vernon the superintendent has given talks to church clubs of men. Besides informatiom from visiting, ministers as school commissioners have gained first-hand knowledge about schools. In New Bedford it is customary to have one minister on the school board. For sixteen years in Man- chester, New Hampshire, there was at least one Protestant minister on the board, and a Catholic priest now serves. The Rev. John Heyward, for several years president of the Louisville board, secured the establishment of high schools in that city. The information gained by a minister through service on a school board belongs not only to his congregation, but to other ministers and to the city at large. Several ministers have suggested that they might be invited to attend meetings of the board of education, and be selected as members of local school boards. There is no better way for ministers to prove their desirability as school commissioners than by using effectively the opportunities for helpful cooperation which lie before every clergyman. Ministers have opportunity to reach school teachers 268 CHURCH AND SCHOOL through Sunday meetings and Sunday schools. One clergy- man in Decatur states that public school teachers make the best Sunday school teachers. In Anderson the board of education urges its teachers to do active Sunday school work. One church in Indianapolis has taken great pains to establish a friendly relation with the school authorities. This makes all teachers feel that they may call upon the pastor at need, while church receptions bring congregation and teachers together. In Alameda a church is used for meetings of teachers, of clubs, and of the board of education. By these means, as well as through newspaper discussion and school reports, ministers may secure facts about schools for use in sermons and talks on school subjects. The Laity League for Social Service To keep ministers and churchmen currently informed about school and other municipal needs the Laity League, a group of church members in New York City, sends out information and suggestions: The board of estimate and apportionment is to act upon the budget for the city of New York on or before the 28th of this month (October). It will approach $200,000,000. The departments of the city which are concerned with the health, morals, and welfare of the citizens have presented their estimates. These include many matters which vitally affect the well-being of the babies, children, young people, and workers in your church and neighborhood. The officials in the board of estimate desire the expression of opinion of the church-going people, and are affected by their approval or disapproval of definite items in the budget. This League has sought the opinion of skilled men regarding the items mentioned in the inclosed pages. There is a possibihty that some of them may be cut out of the final budget unless you write the official whose name is on the inclosed envelope stating in the name of the people of your church that you are heartily in favor of each of these items. For the sake of the few people you know, and the countless thousands 269 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN you do not know in the city, who will be aided by the passage of these items in the budget, may I not urge you to write a strong letter, and to do it quickly? Please inclose the recommendation. P.S. — The best way to learn of the needs of the city in its various departments is to visit the budget exhibit. It is open daily until 10 p. m. Can you not bring this to the personal attention of other men in your church? During 1911, 5,000 men of the churches were asked by the League to consider the advisability of having the school buildings more widely used. It is difficult, of course, to estimate how many church people are in this way stimulated to action, or how much influence is exerted by those who do write to the board of education or the board of estimate. '' I wish we were able to report a larger and more far-reaching work," writes the secretary of the League, ''but the men of the churches will need a large amount of education before they grasp these things." The League is persistently main- taining its efforts to give this education, and is proving that a local group of lay church members can keep alive the in- terest of ministers and focus their attention on important points. What shall ministers stand for? What changes are most necessary in the school system? How can churches help to secure them? If the superintendent will not, or dares not, answer these questions, the lay body can at least give the facts and recom- mendations based on them. The information might be equally well and effectively distributed by a woman's club, a group of ministers who avoid denominational dangers, or by neighborhood church associations. Since budget time is the crisis for school cooperators, the maximum force should be brought to bear then. But ministers and churchmen not kept informed during the year will not be able to speak 270 CHURCH AND SCHOOL or write adequately at budget time. Since the non-partisan influence of the minister on pubHc opinion is important, it ought to be inviolable by politics or factions as well as by dictates of creed. Sermons about Schools As early as 1839 the Rev. Isaiah deGrosse in New York preached a sermon, "To take into consideration the cause of our public schools." After discussing the fact that the public schools were not half filled and that two-thirds of the children were running wild in the city, he ended, ''For our apathy and indifference we are strongly threatened to be de- prived of these elegant schools." Many ministers time their school sermons so they fit into a logical period, when, because of opening, closing, or ex- amination time, there is newspaper discussion of school matters. In Washington, D. C, ministers generally give a sermon on schools when they open in September. A yearly service devoted to schools and children takes place in the Park Chm-ch in Elmira, while one church in Indianapolis uses "every opportunity to discuss school needs and to present school questions." In Mt. Vernon a bond issue for purchasing school property was the subject of a sermon, and in Cairo a minister preached on vocational education. From Philadelphia we hear that the country should set aside a national holiday when all the ministers will agree to talk about schools. These bits of information suggest topics for sermons: What is Our Education Buying? (School budget time) The Child Failure (Non-promotions) Preparing for Future Life (Industrial and vocational training) The Right to Health (Medical examination and treatment) The Basis of Moral Training in Our Public Schools (Accuracy and promptness) 271 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN By addresses to parents' associations, to church groups, and at public school exercises, ministers have another way of passing on information about schools. In several cities we hear that clergymen have spoken to mothers' clubs, and in Galesburg the movement for parent-teacher associations was systematically helped by ministers. The baccalaureate sermon in high or grammar schools is meant as much for parents as for children. Properly handled publicity in local papers gives such addresses double emphasis. Of course, the type of sermon and address offered by ministers helps to determine whether the superintendent cares for their cooperation and whether he appreciates the necessity of keeping them informed about school affairs. But the more misinformed, theoretical, and impractical a minister may be, the more harm he may do the schools. Ministers are going to preach, and are going to address groups of parents. Their sermons are going to be reported and printed. Is it not far safer to see that they have accu- rate, up-to-date information? What One Church Has Done The value of suggestions in this story will not be decreased by anonymity. It is written by a man too fine to misstate the facts when he says, "As far as I know, my own church is the only one in the last 17 years that has tried to influence for their good the work of our city public schools." If I told you his name you would accept this statement. He writes first of the yearly meetings held in the church since 1901 in the interest of public schools, of citizenship meetings on Wednesday evenings, when school topics are discussed, such as methods of teaching, manual training, school hygiene, and gardens for boys. He tells of a sermon, coming usually just after the opening of the schools in Sep- 272 CHURCH AND SCHOOL tember, which is devoted to school questions; of visits to schools during the year on the invitation of principals; of talks to pupils; of Sunday morning talks to parents on their relation to the schools, as, for example, ^' What Society Owes the Teacher." In the summer time the church does vacation work with boys to "keep them from the recorder's court," by opening gardens in vacant lots where the school boys work and play under the supervision of one of the young men of the congregation. The church persuaded the cham- ber of commerce to send a delegate to the national conven- tion on school gardening, thus interesting the city business men in the garden plan. When the gardens are running smoothly and have proved their success, this minister hopes that the board of education will be able to take over and extend the work by making a playground along the river and building bath houses. ''It should not be a charity." To bring about more intelligent understanding of schools by the people this clergyman was one of the strongest advo- cates for the school bulletin, which now gives each month, in interesting form, news of what is being done and what is being planned by principals, teachers, and children. One feels sure that the work of this church has helped when, in speaking of recent innovations under a progressive superintendent, our minister writes, ''It seems now as if everything some of us have been hoping and pulling for were coming all at once." It is not how much has happened as a result of this man's work that counts, but the fact that things do happen when a minister fully realizes his opportunity to help schools. This is the method of cooperation for ministers which the denominational bogy cannot withstand. The Minister's Opportunity The informed minister has a threefold chance to help on school problems — as a member of a ministerial associa- 273 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN tion, as one of a lay organization, and as pastor of a church. Ministerial associations seem to be only incidentally in- terested in schools, ''leaving to chance any assistance." Though occasional associations have been addressed by superintendents, we rarely hear of any prolonged coopera- tion resulting. One minister sent a questionnaire to members of the ministerial association to find out what had been done in his city. The answers showed that there is no committee on public schools, that none of the standing com- mittees pay any attention to schools, that no ministers ever report doing anything for schools, and that there is no par- ticularly sympathetic feeling between church and school. Our correspondent seemed to feel that this ministerial asso- ciation would have to broaden somewhat its interests and sympathies before the school would receive much benefit from its cooperation. The Congressional Brotherhood in New Bedford, however, has a minister on the school board who is responsible for keeping that organization actively interested in schools. Another ministerial association is striving to revoke the law which prohibits the use of the King James version in the schools. It would be interesting to know what position this particular form of cooperation would take in a relative list of school needs not met, as outlined in order of their importance by the superintendent. Some day a ministerial association is going to astonish the world by showing what can actually be done with an active school committee to arrange for the dissemination of school facts, secure publicity through school sermons, and see that special school items are preached about on definite days by all ministers of the city. This last has proved effective in New York, where sermons have been given on budget needs and charter evils. Ministerial asso- 274 CHURCH AND SCHOOL ciations have made only a beginning. As individual clergymen become interested in school problems they will find, as the physicians and dentists have found, that it is easier to give community service by working through an organization than by working as an individual. It is comparatively easy for a church conference to call atten- tion to school questions and to see that the machinery is available for uniform work by churches throughout the city or state. The Federal Council Commission on the Church and Social Service has such an opportunity. A central committee can see that suggestions of how ministers can help are sent to local groups, and through them to individual clergymen. Churchmen are not working alone in their local situations. Through civic and social service leagues, public education or home and school associations, through playground, school garden, and kindergarten associations, ministers have ex- pressed interest. There are also within each church the many organizations, social, philanthropic, and educational, which may be interested by the minister in school questions. In Chelsea a committee from the men's club of one church visits night schools in order to ''cooperate in some helpful way." One church society in Montpelier is active in providing clothes for school children; and a Men's Forum, of which the superintendent is chairman, is emphasizing the need for a new high school building. Some ministers, but apparently only a very few, have seen the possibilities of church club work for schools. It is probably only a question of time before every church will be kept in touch with school problems by its own organiza- tion. One clergyman has said," Church clubs made of parents and friends don't need to be told to help schools"; but they do generally need to be told from the experience of other out- side workers and from the needs of the schools," how " to help. 19 275 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Individual churches through their volunteer workers have been doing what settlements do. I know four college women who, because they want to do something "philanthropic," go once a week to a church mission to teach half a hundred little Italian children how to set a table, wash dishes, and make beds. Yet these children, and thousands more every year, are without manual training in the schools. The energy which gets 50 children and mothers of one district to come to church for clubs and classes could secure the same advantage for them, and for every mother and child who needs it, by having schools equipped and opened in the after- noon and evening. But as long as many activities are car- ried on by churches unconnected with the public school system, though logically belonging there, just so long will it be impossible for boards of education to secure the neces- sary support for efficiently socialized schools. How many mothers' clubs are there in the neighborhood of yom- church? Do they meet in the school or the church? Have you asked the school board to open a school in the afternoon for your church classes, so that more than the Sunday school classes can benefit by your service? Are the children who go to your Sunday school and other church classes examined for physical defects? How many are found defective? How many receive the necessary treatment? Would they receive more continuous and effective care if there were adequate school inspection and school nursing? How many children who come to your classes are truants in school? Will your interest in their cases lead to securing efficient attendance officers, juvenile courts, boys' clubs in schools? Ethics in Public School ? What proportion of school children go to Sunday school and public school? How many hours a year do they spend in Sunday school and in public school? 276 CHURCH AND SCHOOL People are realizing that the ethical teaching necessary to bring children to maturity with good principles must be given through some more continuous and general channel than the Sunday school. The daily life of the child goes on chiefly under the influence of the public school and its allied activities, the playground, gymnasium, and street. Any moral training that most children will get outside their homes will come through school or not at all. Teacher and school playmate are strong ethical or un- ethical influences on every child. What can churches give the school teacher to help her teach ethics ? The church's lesson to children must be given through public school teachers, though they certainly do not want to be lectured about abstract morality. What message can be given by churches so that a teacher will realize the beauty and ethical value of every piece of routine in her life, of every relation with her 30 or 50 children? What is more un- ethical than a dirty school, a poorly paid and poorly trained teacher; a large proportion of children failing each year, or children hampered by remediable physical defects? If churches and ministers cannot teach this, they might as well realize the futility of doctrine which has no easy, helpful, practical application. Other agencies, non-clerical, have seen the value of teaching morals in schools. There is now a National Insti- tution for Moral Instruction, with headquarters in Balti- more, which will send a lecturer with stereopticon illustra- tions to talk in the schools on character making. Mr. Milton J. Fairchild does not use theories, but brings ethics "home" by stories of things happening in the life of every child, familiar things like "The True Sportsman," "What People Think About Boys' Fights," and "What I Am Going to Do When I Am Grown Up." Follow-up work for teachers is outlined to supplement the lectures and corre- 277 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN late visual instruction in morals with school work and school play. Vacation Schools by City or Church Our cooperation with the board of education consists of trying to avoid the location of schools in the immediate vicinity of those of the board of education. In only the rarest cases is this contiguity noticeable, and then each school appears to reach a different class of children in a dif- ferent way. The National Vacation Bible School Association is doing through churches and missions on a small scale what boards of education are doing on a large scale, and it is affecting about 20,000 children in the United States. It claims to reach through its schools a class that the public schools do not reach, and to supplement city schools where inefficient. Partly to see whether the summer work by outside agencies, churches, settlements, and playground guilds is really doing something the board of education cannot do in New York, and partly to find out how many more vacation schools are needed, the Association of Collegiate Alumnae made a study of summer facilities for children under school age. An inquiry in other cities would probably reveal a similar situation. At their own very highest estimate the outside agencies are reaching only 11% of the children, and the city schools and playgrounds are accommodating only 36%. As far as can be estimated, 160,000 children in one borough alone will have no place but the streets to play or work this summer. Yet there are available public schools which, if used, would at once almost double the accommo- dations for children. The lesson in this report is clear: That the outside agencies and churches which cannot reach more than 11% of the children without great expense for new buildings and grounds would be twice as useful if they used their experience to 278 woman's club: columbxjs: playground wader,^ PUBLIC SCHOOLS ATHLETIC LEAGLTE: NEW YORK! ON A SCHOOL ROOF A. I. C. P.: SEA BREEZE BATHING PARTIES SUMMER PLAY MAKES WINTER HEALTH CHURCH AND SCHOOL emphasize the need for more vacation schools under the board of education and for the necessary budget appropriations. But instead of using their increased attendance roll to show how many more children could be reached by the public schools, the outside agencies say that they themselves are meeting a peculiar need and are not duplicating the city's work. Do you know any one interested in vacation schools who will admit that meeting 10% of the summer need is as important to the community as meeting 90%? Yet that is just what the failure to see the possibilities in the city's work claims. No one thinks the less of the Vacation School and Play- ground Committee in Chicago because after it had for years, with funds from 67 women's clubs, opened, equipped, and run 12 vacation schools and playgrounds throughout the city, the board of education made financial arrangements and assumed entire control. The Graffort Club in Ports- mouth maintained a summer school of 100 children, teaching domestic science and manual work imder the general super- vision of the superintendent of schools. One of the best ways of showing vacation school needs not met by church, city, or any one else, is to locate each school and playground on a map and to estimate the pro- portion of children not reached by any summer work. Only on such a basis of what we have can we estimate accu- rately what more we need and just where we need it. For the history of vacation school development, see The Wider Use of the School Plant, by Clarence A. Perry, of the Russell Sage Foundation. XII THE BUSINESS MAN's CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOLS A Measure for His Interest HOW many business men will admit that "the average man is too prone to leave the educational trend to the enthusiasm and more or less discriminating conclusions of women's clubs"? This was written in 1902 by Andrew S. Draper, now New York's state commissioner of education. In answer to our questions about the cooperation of business men with schools, instances have been told which lead one to believe that perhaps matters have changed since then. That the business man, when intelligently interested, has accomplished much for schools is proved by the stories in this chapter. The effectiveness of initiative on the part of business men was shown, for example, when "a delegation from the master builders in Denver made a plea before the school board for vocational training, with the result that plans for a building are now being drawn up." The super- intendent wrote this in May, and the next August the school opened with many more applicants than could be accom- modated. In Freeport ''a few unorganized men pushed the question of new buildings to a successful conclusion after two adverse votes. They simply wore the opposition out." Gifts of $10,000 were made by business men in Columbus, Georgia, for primary and secondary industrial schools, "to fit boys and girls to earn their own living," 2S0 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION and an advisory committee was formed for these schools. In Newark, New Jersey, ^'business men participate through parent-teacher associations and civic bodies. Indeed, the city is quite wide awake in this hne." The business men, 135 of them, who, the superintendent told us, were most actively interested in education, reported generally that men of their cities had not shown special interest in supporting requests for various kinds of school improvement. In 49 of 135 cities business men have worked for industrial training, and in 48 cities for school buildings. Playgrounds in 46 cities have won the interest of business men, athletics in 38 cities, and in 35 cities commercial training. Thirty-four correspondents mentioned the co- operation of citizens at school budget time, 24 in getting school laws amended and in securing public lectures. Night schools have actively interested business men in 21 cities. In one of these, Montgomery, an educational committee of a business men's organization, with the state superintendent as chairman, started night schools in the factory district. This work is now part of the school system. Civic training through schools interested business men in only 15 out of 135 cities. Other points on which there has been cooperation are kindergartens and scholarships, using schools for social centers, continuation schools, and school health. Business men in Elyria organized in home garden associations to work with school children; while in another city garden work is carried on by a men's committee directly supervised by the United States bureau of agriculture In Bellaire a business firm gives ''treats" to all the children in the public schools. In Arlington business men were directly concerned with getting a vacation school for the children of market gardeners. The Business Men's Committee on Tuberculosis in Cohoes raised enough money to employ a school nurse, 281 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN who visits each school monthly and induces parents to take their children to free clinics. The Board of Trade in Win- ston Salem was directly responsible for starting a compulsory system of medical inspection. You probably know of other instances in your city. We actually found men so eager to claim active participation in school work that they even wrote: "Business men have worked through organizations as follows: mothers' clubs, women's clubs." But lest you think that these successful reports from all parts of the country represent what all business men in all our cities are thinking and doing about schools, the same figures also tell what has not been done. They tell that in 61%, considerably over half, of the cities reporting, business men mention no special attention given by themselves or their colleagues to securing school improvements or meeting school needs. And these men were mentioned by their superintendents, remember, as the ones most closely in touch with schools. They represent the interest of probably 20 business men in 135 cities of 200,000 or 10,000 inhabi- tants, and they do not speak for 365 other fair-sized cities in our country. When it is written that men have ''been interested" in athletics or night schools or school legislation, it islmpossible to tell whether this cooperation included solving 1% or 50% of the problem. Let me quote statements from some other places: "Our schools have suffered and are suffering for more general interest from business men of both city and country," wrote a man who had for years taken an active part in school matters. "Business men of our city give no attention to school matters; they elect an efficient board, vote all the money it asks for, and leave it to its own devices." Such a statement seems to represent the prevailing attitude across the continent. "The taxpayer as a general thing is satisfied to leave it entirely to the board of directors. No attempt on 2S2 BUSINESS MAX — Sf'HOOL COMMISSIONER: ONE RESULT DEPARTMENT STORE! CASH GIRLS : STATE SUPERINTENDENT BUSINESS AND EDUCATION EXCHANGE VISITS IN DENVER BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION the part of business men to meddle." ''Beyond a general feeling of willingness and desire on the part of the people to maintain a high standard of public schools, there is not more than spasmodic interest of women's clubs, commercial organizations, etc. Most of the business men give little time to school work, but pay their taxes cheerfully." One of our correspondents is compelled to report a "deplorable lack of interest on the part of business men, at least so far as such interest is manifested by personal cooperation with school authorities." Frojn another state we learn that there is "a general interest, but not where everything is going smoothly." ''The community in general supports the board, but there is no committee or organization at work." An- other city tells us that neither as a whole nor in any of their organizations do business men show any direct interest. "The board is largely made up of business men, and there is, therefore, no urgent need for forcing them in regard to school matters." This is a fair selection of answers from cities of all sizes. The men who wrote represent professional, business, and official paths of life. Among them are lawyers and bankers, retail dealers, wholesale manufactiu"ers, real estate men, farmers, an architect, a court recorder, a brewer, a lumber- man, a librarian, a newspaper editor, and a shipper. Is the opportunity to help schools over for a business man v/hen he has paid his taxes and seen that "good" com- missioners are elected to the school board? Some of our correspondents, business men, were actually indignant that anything more should be expected of them. "Men bear the burden of taxes for our costly school system without fault- finding." Yet, how many cities can boast unanimous approval of tax increases for necessary school improve- ments? In several western towns the slowness of school improvement was attributed by the superintendents to the 283 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN bitter feeling of citizens against school taxes. How true is the tradition that good men always pay especially intelli- gent attention to school elections? Does the annual school election draw a large attendance? What percentage of business men go to the polls? From Portland, Oregon, where business men are very proud of their schools, one citizen writes, "The vote of our school district is small, few people turning out." The optimism of the phrase you hear so often, "Our schools are the best in the country," comes from a business man's clear conscience when he has delegated to a school board the authority for school administration. His interest, when active, is genuine, his pride is genuine; he would not for worlds have the schools fall behind the highest standards. When anything goes wrong, or when the chance of helping actively is clearly presented to him, he responds. How Organized Business Men Help Has your chamber of commerce a committee on schools? Has it ever asked the superintendent to speak? What school topics has it discussed? The Commercial Club of Indianapolis is reported by the superintendent to be "very active in creating pubhc senti- ment to raise teachers' salaries; in fact, they can be relied on at all times to support v/hatever is presented to them that relates to the good of the schools." This organization maintains an educational committee, which has shown spe- cial interest in school buildings, industrial training, civics, playgrounds, and public lectures. Its cooperation is al- ways welcomed by school officials. Investigations are made whenever the directors think that the situation deserves attention. The Cleveland Chamber has had a very valuable and efficient part in the installing of manual and 284 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION domestic training and in securing new buildings. The Com- mercial Club of Peru is interested in patriotic observances, and endeavors in every way to stimulate civic pride among school children. The Board of Trade in Kearney has a publicity committee which gives to the papers a weekly story on special school topics. By this method press leadership on school ques- tions is stimulated. For example, when the superintendent's last report was published, the Board of Trade wrote a newspaper story about the most important phases of school administration to be watched next year, which happened to be the medical inspection law, higher salaries and higher standards for teachers. On Arbor Day the Board of Trade offers prizes for essays written by school children on "How to Make Kearney More Beautiful." At the request of school officials in Greenville, the Board of Trade supported a bond issue of $40,000 for new buildings, and took an interest in methods of collecting school taxes. Through this organiza- tion men have given talks at schools, "thus promoting a better understanding between farmers and town men," and have succeeded in establishing a college for business instruction. In Newark the Board of Trade has a standing committee which has been "upholding the board of educa- tion in its requests for money used in all good things." This committee keeps the whole body of business men posted. To its efforts was largely due the securing of a smaller board of education. The Board of Trade in Winston Salem, besides starting medical inspection as a result of the superintendent's talk before its members, has taken an interest — largely on the instigation of a few prominent men — in school buildings, school budgets, law, commercial and industrial training, civics, athletics, and playgrounds. Through the Board of Trade a dentist arranged to make addresses at schools on 285 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN the care of the teeth, and compulsory examination of school children was afterward secured. Exhibits were held in factories to "show the children the relation of civic condi- tions in the city and of its future welfare to the success of manufacturing, and to the value of training and physical strength. The children wrote some 200 voluntary compo- sitions on this subject. Through these talks and exhibits to the school children the people of the city have learned many facts about their own community." A special committee of the Commercial Club in East St. Louis secured the nucleus of a playground fund by selling lapel buttons to their business associates. In Topeka the Commercial Club has arranged for addresses on trade schools, and made an effort to establish an industrial school through which the board of education may cooperate with manufacturing establishments. The City Club of Philadelphia purposes 'Ho arrange for meetings of teachers on civics and to cooperate with the board of education in a movement for social centers. Defi- nite and favorable relations have been established with the school authorities and with the local branches of the Home and School Association. The superintendent of schools re- cently asked the directors of the Club to lend him its civic secretary in order to work out an effective system of training for public schools." The superintendent has said that he "welcomes the aid and gladly records the value of such assistance." The Boston Chamber of Commerce has, besides its edu- cational committee and its advisory board to the High School of Commerce, an advisory board to the Trade School for Girls, to the Mechanical Arts High School, and the Voca- tion Bureau. In Oklahoma City the Chamber of Com- merce maintains an advisory committee to the board of edu- cation, "acting with excellent results," even supervising 286 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION contracts for a half-million dollar high school. To stop a certain street railway franchise which would have impaired school property in Seattle, a committee of two representa- tive organizations of men was appointed at the solicitation of the school board to effect a settlement. In May, 1911, the Trenton Chamber of Commerce appointed a school committee which has taken up the question of industrial education. Sub -committees of the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D. C, make careful examinations of school subjects, cooperate with the School Art League on decora- tions, and once a year hold a marksmanship contest among school boys for which a gold medal is awarded. These illustrations show two types of organization. One is the continuous committee of business men, either working toward a definite point or constantly in touch, making sug- gestions and offering help to the school authorities on all questions. The other is the club which does not keep up its interest throughout the year, but is willing to help at a crisis. Of course, the supposed reason that a business man or organization is at all interested in schools is that the product of them must be used in business, and a certain fa- miliarity is desirable with the mechanism which turns out the product — equipment, conditions of work, and course of study. Pleasant, cordial relations with superintendents, principals, and teachers, especially those in business and trade courses, are most readily maintained through a com- mittee or an individual delegated to keep in touch. It is easy to have a committee appointed. How it can best work, and what it should work for, are more serious questions. A chamber of commerce in a New York city answered our first question, ''What have business men done to help schools?" by saying, ''nothing." Shortly after came from them the query, "What have other chambers of commerce done?" We answered with instances Hke those told here, 287 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN and back came the request, "Will you suggest a program of school cooperation suitable for our chamber?" The answer from experiences of other cities is given in this chapter, with the thought that other groups of business men may be asking the same question. The Manufacturer and Industrial Training Manufacturers are beginning to realize that in competition under the principles of scientific management the success of an industry will increasingly depend on the working effi- ciency and mental, physical, and moral caliber of the em- ployees. The natural interest of business men in this direc- tion is being utilized by school people. The commissioner of education and specialists in industrial training throughout Massachusetts have secured the close and constructive co- operation of manufacturers and other business men by show- ing how shop and school can mutually aid each other. Some of the most progressive school work, from the effi- ciency development viewpoint, is being done in schools where boys and girls are largely the children of "hands," and the question of early earning vs. increased earning power must be solved practically. The schools connected with the great steel corporation at Gary have visitors from all over the continent, because the superintendent has been given carte blanche to turn out healthy, well-equipped children, and he is doing it by some unconventional methods. In many southern towns where the state expenditure for edu- cation is inadequate, mill owners are bearing the expenses of schools and kindergartens and allied educational work, playgrounds and libraries, for all the children of their op- eratives. A big milling company in Greenville, for example, has worked out the problem of industrial training as part of its village improvement scheme. In the public schools at- 288 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION tended by the children of mill hands there are classes where special aptitudes are fostered. Every opportunity is given the child to become an Al worker; medical and dental examinations give him a chance for health, and night school facilities in the ''three Rs," textile designing, drawing, and engineering, permit him to specialize according to his tastes. Of course, the companies that consider the education of children as "welfare" Vv^ork stand out prominently. In contrast, the conditions that exist in some big industries are the more shocking. No company can affect more than its own operatives, or be sure of a continuous supply of trained employees, until it works through state and city machinery to give all children or future employees the same advantages. As experiment stations the "company schools," sometimes half under public subsidy, have great opportunities for showing to all employers the business ad- vantages of secondary education which actually fits for industry. From every mill village superintendents and school commissioners may learn valuable lessons which may be modified for city application. This "industrial education" must be distinguished, so experts say, from manual training, which is simply education by handwork and does not lead to a trade. Industrial edu- cation must be manual training unless it is merely a dead- ening ordeal unrelated to geography, literature, or math- ematics. Manual training in the ordinary public school is, so to speak, to try out those who like handwork and want to be industrially educated. So it has been logically the first step to interest outsiders. As long ago as 1881 experiments were begun in Boston by a private agency, the North Bennet Industrial School. Classes were brought from the public school to be instructed in a building established and equipped by private gifts. Ten years later training became compulsory in the public 289 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN schools, and industrial work was carried on in connection with other school activities — liteniture, mathematics, and history. Any one especially interested in industrial training has, as a member of the school board, a good opportunity to develop trade courses. In Denver the system of manual training, ending in the big, new trade school, was due to the enthusiasm of a business man, then a member of the board, who made a special trip to visit all the eastern schools which gave any sort of handwork. In a city where business men are not organized it has been found easier for men to secure industrial courses by acting in advisory capacity to an already flourishing woman's club. A preliminary survey of the opportunities for learning trades in your city, and of the courses in the school system which equip boys and girls with a higher earning capacity, can be made by any one. Can boys in your schools learn to be printers, bookbindors, carpenters, iron workers, etc.? What do the schools teach gn-ls to be? How much does the school l)udu;et allow for industrial training? How much is spent on mimual training and domestic science? How many can take the courses oiYered, antl what does the curriculum cover? In what grade does industrial training begin? Are there night school facilities for working boys? Has a continuation part-time scheme been tried to connect the school with the shop or store? How many boys and girls stop school at fourteen to work? What is their average earning capacity at this age? How many of these end in "blind alley" trades? How much would it cost to establish an adequate system of industrial training, and how much would the running expenses be each year? For information about trade training, write to the Massa- chusetts Commission on Industrial Etlucation; or to the 290 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Educa- tion, 20 West 44th Street, New York, whose bulletin, The Organization and Courses of Study of the Compulsory Trade and Continuation School for Boys in Munich, describes a system famous throughout the world. Day Continuation Schools vs. Night Schools Humanity at last is coming to the rescue of the boys and girls who, at work all day, are trying to supplement their schooling by night study. The city superintendent in New York in his last annual report calls our night schools for boys under nineteen a '^ gigantic blunder"; yet the night school has been necessary to make the public realize that some opportunity for keeping on at school must be given to the working boy and girl. Outside organizations have also fostered the demand for night instruction. In Atlanta a night school for girls was carried on entirely by a group of women assisted by clergymen. It was later taken over by the board of education. Many thousands of children and adults every year are securing a little book learning, harder earned than their daily bread. These are usually the ones most worthy of having education made as accessible as possible. Having found the night school unsuccessful, we are beginning to adopt Germany's complete system of continuation schools. Cincinnati has established continuation schools to enforce the state law making compulsory the attendance of all chil- dren who are under sixteen years of age or have not finished the eighth grade. The board of education provides sessions throughout the city from four to five in the afternoon and from one to five on Saturdays. Each child attending must present the regular school certificate of age. Thus, instead of being forced to work in the evening with weary minds 20 291 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN and bodies when fit only for recreation or the lightest of studies, these children can attend school, at the employer's expense, eight hours a week without fear of losing their positions. For children who are already on the road to a vocation this arrangement makes it possible to gain two years of business experience while finishing the required school course. Evening trade schools and courses in design or commercial training are to enable older children to gain added ability, or perhaps enter a more remunerative trade. In New York the trades unions have come out with a hearty endorsement of evening schools. The carpenters have written their members • Local Union 247 especially desires to impress upon our apprentice members the opportunity now afforded them for advancing themselves, enabling them to get out of the rut and to insure more favorable pros- pects for future success than they can possibly expect by the precarious apprenticeship system now in vogue. Our union will excuse you from attending our meetings during the school term. Grasp your opportunity now. Enroll at once and en- deavor to acquire proficiency in carpentry, architectural drawing, math- ematics, and other studies the school affords. Principal Henry T. Wood will accord you all encouragement possible. You will incur no expense, and your time will be spent to your personal advantage and to the credit of your associates in Local Union 247. The pattern makers have gone even farther and declared that all apprentices will have to attend the public evening school, where a course will be given them under the joint supervision of the school authorities and a committee of the union, and from which certificates and diplomas for satisfactory work will be issued, bearing the seals of the board of education and the Pattern Makers' Association. The school committee of the union will investigate the work and attendance of the apprentices, and also make reports on the subject of discipline and curriculum. If the courses 292 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION are overcrowded, members of the union are to be given preference in the matter of admission, although the courses shall be free to the public. This arrangement is bringing back the guild school in the guise of a thoroughly equipped public school. ^^ Taking Schools to the Shops ^' In Cincinnati also is being tried an experiment of field work connected with school work which seems to be ap- plicable in any city and to any line of business. Manu- facturers, business men, employers generally, some of whom heartily opposed the plan before trying it, are unanimous in saying that it works. The students in the engineering school of the University of Cincinnati spend half their time in the lecture room and half in the shops of manufacturers as regular employees on full pay. There they put into prac- tice this week what they learned at the University last week. They work in couples; one oils machines or shovels sand for six days in a shop. Next week he goes to the lecture room, and his partner takes his place in overalls. The manu- facturer thus has no break in the work done for him, and the boys incidentally earn almost enough to pay for their college course. The University pays the salary of a ''co- ordinator," who sees that shop work and lectiu'es deal with the same subjects at the same time and that efficient work is given to each by the students. As rapidly as possible, similar arrangements are being made for high school and grammar school boys and girls. Business men are so enthusiastic about the scheme that they want it thoroughly tried out. They say the appren- tice students work extra hard and are filled with extra am- bition to learn all parts of the job quickly. Plain business competition and the growing demands among boys and girls for practical training will make the idea spread. After 293 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN seeing how it works in Cincinnati, do you dare, without a trial, say that it will fail in your city? Part-time field work to supplement vocational and indus- trial activities of the school may be arranged through a cham- ber of commerce or board of trade, or by direct offer from manufacturers and business firms to the superintendent. For the details of the Cincinnati plan, write to Dean Herman A. Schneider, University of Cincinnati; or to the Schmidlapp Fund, which is effecting the cooperation of high schools with shops employing girls; or to Superintendent Frank B. Dyer, who is this year president of the division of superintendence of the National Education Association. Commercial Training In the fall of 1911 the New York Chamber of Commerce appointed a committee to study commercial training and schools of commerce in London and other cities, with a view to suggesting changes in the teaching of commercial subjects in New York. The preliminary findings of this committee justified not only the appointment of a permanent com- mittee to study the same questions, but also a special meeting of the Chamber for discussing the findings. As New York was shown to be far behind most of the cities in Europe and some in the United States, specific recommenda- tions were made, among them thaf^a system of commercial examinations be conducted in cooperation with the school authorities. Under this plan successful candidates will re- ceive from the Chamber a certificate for a certain grade of proficiency. It is expected that this will inspire students to an extra effort in order to pass the examinations. Arrange- ments will also be made by which holders of these certificates will be preferred for employment by merchants. Special courses in Spanish, a free employment bureau for certificate 294 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION holders, a scholarship fund for students wishing to take advanced courses in commerce and foreign languages, are other plans outlined by the Chamber's committee. A half- million dollar fund is to be raised by the Chamber to es- tablish a commercial building for the College of the City of New York. The school officials have welcomed both criticism and cooperation. What has been done in New York can be done in other cities. For information write to Mr, George P. Brett, chairman of the committee on com- mercial education of the Chamber of Commerce, New York. A High School Advisory Committee At a gathering of representative business men held in Boston in the autumn of 1906 the new high school of com- merce was the subject of an interesting discussion. The consensus of opinion was that a successful school should be developed by cooperation between the city and the business men. The chairman of the Boston school board suggested that a committee of business men be formed. Representa- tives of the Merchants' Association, the Associated Board of Trade, and the Chamber of Commerce were chosen to formulate a plan which was adopted by the board of educa- tion. From 25 representatives of various business activities five were selected as an executive body to meet monthly. A year later the business men's committee proposed a series of recommendations which, as they hoped, have proved of vital assistance in the development of the school. "So far as it is known, this is the first time that such cooperation between the school authorities and the business men has been effected in this country." The plan has, however, the experience of Germany to presuppose its success in the United States. Schoolmen and business leaders alike are enthusiastic. 295 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN To give students an idea of their future opportunities in business, they are taken in groups to visit business houses. At weekly intervals business men speak to students, and a course of lectures dealing with the local industries has been given by a competent authority. The plan of summer em- ployment, "simple and effective," was also put in practice by the business men's committee. A circular letter was sent to a number of business houses asking cooperation. The boys applied to the employment managers of the firms which offered assistance. The boys brought to their em- ployers a record from the school. All boys who engaged in summer occupations returned to the school upon the opening day and brought with them statements from the several business houses covering the records made in their tem- porary positions. A circular containing quotations of letters received from business houses shows that beyond doubt the experiment was successful and should be continued during succeeding years. Through a fund donated by business houses the high school is collecting a technical library and a commercial museum of raw materials and manufactured products. Traveling scholarships enable some students to visit and report on Central American countries or to make special studies in other cities. Is there any way in your city for boys and girls to get free training in stenography, bookkeeping, and commercial procedure? What do you think of an arrangement by which high school students serve a portion of their time as apprentices in business houses? Are there night schools which give commercial courses? Could you in your business use a number of boys, still in school, for practice work a certain number of hours per week? or in summer? To interest business and professional men in the annual school exhibit, the superintendent in Selma put this letter in the newspapers: 396 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION Will you need the services of a boy this summer? Do you want a runner for your bank, a messenger, deliveryman, an apprentice, clerk? Why not come to the schools to get the kind of boy you need? By calling at the superintendent's office you can consult the school records and find the boy who knows how to spell, the boy who is "quick at figures," the boy who ''stays on the job" and behaves himself like a man while he is on it. You can see a specimen of any boy's handwriting whom you may think of employing. It will prove a double advantage if business and professional men who have occasion to employ boys will look to the schools to furnish them. (1) More efficient boys will be secured by employers. (2) Better work will be done in school by boys who expect future em- ployment. In the mean time business and professional men can do a great service to public education in Selma by encouraging boys to remain in school, by impressing upon boys that employers are looking to the schools to turn out efficient workers, and by employing only such boys as are through school or as are forced to leave school. Will you not use the schools when they can be of service to you? Vocational Guidance Are boys and girls able to support themselves when they leave school? Are children permitted to choose hfe work according to their personal fitness and tastes? Do children know about trade opportunities, or do they drift into "blind alley" trades? Are employers getting the right type of boys and girls? Are the schools training for industry, commerce, business? To answer these and a score of other questions, educators and economists have been studying the problems of voca- tional guidance and training from several points of view: industrial opportunities and demands; where training may be secured; what children want to do; placement and em- ployment bureaus; the schools' preparation for industry; and the need for special scholarships. In New York a com- mittee of the High School Teachers' Association has been 297 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN working on the problem of vocational guidance for individual students in the schools. The Vocational Guidance Survey in New York, under the Public Education Association, aims to discover from a study of the children themselves — those who leave school at fourteen — what the schools are making of children, and why the children leave. Two typical elementary schools, one for girls and one for boys, have been chosen for an extensive investigation. The committee hopes eventually to be able to answer the questions: Do children have to go to work on account of economic pressure? Do they relieve this economic pressure by the kinds of work they can do? The study is bringing to light facts concerning working condi- tions, the attitude of the family to the child, the relation of work to previous training, wages received and what they are spent on, hours of work, opportunities for advancement, and changes of employment. On the basis of these returns it is hoped that practical conclusions will be reached about the kind of vocational guidance and training needed by children in each district. For information concerning this study, write to the Public Education Association, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York. Boston has led other cities so far under the Vocation Bureau, the "inspirational center" for the later comers — the school board's committee on vocational guidance, the Boston Home and School Association, the Girls' Trade Edu- cation League, and the Woman's Municipal League — which are specializing on various phases of the vocational problem. By close cooperation among these agencies duplication of work has been avoided. Every month the Vocation Bureau issues in compact form little bulletins of information concerning trades for men and boys — the machinist, the baker, the landscape architect. Each includes a description of the trade, its pay, positions, 298 •fe %*';: aH^^HI BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION and opportunities, the arrangements made for apprentices, the qualities demanded in the boy, comments from people in the trade and from the health board, a bibliography, and a list of schools which will fit the applicant for the occupa- tion. Over 100 vocations have been investigated, and the results made available for vocational counselors in the public schools and for parents and other advisers of youth and boys and men. To organize vocational counseling and personal work with individual children is the second purpose of the Voca- tion Bureau. Groups of teachers and parents must be trained and advised before they can themselves advise children and employers in special trades. So the Bureau maintains a course for counselors which also trains the teachers ap- pointed by the school board to give counsel in schools. Through the Vocation Bureau the board of education has been able to develop and spread its interest in this question. The Harvard Summer School offers a course of lectures under its department of education. Business men are co- operating through the Chamber of Commerce's advisory committee to the High School of Commerce. Mr. Meyer Bloomfield, the "prophet of vocational guidance," and the Vocation Bureau, 6 Beacon Street, stand ready to furnish suggestions and information to other cities and agencies. The Boston Home and School Association is asking parents what their educational and vocational ambitions are for their children, in order to discover whether or not parents are acting as intelligent counselors. The trade opportunities for girls between fourteen and eighteen years of age are being studied by the Girls' Trade Education League. Little pamphlets like those issued by the Vocation Bureau are published by the Vocation Office for Girls, 204 Boylston Street, Boston. Among them are bulletins on telephone operating, stenography, dressmaking, 299 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN millinery, nursing, manicuring, and hairdressing. Actual placement in positions is also done by the vocation office. The latest summary of work by schools and outsiders for vocational guidance is found in the 26th Annual Report of the United States department of commerce and labor. Chapter XV of the section on industrial education is de- voted to vocational guidance. Any agency can give the initial push necessary to start its city to thinking about vocational problems by making pre- liminary trade investigations and bringing the matter before parents and teachers. In a small Massachusetts city a woman's club made a survey of trade and professional oppor- tunities, outlining from it a program for vocational guidance to be given by teachers. College women and men with training in economics have here an opportunity for using their sociological aptitude through a church, a settlement, or a teachers' and principals' association. Y. M. C. As. have long been giving advice to their members about trade and professional life. Some branches have secretaries whose entire time is devoted to this. Sooner or later all agencies interested in child welfare run against the question of children's futures and how we are preparing for them. A worker with groups of girls in high schools and upper grammar grades found herself being asked twice yearly before graduation time, ''What shall I do when I stop school?" and the worker who was supposed to teach athletics and hygiene and supervise recreation found her- self acting the part of vocational counselor without the information necessary to answer each girl intelligently. She knew nothing about trades open to women in her city, or about the working conditions and wages; yet in order to succeed in her work with these girls she must have these data. There can be no intelligent guidance in any city until somebody knows the facts. Interested men and women 300 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION can make surveys of trades in their city; arrange informal talks to teachers about the industries children will enter; give talks to boys leaving school; arrange visits to fac- tories and workshops ; show where the schools are not meeting business and trade needs; and act as vocational counselors to individual children through committees and boards. Many people see that a thorough psychological test for every child should be made before vocational guidance is given. As H. Addington Bruce has written: The business men of the United States are waking up to the great waste of national efficiency involved in the unguided selection of voca- tions by workers of the country, are themselves begimiing to test em- ployees by the rigid methods of psycho-physiological investigation, and are beginning to enforce a vocational change on those whose "reactions" indicate that they are not properly qualified for the work they have set out to do. Opportunities for Vocation Choosing in Schools The Women's Municipal League in Boston has approached vocational guidance with the question, ''Through what in- stitutions may training for the vocation once chosen by boys and girls be secured?" One of the League's standing committees has prepared charted lists of trade training op- portunities. This information has been made available to parents, teachers, and all those interested in giving voca- tional advice to boys and girls, by distributing the charts widely among schools, factories, and settlements in Boston and its vicinity. It is hoped thus to stimulate the children who had not before wished special training, for the charts show you where you can learn to become almost anything you want. If you need to take advanced courses to be a master carpenter, look at Chart II. If you wish to learn the first steps in millinery, look at Chart I. The third chart will tell just how commercial training may be secured in public and philanthropic schools. For the physically handi- 301 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN capped — blind, deaf, and crippled children — the fourth chart shows just what are the organized opportunities enabling them also to get trade education. There is a special chart for professional schools, and another for institutions where art and music are taught. As shown on the opposite page, each chart gives the name of the school or institute, the age at which students are admitted, industries taught, supplementary work, special features, requirements for admission, what percentage of time goes to trade instruction and the length of the school season. Where schools require fees the amount for tuition is specified; if arrangements are made for placing students, this fact is noted. Special mention is made of whether the schools are for men or for women, or both, for boys or for girls, or whether they are evening or day schools. This valuable piece of work by an outside agency suggests an investigation needed in practically every city. When such a study shows that there is no place for a child to get trained to earn his living, it helps secure provision for trade training. The complete story of how the study was made, with facsimiles of the charts themselves, has been published in the U. S. report on industrial education mentioned before. Copies of the reprint and of the charts may be obtained from the Woman's Municipal League, 6 Beacon Street, Boston. They tell the details of methods used, how the interest of volunteer workers, experts, business men, and school officials was finally won. The School for Social Workers helped in making the investigation of special schools, this field work counting toward a certificate. How and Where to Look for Work Having chosen a vocation and prepared to enter it, the third step confronting each boy and girl is to secure a "job." 302 sf 1 i if! ' lirf 1 ! 1 1 1 1 i ill Ill ji f = Ijlj; 3|l| 1 i fipl ° |sll ! ill" 1 1 si It 1° If 1° 1 g II |l I" IB 1 ^^ i Ill ill 1 1 1 i Hill ■ii° sis? 1 c o > H 2 > r D m > H m z -I ■n H I m m 2 95 C Z o > r r m > c I o s r& (•5 (-5 (-5 fij rD a^ o > 3 ^ 5 2. M f » O. H I P § 8 ^ M • » ^' 3- H p O O ^ (/) n t > ^ o r =1 -7 ® ■n H I m ■0 S r m ^ m 2 H 1 Iff m C/0 o o' a; o OJ ro BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION For five years three agencies in Cincinnati — the school de- partment, the Child Labor Committee, and the Schmidlapp Fund — are going to study questions of vocational placing, of working certificates, of children's employment, and of the physical fitness of children for trades. The purpose is to enforce by practical cooperation the new child labor law, and the work is under Dr. Helen T. Woolley and five assist- ants who have an office in one of the high school buildings. Before any child under sixteen years of age may go to work without finishing the eighth grade he must pay a visit to Dr. Woolley, get a certificate as to his learning, his health, and the necessity for his earnings in the family budget. Psychological tests of these children have shown that waste of time and effort by employers, parents, and children will be prevented when, for example, a girl who is by nature inaccurate and careless does not try for positions which require accuracy of eye and hand. Each of the 2,000 boys and girls who come up to the tests for working capacity the first year registers where he is going to be employed. When he changes his position he comes back to Dr. Woolley for a new certificate. Besides collecting evidence about the wages paid to children by employers, the same office, known as the child labor division of the public schools, makes every effort to see that the child labor law is enforced and to prevent em- ployment in forbidden trades by enlisting the cooperation of truant officers and factory inspectors. A special study was begun in March, 1911, of some 650 children, who at fourteen left school and went regularly to work. For several years this group of children will be watched and compared with children who remained in school until they were sixteen and then worked. For both groups, school histories, results of physical examinations and psychological tests, industrial histories, notes on home and 303 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN working conditions, are all being recorded. This study will show whether it pays children to stop school when they are fourteen, whether extra years of school enable them to earn more when they do go to work, whether the present elementary school course prepares children for the vocations they enter most frequently, and what tests are needed to determine the most suitable work for each child. For copies of form cards and the results of the first year's test, write to the child labor division, Cincinnati Public Schools. ''The Three Rs" Intelligent interest, not wholly altruistic, is being shown in business men's criticism of the schools' product. By pointing out necessary changes in course of study and method of teaching the business man has been of great service to the school. In Kearney, for example, the superintendent wrote : "Last year the leading manufacturing concerns were asked to criticize the product of our schools and to make sugges- tions how to remedy any faults or defects in our teaching. These letters brought startling replies. The manufacturers were unanimous in their opinion that the school work in the 'three Rs' was not thorough and adecjuate. Through this valuable criticism, placed before our principals as a cabinet, we formulated entirely new plans, which have resulted in most gratifying improvements." From numerous employers of many boys, and from organ- izations of business men, comes a consensus of opinion that our schools need radical changes. If business men combine in daring to show where the schools are not "making good," they should also, so some people say, give credit to new employees who have certificates of special proficiency. One principal has argued that employers, like colleges that an- nounce requirements for admission, should tell what sub- 304 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION jects they consider essential for success in business and what extra training they think desirable: Business men should show that schoohng has value in business life. Then children will not be going to school with the feeling that they are only marking time until they get jobs, but pupils will work at school in the realization that education is a tool with which they can open the door leading to business success. Business men and large taxpayers are the schools' most important patrons; for when actively enough displeased with what the schools are doing the taxpayers have the power to stop the schools. The tests of efficiency in the "three Rs" are easily made by asking a representative number of children to read, write, and do sums in arithmetic. One business man can collect from his associates a large amount of information about employees who have spent months, even years, in learning how to add and spell and obey orders. Confronted by this evidence, the burden of proof is on the schools. Here is a specimen of the scholarship of a boy of fifteen, American born and bred, who had been promoted to the grade of 8-A, the highest but one in New York's grammar schools, as written from dictation: They attenmed no raush gast, therefor, at that stage of the prublem. 'Boys also out teacher said, ' like to have it, ' Thought, when it get into a boy poctey, I belived it is oftened say to burned a hold there. Instinly twelty out stretch hand indecake an idle demaning utterans in twelty head 'if you pleas 'sir' I know what it is' 'Well, what is it?' 'a pice of cold?' Here is the same passage ''corrected," the teacher spelling out each word dictated, the pupil writing his version of the spelled-out dictation: They attented no rash gess, therefore at that stage of the problem. 'Boys also our 'teacher said' like to have it' thought when it get into 305 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN a boy potct, I bclive it is often said to bruned a hold there, Instlanej' twolty outstretch hand indicate an idle 'If you pleas sir' 'I know what it is' 'Well what is it' 'A pice of cold? Will you make a "rash guess" at what the teacher dic- tated? Wasted Capital, Non-Promotion It is often argued that school work cannot be judged by monetary standards, that tests of efficiency in teaching and school administration are not possible because of educa- tional values which are not measurable; yet ultimately every detail of school work comes under the budget test : Is it worth while, measured by opportunity and result, to spend what is being spent, more, or less for each object in the school's program? School expenses are measurable on a child-hour basis. One of the greatest wastes of school money comes with the necessity for giving to thousands of children every year the same instruction, the same textbooks, and the same tests that they had the year before. Superintendent Elson of Cleveland has estimated that one-eighth of the money spent on education goes to pay for repetition, maladjust- ment, and the failure to see the needs of school children and their interests. Recent studies stimulated by the United States bureau of education, the Bureau of Municipal Research, the Russell Sage Foundation, and many individual superintendents have focused the attention of schoolmen and outsiders on the problem of non-promotion and its causes. It is necessary first to find the retarded children, those who, for some reason or other, have been checked in their normal rate of progress through school. How far from easy it is to discover overage children, many school reports prove. Here ages for this year are used with 306 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION grades for next year. The result is that thousands of chil- dren who need special attention are never found. An Effi- cient Citizenship bulletin by the Bureau of Municipal Re- search shows that a child may fail four times in succession and not be considered ''overage." In comparatively few cities are written statements re- quired from teachers at promotion time telling why each child has not been passed on to another grade. The causes given include irregular attendance, lack of attention, poor home conditions, and large classes. All of these causes are remediable, and most of the remedies are in the hands of school officials. Catch-up classes enable children to make their grades at the last minute. Summer schools enable unpromoted children to enter with their class in the fall. Parents can be warned in advance, as in Elyria, Marl- borough, Flint, etc., by a regular form letter, and asked to see that children do better. In terms of how school money shall be spent, are we to pay more money for more teachers if the teachers we have are not efficient? Are we to increase the staff of attendance officers, if truant officers are not doing what they might? Is it worth while having 50,000 children clog up the regular courses of the school, when money spent on teachers of special "opportunity" or ungraded classes would let normal and extra-bright children go ahead faster? How" much money is wasted when children are repeating sometimes three years in succession the same grade of work? In terms of discouragement to the children and ennui to the teachers, preventable retardation is inexcusable. When you consider that the problem affects a million children each year in the United States and $60,000,000 of wasted captal, can you deny that it is worthy the attention of business men? For questions, blanks, and information, write to the United States bureau of education; the Bureau of Municipal Re- 21 307 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN search, 261 Broadway; or to the Russell Sage Foundation, 1 Madison Avenue, New York. As Superintendent Elson says, positive data about fail- ures must serve as a basis for administrative changes. Many superintendents all over the country are evolving ways and means of coping with retardation, like departmental teach- ing of sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, or ungraded schools where promotion takes place just as rapidly as the child is through with a subject. In dealing with the problem of retardation, sooner or later you will be brought in contact with nearly every detail of school administration, equip- ment, teaching, health, and recreation. Superintendent Morton of Marlborough says in his last report, "Every child saved from repeating, and every child accelerated without lowering the standard of brain development or the vitality of the child, represents a saving to the city of approximately $30; to the home at least $100, and to the individual child in confidence in his own ability to achieve, in more knowl- edge, greater power to meet the problems of life, and a longer period of productive activity — a value that cannot be esti- mated in money." Talks in School on Business Success There is perhaps no simpler way for the average business man to cooperate with public schools than to tell groups of school boys about business, and what is necessary to achieve success in business. There are many things that a boy needs to know, things which will have more effect coming from one who is in the field than from a teacher. Mr. G. H. F. Schrader, the apostle of Pay Public Schools who used to employ hundreds of men and boys in his factories and business houses, felt so distinctly this need that he published and circulated widely a little pamphlet entitled Business 308 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION Advice for Boys. This booklet of "dos"'and ^'don'ts" in- cludes talks on ''The Employee," ''The Start in Business," "Buying and Selling," "A Man Fails in Business Through His Own Fault." Members of school boards or local boards can arrange to have friends talk in high and upper grammar schools, to have meetings in the evening which discuss business oppor- tunities, and to connect these talks with the need of voca- tional guidance as felt in each school. Talks are sometimes arranged, as in Carlisle, by a civic club of women, and in Cleveland through social center evening meetings in the schools. Weekly lectures by busi- ness men are given in the high school in Greenville, and in Portland, Oregon, representative business men are occa- sionally asked on patriotic days to make addresses to chil- dren. Here also the Commercial Club once a year calls for volunteers to speak in schools for fifteen minutes on matters pertaining to business careers. "There have always been enough speakers." Children are also asked to help the Commercial Club "boom" the town by writing letters to eastern friends describing the advantages of Oregon. Have not you as a business man something valuable to tell boys in school about: The three qualities necessary for business success, Recognizing an opportunity, The boy who makes extra effort, How the new office boy is likely to fail, What the average employer wants. The opportunities waiting for boys in business? Men who are interested in civic affairs, politicians, heads of city departments, bankers, wholesale and retail dealers, may do a great deal by presenting problems to civic classes, recreation center groups, at opening exercises or evening 309 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN meetings. Boys' clubs, Y. M. C. As., debating societies, teachers, and principals are glad to have offers from speakers. School Savings Banks Training future depositors in habits of thrift is becoming part of the legitimate work of the modern Savings and Loan Association. In Corning a juvenile annex of the Savings Loan Association was organized. In another city an arrange- ment with the Postal Savings Bank was made by a prominent drygoods merchant who took out cards at the initial amounts for 1,500 children, white and black. These boys and girls became independent depositors as soon as their pennies amounted to fifty cents. Prizes were offered at stated inter- vals for the largest accounts entered in bank books. The bank in P. S. 77 in New York is like a real bank with an ad- visory board of schoolmen, bankers, professors, and a member of the local school board. Occasionally banks are run by the pupils themselves in connection with their arith- metic work. The idea of school savings banks was developed in Amer- ica by Mr. J. H. Thiry, of Long Island, who, to encourage economy and thrift in schools, introduced the first bank in 1885. They now exist in nearly 2,000 schools, with savings amounting to over $5,000,000, and in New York the board of education has appointed a special committee to see that banks are started in every school. The advantages of saving, of learning so early the mechanism of banking, are indis- putable; so are also moral issues which hinge oni knowledge of money values and on habits of saving. Women's clubs have sometimes taken the initiative in banking schemes. The Civic Improvement League in Kalamazoo has a savings collector who has offered to intro- duce systematic savings throughout all the schools. The 310 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION Social Service League of Middletown has a penny provident fund with 140 depositors in the schools. Outside enthusiasm, however, cannot take the place of continuous interest and cooperation on the part of teachers and principals. They are the ones who make or mar a savings system. As a director and adviser especially, the outsider gives valuable cooperation. School Legislation Every year so many bills come up before state legislatures that supporters are torn to pieces trying to ^^ father" them all, and the concentrated backing necessary to secure passage cannot be given. Health bills, charity bills, civil service bills take the attention of those citizens most inter- ested in educational measures. And it takes so long to get measures through! Perhaps it is a good thing that legis- lation is such hard work for the supporters of bills, otherwise our schools would be law-bound in every detail. There are, however, certain fundamental laws which are important to the outsider interested in schools. Has your state a compulsory education law? If so, are adequate attendance officers provided for enforcing it? Is there any provision by law for having a school census taken? Has your state a minimum salary provision for teachers? Is there a law demanding certain requirements before teachers may be licensed? Does equal merit receive equal pay, whether in men or in women? Is medical examination for physical defects made permissive? com- pulsory? Is the state appropriation adequate for school purposes? Is the board of education too large? paid or unpaid? commission form? Is there a state law making expenditure permissible for industrial training? recreation centers? dental clinics? playgrounds? 311 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN A committee of business men or women or a public edu- cation association can act as the concentrating force in a legislative publicity campaign, to keep the good citizens from scattering their interest on ten different bills and con- sequently missing fire on all. Some central agency must send out the call for letters to senators and assemblymen, must keep the newspapers supplied with copy, use facts from other cities and states, get up public meetings, and ar- range to have delegates at the state capital. Such a body, well known, non-partisan, with a fact foundation for argu- ments, is the magnet for much wavering interest among individual citizens. Several civic clubs can justly claim a part in the passage of new school codes. The parent-teacher associations of Chicago and Illinois, cooperating with the principals' club, secured double the state appropriation for schools. This meant writing to legislators, distributing literature on the subject broadcast, and sending speakers throughout the state. The story of a state legislative campaign carried on by the women of Michigan is told on page 188. In Kansas City a committee of the Athenaeum had bills for compulsory education and a library commission framed by competent lawyers. All members wrote to their representatives in the house and senate. The chairman of the committee spoke before the legislature and "stayed at Jefferson City until the bills passed." The Public School Alliance of New Or- leans secures general discussion of school legislation through the press. What an outside agency may do for school legislation is told in the report of the Massachusetts Civic League, 3 Joy Street, Boston. When the law for compulsory medical in- spection was before the legislature this committee made a thorough study of systems in other cities and developed a large committee of superintendents, physicians, and others 312 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION interested in the question throughout the state. Each member acted as a separate agitation center for his com- munity. A bill was prepared and steered securely through the legislature "because everybody believed in it and there was no substantial opposition." Legislation for school nurses, playgrounds, and for a smaller school board has been sup- ported intensively and continuously by this organization. The motto of the League tells concisely what it aims to be: A lens to focus public opinion A live wire of the public will It will make half an hour of your time tell in social results. School Voters' Leagues Who should be a school commissioner? What should he know? How do former commissioners rank according to the opportunity they had? What should the public know about school candidates or appointees? Once a city standard is set firmly in the public con- sciousness of what a commissioner should know and do, and how he may know and do it, the appointment of men and women who do not come up to the standard is made more difficult. The School Voters' League, 184 Boylston Street, Boston, aims to study the candidates for office and the ad- ministration of the public schools of Boston, to bring the results to the attention of the public, and to assist in electing suitable persons to the school committee. This is done by organizing the vote on school matters, by serving as a bureau of information, and by distributing among members publica- tions and leaflets which state facts about the school prob- lems that commissioners must solve, such as large classes and teachers' pensions. By this method the usual slump in public interest between school elections is avoided and an 313 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN intelligently trained constituency brings to bear on candi- dates its forces of information. It ought to be impossible for any school voter to avoid knowing what the position of school commissioner demands. Voters' leagues tell the truth about the requirements of the office, and the amount done by those last in office. They are able, by keeping all agencies informed throughout the year, to point the way for wise choices on the part of par- ents' associations and other organizations. Any judgments about candidates must, of course, be non-partisan, based on facts, on a record of former service, or on tests of ability to meet special problems. Wlien everybody agrees what a commissioner should know and do there will be more unanimity of opinion on what a commissioner should be. Everybody will at least have a chance to agree if a central body, like a Voters' League, uses press, magazines, pulpits, civic agencies, and its own members to tell the truth about school problems and how commissioners now in office are living up to their pledges. When the Philadelphia school board was reorganized the Public Education Association brought out five qualifications which it considered indispensable for candidates, but these dealt with what candidates should believe, not what they should know. In Ridgewood a committee of delegates from the woman's club and the men's Voters' League ar- ranges for the school election by mass meetings and concen- trated support on the desired candidate. If the question of bond issues for buildings comes up, or of budget increases for school improvements, a Voters' League can turn its guns of fact on the electors. As long as the public is allowed by school officials and outside agencies to remain in blissful ignorance about school facts and the mean- ing of routine administrative actions, just so long will school elections be fraudulent and school funds misapioropriated. 314 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION Any agency interested in schools can make school elec- tions mean something, can make it hard for totally unfit commissioners to be appointed, and can change school meetings and town sessions about school funds from a farce into a power. Organizations of business men, like the City Clubs in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, have, through their meetings and discussions and through the varied in- terests they represent, an opportunity to keep the public awake before election and budget times and to pass judg- ment impartially on school commissioners. Business Men as School Commissioners Several recent magazine articles have noted the growing interest of college students in civic, municipal, and political reform. Is it safe to conjecture that not once in any reform league program is mentioned the question of school ad- ministration? The man with a college degree or business training has an opportunity through numerous agencies outside the school to fit himself for efficient service later on as a school commissioner. Why should it be necessary for a man to spend six months after his appointment to the school board in finding out what the mechanism of the school system is? One man, recently appointed to a board, in answer to our questions about what sort of cooperation the schools had received from outsiders, said: ''I am not yet very familiar with the work of this board or any of the questions you mention. The board is made of nine busy, if not business, men serving without pay." Statements like this are great arguments against unpaid boards of education. The standard for service on school boards was brought up at a recent charter hearing in New York when the plan for a paid board of education was under fire. It was stated 315 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN over and over again that there is a wealth of willing service from business men ready at the call of the schools. Criti- cisms of the "willing service" rendered by the board then in office showed clearly how far it was from coming up to the standard of what is fit service for public schools. Whether commissioners number five or 50, are elected or appointed, is not as significant as whether the public knows that com- missioners are or are not using their powers and oppor- tunities. The following description of the powers held by school board members in New York was made by the Bureau of Municipal Research when a commissioner resigned because he "could not get information" about the schools. As a member of the board of education, Mr. (1) received minutes of the meetings of the board of superintendents, (2) received monthly reports of attendance and register for all schools by districts, (3) was specifically given the power to inspect the results of examinations, (4) had power to examine all the original books, reports, and records of the de- partment of education to the fullest extent. As a member of a local school board Mr. 's power to secure in- formation and to affect standards of efficiency was very broad. He had the power to inspect the schools of his district, which, as stated in the charter, means to require information from those schools with respect to: Attendance of pupils, punctual and regular attendance of teachers (irregular attendance is cited as one cause of non-promotion), the fidelity of teachers, progress of pupils, ventilation of school rooms, efficiency of teachers, wants of his district, dereliction of duty on the part of the superintendent of supplies, superintendent of school buildings, the city superintendent, or any of their deputies or assistants, or the employees in their respective departments, facts relating to discipfine, etc. He could have made charges of dereliction. Unwieldy boards out of touch with details of school work are not unavoidable. Should not every college man, for example, in preparation for board service, be confronted with school problems as part of his general education? Once on a board, realizing as they must their own lack of preparation, commissioners seem to feel little responsi- 316 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION bility for training other men to take their places. This is shown by the mild interest displayed by board members themselves, when cooperation has been offered by business men. From one city we heard that the ^' board does not welcome help offered by business men." The ''not" is emphatically underscored. In another city it is thought that the board would welcome the business men. In a third the business men's cooperation has never been asked for, while in a fourth the school authorities seemed ''quite indifferent." On the other hand, a story from Portland, Oregon, tells of business men at board meetings where their criticisms were solicited. "They look on the matter as a family affair, and gladly discuss pro and con all ques- tions concerning the administration of their district." In deciding what standard should be held for a school commissioner it has been found occasionally that a certain type of business may keep a man from service, however efficient he may be. From a southern city a gentleman who served for years on the school board and brought into the system many good things asks us not to use his name because "most educators will not be reconciled with any phase of the brewing traffic with which I am connected. My interest in the movement you have in mind might estrange some valuable workers." In the 500 largest cities between 4,000 and 5,000 men and women are now having the privilege of giving service on school boards. In the next ten years probably 12,000 men and women will have a chance to better conditions in their cities by service on school boards. WiU the most be made of these opportunities? The Business Man and the School Budget "It has always seemed to me an absurdity that citi- zens should be willing to invest $110,000 in a business and 317 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN then not show the least interest as to how that money was expended," writes a superintendent. One advantage of an organization of business men which has a standing committee on school affairs is that when something comes up which is over the heads of the average citizen, the committee can interpret facts to the public and guide public opinion through informed leadership. By vitalizing and popularizing the school budget when it is being discussed by the city officials an organization of business men can perhaps do more good for schools than in any other way. When is the budget voted? Is your school budget classified? Is it possible for the board of education to use money voted, for ex- ample, for open air classes, to increase salaries? Are the supplies inspected by a central office? On what records are increases in the number of teachers and buildings figured? How is it possible to find out what provision should be made for new pupils next year? Is there part time in one section of the city and vacant room in other sections? Are teachers of special branches doing work which can be done by regular classroom teachers? Is the school budget explained in the press so the town understands it? In your judgment has adequate money been asked this year for build- ings, salaries, equipment, special activities, industrial training, night schools, physical training, playgrounds? Is there any public hearing on the school budget? How many business men attend? How many speak? The New York city budget is voted in October. The estimates are due from departments the preceding May. The Brooklyn League, a business men's organization, has its suggestions for next year's needs before the board of education in February. To influence the school budget cooperating agencies have found it important to begin 318 BUSINESS MAN'S CONTRIBUTION work with the board of education before its estimate is decided on. After the board has made up its mind all the arguments and talk in the world will not help, probably. Then the money voting body must be convinced that the town knows what it is talking about when it stands for a dental clinic or a vocational school. This can only result from convincing the town that advocacy is based on facts. The average remarks about the school budget show that there is probably less intelligent interest in this subject than in any other you can conveniently mention, yet edu- cators and philanthropists are surely coming to realize that fundamental understanding of schools is impossible without efficient school expenditures. To see how exten- sive is the interest of business men in budgets we asked a question about hearings on budgets and the business man's interest and participation in them. It was brought out in the returns that in only 10% of the cities answering was there any sort of public budget hearing. In 14 cities only out of 135 do business men speak of attending and par- ticipating in discussions about next year's school appro- priation. The lack of intelligent budget interest from men whose personal business is run efficiently has been variously and fairly explained: "The town is liberal, no controversy has come up with regard to the school budget which will de- mand a hearing." "Town finances, which include the school finances, are accepted in open meeting. Men do not participate." "There are discussions on the school esti- mate, and they are open, but citizens do not take part." Three comments from one city show how variously a single fact may be reported: (1) "The annual town meeting is quite well attended by those especially interested in edu- cation"; (2) "Annual meeting of taxpayers to levy the tax is on the basis of a New England town meeting, which has 319 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN long since failed to be a useful institution"; and (3) ''The taxpayers' meeting is very much of a farce. Only about a hundred people attend." At the annual taxpayers' hearings in New York the ses- sion on schools is attended largely. Representatives from the Public Education Association and taxpayers' asso- ciations, as well as teachers' and principals' organizations, speak. The outside cooperating agencies usually defend increases necessary to take in socialized activities as part of the school system. Those speaking for the taxpayers' association usually object to increased school appro- priation for any purpose whatever, and the consideration of schools as "eleemosynary institutions." At one lively hearing a few years ago a board of trade protested strongly against several items necessitated by so-called ''fads and frills." Only in this way could business men effectively express their unanimous criticism of the curriculum which was neglecting the "three Rs." Who will not agree that any one thinking or speaking or writing about budgets should honestly and intelligently Oppose added appropriations which are not supported by facts proving the value of suggested improvements; Show where, if at all, the funds necessary for improvements may be secured by doing away with present waste and incompetence in the city's business; Base their support of budget increases on specific information which has been made available and significant to the public? XIII HOW SUPERINTENDENTS USE COOPERATION ASSETS The Kind and Amount of Outside Interest "nniME and again," writes the professor of education in 1 a large university, "I have been exasperated at the slowness with which city superintendents of schools respond to outside suggestions." Each superintendent has a different mechanism to work with, according to the size and wealth of the town, the pro- gressiveness of taxpayers, the number of volunteer organ- izations, the kind of people who make them up, particular school needs and school problems. There are towns and citizens, it is true, whose assistance does not seem to have any value whatever, but men and women of vision are real- izing that the school's opportunity for usefulness includes more than the education of boys and girls from six to six- teen years of age. What the school can give the town is perhaps not a fair exchange for what the town can give the school, but keeping outsiders informed on school matters has become just as much a part of logical school work as the printed curriculum. Citizens as intelligent, thinking, public-spirited individuals need to know how their school taxes are spent and what sort of education they are forcing on the city's children. Organizations of men and women need to know what definite next steps remain to be taken in school improvement. Individual workers, especially women of leisure, need to see the opportunities for social 321 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN service through pubHc schools. The superintendent is the man to make all this clear. The more hopelessly apathetic the public, the more noteworthy his success. A progressive superintendent may be hampered by an over-conservative board ; another may have had unfortunate experiences with outside ''interference"; a superintendent in a new town thinks, perhaps, that he has no outside mechanism with which to work, while there may be a fourth who dreads the publicity which outside assistance in new movements seems to entail. One schoolman, after strug- gling for three years in a city where almost all the parents commute to their work, has finally succeeded in interesting fathers and mothers in school problems. He writes that both schools and teachers are receiving fresh impulse for better work; and while he believes that only the "super- intendents are able to diagnose their own cases and furnish remedies," in the same letter he describes ways of winning parents' interest which are suggestive for all other cities of about the same size. How far from universal is outside interest in schools, statements like these show: Our people do not give any special attention to any school matters. It has never been customary for outside agencies to give much assist- ance in the administration of schools. In some cities the superintendent seems to be prac- tically isolated as far as interest in education is concerned. Take as an illustration a northwestern town whose popu- lation has doubled itself in ten years. The problem of securing enough rooms and desks for the extra children is so pressing that it leaves little money^ for progressive steps. No outside help, limited appropriations, a con- servative board — this is the situation which one man must meet alone and is meeting with splendid success. 322 SCIENTIFIC FARMS FOR HIGH SCHOOL BOYS! FAIR GROUNDS: BOISE MODEL home: CHILDREN-MADE FURNISHINGS: LOUISIANA STATE FAIR HELPING SCHOOLS SOLVE LOCAL PROBLEMS USE OF COOPERATION ASSETS Another superintendent comes from an eastern school where "good things" are already part of the system. He finds in the west a busy, individualistic community rather lacking in public spirit. He may not bother to ask whether there is a woman's club of some sort — yet here is his oppor- tunity. From Wyoming a superintendent wrote: "I should like the statement showing the way in which volunteer bodies have been an aid to the schools. I think I shall have to say that, as far as our own schools are concerned, nothing of the sort has been undertaken in our city." To our question as to whether there were not individuals or organizations which might be interested in school work, the answer came: "There is a civic league composed of ladies. I think the main lack in this organization is that they are not quite well informed as to the best line to proceed. I should be glad to have you send here the literature as to what civic leagues may do for the benefit of schools." A fourth picture is given by the composite letters of a half-dozen superintendents who feel that there is no need of any cooperation except from their school boards. "We do not need any help in this direction. Our board is alive to all good things, and needs no stimulus in this matter." But when the personnel of these boards changes the school- men will be without friends, perhaps, and the advance steps dear to their hearts must wait until they can convince new boards of their value. One city congratulates itself that "We always have progressive boards that provide all these necessary things." A superintendent writes that the board had not been disposed to appeal to or encourage expression of citizen interest, nor had it been especially enthusiastic about the formation of parent-teacher associa- tions; yet this same superintendent mentions in his letter eight definite needs, all of which outside agencies in other cities have helped their school boards meet. 22 ■ 323 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN The majority of boards of education, however, reahze the advantages to be gained . through organizations outside the school system. From Portsmouth we hear that ''there is the broadest, fullest, most complete cooperation between citizens, board, and teachers on practically all matters." In Racine the board initiates, "but there is much help from citizens." Some superintendents have made their boards realize that no community can afford to let volun- teer, unofficial organizations be out of touch with schools. Superintendent Young of Chicago has written that it is quite impossible to put into writing what the schools of her city owe to outside help because they are constantly being aided in this way. Andrew S. Draper, commissioner of education in New York state, wrote that he could not treat the matter of civic cooperation satisfactorily without preparing an elaborate paper. Yet it is interesting to note that out of 315 superintendents only 111 plan to mention or have mentioned outside help in their annual reports, and that in most school reports the brief discussion of civic cooperation is formal and perfunctory. Officially, cooperation does not seem to be considered such a tre- mendously big asset. The personality of the superintendent is another factor in determining the extent of cooperation and the attitude of school officials toward outside assistance. The man who does not deal successfully with people may nevertheless be able to get results by suggesting, planning, and outlining programs for work by outside organizations. Everything before this chapter describes potential assets for the school man and woman, whether high up or at the beginning of a career. Take as one concrete illustra- tion the opportunity for cooperation offered for 50 children with physical defects, which, though removable, cause 50 non-promotions. The assistance of a clinic or private 324 USE OF COOPERATION ASSETS physician at the beginning of the year will save the $30 apiece which would be spent on those children to no advantage, as well as the larger sum lost because of the dragging down of 30 other children by each of the 50 de- fectives. The hospital or physician is glad to do the neces- sary work if the superintendent will find and send the children. When the mechanism is once started, a hospital- school relation, like most outside cooperation, will run itself. The $1,000,000 spent for school children in New York by volunteer, unofficial agencies, the $10,000,000 estimate for the United States, could be doubled and trebled this year, were each superintendent, principal, and teacher to make the most of cooperation assets. A Standard for Cooperation Because the attitudes of superintendents toward civic cooperation are so diverse, and because school needs vary in every locality, and because the mechanism of outside organizations is never the same in two cities, it is desirable here to emphasize the factors which do not vary in the re- lation of schools and communities. One such is a nation- wide standard of what constitutes efficient helpfulness. There is no reason why a superintendent should tolerate what was meant to be help but is really interference from those outside the system. In one western city a mothers' club was formed, ostensibly to work with schools. For lack of a program it became side-tracked on personal scan- dals, upset things generally, and made itself a decided nuisance. It might have been possible to direct the same energy into useful channels. The time is not far off when superintendents will feel free to criticize and set a value on the cooperation offered them, and when outsiders will see that donating services 325 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN and material gifts which are not wanted is, after all, not exactly efficient community service. Fearing that co- operation will be unproductive, the superintendent is mildly grateful for, or receives coolly, any expression of interest. When asked directly, most superintendents will suggest, guide, or propose; otherwise they are apt to take what comes without comment. A second factor which does not vary in outside coopera- tion is the advisability of having the superintendent always just a little ahead, of having him initiate and stimulate constantly, no matter what the line of work. A superin- tendent, for example, asked permission to speak before a dental society about a clinic for school children. This put in motion a mechanism which later brought about the dental examination of all children and a system of treat- ment. In Seattle, at the suggestion of the superintendent, a committee of seven women was appointed from the fed- erated women's clubs to act as a standing advisory body for the city schools. Nevertheless, with all the initiative in the world, the schoolman who has not provided for keeping outside or- ganizations continually informed about what he is doing and wants to do is in a worse predicament than is the outside organization trying to cooperate without con- sulting the superintendent, or without having actual con- tact with the school situation. Once upon a time a certain woman's club wanted to do something nice for the schools. The members did not take the trouble to inform them- selves about the schools' needs, but with enthusiasm started a kindergarten that was eventually to be taken over by the public school system. A few months later the club dis- covered that a kindergarten was quite unnecessary in that lo- cation. The whole project fell through, and the kindergar- ten idea was discredited in the city for some time afterward. 326 USE OF COOPERATION ASSETS Until superintendents realize the assets which exist in volunteer organizations, and until they see the advantage of taking the initiative and setting a standard for efficient cooperation, women's clubs will fail to see the larger oppor- tunities for helpfulness, and will still pat themselves on the back with the self-congratulatory phrase, *'We have taken a great step in the direction of improving the health of the school children," after getting one drinking fountain put into one school. We shall go on having parents who, after visiting school once a year on patrons' day to see an exhibit of children's work, feel that their entire duty has been done and that they are living examples of everybody's vital interest in education. The standard for efficient cooperation will seldom be completely attained. Is it too much to ask, however, that superintendents and outsiders see 100% of each prob- lem or section of the problem undertaken; that the public be kept informed until the experiment — if it is an experi- ment — has been proved of value and the school authorities have shown themselves able to carry on the work adequately and thoroughly? Foundling experiments left on school boards' door steps without extra provision in the family budget are doubtful benefits. Utilizing outside assets and keeping them up to the mark has been considered important enough by some state departments of education, as we have seen in Tennessee. Some superintendents are making a point of developing outside cooperation, and most of them are aware of at least some of the benefits potentially theirs. Private or- ganizations are also working out methods of cooperation, and some of these at least have seen the full opportunity for efficient school work. 327 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Have you as a superintendent listed organizations in your city which are already or might possibly be in touch with the schools? If no such organizations exist, are there individuals with special in- terest in health, sanitation, playgrounds, music, or art who might act as nuclei for outside assistance? Have you ever tried to tell the chamber of commerce how it could help you? the woman's club? the medical society? Do you state in any school document what ten things the schools need most? XIV NOT-YET-GRASPED OPPORTUNITIES The United States Bureau of Education "nPHE bureau should be the servant of all states to work 1 out any problem and make the results available for all." So spoke Commissioner P. P. Claxton when out- lining, at the St. Louis meeting of the N. E. A. department of superintendence, his program for the increased use- fulness of the federal office. The United States bureau has an immense, immediate, and continuous field for its service — already 20,000,000 children and 550,000 teachers in common schools, besides those in universities, colleges, normal schools and technical institutions. This vast array of individuals the bureau has power to help in any way its ridiculously small appropriation of $75,000 permits. Up to the present its activities have been chiefly in col- lecting and publishing data on a wide range of subjects which bear on education. These uniform pamphlets are available for any one on application, free of charge. But when the demand came for standards of efficiency in our schools, some educators realized that the logical standardizing office is, of course, the United States bureau. Uniform blanks for the reporting of school facts have been prepared and uniform schedules for recording currently, so that comparisons between cities and states may be pos- sible at the end of each year. Circulars are distributed 329 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN giving, for example, the most recent legislation about edu- cation for each state or model plans for dental inspection. The present commissioner has seen the possibilities of bringing the experience of one state to bear on the solution of similar problems in another state. He wants to have an adequate budget to study rural school administration, vocational education, questions of school health and sani- tation, normal schools, abnormal children, ad infinitum. There was little left in his plan to be taken up by a separate "children's bureau." He wants to make of his bureau an actual clearing house of information and suggestions from the best that the million educators and teachers in all parts of the country are doing and thinking. Now, there are scores of national outside agencies, sup- posedly doing national work for schools, and the connec- tion between their work and that of the United States bureau is as logical as between any city superintendent and a public education association. Yet the commissioner writes, "So far as I know, there has been comparatively little cooperation." The clerk of the bureau made this statement : Some of the private foundations have been of considerable assistance in the work of this bureau. We have found especially valuable in con- nection with the standardization of higher educational institutions the data which have been collected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the General Education Board, which members of our staff have been permitted to consult freely. In this way information has been placed in the hands of the bureau that would have been practically impossible for us to obtain otherwise. The studies of the Russell Sage Foundation, especially in school hygiene and retardation of pupils, have been found very helpful in the work of the bureau. Sim- ilarly, the activities of the Bureau of Municipal Research, New York City, in calling attention especially of schoolmen to the great need of uniformity in reports of educational officers and in creating public senti- ment for the improvement of educational conditions, have rendered our work easier. The publications of some of these foundations have ren- 330 NOT-YET-GRASPED OPPORTUNITIES dered it unnecessary for this bureau to issue publications on some phases of education, and have thus enabled it to concentrate its efforts in other directions. School people have just begun to realize what they and Commissioner Claxton can make of the bureau. The great majority of outside agencies whose interest is local and spasmodic have not apparently ever thought that their work for education has any national value. When they make it possible for the bureau to include among its patrons 1,000,000 organized women and the thousands of other cooperators with public schools, its usefulness will be in- calculably increased. A National Clearing House for School Cooperation How can a chamber of commerce learn what similar bodies have done about commercial training? Where can a woman's club learn the best methods for getting medical inspection or starting school gardens? Expert experience, information, and suggestions on every possible phase of school cooperation may be obtained from some agency or individual, if you only know where or to whom to write. Since sending out questions about civic cooperation we have had many requests for informa- tion from groups and individuals, men and women, and we have been able to refer them to the agencies best equipped to answer them. From this constant inquiring and from the splendid suggestions which came in answer to our ques- tions, the need seems clear for a national agency to do for the whole country what a central city agency does in its city. For county and state rural school improvement leagues, for central agencies in cities, for the great national groups of organized women and the numerous agencies working in every state — for all these there is now no logical 331 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN central head, no mutual clearing house of the invaluable suggestions from their experience. There is no reservoir for stimulation like that which one cannot help getting, for example, from Miss Moore's report on rural school co- operation, or from the story of health day in Chillicothe. It is undeniably clear that there must be eventually a national clearing house for school cooperation. This chart shows how such an agency is relatively as important and logical for the millions of outsiders interested in schools as is a developed bureau of education for state, county, and city superintendents, principals, and teachers. United States National Bureau of Bureau of Education — > — < — School Cooperation t i - < — State Organizers t t V V City Superintendents — > - < — Central City Organizations i t V V . . Principals and Teachers — > — < — Local and District Agencies of Men and Women "A /J 20,000,000 School Children For such a national bureau, a brief outline is given here: Purpose: To promote efficient cooperation between state and city school authorities, and volunteer agencies of men and women To nationalize in working, practical form the experience of school officials and outside organizations, public, private, and semi-private, for efficient cooperation and community work through schools 332 NOT-YET-GRASPED OPPORTUNITIES Budget: For postage, printing, and stationery, field secretary, secretary's salary, office rent and equipment, bulletin service, stenog- rapher, collecting data, $25,000-$50,000 Location: New York or Washington, D. C. Form of Organization: National secretary, field secretaries, and office staff Program: I. Act as a central clearing house of information for school people and outsiders, with special emphasis on referring inquiries to and passing on suggestions from official and volunteer agencies, educational journals, and the press II. Maintain a bulletin service of suggestions to school people and organizations classified under (a) kind of interest (health, playgrounds, budget, course of study, etc.), (&) kind of member (chamber of commerce, minister, etc.) III. Furnish, upon request, programs of cooperation for in- dividual volunteers and organizations IV. Help organize, under state superintendents, bureaus for school cooperation where information and suggestions may be collected from city and county superintendents and from volunteer organizations V. Analyze currently and appraise all school reports, passing on to all superintendents and the subscribing list of outside agencies outlines of progressive steps and methods noted VI. Make surveys of city and county school systems on which to base efficient outside cooperation VII. Study the cooperation given by outside agencies in cities and help organize central city coordination The opportunity in such a program might well be grasped by the United States bureau of education or the new ''chil- dren's bureau." No one present outside agency is at- tempting to do all or even half of this work. The Bureau of Information of the General Federation of Women's Clubs perhaps comes nearest, but, without funds and with a clientele of women only, it does not begin to meet the need. National organizations can answer questions on their specialties, but until recently even they have not begun comparing and suggesting from local work, and few 333 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN of them see more than their own particular object or the interrelation of all school questions. The time and money, not to mention disillusionment and discouragement, wasted by earnest, active men and women who are trying to cooperate with the schools, be- cause of poor methods, lack of facts and of comparative suggestions, would easily pay for such a central agency. When once it exists, local agencies will be currently sending in new material through reports and answers to ques- tionnaires, because they will realize what they in return may receive from such a reservoir. The channels through which a central agency would work are the outside organ- izations mentioned in this book, and hundreds more with which we have not been in touch; the graduates of colleges and universities; the tremendous resources of unoccupied men and women of leisure; and the spirit which demands definite opportunities for satisfactory social service. APPENDIX Cards and Blanks Used in this Study IN the hope that the details of an investigation of this character may help others who are making surveys and getting facts on which to base uniform constructive work, the story of the study on which this book rests is given here. We asked our first question of the men who were supposed to know, in this case, the school superintendents. Their names were found in the United States commissioner of education's report, and the World's Almanac told which cities have 10,000 inhabitants or over. A form letter was sent asking them to write us what had been done or to itemize on an inclosed stamped post card the cooperation received. Citizens have helped the public schools of with respect to items hereafter checked: Medical and dental examina- tion ; school nurse ; sanitary improvements ; new build- ings ; recreation and playgrounds ; decorations ; industrial training ; kindergartens ; changes in school law ; budget increases ; relief of needy ; other For information regarding such "school help" I suggest that you write to Name Address (one business man) (one woman) (one minister) (one physician or dentist) May we mention your name in writing them? Do you plan to mention citizen cooperation, or the need of it, in your next annual report? (Signed) 335 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Of the 733 names given us by superintendents, the pro- portion was: women 196, physicians and dentists 192, business men 187, and ministers 158. Eighty-six super- intendents mentioned no names. A form letter was then sent to each of these individuals. To the business men we wrote as follows: Would your city be helped by a statement showing for several hundred cities how volunteer bodies, such as public education associations, women's clubs, boards of trade, charities, etc., cooperate with public schools? We hope to include in our report the main facts as to the help already given by the business men of your city to your public schools. When we asked the name of one business man most familiar with school needs and school work, and Ukely to be interested in our cooperative study, we were given your name. Will you take the time to name the principal ways in which the business men of your city have helped the public schools, apart from serving on the school board, paying taxes, and voting? We shall be grateful for such details as your time permits, and shall regard as confidential any part of your letter so marked. We shall try to have the information you give us used as school news in your daily paper. If you do not care to have this done please tell us when you write. In addition to specific instances of helpfulness, we hope 1. To bring out the extent to which business men help in supporting requests for (a) school buildings, (b) school budget appropriations, (c) im- provements in school law, (d) commercial training, (e) industrial training, if) night schools, (g) instruction in civics, (h) athletics, (i) playgrounds, (j) public lectures; 2. To find out whether the business man's attention is continuous (through permanent organizations and committees) or incidental and inter- mittent (through specially appointed committees, mass meetings, etc.). We did not say that their names had been given us by the superintendents, because in some cases superintendents were unwilling to have this connection made. A follow-up letter to business men who had not answered, with ''May we have your answer by May 15th?" brought in almost twice as many replies. A stamped post card was again inclosed for those who could not spare the time to write. 336 APPENDIX Similar letters and cards were addressed to ministers, to physicians and dentists, and to women, asking for in- formation along the lines each was probably most inter- ested in, and inclosing stamped return cards. For example, physicians were asked to check off as follows: The ^7 .. , of have helped the pubhc schools as individuals ; as members of the lay organizations ; in , , organizations To ^/ , . , is due in large measure a medical inspection for trans- missible diseases ; (6) medical examination for physical defects ; (c) dental examinations ; (d) house to house instruction of parents ; (e) instruction of parents in groups ; (f) free treatment of medical needs and physical defects ; (g) free treatment of teeth ; (h) gen- eral instruction at school in hygiene ; (i) open air rooms or schools ; (j) fresh air for all rooms ; (k) school lunches ; sanitary improve- ments ; other: Will you write us instances later? May we publish your letter? {Signed) Ministers were asked to state whether they have or have not been generally interested in public school questions; do (not) make frequent reference in sermons to school needs; do (not) visit schools; do (not) attend public hear- ings on the school budget; have (not) interested themselves in school instruction, in civics, ethics, in the need for med- ical supervision, school nurse, public lectures; and whether they have (not) tried to interest their church clubs in helping schools. We asked women to tell what their organizations had 337 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN done about all these things and, in addition, about school lunches, kindergartens, school gardens, music, scholarships, and relief. Where special agencies were mentioned by a superinten- dent, or by one of those named by him, we endeavored to get in touch with the president or chairman. It seems to bring better results when you write to "Mrs. John Smith" than to "Secretary, Woman's Club." In estimating the cost of investigations one has to con- sider printing of questions, postage, return postage, clerical work of tabulating, printing of results, and postage for distributing results. Each of these items may be figured on in advance, so there is no danger of doing half the study and finding no funds to continue. A Dozen "DonHs^^ for Volunteer Inquirers A college professor once told me that if she answered conscientiously all the questionnaires sent her it would take her at least three hours every day. The following sugges- tions from practical experience are given to help the writers as well as the receivers of questionnaires. 1. Don't be discouraged if two-thirds of the answers fail to come. 2. Don't fail to send a second, follow-up inquiry if you want complete returns. 3. Don't send return envelopes without stamps. 4. Don't use a letter circular, if questions will go on a post card. 5. Don't fail to make circulars attractive, easy to read, and neat. 6. Don't omit a careful explanation of what you want people to tell you. 7. Don't ask questions that might have two meanings. 8. Don't ask questions that are answered in a report. 9. Don't ask for wi'itten answers where figures will suffice. 10. Don't forget to ask for signature, place, and date. 1 1 . Don't forget that you have no claim on those you are writing to, and therefore try to reduce their work to a minimum. 12. Don't forget that an answer is a favor, and not a moral obhgation. 338 INDEX BY TOPICS 100%, in meeting needs, 4; through a budget exhibit, 70; for Y. M. C. A., 91; represented in charts, 129 ; fresh air for, 155, 229; clean water for, 156; club work for, 198; not defec- tive, 225; of crippled children, 232; against hookworms, 240; necessary- dental work, 249 ; of vacation needs, 278; trained employees, 289; effi- ciency by outsiders, 327; plan of U. S. bureau, 330. Adenoids, see Medical inspection, Alice in Health Land, 239. American Art Annual, 21. American, The New York, 22. Architects, advise school boards, 11; remedy hghting defects, 159; see also Landscape. Art, see Beauty maldng. Art museum, see Museum. Athletics, for girls, 87; public school athletic leagues, 86-89. Attendance officers, see Truancy. B Backward children, see Non-promo- tions. Basement, see Sanitation. Bathing parties, in homes, 11; at pub- lic expense, 49. Beauty making, in school rooms, 21- 23; about school grounds, 25, 168, 191. Benefactions, see Giving. Bequests, see Giving. Blind, preventive work, 226; also see Lighting. Board of education, see School board. Bubbling fountain, see Sanitation. Budget, in town meeting, 3; social workers' conference, 19; in exhibit, 67; for civic training, 84; for play- gi'ounds, 104; joint committee, 128; for drinking fountains, 158; and visiting teachers, 174; for athletics, 88;_ unused by Y. M. C. A., 91; for social centers, 114; for gardens, 168; for health, 223; open air school, 230; lay support advisable, 260; ministers' interest, 269; for voca- tional training, 290; and voters' league, 314; a business proposition, 317-320. Budget hearings, unattended, 319. Buildings, asked for, 280; and voters' leagues, 314; also see Giving. Bulletins, see Publicity. Business Advice for Boys, 309. Business men, see Chapter XII. C Census, provided privately, 37; by women's club, 80. Charities, see Giving. Child Welfare Magazine, 148, 181. Children's court, see Truancy. Christian Scientists vs. health, 245. Church, see Chapter XL City departments, school health, 98; police cooperation, 75, 99; park work, 99; school street cleaners, 99. Civics and Health, 202. Civic training, by self-government, 23 339 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN 82; by city pride, 83; under Boy Scouts, 84. Clearing house, for social service, 49; for school news, 66; for Boy Scouts, 85; Y. M. C. A., 90; in cities, 128; for counties, 138; among women's clubs, 179, 184; for national school cooperation, 331-334. Clinics, see Medical inspection. Clippings, see Publicity. Cloak rooms, see Sanitation. Clubs, dramatic, 10; in settlement or school, 16; need leaders, 17; mu- sical, 29; in small towns, 77; civic, 82; see also organization index. College women, see Trusteeship. Colored women, see organization in- dex. Commercial training, see Vocational. Commission government, see School board. Compulsory education, see Truancy. Continuation schools, replacing night schools, 291; for housekeeping, 164. Continuation School in Munich, 291. Cooking, see Domestic science. Cost of, school relief, 46; sending bul- letins, 65; budget exhibits, 70; so- cialized school, 119; infectious dis- eases, 157; school lunches, 163; un- cured defects, 212; dental chnic, 256. County, supervision tested, 135; im- provement leagues, 136; fairs, 137; agricultural contests, 167. Crippled children, see Defectives. D Decatur Review, 26. Decorations, see Beauty making. Defective children, in institutions, 100; doubly handicapped, 101; on the edge, 102; and specialists, 225-227; work for cripples, 230-232; see also Non-promotions. Dental clinics, first in America, 20; Children's Aid Society, 48; number needed, 248; in and out of school, 252-256. Dental Dispensary Record, 261. Dental inspection, Whitney fund, 33; still new, 247; bound to come, 248; and school work, 248; how it originates, 250-252. Dental Summary, 260. Dentists, see Chapter X. Diseases, see Medical inspection. Domestic science, by housekeeping, 164; and baby caring, 165; taught at home, 165. Dramatics, see Trusteeship. Drinking cup, see Sanitation. E Education and Entertainment by Mo- lion Pictures, 109. Educational Review, 9. Efficiejit Citizenship Bidleiins, 64, 307. Employment bureau, for volunteers, 18 ; for girls, 43 ; under schools, 303 ; see also Vocational training. Engineers, watch school buildings, 11; test ventilation, 156. Entertainments, to raise money, 23, 46; in settlement or school, 16; folk dancing, 87; by moving pictures, 109; in social centers, 112-114; for rural schools, 134; for teachers by women's clubs, 175; by churches, 269. Ethics, in social relations, 235 ; Sunday school vs. public school, 277. Examination, physical, see Medical inspection. Exhibits, of private collections, 11; for colleges, 15; of paintings, 24; of crafts shops, 25; of school work, 59; budget, 67-70; flowers, 169; of dental evils, 262; in factories, 286. Expense, see Budget and Cost. Eye defects, see Lighting. F Farm and Ranch Magazine, 113. Fathers, see Parents. Feather duster, see Sanitation. Feeble minded children, see Defec- tives. Fifteen Years of Civic History, 191. Firelcss cooker, for rural schools, 134. 340 INDEX Fire protection, see Sanitation. Franchise, imused by women, 3. G Gardens at school, a private gift, 35; and fathers, 122; for profit, 167; the city's, 169; under a church, 273. General Federation Bulletin, 156, 180. Giving, in bequests, 4; in 1911, 6; of service and things, 33-39; vs. pub- he responsibihty, 34; through wills, 35; Ben Frankhn's, 36; at Christ- mas, 37; for experiments, 37; su- perintendents' suggestions, 39; for nation-wide needs, 41; material re- Hef , 43-46; for museum school work, 97; of gardens, 122; for gardens, 169; by colored women, 193. Glee club, see Music. Globe, The New York, school news, 7. H Health, see Chapter IX. Health day in schools, 237. Health department, see City. Health Hints to Parents, 242. Health Index of School Children, 203. Hearings, see Budget. Heating, tests for, 151. Holland's Magazine, 113. Home, private exhibits, 11; visiting, 16, 17, 172-175; and school, 115- 123; teaching of cooking, 165; see also organization index. Hookworm eradication, 240. Hospital, see Health. Hygiene instruction, and Uving, 232- 233; maxims, 233, 237; vs. sex hy- giene, 234; all-aroimd, 235-237. Improving Reputation of School Re- ports, 58. Industrial education, see Vocational training. Initiative, by settlement or school, 16 ; in making experiments, 31 ; in start- ing inquiries, 62; athletic, 88; Y. M. C. A.'s opportunity, 89; in li- brary cooperation, 95; in starting playgrounds, 103; for kindergar- tens, 106; by parents, 115; in New York, 126; by outside agencies, 131 ; in gardening, 166; by superinten- dents, 326. Jinglef, for health, 238. Journal of Education, 164. Juvenile courts, see Truancy. K Kindergartens, through private initia- tive, 106-108; started by minister, 266. Labor unions, oppose Scouts, 85; favor trade schools, 292. Landscape gardening, see Beauty making. Lectures, by speciahsts, 11; on art, 24; for good roads, 1-34; on natvu-e study, 169; on citizenship, 84, 265; to foreigners, 192; on health, 98, 204, 222, 240; by school nurses, 215; on sex hygiene, 235, 236; about teeth, 260, 261; bv business men, 90, 296, 308. Legislation, by women, 188; for health, 208, 242; vs. adenoids, 216; ministers' help, 266; necessary laws, 311; voters' leagues, 313-315. Library, modes of cooperation, 93-96; Newark, 94; New York, 94, 127. Library Journal, 96. Library's Work with Public Schools, 94. Lighting, score card, 150; how to test, 158-160. "Little Mothers," see City. Limches, see School lunch. M Medical inspection, examinations started, 205-209, 266; by teachers, 208; for defective chUdren, 226; 341 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN watching it work, 216-221; by health department, 98; systems, 204, 206; free treatment, 207, 209- 212; school nurse, 212-216, 255, 266. Medical Inspection in Public ScJwols, 202. Medical Inspection of Schools in Mil- waukee, 207. Method, in women's clubs, 179, 196- 200; coordination, 128, 184; inter- club committees, 189; for state work, 200; lay backing desirable, 208; parallel column, 221; individ- ual vs. organization, 222; threefold attack, 251; lay backing for den- tists, 259; continuous vs. intermit- tent, 287. Minimum salary, see Legislation. Ministerial associations, inactive for schools, 274. Ministers, interest varies, 264; de- nominational bogy, 265; gain school information, 267; budget interest, 269; sermons and addresses, 271; threefold opportunity, 273. Morality, see Ethics. Moving pictures, to teach with, 91, 108-111. Municipal Facts, 84. Museums, art, 24-25; natural history, 96; zoological, 97; in schools, 97. Music, in settlements, 28; a school opportunity, 29-32; school band, 38. N Nation-wide, interest overestimated, 1; needs suggested, 41; organized women, 177-180; standardizing agency, 329; opportunity, 331; see also organization index. Nature study, see Museums. News Letter, The, 117. Newspaper, see Publicity. Night schools, for foreigners, 191; in- adequate, 291. Non-promotions, and clinics, 13; class for defectives, 20; some tests and remedies, 306-308. O Open air schools, in Chicago, 190; in Pittsburg, 192; how started, 227- 230. Oral Hygiene, 248, 253, 261, 262. Our Public Schools, 59. Outside Cooperation tvith the Public Schools of Greater New York, 125. Overage, see Non-promotions. Parents' association, unlimited pos- sibilities, 115-118; mothers' coun- cil, 121; fathers' clubs, 121. Park department, see City. Part-time, and playgrounds, 105; for volunteers, 18. Pathk Weekly, 110. Pay Public Schools, 308. Peace Day, 93. Pedagogues and Parents, 57. Pediculosis, treated by nurse, 212; see also Transmissible diseases. Physicians, see Chapter IX. Pin maps, for compulsory education, 81; of parents' clubs, 117; for school gardens, 168; of hospitals, 212; for school nurse, 212. Playground, The, 106. Playgrounds, promoted by outsiders, 103-106; need volunteers, 17; equip- ment given, 38; by a relief society, 46; in Pittsburg, 191; minister helps, 266. Police department, see City. Poole's Index, 2. Poor children, see Giving. Popular Oral Hygiene Lectures, 261. Practical Advice to Parents, 242. Preventable, see Transmissible dis- eases. Prizes, given by outsiders, 38, 266; in athletic contests, 87, 90; for school essays, 93, 285: for school improve- ment, 137; for gardens, 166; for health rhymes, 240; for bank ac- count, 310. Private charities, see Giving. 342 INDEX Private schools, initiate improve- ments, 11. Publicity, one idea at a time, 34, 64; using clippings, 67, 83, 241; short cuts, 51-74; through newspapers, 57; by club year books, 72; suf- fragist methods, 74; at state fairs, 134; for school improvement leagues, 135; about Texas school facts, 138; through women's clubs, 178, 181, 199; for health. 240-243; about teeth, 259, 260-263; by ministers, 271-272; on school laws, 311; about commissioners, 313-315; about budgets, 318; through U. S. bureau, 329. Q Questionnaire, for parents' clubs, 117; on sanitary conditions, 149-152; for rural schools, 133, 153; on sex hygiene instruction, 234; used in this study, 335, 337. R Recreation, summer study of, 183; see also Playgrounds and Social centers. Relief, see Giving. Reports, school, made automatic, 48; foster outside interest, 51; list school needs, 54 ; copied in news- papers, 57; suggestions from other cities, 67; for commissioners, 316. Reports, club, backward or forward, 179, 182; of colored women, 195. Retardation, see Non-promotions. Rural schools, see topics. S Salaries, teachers', see Legislation. Sanitation, investigated, 73; how to watch, 145-148; record card, 149- 152; in riu-al schools, 153; the drinking cup, 156-158. Savings banks, for thrift, 310. Scholarships, for art students, 24; needed everywhere, 41; for girls. 42; and child labor, 79; for'negroes, 194; in commercial training, 296. School, socialized, needs volunteers, 17; as a private experiment, 20; parents help, 118; as polUng place, 113; see topics. School board, college members, 12, 183; helpedby mothers, 121; wom- en's fitness, 141 ; tests for members, 142; physicians' contribution, 224; and dentists, 257 ; ministers as com- missioners, 268; business men, 315- 317; ignores assets, 323. School Bulletin, 59. School curriculum, see "Three Rs." School Hygiene, 156, 160. School improvement leagues, state- wide work, 135-138; of colored people, 194. School inquiries, by local experts, 11; for constructive criticism, 61-63; of rural schools, 135. School lunch, in high schools, 160; against malnutrition, 161; in open air classes, 229. School Mirror, 58. School mortality, see Non-promotions. School nurse, see Medical inspection. School Reports and School Efficiency, 48. School revenue, see Budget. Seating capacity, see Sanitation. Settlement, vs. school, 15-16; co- operates with dentists, 253. Sewing, see Domestic science. Social Betterment Among Negro Amer- icans, 193. "Social broker," mothers are, 121; a central agency, 131; through vis- iting committees, 145; physicians need, 223. Social center, and volunteer, 18; vs. social spirit, 112; in rural schools, 113; a demonstration, 190. Social workers, training schools, 14; larger opportunity, 16; conference of, 19. Special Class for Backward Children, 226. State, watching its institutions, 101; supervision investigated, 135; fairs 343 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN for publicity, 134, 137; educational cooperator, 138; see also organiza- tion and place indices. Street cleaning department, see City. Superintendents, report outside co- operation, 3-5; and private giving, 39-42; advertise, 58; foster par- ents' interest, 59-61; and school patrons, 186, 187; and medical so- cieties, 205; give ministers facts, 267; use cooperation, 321-325; de- serve efficiency, 325. Survey, The, 167, 252. Talks, see Lectiu-es. Taxes, grudgingly paid, 1, 283; private gifts stimulate, 40; and business men, 282; and budget, 320. Teachers, promote pubUcity, 57; use libraries, 94; and museums, 25, 90; and parents, 115; rural, 135; visit- ing, 172; social efficiency, 175; "teachers' house," 176; and churches, 269, 277. Textbooks, on tuberculosis, 50; fumi- gated, 205; antiquated hygiene, 233. "Three Rs," tests for, 304; vs. "fads and frills," 12, 320. Toothbrushes, see Dentists. Trachoma, inspection for, 205; special classes, 227. Training, for school cooperation, 12- 19; for commissionership, 144, 317. Transcript, The Boston, 66. Transmissible diseases, inspection for, 202-205; record of, 217. Tribune, The New York, 62 Truancy, and delinquency, 75; "bad boy" school, 76; in small towns, 77; and child labor, 79; investi- gated, 192. Trusteeship, of special talent, 10, 17, 22, 25; of conservatism, 12; of colleges, 12, 14; of civic experience, 84; of Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A., 92; of college women, 182; of health knowledge, 202, 225-227; of individuals, 257. Vacation schools, and budget exhibit, 08; and Y. M. C. A., 89; started in New York, 47; how many need them, 170; under churches, 278 ; in- vestigated, 278. Ventilating and Heating, 150. Ventilation, by v/indow boards, 37; score card for, 150; for everybody, 155-156. Visiting teachers, for and against, 172- 174. Vitagraph, Monthly, 110. Vocational guidance, lectures, 13; and child labor, 79; by Y. M. C. A., 90; promoters of, 297-301; for girls, 300; through schools, 303. Vocational training, for cripples, 232; for manufactories, 2SS; vs. manual work, 289; how courses start, 290; by continuation schools, 292; for commerce, 294; advisory commit- tees, 295; school opportunities, 301. Volunteers, for school cooperation, 10-19, 31; give civic instruction, 84; help athletics, 88; on commit- tees, 132, 144; physicians, 221, 222, 230; dentists, 254; through churches, 276; lectures, 309. Voters' leagues, see Legislation. W Waste, saved for improvements, 320. Water, see Sanitation. What You Should Know about Tu- berculosis, 244. When Do, Why Do, Where Do Children Fail? 65. Wider Use of the School Plant, 112, 279. Will making, see Giving. Woman's Part in Government, 200. World's Almanac, 335. Y Year book, see Publicity. PERSONS AND ORGANIZATIONS MENTIONED Academy of Medicine, Elmira, 50, 208. Allen, Mr. William H., 48, 62, 200, 202, 239, 248. Alumnse Association, Newark, 161. Alumnae Club, Louisville, 160. American Association for the Con- servation of Vision, 226. American Medical Association, 226, 243, 244. American Museum of Natural His- tory, 96. American School Hygiene Association, 244. American School Peace League, 92. Andrews, Mrs. Fannie Fern, 118. Anti-Cigarette League, 125, 233. Anti-Tuberculosis League : Water- bury, 50; ChiUicothe, 215, 237, 251; Boston, 228; South Bend, 241; Cohoes, 281. Arundell Club, Baltimore, 147. Associated Charities: Harrisburg, 50; Waterbury, 50, 104; Pittsburg, 193; Reading, 250. Association for the Aid of Crippled Children, 231. Association of Collegiate Alumnae: 182-183, 184; Boston, 146; New York, 183, 278. Association for Improving the Condi- tion of the Poor, New York, 46, 171. Athenaeum, The, Kansas City, 312. Atlanta University, 193. Atherton, Mrs. Caroline S., 147. Austin, Mrs. H. W., 191. Ayres, Mr. Leonard P., 202. B Baer, Mr. G. F., 122. Barus, Mrs. Carl, 148. Barry, Mrs. Maggie W., 234, Barth, Dr. G. P., 207. BiUings, Dr. J. S., 156. Blake, Miss Katharine D., 93. Bloomfield, Mr. Meyer, 13, 299. Board of Trade: Hoboken, 70; Win- ston Salem, 282, 285; Kearney, 285; GreenviUe, 285; Newark, 285; Boston, 295. Boy Scouts of America, 85, 125. Brenner, Mr. Victor D., 24. Brett, Mr. George P., 295. Brittain, Mr. Horace L., 53. Brooklyn League, 318. Bruce, Mr. H. Addington, 301. Bryn Mawr College, 14, 53. Bxireau of Compulsory Education, Philadelphia, 44. Bureau of Municipal Research, 33, 39, 52, 58, 63, 64, 70, 125, 135, 142, 306, 307, 316, 330. Burt, Mr. Welhngton R., 34. Cabot, Dr. Richard C, 234. Carnegie, Mr. Andrew, 6. Carnegie Foundation, 1, 330. Carnegie Institute, 6. Castle Square Theater Company, 10. Century Club, Chilhcothe, 215, 237- 240, 251. Chamber of Commerce: Washington, 38, 287; South Bend, 113; Cleve- 345 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN land, 284; Oklahoma City, 286; Boston, 286, 295, 299; Trenton, 287; New York, 294. Charity Organization Society, New York, 228. Child Labor Committee: Connecti- cut, 79; New York, 79; Pittsburg, 193; Cincinnati, 303. Children's Aid Society, New York, 19, 48, 252. Children's Care Committees, London, 145, 163. Citizens' Association, Chicago, 62. City Club: Los Angeles, 113; Phila- delphia, 286, 315; Chicago, 315; New York, 315. City History Club, New York, 83. Civic Club: Allegheny County, 23, 168, 191-193, 208; Binghamton, 37; Kalamazoo, 44, 310; Ports- mouth, 53. Clark, Mr. Lee, 138. Clark, Miss Marjorie, 255. Claxton, Commissioner P. P., 177, 329, 331. College Settlement, Philadelphia, 228. Columbia University, 15. Commercial Club: Richmond, 31; Indianapolis, 284; Peru, 285; East St. Louis, 286; Topeka, 286; Port- land, 309. Commission on Industrial Educa- tion, Massachusetts, 290. Committee on Tuberculosis, New York, 164, 229, 244. Coney Island Mothers' Club, 107. Conference for Education in Texas, 138. Congress of Mothers: Richmond, 104, 120; Denver, 104, 235; National, 116, 133, 180. 184; Louisiana, 134. Congressional Brotherhood, New Bed- ford, 274. Consumers' League: Connecticut, 79; Mt. Vernon, 80. Consumptives' Hospital, Boston, 228. Cooperative Education Association, Tennessee, 137. Council of Jewish Women, 184. Crampton, Dr. C. Ward, 233. Cubberley, Dr. E. P., 9. D Dana, Mr. John Cotton, 94. de Garmo, Mrs. Frank, 135. de Grosse, Rev. Isaiah, 271. Dental Society: Reading, 250; Mus- kegon, 250; Denver County, 253; Illinois, 261; Rochester, 261; Ohio, 261. Dermitt, Miss H. M., 193. Draper, Commissioner Andrew S., 280, 324. Dyer, Supt. Frank B., 294. E Ebersole, Dr. W. G., 248, 259, 261. Edison, Mr. Thomas A., 108. Educational League, Philadelphia, 128. Educational Society, Manchester, 228. Eliot, Ex-President Charles W., 1. Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund, Chicago, 190, 229. Elson, Supt. Wm. H., 306, 308. Equal Franchise Society, Dobbs Ferry, 70. F Fairchild, Mr. Milton J., 277. Farrell, Miss Elizabeth, 226. Federal Council Commission on the Church and Social Service, 275. Federation for Sex Hygiene, 235. Field Museum, Chicago, 97. Free Kindergarten Association, New York, 106, 109. First Unitarian Church, Cambridge, 266. Forsythe Dental Infirmary, 258. Forsythe, Mr. James Bennet, 258. Franklin, Benjamin, 36. Free Dental Clinic, New York, 127, 255-256. G General Education Board, 33, 330. General Federation of Women's Clubs, 177-180, 184, 208, 234, 333. General Film Company, 109, Gill, Dr. Laura D., 199. 346 INDEX Girls' Trade Education League, Bos- ton, 299. Granges, 185, 188. Greenwich House, New York, 15. Grice, Mrs. Edwin C., 118. Guild of Play, New York, 104. Gulick, Dr. Luther P., 202, 244. H Haney, Dr. J. P., 25. Harris, Mr. N. W., 97. Harvard University, 13, 299. Heyward, Rev. John, 268. High School Teachers' Association, New York, 221, 297. Hoag, Dr. Ernest B., 202, 208. Holland, Mr. Frank P., 113. Home and School Association, Bos- ton, 117, 299. Home and School League, Philadel- phia, 117, 162. "Hookworm Commission," 240. Huyler, Mr. John S., 38. International Congress on Tubercu- losis, 241. J Johnstone, Dr. E. R., 102. K Kaffee Klatsch Club, Chicago, 194. Laity League for Social Service, New York, 260. Lawrence Teachers' Association, 57. Levenworth, Mr. Elisha, 35. London County Council, 242. M Mannes, Mr. David, 28. Massachusetts Civic League, 312. Medical Society: Milwaukee, 207; Spartanburg, 208; Pittsburg, 208. Merchants' Association, Boston, 295. Merritt, Dr. Arthur E., 253. Metcalfe, Mr. Tristram W., 7. Metropolitan Art Museum, New York, 24. Monday Evening Club, Washington, 242. Montessori, Madame Maria, 108. Moore, Miss Virginia P., 137, 332. Morton, Supt. O. A., 308. Mothers' Club, Decatur, 26, 53, 276. Municipal Art Society, New York, 23. Music School Settlement, New York, 28. N National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, 193. National Association for the Preven- tion of Tuberculosis, 244. National Board of Censorship, 110. National Child Labor Committee, 79, 82. National Dental Society, 259. National Education Association, 57, 227; school patrons department, 183-189, 234; health committee, 244. National Institution for Moral In- struction, 277. National League for Medical Free- dom, 243, 244. National Municipal League, 83, 112. National Plant, Flower, and Fruit Guild, 169. National Society for the Prevention of Mendicancy, 77. National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, 291. National Vacation Bible School As- sociation, 278. New England Diet Kitchen, Boston, 160. Noble, Mrs. Anna, 235. North Bennet Industrial School, Bos- ton, 289. O Ohio Mechanics' Institute, 6. Olivet Boys Club, Reading, 89. Olivet Fathers' Club, Reading, 122. Osier, Dr. William, 247. 347 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Palmer, Mrs. Alice Freeman, 146. Paqiiin, Dr. Paul, 204. Park Church, Elmira, 271. Parker Hill School, Boston, 228. Patten, Prof. Simon N., 55. Pattern Makers' Association, 292. People's Church, Kalamazoo, 260. People's Recr(>ation Company, 111. Peo])le's Symphony Orchestra, Rich- mond, 30. People's Institute, New York, S3, 111. Permanent School Extension Com- mittee, Chicago, 189-191. Perry, Mr. (Clarence A., 112, 279. Pettinger, Mrs. G. H., 199. Playground Association, Pittsburg, 105. Playground and llecreation Associa- tion of America, 1()(), 109. Phipps Institute, 228. Prudence Crandall Association, Wash- ington, 195. Psychological Clinic, 13, 163, 226. Public E(lucation Association: Provi- dence, 71, 124, 147; Rhode Island, 80; Waltham, 124; Philadelphia, 124,314; Boston, 124; New York, 123, 127, 172, 298, 320. Public School Alliance, New Orleans, 312. Public School Art Society: Evanston, 22; Chicago, 23. Publi(^ Schools Athletic League, New York, 3.S, SO. Public School Cliildrcn's Aid Society, Quincy, 45. Public School Relief Association, Queens, 45. Putnam, Dr. Helen C, 148. R Richman, Miss Julia, 17G. Rockefeller Foundation, i. Rockefeller, Mr. John 1)., i, 240. Russell Sage Foundation, 1)3, 70, 109, 179, 202, 205, 227, 244, 306, 308, 330. Ryerson, Mr. Mivrtin A., 22, S Sage, Mrs. Russell, i, 6. Savings Loan Association, Corning, 310. Schmidlapp Fund, Cincinnati, 42, 303. Schmidlapp, Mr. J. G., 42. Schneider, Dean Herman A., 294. School Alliance, Amherst, 63. School Art League: New York, 23, 24; Washington, 287. School Citizens Committee, 82. School Extension Committee, Jersey City, 113. School Garden Association, New York, 168. School Lunch (^ommittee: New York, 161; Philadelphia, 162. School Patrons, see National Educa- tion Association. School for Social Workers, Boston, 302. School of Philanthropy, 14. School Voters' League: Boston, 313; Ridgewood, 314. Schrader, Mr. G. H. F., 308. Sea Breeze Hospital, 49. Shaw, Mr. Edward B., 156, 160. Shawan, Dr., 227. Sniith College, 13. Snedden, Commissioner David S., 48. Social Service League, Elmira, 49, 208; Middletown, 215, 311. Society of Artists, Chicago, 23. Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, New York, 156. Societv for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 75. Sout hern Association of College Wom- en, 1S3, 184. Southern Education Board, 33, 136, 137. Southwestern Social Center Confer- ence, 113. State lioard of Public Affairs, Wis- consin, 135. State (^harities Aid Association, 101. Stale Federation of Women's Clubs: Rhode Island, 80; Missouri, 133; Kentucky, KW; Oregon, 153; New Jers(>v. 148, 200, 217; Texas (col- ored)', 194, 348 INDEX Stevens Fund for Mvmieipal Rese;\rcb, Hoboken, 60, 201. ^l^, 217. Thirv, Mr. J. H.. 310. Thomason. INIr. Calvin C. 107. Tiniining Seliool for Public Service, 135. Tn'hunc'Fi-esh Air Fund, 171. Ti-oy State Xormal School. 113. Tuberculosis Instittite. Chicago, 190. Tulaue University. 2o4. Twentieth Centiii'v Club: Boston, 10: Xenia. 194. U U. S. bureau of education. 02, 177, 300, 307, 320—331, 333. U. S. department of agrictiltiu-e. 167, 2S1. U. S. department of labor, 300. University of Cincimiati, 293. University of ^lissom-i, 207. University of Pemisylvania, 13, 226. Universitv of Pittsburg, 13, 105. Vacation School and Playgroimd Committee, Chicago, 1S9, 270. Visiting Xm-se Association, 214-216, 266." Vocation Biu-eau, Boston, 29S. Vocational Guidance Stu"vev. Xew York, 29S. VT Ward. Mr. Edward J., 112. Waring, Colonel, 00. Washington Ii'ving High School, Xew York? 23. Weaver, :Mrs. Charles P., 137. Wlieeler School Almunse Association 11. Whitney. Miss Dorothy, 33. Witmer, Dr. Lightner, 226. Wood. Mrs. Marv I.. 170. Woolley. Dr. Helen T., 303. Women's Chi'istian Temperance Union, 233. Woman's Club: Chelsea. 20. 161; Dubuque. 20. 106. 166. 160: Xew- bm-yport. 37, 73, 160; Denver. 106; Mt." Vernon. 106: Los Angeles. 113; Kalamazoo. 166: Xewark, 166: St. Cloud. SO: colored, 193-196. Women's Educational and Industrial Union, Boston. 161. Woman's Home Progressive Club, Paris, 194. Wom:m's Mtmicipal League, Boston, 299, 301-302. Young. Supt. Ella Flagg, 155, 190, 324^ Yoims; Glen's Christian Association, S9."l25. 300. 310. Yotmg Men's Hebrew Association. 91. Yoimg Women's Christian Associa- tion, 92. PLACES MENTIONED (with population of cities) Adams, Mass., 13,026: 52. Alameda, CaL, 23,383: 59, 265, 269. Altoona, Pa., 52,127: 59, 65. Amherst, Mass., 5,112: 63. Anderson, Ind., 22,476: 269. Arkansas, 194. Arlington, Mass., 11,187: 281. Ashville, N. C, 18,762: 204. Atlanta, Ga., 154,839: 291. Am-ora, 111., 29,807: 207, 224, 265. B Baltimore, Md., 558,485: 147, 277. Bcllaire, Ohio, 12,946: 281. Beloit, Wis., 15,125: 210, 224. Berkeley, CaL, 40,434: 210. Binghamton, N. Y., 48,443: 37. Birmingham, Ala., 132,685: 194, 224, 226, 258. Boston, Mass, 670,585: 117, 124, 146, 160, 165, 228, 289, 295, 298. 300, 313. Braddock, Pa., 19,357: 205. Bridgeport, Conn., 102,054: 111. C Cairo, 111., 14,548: 271. Cambridge, Mass., 104,839: 266. Canton, S. Dak., 2,103: 241. Carlisle, Pa., 10,303: 309. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 32,811: 52. Chelsea, Mass., 32,452: 29, 161, 214, 275. Chicago, 111., 2,185,283: 22, 23, 97, 189, 193, 229, 279, 312, 324. Chillicothe, Ohio, 14,508: 74, 215, 237 251 332 Cincinnati,'Ohio, 364,463: 32, 42, 291, 293, 303. Cleveland, Ohio, 560,663: 66, 248, 268, 306, 309. Cohoes, N. Y., 24,709: 281. Colorado Springs, Colo., 29,078: 243. Columbus, Ga., 20,554: 35, 52, 280. Columbus, Ohio, 181,511: 211. Corning, N. Y., 13,730: 310. Covington Ky., 53,270: 210, 251. D Dayton, Ohio, 116,577: 61. Decatur, 111., 31,140: 26, 53, 268, 269. Denver, Colo., 213,381: 66, 83, 84, 104, 106, 141, 214, 235, 280. Dobbs Ferry, N. Y., 3,455: 62, 70. Dubuque, Iowa, 38,494: 23, 29, 166, 169. E East St. Louis, 111., 58,547: 286. Elmira, N. Y., 37,176: 49, 58, 59, 208, 210, 271. Elyria, Ohio, 14,825: 281, 307. Evanston, 111., 24,978: 22, 37. F Flint, Mich., 38,550: 203, 307. Fort Smith, Ark., 23,975: 207. Freeport, III., 17,567: 280. Fulton, Mo., 5,228: 207. G Galesburg, 111., 22,089: 66, 106, 271. Gary, Ind., 16,802: 288. 350 INDEX Georgia, 185. GreenviUe, S. C, 15,741: 285, 288, 309. Greenwich, Conn., 3,886: 62, H Harrisburg, Pa., 64,186: 50, 214. Hoboken, N. J., 70,324: 69, 70, 112, 212. Houston, Texas, 78,800: 56, 58. Hyde Park, Mass., 15,507: 53. Illinois, 266, 312. Indiana, 222. Indianapolis, Ind., 233,560: 35, 243, 269, 284. Ithaca, N. Y., 14,802: 59. Jamestown, N. Y., 31,297: 58. Jersey City, N. J., 267,779: 113. K Kalamazoo, ]\Iich., 394,437: 44, 166, 266, 310. Kansas Citv, Mo., 248,381: 312. Kearney, N. J., 18,659: 285, 304. Kenosha, Wis., 21,371: 206,242. Lawrence, Mass., 85,892: 57. Lead^^Ue, Colo., 7,508: 52. Little FaUs, N. Y., 12,273: 66. Los .\ngeles, Cal.. 319,198: 113, 224. Louisville, Ky., 223,928: 160, 251, 266, 268. M Madison, Wis., 25,531: 112. Manchester, N. H., 70,163: 228, 266, 268. Marlboroush, Mass., 14,579: 57, 165, 307, SOST Marquette, Mich., 11,503: 215. Marshalltown, Iowa, 13,374: 221. Michigan, 184-185, 188-189, 312. Middletown, Conn., 11,851: 215, 311. MUwaukee, Wis., 373,857: 105. Missouri, 227, 243. Montgomery, Ala., 38,136: 194, 281. Montpeher, Vt., 7,856: 100, 275. Morristown, N. J., 12,507: 36. Mt. Vernon, N. Y., 30,919: 53, 80, 268, 271. Muncie, Ind., 24,005: 268. Muskegon, INIich., 24,062: 35, 250. N Newark, N. J., 347,469: 94, 161, 166, 259 281 285 New Bedford, Mass., 96,652: 268, 274. New Britain, Conn., 43,916: 265, 266. Newbm->T)ort, Mass., 14,949: 37, 73, 160. New Jersey, 200, 216. New London, Conn., 19,659: 266. New Orleans, La., 339,075: 254, 312. Newport,, R. I., 27,149: 52. Ne\vi:on, Mass., 39,806: 62. New York Citv, N. Y., 4,766,883: 8, 15, 19, 23, 24, 28, 33, 38, 45, 46, 58, 62, 64, 68, 76, 82, 86, 94, 96, 98, 104, 106, 107, 118, 123, 125-128, 156, 161, 168, 169, 170, 174, 224, 227, 228, 231, 244, 249, 252, 269, 278, 294, 297, 305, 310, 315, 318. Northampton, Mass., 19,431: 13. O Oklahoma City, Okla., 64,205: 286. Orange, N. J., 29,630: 222. Oregon, 153, 167, 186. Oshkosh, Wis., 33,062: 35. Paducah, Kv., 22,760: 241. Paris, Texas, 11,269: 194. Pasadena, Cal., 30,291: 53, 211. Peru, Ind., 10,910: 285. Philadelphia, Pa., 1,549,008: 37, 44. 117, 124, 228, 254, 271, 314. 351 HELPING SCHOOL CHILDREN Pittsburg, Pa., 533,905: 168, 191-193, 208. Plainfield, N. J., 20,550: 36. Portland, Me., 58,511: 23, 29, 261. Portland, Ore., 207,214: 11, 266, 284, 309, 317. Portsmouth, N. H., 11,269: 53, 279, 324. Providence, R. I., 224,326: 11, 124, 147, 164, 228. Q Quincy, 111., 36,587: 45, 266. R Racine, Wis, 38,002: 35, 324. Reading, Pa., 96,071: 85, 89, 122, 215, 250. Richmond, Ind., 22,324: 30. Richmond, Va., 127,628: 104, 120. Ridgewood, N. J., 5,416: 314. Rochester, N. Y., 218,149: 262. Rockford, 111., 45,401: 122. Saginaw, Mich., 50,510: 34, 260. St. Cloud, Minn., 10,600: 80. St. Paul, Minn, 214,744: 112. Salt Lake City, Utah, 92,777: 52. San Rafael, Cal., 5,934: 157. Seattle, Wash., 237,194: 326. Selma, Ala., 13,649: 59, 60, 116, 296. Shreveport, La., 28,015: 134. South Bend, Ind., 53,684: 113, 222, 241. South Bethlehem, Pa., 19,973: 203. Spartanburg, S. C, 17,517: 207. Stanberry, Mo., 2,121: 134. Syracuse, N. Y., 137,249: 62, 157. Tennessee, 137, 243, 327. Toledo, Ohio, 168,497: 24. Topeka, Kans., 43,684: 286. Trenton, N. J., 96,815: 60, 165, 287. Vineland, N. J., 5,282: 102. W Waco, Texas, 26,425: 52. Waltham, Mass., 27,834: 124. Washington, D. C, 331,269: 38, 85, 195 271 287. Water'bury,' Conii., 73,141: 35, 50, 104. Wausaw, Wis., 16,560: 36, 58, 210. White Haven, Pa., 1,438: 94. WiUiamsport, Pa., 31,860: 266. Wilmington, N. C, 25,748: 66. Winston Salem, N. C, 22,700: 282. Wisconsin, 62, 135, 243. Woonsocket, R. I., 38,125: 35. Worcester, Mass., 145,986: 124. Wyoming, 323. X Xenia, Ohio, 8,706: 194. THE END OCT 21 1912 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 019 371 634 9