Visual Education (Jan 1923-Dec 1924)

April, 192 3 123 From an N. E. A. Convention Notebook Department of Superintendence, Cleveland, Ohio, February 24 — March 2, 1923 "A Constructive Program for the National Education Association" William B. Owen, President of the N. E. A. No private institution, great foundation or endowment, or higher institution is competent to furnish the leadership or formulate the policies for public schools. Advance must come through an organization of superintendents, where ideas may be exchanged. The requisite technique for reaching dependable and valid conclusions regarding school work must come through collective activity of the National Education Association. The destiny of school systems lies entirely in the hands of those engaged in this class of work; and therefore there is a profession arising which must assume to set up its own standards and exercise a large degree of self-determination. "The Need for Vocational Education"— Dr. C. A. Prosser, Director Dunwoody Industrial Institute, Minneapolis. America never can develop the resources of the land, or keep pace in the march of civilization, without a program of vocational education. The old-line educators have indelibly fixed in their minds the idea that idealism can be taught only by courses in Greek and Latin, and fail to see that we must train along such lines as will make idealism function in the social job called life The public school system itself is the most gigantic attempt on the part of America to adjust the young lives of the nation to methods of increased efficiency. Consequently, the proposal to give vocational training is only a part of the program of social efficiency. Better goods at less cost will result from a consistent vocational program. Early in the dawn of industry, when employment began to leave the family, apprenticeship began to supply the demand that industrial development placed on labor. Now, with the sharp decline of apprentices, it is obvious that the increasing demand for skill must be met in some such way as vocational education in the schools ■ It is interesting to observe that at one time in England there was a nationwide opposition to the teaching of the English language. All general and applied sciences met this opposition in our day, as did the scientific teaching of medicine, engineering, law, dentistry, and even pedagogy. "The College and the World of Industry"— Charles W. Newcomb, Executive Secretary, Cleveland Industrial Association. Between college and the industrial world there is a great gulf. It may surprise educators to learn that the man in the factory sees little value in an education. Frequently we find that men prefer to work under a foreman rather than to become foremen themselves. Distinction between the college man and the so-called practical man is too pronounced in the industrial world today to be unnoticed. Educators have the most valuable thing in the world to sell ; but too often they are poor salesmen. "A Challenge to Our Schools" — J. O. Engleman, Field Secretary, National Education Association. The time has come for challenging our time-honored courses of study. We well may be asked to give an account of our stewardship. Are our schools doing all they can to solve problems which perplex us? ... . There are nearly 700,000 of us at work in the public schools of America. . Twenty million children sit at our feet daily. But are they learning the way of life from us? Do we have the vision to lead them? Are we ourselves able to follow the gleam? The school, as an institution, is not yet conscious of its mission to develop morality, as well as to increase knowledge. As teachers, we do not attach as much importance to a proper training of the emotions and the will as we do to a development of the intellectual faculties. Training for citizenship involves both. And while the. most desirable and most useful citizen is always both wise and moral, the state can better afford to have its children become more moral, even if less intellectual, than to become more intellectual if less virtuous. "An Experiment in Curriculum Remaking" Dr. Harold O. Rugg, Lincoln School of Teachers College, New York City. At the Lincoln School we have worked out our plan to fit children for contemporary life by combining the social sciences, histoid, civics, economics, in one course. In our history preparation we pay more attention to social and industrial phases and less to the ultra-political aspects. We believe that modern European history should teach children how Europe came into her present tangled condition. We believe that under the old curriculum children have learned a great deal about Louis XIV and nothing about the development of coal in the nineteenth century; a great deal about the tables of English kings and very little about the development of English trade ambition. Therefore we break up the study of history longitudinally. For instance, our eighth-grade course in American history deals with the westward movement. We teach first the westward trend and the consequent development of transportation. Then we go back over the same years and take up the industrial and mechanical growth of the countr}'. The third division is the political development ; the fourth, the cultural development ; and then we are ready for the final work of the term on America's relation with other countries. "Leisure Time" Henry Turner Bailey, Dean Cleveland School of Art. Our leisure is one of the most precious and most dangerous gifts to mankind—-most precious, because it enables the human spirit to participate in its priceless heritage, the spiritual world. The spiritual world is that wonderland created by the seers, the prophets, the poets, the artists', the musicians, the dramatists and the novelists of our race. But leisure is the most dangerous of gifts in the hands of those who do not know how to use it wisely. When men and women spend their leisure hours in idleness, in vicious gossip, in illicit drinking and gambling, in sexual indulgence and reckless joy-riding, the more leisure they have the worse it is ' f or them and for everybody else. They depreciate in value ; they become a menace to society — a burden that the state has to carry. Character is determined partly by what a man does for ai living, but more largely by what he does with his leisure time. Science, invention, big business, and a more equable distribution of the products of industry will surely give to us an increasing amount of leisure.. What will we do with it? Ruin ourselves with it, or enrich ourselves with it? A primary function of the public schools is to educate for the right use of leisure. Vocational guidance is important, but avocational guidance is vastly more important. "The Need of Professional Leadership in Education" — J. H. Beveridge, President of the Department of Superintendence. There is a lack of definiteness in the course of study that wastes the time of pupil and teacher. The lack of definite and concrete material at the teacher's command makes it difficult for her to^ keep the pupil mentally awake and morally alert and to give him the social contact of citizenship. Experiments in education have given us an abundance of material that needs classification and organization to meet the general aims of education. We need a leadership that will give us the definite objectives to meet these general aims of education. These objectives need to be worked out in a concise and concrete way We need a leadership that will bringtogether and organize the most valuable available material. We need financial support to pay the experts in curriculum-making for their services. Why not a commission of twenty to fifty of these experts, provided with adequate financial