12 20 1839 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/a403717b203d43907b773eb2cdd6ed1d.pdf d5e0670f7c06ce2e6b49b6de3472e081 PDF Text Text WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE INTEGRATED IN A COMMUNITY LIKE ARLINGTON? Preface The following report, condensed somewhat, appeared in the Northern Virginia Sun (published in Arlington, Va.) in the issues of December 19, 20 and 22, 1958* It represents an inquiry on the part of the Social Action Committee of the Rock Spring Congregational Church into the desegregation of public schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. That particular suburban area was selected for an examination of the impact of school integration because of its similarity to the Virginia suburban county where the Rock Spring Church is located. Both communities are a part of Metropolitan Washington. Both represent comparable cultural traditions, economic patterns and population proportions. Members of the Social Action Committee participating in the following report: Dr. James Pettee, Chairman Mr. Dudley Babcock Dr. Joseph McCaskill Mr. and Mrs. John McDonald Mr. Raymond Parrott Mr. Howard Strong Mr. and Mrs. Paul Westhaeffer M r s . Donald Wilhelm Mrs. Gerald Winfield, the author of this report. �1 "Integration is the least of my worries" said the principal of a Senior High School in Montgomery County, Maryland. He went on to say "My concern is to house 1,300 students in a building designed for many less and to see that all of them are getting a good education in line with their separate needs and abilities." These were his concluding remarks after an hour-long interview with three of us from the Social Action Committee of the Rock Spring Congregational Church in Arlington, Virginia. We are an eleven member committee. Separate groups of us visited Montgomery County where we consulted school administrators. We visited schools, talking with principals and teachers. We observed students in classrooms, in cafeterias and on playgrounds. Our whole group participated in a conference set up for us by a church group. It was attended by a member of the School Board and by parents and civic leaders. We have conferred together in the preparation of this report. Four years after Negro students actually entered schools that had formerly been white it appears to us that the people in Montgomery County are mostly thinking about other things. An editor of a local paper in that county reports that there were never many letters protesting integration and that in recent months there have been none at all. "The only letter that has come to us in the last years that even has a bearing on integrated schools" he observed "came from outside this area and was just a general complaint about the Supreme Court and a theoretical argument for Nordic supremacy." Again and again people replied, "but there is very little to say" when we questioned them about the change from segregated to integrated schools. On May 17, 195*+ when the Supreme Court decision nullifying the legality of segregation in public schools was rendered, white and Negro races were completely segregated in the public schools of Maryland as they still are in Virginia. But, immediately, Montgomery County took steps to start the desegregation process and has been quietly working at it ever since. By the spring of 1957, 959 of the 3>035 Negro school-age children in Montgomery County had been shifted to integrated schools. At the present time over a third of the Negro students are no longer in segregated schools and it is anticipated that by 1961 with the completion of two new high school buildings all segregation of secondary education in Montgomery County will have ended. Elementary schools are likewise moving rapidly towards the time when each child, regardless of race, will be able to attend the school nearest his home, unless for special reasons his parents and the school authorities arrange for him to transfer (with his family assuming the responsibility for his transportation) to another school in the County which seems better able to meet his personal needs. In the beginning, integration in Montgomery County began on a selective basis. Those planning the desegregation program decided that available facilities were not adequate for a complete integration of all students. Furthermore, it was thought that a not-too-sudden and arbitrary procedure might make for a more successful transition. This opinion was not held by all those responsible for decisions. Some felt that integration brought about in a single operation would have been possible and in the long run more easily accomplished, but the step-by-step procedure was adopted. At no time since the Supreme Court decision has there been disagreement on the Montgomery County* s School Board about whether or not the Court’s decision was to be implemented. Opinions have differed only as to timing, and method. In the case of four sub-standard Negro schools, it was decided that students would all be transferred in the fall of 1955 to white schools, preferably to the schools nearest their homes if space were available. With the exception of these children, all other transfers were made by individual selection. Some were selected on the request of parents, others at the suggestion of school principals. In each case three basic questions were answered affirmatively before the transfer was made: 1. Are physical facilities available in the school to which the student is applying? 2. Is there a suitable educational program for this student in that school? 3* Do his parents approve of the move? Sometimes a child's application was rejected because the school he wanted to attend was already overcrowded. Sometimes the recommendation that a child be moved was dropped because his parents were reluctant to have him subjected to separation from his friends. For three years now a survey has been made each spring to determine which students wanted to transfer the following fall, and to see which would seem most likely to benefit from a move into an integrated school. There have been confer ences with parents and with both school principals involved before the decisions �2 have been made. After the decisions, principals and guidance counselors have spent a great deal of time helping a child and his parents get ready for a move into a new situation. Even after this careful selection and preparation a transfer in the early stages of desegregation was not irrevocable. It was possible, when desegregation was in the permissive stage, for a student to request transfer back to a segregated school. A few did return, mostly because they discovered that the educational program in the new school did not suit them. For instance, a boy who thought he would like to take an academic course discovered that the vocational training offered in his former school was more to his liking. Some asked to go back because they found the adjustments too difficult. For the most part the students who have gone into integrated schools have stayed and reports seem to indicate that the adaptation has presented no serious difficulties for them. In one Montgomery County school 17 per cent of the student body is now Negro. In others the figures show as few as two Negroes in an elementary school of 466 and as few as 5 in a high school of 1,299* Thirty-eight school districts have no school-age Negro children living in their neighborhood so schools there have no Negro children. Since the total Negro school-age population of Montgomery County is now only about 4.5 per cent of the total school-age population, it is not likely that under complete integration any school will ever have more than a 20 per cent Negro group. If Arlington were integrated it would likewise have only a small per cent of Negroes in any school and no Negroes in many schools. (Arlington has only 1,658 Negro school children in a total school population of 23,133*) Records show that the white population is now increasing much more rapidly in Montgomery County than is the Negro population. If this pattern continues, the per cent of Negroes in County schools there will actually decrease in the years immediately ahead. The decision to integrate public schools in Montgomery County was applied to staff as well as students. A number of Negro teachers are now in integrated schools. One school with only white children has a Negro teacher on its faculty. A large junior high school has a Negro assistant principal. It is the stated policy of the School Board that all staff appointments are made on a merit basis so it is expected that in the future an opening in the school system will be filled by the person whose training and experience best qualify him to fill that opening. "But how is it all working out?" we kept saying. We had to press our question, we discovered, not because people in Montgomery County have anything to hide but because there has been relatively so little change that most of them couldn't think right off of anything to tell us. One principal of an elementary school said that when he heard we were coming he had to rush to his files to see exactly how many Negro children he had. The ten colored children in that school were so much a part of the whole group that he just didn't count them separately. "Have academic standards been lowered?" we asked a high school principal who has an integrated student body. "A girl just left my office" he answered. "She has an I.Q.. of 70 and she has problems of learning with which we have to reckon. She is a white girl. The ability range of our students is from very low to very high. One problem is to place them all in situations where they learn. Some Negro students may fall in the lowest range of ability. Some may fall in the highest range. If we place them where they belong, then the school will be good for them and they will present no special problems to the school." One elementary teacher in an integrated school reported "The academic performance of new children is not a problem. Of course, the learning situation is better here than it was where a child had to share a room with several classes. She stated that of the five children who had come to her class from a Negro school that was recognized as sub-standard three went into Reading Group 2 and two did well in Reading Group 3 . The principal reported that in two grades routinely tested, the achievement test figures at the end of the first year of integration were still comfortably above national standards as they had been in the past. We asked about health standards. The reply of school principals was that all children have physical examinations and that no child, Negro or white, remains in school if he has an infectious condition or a communicable disease. No one seemed to think that the incidence of illness is any higher since schools have been integrated than it was before. Some observers remarked that with the question of school health receiving more attention since integration, it is likely that all �3 children will be watched more closely so the general school health level may be raised. We asked about the social contacts of students. Principals of all schools said that it seems always to be true that children who have had a hard time adjust ing in a segregated school have had a hard time in an integrated school, and conversely a child who has gotten on well in one school has made good adjustments in a new school. The only "incident" we heard about in an integrated elementary school concerned a little Negro girl in the third grade. She had lots of friends and seemed secure. One day she met the principal in the hall. "Mr. Smith," she said with some agitation, "do you know what Donald called me?" The principal realized at once that she was talking about the new white boy in her class who had brought with him a history of behavior difficulties in two previous schools. "What did Donald call you?" he asked. "He called me a 'nigger1" she answered with indignation. "Do you think I had better speak to Donald?" he queried. The little girl looked into space for several seconds and then with all the irritation gone out of her she answered "No, Mr. Smith. He'll get over it." This principal told us that his way of handling the social adjustment of new Negro students was to place only one in any class. That way he felt that there would be no danger that two or more of them would hold themselves apart or that the class would think of them as "Negroes." Another elementary school principal said that she made an effort never to place a Negro child alone in a class where all other children are white. She thinks that the newcomer might feel lonely and consequently would find the new adjustments more difficult. In both of these cases the results show happy students in integrated class rooms. Perhaps the particular method of procedure is not as important as the underlying concern for the well being of children. None of the high school principals whom we saw reported any serious social difficulties. In integrated high schools some Negroes have joined clubs, some haven't. Most Negro students tend to sit together in cafeterias but it is by choice and exceptions were reported. Negro boys have made football teams. One Negro boy in an integrated school has been selected for the "all star" area team. In one school a Negro boy was elected a Drum Major. When a few parents called in to protest that selection the principal reminded them that it had come as a result of a democratic election in the school. They made no further complaint. Negro students who have qualities of leadership seem to have a good oppor tunity to emerge as leaders in integrated schools. In one school the senior class elected a Negro boy to one of its top positions. In still another high school a Negro girl was selected as the school representative to the All State Student Conference. School dances have continued. In one high school the principal says that his only effort to control the new inter-racial situation at dances was to announce that dances would be for couples only. In another high school it was the Student Council which discussed the possible community reaction to mixed dances and decided that there would be no more stag lines. This practice of students coming to dances with their own dates seemed to both supervisors and students to be the only safeguard needed. A Junior Prom traditionally held at a downtown Washington hotel was held there again after integration with no difficulty or criticism. All reports seem to indicate that when Negroes attend school dances in integrated schools they dance with Negro partners and white students dance with white part ners. None of the people with whom we talked had seen or heard of mixed dating in the schools. In every high school we visited we heard that some white students had made a conscious effort to help Negro students feel at ease. One white student said that it was her observation that Negro girls seemed to be more lonely than Negro boys in integrated schools and therefore needed more help in making friends. In a junior high school where b2 Negroes were expected to come into a student body of about 750 the first year of integration, the principal called the Jth and 8th graders together in the spring to tell them that the new students were coming �b and to ask them if they thought anything should be done to get ready to receive them. A student said "Well, I think we ought to make them feel at home. If I were going into a school where most people were different from me, I'd be scared stiff and I think these Negro students are going to be scared." There were numerous suggestions as to how this "at home" feeling could be achieved. One student thought that all the new students should be brought over for a tour and a chance to get acquainted. It couldn't be managed before school was out but it was planned for a day after the vacation began. Students were asked to volunteer to return to school as hosts for the occasion and every hand went up. There have been only rare reports of bickering or scuffling or rudeness betvee' students of different races, never a serious incident. There is one report that a the time when papers were so full of the stories of disorder in Little Rock some words derogatory of Negroes appeared on the walls of a high school washroom. The writing was removed and its brief appearance didn't make a ripple in a situation that was basically stable. There was no recurrence of name-calling in that school We asked if the integration of staff had presented special problems. Some principals felt that the problems hadn't been serious but that in some ways it is more complicated than the integration of students. In one case some white parents protested the appointment of a Negro teacher to their school. Someone suggested to us that these parents were fearful that the Negro teacher might have had sub standard training and experience. She proved to be a person of outstanding ability and now parents are asking that their children be transferred into her class. Elementary principals say that it has been helpful if a Negro teacher has come into an integrated school at the same time Negro students first came, especially if she has come from the same school. This has made the transition easier for the children and the presence of a teacher who had known them before has been helpful to a principal. "The difficulty may arise" one high school principal speculated "when I need to fire a teacher for incompetence and she happens to be a Negro. I will hesitate because I know that I might have to face an accusation of discriminatory action." He and others seemed to feel that after the first few years this kind of a situa tion would not likely present a problem. The acceptance of Negro teachers by white teachers seems to have been good. In the first place, teacher's workshops and curricula planning committees, etc. have been integrated for some years before school integration, so Negro and white teachers are not unaccustomed to working together. Negro teachers who are still working in segregated schools seem to feel no anxiety about their future placement. They expressed confidence in the fairmindedness of the people who will make appointments. We asked about the effect of desegregation on population changes because one often hears in Northern Virginia that if schools are integrated great numbers of Negroes from D. C. will buy homes in the area with the result that the value of residential property will be lowered. When we asked one resident of Montgomery County if he thought that this had been happening there, he laughed and said that the people rushing to suburban Maryland now are Virginians who want to be sure their children will have schools to attend. Actually the proportion of Negroes in Montgomery County's population is lower now than it was in 1950 while the total population has increased. This is in line with population trends throughout the country. Negroes are still moving from the country to the cities while white people are still moving from the cities to the suburbs. There is no reason to believe that this trend will be different in suburban Virginia. When it became evident to us that Montgomery County people are generally agree; that integration is proceeding there without great difficulty we began to inquire into the cause of the relatively uneventful transition. The answer was inescapable: Firm Leadership. An editor told us that he reached the Governor of Maryland b y telephone within five minutes after the Supreme Court decision was announced. "Maryland will conform" Governor McKeldin said to him. From that moment official leader ship in Maryland has never wavered in its support of constitutional law and in it determination that the education of Maryland's children is not to be interrupted. This has remained true at all official levels. After the court decision a . r �5 opposition group was organized in Maryland and in 1955 this group was vocal in various spots around the State and particularly as a lobby group at Annapolis. Their leaders drew up anti-integration bills but these bills all died without ever being presented on the floor of the Assembly. Not one of the 123 delegates would sponsor them! "Integration" said the editor "has not been a politcally expedient issue in Maryland." No politicians have dared to debate with the State's Attorney General C. Ferdinand Sybert who stated on June 20, 1955 "• • • . since the Constitution of the United States is the Supreme law of the land, all constitutional and legislative acts of Maryland requiring segregation in the public schools in the State of Maryland are unconstitutional, and hence must be treated as nullities." Educational leadership in Maryland has likewise been outstanding. Nine days after the Federal court ruling, the Maryland State Department of Education issued the following statement: "We are confident that the local school boards, the local officials, and the parents will settle this problem without resorting to chicanery or devious methods and with due regard for the rights of all parties concerned. Any program of implementation will be based upon professional and human considerations and not with coercive designs or methods." The educators in Maryland took hold of the problem that was primarily theirs to work out, and there was never an opportunity for politicians to play ball with the destinies of school children. Less than a month after the May 17th ruling the Board of Education of Mont gomery County adopted a resolution setting up a committee of white and Negro citizens, including educators, for the purpose of advising and conferring with the Board and School administrators, on matters of policy for the implementation of the recent decision of the Supreme Court concerning segregation." This committee of nineteen members functioned tirelessly during the 195^-55 period when policies were being determined and plans of action were being formulated. Their contri bution cannot be underestimated. The Board itself met frequently during those early days, fearlessly facing its responsibilities and patiently listening to extremists (on both sides of the segregation issue) who demanded hearings and presented long lists of questions. In a "Statement of Policy on Integration" adopted on March 21, 1955 > the Montgomery County School Board not only affirmed its intention to proceed to integrate the public school system in an orderly and just manner. It went further and acknowledged "the moral and democratic impli cations of the ruling" and affirmed that they "regarded compliance as an opportunity to extend all of its educational programs and facilities to all children on an impartial basis." The School Board was not always of one mind as to how fast to move and as to how best to proceed with its accepted policy, but its members always managed to talk their way through to constructive compromises. When the only substantial demonstration of resistance occurred in a rural section of Montgomery County with parents encouraging students to stay out of school and outside agitators exciting rebellion, the School Board did not with draw the Negro students who had been assigned to that high school. The Superin tendent of Schools reminded the parents of the fines that would be imposed on persons persuading or coercing school-age children to absent themselves from classes and of the fines and jail sentences that would be imposed on persons disturbing the orderly proceedings of a public school. The Chief of Police at the County seat backed up the educators by warning the members of a protest parade that no disturbance would be tolerated. Normalcy was restored within a week and today that school is busy about school business with 52 Negroes in a student body of 978. Professional educators were encouraged to make their contribution, and efforts were made to strengthen the professional staff for the new demands laid upon it. Money was made available for some twenty principals and teachers to attend Univ ersity summer workshops for special study of inter-group relations. Workshops were conducted within the County for all teachers. Lay leadership in the Montgomery County communities came to the fore and made significant contributions towards the maintenance of stability and in the direction of sound practices. The County Council of P.T.A.s is given much credit for its work before and during the school transition. Made up of representatives of all local school Parent-Teacher Associations in the County, it had long been an integrated group. After the announcement of the decision of the Montgomery County School Board to integrate County schools, the County Council gave guidance and impetus to local P.T.A.s urging them to become liaison gz'oups between �6 schools and patrons. The County Council sent resolutions to the School Board for consideration and they sent resolutions to local P.T.A.s for debate. The studied opinions of citizens were brought to bear on County policy through the channels of the County Council and accurate information was brought to bear on the formation of citizens' opinions through those same channels. We asked if all P.T.A. groups had continued their relationship with the County Council throughout the transition period. We were told that one group threatened to withdraw be cause a substantial number of their members were unhappy about the assignment of some Negro children (who didn't live in their area) to their school for one year while construction was under way elsewhere. The threat was never carried out and their representatives continued to participate in County Council affairs. An interesting story lies in the files of a P.T.A. in an elementary school near the D. C. border. The school had always been white. Its patrons included a sizeable group of professional people and a smaller group of very wealthy people. They also had a small group of low income white people. Suddenly, at the very beginning of integration these people learned that a crowded two-room Negro school - sub-standard to the point of no indoor plumbing - was to be discontinued and that the 53 Negro children of low income families who lived in a federal housing development in their school district would appear in their classrooms the next fall. The P.T.A. set up a school relations committee and in the appoint ments saw to it that all shades of opinion were represented. There were those who thought the move was already ninety years too late - those who thought it was ninety years too soon, and all those variations of points of view that emerge in any community when social change is under discussion. "We talked and talked" one member reported. "When emotions threatened communication we kept talking. We talked until we were agreed that the new situation must be handled in such a way that no child would suffer." With this basic agreement the committee set to work to "get ready" for integration. Teachers and parents and pupils worked together to bring about as smooth a transition as possible. Consultants in the field of human relations were brought in - Negroes as well as white - to meet with study groups and to appear at panel discussions. White parents visited the Negro school from which the children would come. Negro parents visited the white school to which their children would go. Observers say that the integrated school program has been highly successful in that school. Other parent groups were active in the County in efforts to help make the transition successful. One such group of white parents, after consultation with Negro parents, took upon themselves the task of going around in the Negro settle ments and explaining to residents what was involved in integration. They saw to it, for instance, that needy Negro children who were to be integrated in the early stages had suitable clothes so that they would not feel conspicuous with well-dressed children. Church groups in Montgomery County contributed to the community's cooperative acceptance of the new set-up. Clergymen got together and produced a clear state ment about the "Ministry of Reconciliation." Church action groups and committees not only passed resolutions of endorsements of the School Board policy but also provided information about it to the members of their congregation. Jewish groups in the County were likewise actively participating in programs of education for integration. The League of Women Voters set up integration study groups and have given wide circulation to fact sheets prepared each year since the beginning of de-segregation. The American Association of University Women studied the problems related to integration and worked out suggestions for the handling of the problems. Members of the American Veterans Committee demonstrated their concern. Between all these groups there was close communication and correlation of effort. Innumerable man hours - of both employed personnel and lay volunteers - have gone into the successful implementation in Montgomery County, Maryland, of a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. As people related to us the things they and others had done, and as they spelled out the kind of problems they had encountered, they invariably mentioned the "dividends." "You know what this is doing for us" one principal said. "It is showing us that the old ideas about the differences in ability of different races do not hold. We are seeing more clearly than ever before that ability is an individual thing." �7 "It is having a carry-over into the community" one member of a car pool said. "First we noticed that Negro children, waiting for a bus that would take them to an integrated school, were neater and cleaner. Now we notice that their yards are getting cleaned up and their houses are better kept." This observation reminded us that for more than a hundred years the American public school has served as a leveling-up channel through which many minority groups have become both acceptable and contributing parts of the whole stream of American life. "Even the Negro students who would just as soon stay in the segregated schools have a new pride in the knowledge that they don’t 'have to’" one teacher said. "It is education itself that has profited most" one heard from many sides. "Now" said someone "each school must look more particularly at itself to see if it offers what all of its students need." One teacher commented that all aspects of school life will be improved because it is all being studied more carefully. Someone observed that while in the past it has been assumed that Negro boys who wanted to learn dry cleaning were better off in a Negro vocational school, now school planners are beginning to think that in a larger integrated high school the same Negro boys and many white boys as well can be offered a much greater number of vocational opportunities. "Take this last School Board election" one man said. "It wasn't fought out on the basis of whether we are going to be integrated or not — everyone has accepted the fact that we are. Integration wasn't mentioned in the School Board election. But schools were mentioned and the debate was about the kind of edu cation we are going to buy with our tax dollar. That is as it should be." "We feel better about ourselves" a white church member said "less consciencestricken somehow. Not complacent, mind you, but glad to be a part of one step towards social justice and challenged to look for next steps." What happens when public schools are integrated? On the one hand, we could conclude after our observations in Montgomery County that nothing very startling happens. School doors go on opening as school doors have for a long time in this country where education is so much prized. Teachers go on assigning arith metic problems. Children go on writing compositions. The sky doesn't fall down. The economic system doesn't collapse. Social patterns don't change overnight. On the other hand, constitutional law assumes a new dignity, educational efforts receive a new stimulus; the insights of some men become more clear, the aspirations of other men become more free. It would seem to the Rock Spring Social Action Committee that Arlington could approach the de-segregation of its public schools without fear and could partici pate with faith in the steps ahead. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Report: "What Happens When Public Schools Are Integrated in a Community Like Arlington?", December 1958. 8 pages. Description An account of the resource Condensed report by the Social Action Committee of the Rock Spring Congregational Church of an inquiry into the desegregation of Montgomery County, Md. Public Schools chosen because of the similarities of that county with Arlington. Originally published in the Northern Virginia Sun, December 19, 10, 22, 1958. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Social Action Committee of the Rock Spring Congregational Church Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958-12 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_22 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/437617098ef620fe2ecbfb084a0a2c22.pdf 83aeea801f14afad777fa1425484f727 PDF Text Text S el,t c m ^ e r 21, 1957 a r e t h e PUBLIC DOING THEIR JOB? �ARE THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS DOING THEIR JOB? in Herbert L. Brown, Jr., managing editor of Changing Times (The Kiplinger Magazine), is a former Rhodes Scholar. His concern about our schools and local government has prompted him to file as a candidate for his county board in the elections this fall. Here he is shown with his family at their Arlington, Va., home. John Keals, a free-lance writer descended from an uncle of the poet who bore the same name, is the author of T h e C r a c k t h e P ic tu r e W i n d o w , a humorous book on housing developments. Here he is shown with his family at their island summer retreat on the St. Lawrence River, in Canada. By H E R B E R T L. B R O W N , JR Hv J O H N K E A T S The author asserts that public schools stunt young minds by feeding them insipid lessons in social conformity and “living skills”—instead of furnishing intellectual challenges to develop mature citizens. This parent declares that the American public-school system is demonstrating a notable superiority over private schools in equipping youngsters to meet the demands of the complex age in which we live. T i n p u b lic h ig h s c h o o l in o u r s u b u r b a n W a s h in g to n , D .C ., a re a is fu lly a c c r e d ite d b y t h e M id d le S ta te s A s s o c ia s io n a l p u b lic -s c h o o l e v a lu a t o r s g iv e it a n e x c e lle n t ra tin g . tio n ol C o lleg es a n d S e c o n d a ry S c h o o ls . I t is n o t p la g u e d by s p lit s e s s io n s ; th e c la sse s a r e n o t p a r t i c u l a r l y larg e b y t o T h e r e is n o q u e s ti o n in m y m in d t h a t t h e p u b lic -sc h o o l s y s te m o f w h ic h o u r s c h o o l is a p a rt c o m p a re s f a v o ra b ly o ffe rs s ix t y - th r e e d iff e re n t c o u rs e s o f s tu d y , a n d p r o fe s V I y tw o c h il d r e n , a b o y o f t h ir te e n a n d a g irl o f t e n , go is s a id , h a v e g o n e to t h e d o g s. T h e y d o n ’t te a c h t h e f u n d a t o p u b lic s c h o o l. M y w ife a n d I i n te n d to k e e p th e m m e n ta ls a n y m o r e ; k id s g e t o u t w ith o u t h a v in g le a r n e d d a y ’s s ta n d a r d s . T h e s c h o o l is staffed b y in te llig e n t, h a r d w ith a n y o t h e r p u b lic -s c h o o l s y s te m in t h e n a tio n . t h e r e . W e b e lie v e t h e y a r e n o w g e ttin g t h e b e s t p o s s ib le t o re a d , w rite o r d o s im p le a ri t h m e t ic . T h e y a r e fu ll o f w o r k in g m e n a n d w o m e n w h o s e e v e ry t h o u g h t is o f th e T h e s e fa c ts m ig h t m a k e it s e e m d iffic u lt to e x p la in w hy t o ta l e d u c a tio n . T h is c o n c lu s io n is b a s e d s o le ly o n w h a t ''li f e - a d ju s t m e n t ” s t u d e n t s ’ w e lfa re . T h e t e a c h e r p a y s c a le is re la tiv e ly h ig h w e s o ld th e p le a s a n t h o u s e t h a t s e rv e d u s s o w e ll, a n d h a v e w e t h i n k is m o s t d e s ira b le f o r th e m . W e w a n t t h e b e s t a d ju s te d m o ro n s . T h e y d o n ’t r e a lly k n o w a n y th in g . T h e y a n d t h e t e a c h e r s ’ m o ra le is e x c e lle n t. T h e m illio n -d o lla r n o n s e n s e t h a t t u r n s th e m i n to w ell- j u s t m o v e d to a s m o k y c ity to s p e n d m o re t h a n $ 2 0 0 0 a a n d a r e lu c k y e n o u g h t o b e a b le to a ffo rd a n y s c h o o l w e c a n ’t th in k . T h e y a r e u n p r e p a r e d f o r c o lle g e , fo r jo b s , b u ild in g is b r a n d n e w . It is lig h t, s p a c io u s a n d c o m p le te ly y e a r in o r d e r to s e n d o u r t h r e e c h ild r e n to a p r iv a te e q u ip p e d w ith e v e r y t h in g fro m a m o tio n -p ic tu r e t h e a t e r to m ig h t c h o o s e . W e s till c h o o s e p u b lic s c h o o l. f o r c itiz e n s h ip . T h e y h a v e le a r n e d to s tr i v e fo r a n easy s c h o o l t h is fall. a n a u d it o r iu m , s c ie n c e r o o m s a n d lib r a ry . B e h in d t h e t r e c o n fo r m ity . T h e d e v il r e s p o n s ib le fo r a ll t h is is s o m e th in g Y e s , I a m f a m ilia r w ith a ll t h e h o r r e n d o u s c h a rg e s I d o n o t k n o w h o w w e a r e g o in g to affo rd it. I k n o w t h a t m e n d o u s g y m n a s iu m t h e r e a r e g ra s s y p la y in g fields a n d a w e m u s t t r y , f o r o u r c h il d r e n ’s s a k e . M y w ife a n d I h a v e fo o tb a ll field e n c ir c le d b y a r u n n i n g tra c k . T h e s c h o o l c o m e s lo w ly a n d b i tte rly Continued on Page + a g a in s t p u b lic -s c h o o l e d u c a t i o n . I h a v e h e a rd th e m in m y c a lle d " p r o g r e s s iv e e d u c a t i o n .” T h e s e c h a rg e s , p la y e d o n v a rio u s s tr i n g s , c o m e f ro m a o w n c o m m u n ity , in A r lin g to n , V irg in ia , j u s t a c ro s s t h e sc a tte rin g o f p a re n ts, P o to m a c f ro m W a s h in g to n , D .C . T h e p u b lic s c h o o ls , it 3 Continued on Page 5 �NO to believe that our children cannot receive an adequate education in our local publicschool system, o r in any public-school system o f com parable stature. We believe that most o f this nation's public schools now offer America’s chil dren an education that is anticultural, anti-intellectual, narrowly utilitarian at best and utterly vapid at worst. We think most o f our public schools subscribe to an erroneous educational philosophy. We think most public education is bad in theory, bad ip practice and abysmal in its results. We are convinced th at the splendid public school building we are spurning, with its staff o f dedicated teachers, simply docs not, and cannot, offer any student an education that is in any way com parable to the education we both received in the public schools twenty years ago. These conclusions were not reached quickly. We argued against ourselves every step o f the way, because we did not want to believe what, eventually, w ewere forced to believe. O ur dissatisfaction with the public schools began when our son, now four teen, entered first grade. A t the time, we were merely a little puzzled, but we took for granted that things would have changed since we were in school, and trusted they had changed for the better. As o u r boy went on in school, however, our puzzlement deepened into something resembling dismay, and then, two years ago, a publishing house asked me to pre pare a book on Am erica's public school ing. It would be a book, they said, that would explain different educational points of view, but would not lobby for any one of them . In the course o f my research, I studied nearly every book on educational philosophy and technique printed since 1947. I visited public and private schools; liberal arts and teachers’ colleges; talked with hundreds o f pupils, college students, teachers and professors and examined the school district in which we live. My wife studied with me, and the more we learned, the m ore we became convinced o u r pub lic schools were failures. W e think the schools have failed be cause they do not ask children to think. This is no} entirely due to the fact that the schools devote less time to the child's m ind in order to stress vocational hints an d lessons in social conform ity. The schools fail because their m ethod o f presenting subject-m atter courses is an ironclad guarantee of poor quality. F o r instance, o u r high school teaches English to college-preparatory students in term s o f How To. O ur children learn How T o w rite letters: How To use the library: How To "get up-to-date inform a tion about various vocations": How To m ake a speech: How T o carry on a con versation: How To listen; and How To tell a poem from a short story. Nowhere do o u r children get the idea that English is a disciplined m eans o f expressing thought. Instead, they can only gather that English is a collection o f isolated skills, each som ehow different. Poems look like this, and short stories arc always short and have snappy endings. Letters arc things that begin D ear Sir and end Sincerely and have the date in a corner. Making a speech is being relaxed and ''Peaking slowly and clearly. Nowhere do our children learn that the basic ingredient o f any story, speech or Poem is its content. Nowhere do they learn that the im portant thing about writing a letter is having som ething to say, and using precise language to say it. W orse yet. o u r English teachers do not at all times insist on correct usage. Rather, they "attem pt to place the accent on ac cepted usage," as the school catalogue puts it. The insistence on technique rather than thought begins in the earliest grades. Thirty years ago my first-grade primer was based on story content, which, the authors said, “contributes no small part to the child's m astery.” Today, my young est child uses a prim er th at stresses "case,” never m entions “ m astery” and calls reading a “ skill.” Instead of stories, children now begin with “ Oh, oh, oh; look, look, look,” and they are bored silly. When elementary schools offer arith metic disguised as How Money Helps Us, the idea is to interest children in arithm etic by showing them examples o f its use in real life. They call this “ motiva tion," and say the result is that today’s children learn arithm etic better than their parents did. Unfortunately, the teaching technique tends to wag the dog. One ele m entary school in o u r area has set up a school bank to help teach what it calls “ the social phase” o f arithm etic. Fortyfive m inutes each day are devoted to electing young bank presidents, taking turns being cashiers, and standing in line at the cardboard play bank the children built. I say th at school is not making arithm etic “ meaningful," but is instead dem onstrating just one narrow use o f num bers, and is taking the long way o f doing it. I doubt if forty-five m inutes a day devoted to bank playing is a better use o f the time than showing children that num bers are thoughts, and combin ing this idea with drill in arithmetic. Emphasis on thought is missing from all subject m atter in our local school sys tem. The high-school science program s are nothing more than magic shows o f curi ous facts. They deal with such m atters as How To tell one detergent from an other by certain chemical tests. They do not deal with understandings o f basic re lationships or with the historical develop ment o f scientific m ethod. All our rigor ous courses arc presented in term s of techniques to be memorized for special occasions o r as something about which the child can learn something in a vague, unspecified future if he ever really finds it necessary. T hen, as if this were not enough, original thought and individual initiative are discouraged, as we shall see. Meanwhile, there arc other goodies for our children to nibble. High schools in our area offer lessons in How To an swer the telephone, buy a house, buy in surance, dress properly, shop wisely, ap ply for a Federal job, drive a car, behave on dates, curl hair, typewrite, fly-cast, decorate a living room and budget pocket money. This is not asking children to use their heads as best they can—it’s simply giving them formulas. As I see it, the cause of the schools’ fail ure is not the teacher shortage, nor the argument that a public school m ust teach the mass, and hence must lower its standards to the level o f the plodders. I think the trouble lies in a zany educa tional philosophy, first seen in full leaf at Columbia University’s Teachers Col lege several decades ago, which has now found such general acceptance that it is no longer called “ progressive” o r even “ m odern." The cornerstone o f this phi losophy is the quaint notion th at no course o f studies can train the mind. The dean o f one teacher factory told me that studying algebra, for instance, leads to nothing but a knowledge o f alge bra. He said it does not discipline the mind in a way o f thinking. Thus, he said. English teaches only reading, writing, lis tening and speaking skills o r techniques. History, he said, does not dem onstrate a way o f thinking to most children, but merely clutters their memories with a lot o f dead facts. Likewise, chemistry teaches only chemistry, and so on. “T hat is why,” he told me, “we say ‘We teach children, not subjects.’” T h e next question was, “W hat do you teach children?” and the teachers-collegc answer was—and is—“ life adjustm ent.” By this, our public-school men mean that whatever a child learns m ust be up-todate and immediately useful to that child's getting along in this world. Hence, subject m atter is not presented as thought but as vocational technique wedded to present reality. Meanwhile, the schools concentrate on good citizenship and be havior. They try to indoctrinate children with respect for the. rights o f others. They harp on the need to listen to everyone’s point o f view, just as though all points of view were valid. They offer behavior conditioning program s emphasizing con formity. Advanced-learning groups arc discouraged or disguised in an attem pt to hide from the rest o f the class the fact that some children are brighter than others. O ur school, in com m on with too m any others, makes life adjustm ent its chief educational aim. Now, if a child is obviously m alad justed, I think the school should help him. But I also think m aking life adjust ment for everyone the first aim o f public education implies our children are all m aladjusted; that our homes, churches and social agencies have failed and that o u r community is m orally bankrupt. There is no reason for this assum ption in my community, where, as in yours, the maladjusted child is the exception. One result o f life adjustm ent in our school system is that relatively less time is spent on intellectual matters, and o u r children com e out well-behaved little know-noth ings, which is exactly what they were when they entered. A nother result is m ore serious. O ur son, C hristopher, put it thus: “ I learned how to get along with the group, all right. All you do is shut up o r tell them (the teachers) what they want you to tell them. If you don’t, the teacher says, ‘Y ou're talking back’ o r ‘Y ou’re getting ahead' and ‘Why don’t you just w ait?' and either way the class is against you. If you don’t do what everybody else does, you’re lonely.” O ur elementary school devotes the first three hours o f its day to a dreary stew called social studies—the intellectual, so to speak, com ponent o f life adjustm ent. Children learn to do everything together, in committees. They study food and trans portation. They snip pictures o f carrots and trucks out o f advertisem ents. They visit the local dairy to learn to call the m ilkmen “com m unity helpers." They see movies with little social messages, and the mental result o f all this activity could be put in your eye. The last two and a half hours o f the school day—after lunch, when the children are beginning to tire—are devoted to read ing, writing, spelling and arithmetic. O ur elementary school is a happy place. Together with educator W ilbur A. Yauch, author o f How G ood is Y our School?, it believes “ the task o f educa tion is to m ake children unselfish and in terested in others.” It claims to teach children better than ever, thanks to the elaborate lifelike m otivation techniques. This is simply not true. O ur elementary school fails to give children good indi vidual work habits and it fails to give them m astery o f the fundam entals. I'll let one o f o u r junior-high-school teach ers sum it up for me. “ Children come here unprepared," he 4 said. “They don't know their three R’s. They can’t work by themselves. Wc make junior high a transition for them . We tell them there are no m ore committees. Wc say two o r three can collaborate on their work if they need to, but they’ll each receive a lower grade than if each did his own work. We tell them there’s no collaboration at all in high school. Y ou’d be surprised how much this upsets many o f them, because they’ve been taught to do things together.” As our son breezed through elementary and junior high school m aking straight A’s, wc wondered if the work wasn’t pretty simple, because Christopher is not talented. The answer was that Chris was never asked to think; he simply relied on his good memory. When he read Dickens’ Christm as Carol in sixth grade, he was asked to retell the story in his own words, rather than being asked to write a paper on the meaning of the story. His exam inations consisted of tru e-false and m ultiple-choice tests. N either test requires a child to prove his grasp o f the thing learned, as written an swers would. Such tests do not ask chil dren to think; they merely ask them to guess. M oreover, we found Christopher fall ing into sloppy work habits. “ Why bother with th at?” he’d ask, when we’d suggest his inform ation on any subject seemed a bit sketchy. “ All I have to do is get an A, and I already know enough for that.” All in all, we suspected our school was not asking children like Christopher to use their brains, but we had no idea how deeply it underestimated children’s abil ity to do mental work until friends re turned this spring from three years in England. Their son, just C hristopher’s age, had in those sam e three years com pleted two years o f Latin, two o f French, a year o f algebra, a year of geometry and m ore work in history and English com position than o u r high school offers. I refuse to adm it English children are th at m uch brighter than our own. The difference is one o f attitude. The English school req u ired stu d en ts to attem p t hard mental work, while our school does exactly the opposite. N ot only does our school system postpone establishment of advanced-learning sections until high school, but once there, each child re ceives printed advice not to select the college-preparatory program unless he feels able and willing to do hard work. This is a curious statem ent in more ways than one, for it falsely implies there is real meat in o u r college-preparatory pro gram. A t any rate, a good many o f our children take warning, and select the gen eral course and driver training and girls’ chorus instead. Thus, one school in our area dropped European history because not enough students elected it. Thus, too, our high school will not offer French next year unless ten students sign up for it. It hurt us to sec Christopher sliding through a school that never asked him to think about the meaning o f a story or about the meaning o f anything else. We experienced in o u r school system what Adm . H. G . Rickover, chief o f the Navy’s atom ic submarine program , finds true o f the nation’s schools in general. Adm iral R ickover told the Edison Foundation last November twentieth that "the above-average child is kept from advancing at the speed appropriate to his ability, with the result that many lose interest in learning as such, others develop sloppy work habits, and some build up a false sense of superiority which convinces them that they are so smart they will never need to apply them selves to anything. The deadly routine sets in on these young and malleable Continued on Page 6 clergymen, businessmen, educators them selves and taxpayers. Some reflect sincere concern over the goals and methods o f modern education. Some arc no more than the snorts o f a few professional cynics and blowhards. A good many start from an isolated instance, get magnified by rum or, and then are presented as whole sale indictments o f all public education. The United States public-school sys tem embraces 30,000,000 youngsters in some 150,000 schools, all administered more o r less locally. 1 have no doubt that in this immense network there are sub standard schools. I know that some o f the teachers in this country are less than com petent. In view o f what we pay them, it's a miracle we have so many good ones. Some school systems have gone haywire on their curricula. The only 100-pcr-centsafe generalization is that there are good schools and bad schools—public and pri vate. Some schools, public and private, are “ traditional" in their approach, while others lean to the “ progressive." Two o f the most prominently "progressive” schools in the G reater W ashington area are private schools. A nother point o r two that must be re membered about public schools: Acceler ated birth rates, particularly since W orld W ar II, have dum ped into our schools vast hordes o f youngsters. Building pro grams, halted by the war, have just begun to catch up. Many schools are over crowded. Certified teachers are in short supply. The public schools must nonethe less continue to take all comers, the bright ones and the dum b ones, the quick and the slow, the kids from normal homes and the kids from troubled homes, the boy who will be an atom ic scientist and the boy who will sell neckties, the girl who will be a dress designer and the girl who will m arry early and have six young ones o f her own. Nowadays, almost ev erybody goes to high school. N ot so far back, it was only the brighter 10 per cent. T oday's world is nothing like the world o f a generation ago. Changes of al most im ponderable magnitude have been wrought by the autom obile, TV, atom ic energy, the Cold W ar, the trend toward greater specialization, autom ation, the need for managers, the creation o f more and m ore leisure. The public schools are supposed to accept our children—all our children—and to teach each o f them to live usefully in this world. The public schools must absorb a growing list o f chores. Draft rejections in W orld W ar II raised dem ands that the schools emphasize anew physical educa tion and health programs. The alarm ing increase in divorce has led to an insistence on m ore family-life education in the schools. Poor turnouts in elections have resulted in a clam or for m ore extensive teaching o f citizenship. Traffic fatalities have brought dem ands for effective driver training. Bm I do not m ean to defend the public schools by weeping over their problems. Let me tell you som ething about our schools in Arlington and how my chil dren are doing. This com m unity is typical enough to provide a reasonably good ex ample o f what today's good public schools are like. Arlington C ounty is primarily a bed room for people who work for the Fed eral G overnm ent in W ashington. We have few o f the very rich o r the very poor. M edian family income is around S7500, maybe higher. The adult-education level is com paratively high. O ur schools are financed primarily by local real-estate taxes. We have virtually no industry to help broaden the tax base and help foot the bill—and this hurts. There is some compensation in payments we receive from the Federal Government for being a Federally impacted area. Wc also get some money from the state of Virginia, but nothing like what we pay to the state in income and gasoline taxes. Some factors in Arlington thus favor a good school system; others militate against one. N et, we are probably in bet ter shape to have good public schools than many other communities, and our school system is, in fact, considered to be am ong the top half hundred in the na tion. But we weren't born with it; we had to fight like dogs to get it. The present system is only ten years old. Prior to 1947 a political machine indifferent to the growth o f the community refused to modernize and expand what was essen tially a second-rate, rural school system. A Citizens' Committee for School Im provement organized itself, campaigned for an elected school board, spearheaded a drive to pass bond issues for new con struction, and kept applying pressure for adequate school budgets. The crucial element here was the col lective will o f the citizens oQ Arlington. They got a sound, up-to-date school sys tem because they wanted it and were will* ing to w ork for it. My son. Herb, is now in the eighth grade, in junior high school. He has gone through the Arlington elementary schools. My daughter, Carolyn, is in the fifth grade. My wife and I feel easier about her than we did about our son, because we did our pioneering with the boy. I think most parents pass through a similar experience when the oldest child hits the first grade. Things have changed since we went to school. Much o f the con fusion and misunderstanding about con tem porary schools stems from changes that m ost o f us have been unaw are o f because we have been out o f touch. There have been changes in the prac tice o f medicine, too, but in this and most other areas o f living we have all seen and digested change as it has occurred. Schooling is an exception. W e'got out, and that's the last we saw o f the inside of a school until o u r firstborn entered one. Suddenly we notice that they don’t do things the sam e way. Classes are less formal. Children are encouraged to ask questions. They may be split up into three o r four groups. Textbooks are colorful and actually look interesting. The rigidly departm entalized subjects have yielded to m ore fluid organization. At best, we are surprised: at worst, an gered. O ur egos rise up to confuse our judgm ent. W hat goes on here? Why the fancy changes? D o these school peo ple think we parents weren't decently edu cated? Waves o f nostalgia then pass over us, and we remem ber in a rosy haze all those nice teachers we had, how wonder ful school was, how we really had to work, how we really got our lessons down pat and no fooling, and how, by golly, this molded our characters, which, of course, are quite high. "N o doubt about it," we think, “ the public schools aren’t what they used to be." Said a Citizens Comm ittee in Madison, Wisconsin, after visiting certain class room s: "Alm ost universal lack o f dis tinct articulation, proper pronunciation and correct spelling." This is a common criticism. The report is dated 1901. I receive in my work a spate of letters from businessmen and parents deploring the failure o f today's children to m aster the fundamentals. Actually an impressive num ber o f tests have been run by educa tors. Old exam ination papers have been dredged up and given to contemporary children. The present-day youngsters al most invariably outscore their counter parts of former years in arithmetic, gram m ar, geography and reading. Many new insights into the learning process have been acquired in recent decades. Teachers generally know a great deal m ore about their jobs than their predecessors did. This knowledge is backed up by a vast body o f research. It has now been pretty well, dem on strated, for example, that individual chil dren m ature at different rates. One sixyear-old may be ready to read; another child may not be ready until he is eight, not because he is lazy o r “ bad," but be cause he just doesn't have the skill yet. Real learning, the psychologists have also discovered, requires some kind of motivation o r interest on the part o f the learner. This interest may be provided by rewards or by punishment. At an early age rewards are probably more ef fective than punishments. Drill as an instrument o f learning, it has been found, has limitations. Every body knows the story of the boy who kept saying, “ I have went." The teacher made him stay after school and write “ I have gone” 500 times on the blackboard.. Next day she found the 500 statements plus a note. “ I have written it 500 times. It is six o'clock. I have went hom e." Learning is m ore meaningful if it is “ adjusted to life.” The so-called “ lifeadjustm ent" approach does not spurn the basic skills o r discard academic sub jects. It merely tries to m ake education m ore lifelike. My son was led into the study o f fractions and percentages by being shown how to com pute the batting averages o f baseball players. He also checked prices in newspaper ads to see what percentage could be saved by buy ing a bicycle from one store rather than another. Percentages to him are real. Some people maintain, nevertheless, that the schools should junk all this “ m odern nonsense" and return to the good old ways o f teaching. I realize there arc some educators who have perverted the newer insights into all kinds o f absurdities. In a few schools, public and private, there is the “childcentered" curriculum where the kids do pretty much as they please, where there is little discipline, where some subjects may even be discarded if the children are not interested in them. Some o f the m ore ex trem e examples of this sort o f “ progres sive education" have been represented as typical. In fact they are not. My daughter. Carolyn, is an alert and imaginative child, with a m arked desire to do every job well. During her first year in school she just could not read—just as she could not run 100 yards in ten seconds. A generation or tw o ago she would have flunked the grade. As it was, she was encouraged to keep trying. The next year she began to pick up slowly. A handful of other children were in the same boat. These children read one text while the m ore advanced children went on to a m ore difficult one. The children in C aro lyn's group received special coaching. In the third grade, and again last year. Carolyn began to move ahead rapidly, and she now reads on the “ norm al” fifth-grade level. The way her situation was handled makes sense to me. To say she was spoiled or inculcated with a dis regard of proper standards docs not. It is the public high schools that really arc catching it for a whole parcel of supposed shortcomings. The argument runs that the traditional academic pro gram is being crowded out by vocational subjects and diluted to meaninglessness by frilly electives in such subjects as glee club and dating techniques. The kids who want to study such quaint subjects as mathematics, languages and science al legedly must go to private school if they are to get a decent education o r get into a respectable college. Let's see. My son is taking the follow ing required eighth-grade courses: Gen eral education—a com bination o f Eng lish and social studies whose area of study this year is United States history and geography—m athematics, general science, physical education and health. He had a choice o f one elective from these: home economics, art, newspaper production, industrial arts, choral music, instrum ental music, general speech and library methods. His elective—which his parents elected—is instrum ental music. Ye?, the choice o f electives is broad, and will stay fairly broad throughout high school. Some o f these electives may be considered quite nonessential to some folks, but quite im portant to others. Herb will get no chance to fritter away his high-school days. He has been observed and tested to see w hat his interests and aptitudes are, and his program will be set jointly by his teachers, guidance counselor and parents. In the college-preparatory program which Herb probably will follow in senior high school, these courses are available: French, Germ an, Spanish, Latin, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, biology, chemistry, physics, English, social studies, art and music. This youngster o f ours has turned out to be above average in general ability. H e is quick—and for several years his teachers have occasionally graded him down for being careless. He shows high aptitude for arithmetic. He was am ong a small group o f seventh graders who late last year were given the eighth-gradcarithnictic text and special instruction by the teacher. This sort o f advanced in dividualized instruction is typical of good m odem schools. Herb got all A 's last year, except in industrial arts—the kind o f elementary course in shopwork that was called m anual training in my day—in which he got a B. When we asked how come, he said he had been goofing off. He has learned that he will be penalized for not wording up to his standard. As 1 said before, a few folks in Arling ton charge that o u r high schools don’t do a first-class educating job. There is con crete evidence that this charge is not true. About 1000 youngsters were graduated from the Arlington high schools last June. This senior class garnered 172 college scholarships worth about S270,000. Eight seniors received appointm ents to West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force Academy and the C oast Guard Academy. The scholarships were to such repre sentative institutions as University of Virginia, University of Chicago. Brown, Duke, D artm outh. Oberlin, Cornell. Princeton, Stanford, California Institute o f Technology, Yale, University o f Wis consin, University o f Pennsylvania, Car negie Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Vanderbilt, Harvard. The Director o f Admissions at Massa chusetts Institute of Technology recently w rote the principal o f our WashingtonLee High School: “ I have reviewed the record o f W ash ington-Lee High School students. Since 1941. 17 students have entered M .I.T. from Washington-Lee. and their aggre gate record is an excellent one. O f the 7 who have been here long enough to grad uate. 6 have actually graduated and 2 have, in addition, received m asters' degrees.” Reports the Office o f Admissions, Continued on Page 7 �NO minds . . . children whose minds are not challenged become frustrated and often turn into poor pupils from sheer boredom .” Over and over again, our children— yours and mine—hear teachers say, ‘‘D on’t get ahead o f the class." O ur ele mentary-school children are told not to take their readers home, for fear they might read ahead. Christopher’s juniorhigh arithm etic class was taught to use a table to find square roots. Two o f his friends loved arithm etic and did outside reading. They found a way to extract square roots without a table, and that the m ethod was easier and m ade more sense to them than the teacher’s. De lighted, they took their discovery to class. Instead o f complimenting them for enter prise, the teacher squashed them. “ How did I tell you to do it?” he de m anded. “ D on’t you think you ought to do it our way? D on’t you think you shouldn’t get ahead of the group? We’ll get around to your way later on.” “They always say, ‘D on’t you think,’” Christopher reported. “ ‘D on’t you think you should go along with the group?’ ‘D on’t you think,’ ‘don’t you think.’ They always mean ‘D on’t you think you shouldn’t think what you think?’” This is not an isolated example o f a p oor school and a poor teacher. Given space, I could prove it typical. I have mentioned that ours is considered a good school and that our teachers arc good people. This really says nothing, because the school is judged by accreditors who seem to think a m illion-dollar plant guar antees educated graduates, and who be lieve in the life-adjustment program . Our tcachers-college technicians o f education have elected themselves judge and jury o f their own work. O ur classroom teachers have no choice o f what to teach o r how, and some o f them resent this. Children go through twelve years of ou r public schooling and emerge still shaky in the simplest things. O ur senior high-school English class is clear proof. “ Chiefly,” our school says, “ the senior English course is a review of the language s k ills (italics mine), the skills o f listening, speaking, reading and writing. . . . Al though teachers provide opportunities for longer compositions, they concentrate on the sentence and the paragraph; the pupil need is still in this area.” Thus, in the last year o f higher learn ing that most o f our children will ever know, they are still trying to learn how to listen, still trying to learn how to write sentences. Somewhere in those twelve years, it seems to me, someone has failed. T hat children leave M aryland high schools unprepared for college work is evidenced by com plaints from the Uni versity o f M aryland, an institution never particularly distinguished for its intellec tual accomplishments. T hat the nation’s high schools have failed generally is shown by D octor C onant’s statem ent : “ If a lay m an really wishes to hear eloquent evi dence as to the inadequacies of our public secondary schools, let him talk to the pro fessors on alm ost any cam pus.” P itifu lly enough, our schools produce children unable to meet the Army’s m od est dem ands of its enlisted m en. The cap tain of one o f the Nike batteries defend ing W ashington from atom ic attack told me he simply didn't know how anyone could expect him to rely on the kind of teen-agers the draft sent him. “They can’t even add o r subtract,” he said. “ I have to read their mail for some o f them and write their letters home for them. A nd outfits like mine are supposed to be getting the cream o f the crop. G od knows what the rest are like if mine are the cream .” The failure o f o u r public schools can not be explained away by o u r schoolmen, who argue “ We have to teach everybody these days.” They say this in a hurt tone that implies everybody’s child is a dither ing jackass, but I have not yet been able to discover this is indeed the fact. As I read the schoolmen’s own statistics, the num ber o f juvenile jackasses is exactly as small as the num ber o f geniuses am ong us. W hat I find in practice is that our schools pam per the jackasses, stuff the geniuses under the rug, and meanwhile envelop everyone in that fatuous diaperism they call life adjustm ent. My wife and I believe the school should at least ask children to try to think if it can’t train them to think. We believe every child from the nitwit to the young Einstein needs to be asked to use his head as best he can, and if the school makes this its first aim , then we say the school has m ade a greater contribution to that child’s adjustm ent to life than if it has merely taught him how to curl hair, be have himself in the back scat o f a car, buy a pair of pants and type a letter. Therefore, we think the schools should insist th at all children stub their mental toes on rigorous subjects presented as thought. N o doubt this will result in some failures. On the other hand, who is to say a failure learns nothing from his course? As a schoolboy. Sir W inston Churchill flunked everything in sight. This fall our children will attend a rickety building set am ong busy city streets. The classrooms arc dingy, the floors creak, and generations o f cducands have left their initials in the old-fashioned desks. We doubt whether o u r children will be aware that the walls are not gaily tinted, because they’ll be too busy work ing with golden things. They will become acquainted with the cultural heritage of m ankind, because the school believes, together with Sir A rthur Bryant, “ the key to a nation’s future is in her past. The nation that loses it has no future. . . .’’ In private school o u r children will study the liberal arts—those arts which, if m astered, set man free. In senior year they won’t concentrate on trying to write sentences nor will they be reviewed in how to listen. Instead, they will read C onrad, Eliot, Thoreau, Veblen, Bene dict, Lewis, Huxley, Swift, Forster, Joyce, Fitzgerald, Jesus, Plato, Shaw, A n derson, Silone, Crossman, Mill, The Bill of Rights, Machiavclli and Hardy. Then they will write essays on these questions: W hat is the relationship of man to the state? W hat is the source o f our values? How valid are they? W hat is the nature o f tragedy? Is man progressing? Toward what? W hat is the good life? W hat right has the individual to disagree? How much must he conform ? W hat is loyalty? Here is life adjustm ent, if you will, but a real adjustm ent based on understand ings rather than on manipulative tech I nique o r mass indoctrination in good group behavior. The children at this school arc not all geniuses. They are ready to read such authors and write on such questions because the fundamen tals have been presented to them not as skills, but as thoughtful means o f expres sion, and they have been asked to think about the meaning o f everything they’ve studied from first grade up. We arc not sending o u r children to this school in order that they may go to col lege. If they m aster the private-school work, they will be prepared for college. If they want to go, they can take themselves. W hat our children will do in later life does not concern us. W e can’t lead their lives for them. We are certain, however, that whatever they do they will do better if they have been asked always to use their heads and have had some practice in the m atter. The real reason we arc sending our children to private school is that the school we have selected will re quire them to use w hat brains they have as best they can, and that our public school docs not. M y wife and 1 have thus made our ex pensive separate peace with our educa tional system, but we do not leave the field with light hearts. We think contin ually o f those whom we have left behind; of children as bright as or brighter than our ow n; o f children whose potentialities will never be realized by a school system which puts conform ity ahead o f accom plishment, which substitutes techniques for understandings, which underesti mates children’s desire and ability to do hard mental work and which—there are no other words for it—defrauds our youth o f their right to a decent education while pretending to adjust them to life. We have no doubt that our teachcrscollcgc schoolmen arc well intentioned, but the way to hell is paved with such in tentions, and when we consider that a nation's schools are the bulwark o f its freedom, and then look a t our schools in the context of the hydrogen-bom b age, we fear we sec th at well-paved path stretching out before us all. Thoughtful men may save themselves; robots—no m atter how well adjusted—never will. THE END California Institute o f Technology: W-L students have made the highest grades after entrance o f any secondary-school youngsters enrolled. The records o f Arlington public-highschool graduates in these notoriously tough institutions are eloquent—particu larly in light o f the com m on charge that public-school youngsters are ill-traine*d in m ath and science. P erh a p s the most significant evidence, however, is revealed in results o f College Board examinations. The purpose of these tests, given by a large group o f colleges, is to test the applicant’s intellect. As the College Board says, the only preparation for its Scholastic Aptitude Test is “a life time o f intellectual challenge.” Achieve ment tests, says the board, arc based on knowledge o f facts plus the ability to rea son with them. College Board scores run from 200 to 800. The bulk o f the youngsters who take the tests arc public-school pupils. How ever. the percentage of all public-school cnrollccs who elect to take College Boards is smaller than the percentage o f all private-school enrollees who elect to take them. T hat’s mainly because lack of money keeps a lot of public-school kids from planning on college. Here arc the most recently tabulated complete results o f College Board scores. The figures, noting the com parative grades o f public-school and privateschool boys and girls, average the work o f sonic 45,000 students. Scholastic Aptitude Test (Verbal) Scholastic Aptitude Test (M athematical) Achievement Tests English composition Social studies French German Latin Spanish Biology Chemistry Physics Intermediate M ath Advanced M ath Public Private 484 482 514 492 521 525 506 509 557 486 508 540 549 530 582 523 511 526 492 530 500 49! S22 518 495 575 The public-school youngsters thus out- scored the private-school youngsters in both aptitude tests and in all subjects ex cept English com position, French and Spanish. A general com m ent from the Director of Admissions o f a m ajor Ivy League col lege is revealing: “Since 1949 we have had a gradual in crease in enrollments from the public schools. This has not been by design, but simply has evolved from the nature of the qualifications of the individuals who have applied and, obviously, from the relative grow th in public-school populations. “W e have, however, kept some data on the academic work o f the publicschool groups and the independentschool groups on succeeding classes with the sam e results discovered in an earlier study; namely, that on the average, graduates o f public schools perform academically better than do the boys from the private schools." If there is no substance to the general ized charges against the quality o f publicschool education, how come all this pro private-school talk? Let me say again that in some places a particular private school may be notice ably better than the local public school. Some parents feel they are trapped in a desperate situation where reconstruction o f the public school is too big a job,-and they conclude they should send their chil dren to a private school. Other parents favor private schools be cause that has been the family tradition. It is difficult and a bit im pertinent to try to psychoanalyze somebody’s belief in a given tradition. It may reflect generations o f pride in a high-minded way o f life. It may reflect a desire to m aintain social status and prestige. There are still other parents who prefer that their children be in a m ore select o r refined environm ent. Private schools all cost money. They all cost m ore than public school, and some cost a whale o f a lot m ore. F or most American families, a private boarding school is prohibitively expensive, and even the cost o f most private day schools comes high. This means that private schools arc tequired to take only the sons and daughters o f families who can afford to pay the price. The few scholar ship students in private schools hardly dilute the attendance. Enrollees in most private schools are silver-spoon kids. The heads o f the belter, highly respon sible private schools deplore this fact. They would like to select, solely on merit, those youngsters who are fit for the superior education they wish to give. But they still must run their schools on a price basis. The second- and third-rate private schools operate without qualms on a price basis. The last place in the world I want my children is in an institution where mem bership depends on a com fortable thick ness in papa’s wallet—where the princi pal requirem ents for getting along are the expensive car and the expensive wardrobe. I hate to see so much money and effort drained into private schools. And it isn’t only the direct drain o f money. Private schools have another debilitating and even dangerous effect on the public schools. When a parent pays a special tab for a private-school education, he usually is not too willing to vote for higher taxes to support public schools in which he has no personal interest. I do not question anyone’s right to m aintain o r support a private school, but I do say that support o f public education is a basic obligation o f citizenship. I can not shake the conviction th at private schools in twentieth-century America may be an anachronism. The link between private school and parents is usually weaker than tfic link between public school and parents. The private school represents a service that is bought; the public school is a com m unity institution which the citizens support and can control. This intimacy o f relationship am ong home, com m unity and public schools—which accounts for P.T.A.’s and all the other apparatus of co-operation— is extremely desirable, it seems to me. After all, the child at home, the child in the neighborhood and the child at school arc all the sam e child, one and indivisible. My wife and 1 think our children de serve whatever time and effort we can contribute to the schools, and we have learned that the schools arc grateful for the contribution. This contention that the “ school people” want to “ take over” and don’t want any “ interference" from the parents is quite ungrounded, at least in our schools in Arlington. Some years ago 1 happened to ask our principal why she thought narrative re port cards were superior to the ABC cards; this was just an inquiry—1 was curious. The following year she asked me to be chairm an o f a study group on report cards. This was a local school group com posed o f a dozen parents, of various points o f view. W e hashed it out and wrote a report. The next year I was asked to be chairm an o f a similar county-wide com m ittee. This group sub sequently m ade a report to the school board recommending certain changes. The changes were made. I cite this as ordinary procedure in Arlington. T h e school board appoints advisory committees o f parents for each school Reprinted by Special Permission of THF SATURDAY EVENING POST d it io n s : t is in g ( 1) and names advisory councils in such areas as libraries, personnel policies, text books, art and hom e economics. Some 400 Arlington parents serve on these bodies. They arc another reason why we have good, strong schools here. Those o f us who do take part in these activities arc not professional educators o r professional busybodies. We believe that a little constructive participation in school matters is less wearing and more useful than grousing o r throwing stones from the side lines. Yes, o u r children are where we want them —in our local public schools. My wife and I have heard all the criticisms; we have investigated and have found them basically without truth. We know the Arlington public schools arc excel lent, and we have no reason to indict the public schools o f a great many thousand other communities. W hat is it that a parent wants for his children? F or Herb and Carolyn I think what I want most is that they will learn to think, and to think responsibly. I want them to have a chance to develop all the ability they may possess. But as they learn to think with their heads, I want their feet to be planted solidly on the com m on ground which nurtures all of us. I want them within, not above or alongside, the course o f events. I want them to have a fair and equal start, but no head start prearranged for them by their parents. Like every other parent, I think my children arc sm arter and nicer than m any other children, but to make an im portant distinction, 1 don’t think they arc any better. 1 want them to learn—and they will learn in the m icro cosm which is the public school—tliqt this is a world full o f good and evil, o f energy and slothfulness, o f greed and honesty. I want them to understand that there is no • necessary correlation be tween virtue and money, between de cency and the circumstances o f birth. I want them to mix, as they do, with the children o f the Ph.D., the ironworker, the man who runs the grocery - I want them to learn to achieve, and also to be tolerant and humble. I want my children in no hothouse, no headm aster's private preserve, no snob factory. If they want to go to an elevated private college later on. th at’s fine. By that time they will be proof against being made prigs o r jerks. I will keep my children in public school, and will continue to stew around, along with my neighbors, to m ake those schools the best possible. “The common school.” said Horace M ann, “ is the greatest discovery ever m ade." He was T h a t it m a y n o t b e used fo r a d v e r u n d e r a n y c ir c u m s t a n c e s , (2 ) th a t n o o n e o u t s id e T h e C u r t i s P u b l i s h i n g C o m p a n y m a y a l l i x C o p y r ig h t pany. by T h is a r t ic le S a tu rd a y I ) 1957 E v e n in g The has C u r t is been P u b lis h in g C o m r e p r in te d P ost u n d e r th e fro m fo llo w in g an o r g a n iz a tio n The and con m a te r ia l m a y 7 (3 ) th a t nam e o r any no s o lic it a tio n a c c o m p a n y it . o th e r m a tte r to o r s a le s it . p r o m o t io n � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Reprint from the Saturday Evening Post, "Are the Public Schools Doing Their Job? No/Yes", September 21, 1957. 4 pages. Description An account of the resource Side by side essays by No, John Keats and Yes, Herbert L. Brown, Jr. Keats asserts schools are stifling young minds where as Brown contends public schools are superior over private schools. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Saturday Evening Post, John Keats, Herbert L. Brown, Jr. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1957-09-21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_21 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/b21f5ae7a939b8509a852495346050db.pdf 5dd9e482869fbf5af13dc526afca8f01 PDF Text Text 0F--69UR3E I flKVB-RBAS-If^ I HAVE READ IT WITH GREAT PRIDE, BUT WITH DEEP CCKCERN; WITH PRIDE IN THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OUR SCHOOLS UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF A SCHOOL BOARD ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE FROM QUALIFIED CANDIDATES . IT WAS THESE SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS WHO TURNED A POOR SCHOOL SYSTEM INTO ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING SCHOOL SYSTEMS IN THE COUNTRY. I HAVE READ .IT WITH PRIDE THAT ARLINGTON SHOUID BE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE HERBERT BROWN, A MAN OF NATIONAL REPUTATION, A PARENT OF CHILDREN IN THE ARLINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, TO TELL THE STORY OF ARLINGTON'S SCHOOLS TO THE NATION. THE VALUE OF THIS NATIONAL RECOGNITION TO ARLINGTON CANNOT BE OVER­ ESTIMATED. IT IS THE KIND OF ADVERTISING THAT NO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE COULD BUY. MODERATOR; THEN WHY ARE YOU WORRIED? MRS. 0 . ; I AM WORRIED BECAUSE WE HAVE LOST OUR RIGHT TO ELECT A SCHOOL BOARD AND SO TO KEEP THE SCHOOLS RESPONSIBLE TO THE PEOPLE OF ARLINGTON. I A M WORRIED BECAUSE THE TWO SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS APPOINTED BY AIM ARE NOT SYMPATHETIC TO THE PRESENT ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS AND THEIR ADMINISTRATIVE POLICIES, AND ARE NOW HARASSING MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL STAFF, TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS. I A M WORRIED BECAUSE CERTAIN EXCELLENT SCHOOL EMPLOYEES HAVE QUIETLY LEFT THE SYSTEM, AND OTHERS ARE NOW MAKING INQUIRIES FOR JOBS WHICH WILL REMOVE THEM FROM SCHOOL BOARD MANAGEMENT BY HARASSMENT, NOT ENCOURAGEMENT. I AM WORRIED BY THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THERE IS NEED FOR ADDITIONAL CLASSROOMS, HOT NOW BEING BUILT BECAUSE OF AIM OPPOSITION. DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE WILL BE HALF-*DAY SESSIONS IN ARLINGTON'S HIGH SCHOOLS NEXT YEAR? MODERATOR; MRS. 0 . ; THE ELECTION OF HERBERT BROWN IS A MUST IN ORDER TO PUT AN END TO AIM HARASSMENT OF THE SCHOOLS, TO BOOST THE MORALE OF THE SCHOOL STAFF, TO BRIN3 THE APPOINTMENT OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS WHO COMMAND THE RESPECT AND CONFIDENCE OF THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY, .AJ©^TO KEEP ARLINGTON’S SCHOOL SYSTEM WORTHY OF NATIONAL RECOGNITION. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Partial transcript of interview with Elizabeth Campbell, no date. Description An account of the resource Discussion concerns Mrs. Campbell's worries about the Arlington School System because Arlington has lost the right to elect its own School Board and about the contentiousness between the two members of "AIM" on the School Board and the other School Board members. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Elizabeth Campbell Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource No date Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_20 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/2e1751d003ef87722ea6e4e66a65db51.pdf 1b86ec40b3cead56278ddb20f6d2e841 PDF Text Text Little Rock: The Battle B y R A Y F O R D W . L O G A N ’17 MK u, w V Logan ’17 T HE nation faces one of its most citizen, white or black, of South dangerous domestic crises since Carolina would be equal before the state and Federal laws and Constitu the bitter aftermath of the 1876 elec tion. Then, as now, professional tions. By the end of the century Southrons threatened the President Negroes throughout the South had with civil war in order to compel him descended to what one historian has to accept their way of life — third- called the“ N adir.” Governor Faubus has provoked a class citizenship then, second-class now, for Negroes. President Hayes, miniature civil war. He has inter a former general, abhorred war as posed the “ sovereign” state of Arkan does President Eisenhower. Hayes sas against a decision of the Supreme Court and against the President. The in September, 1877, had clearly re Governor insists that peace can be vealed his desire for peace and har mony in the South when he stated: restored only if the Negro students “ That one word [war] solved in my are withdrawn from Central High mind the problem of the South.” School. His trump card is sex; After thus leading from weakness, he knowing the South’s obsession with made a “ good-will” tour of the South sex because of its guilt complex, in order to obtain assurance from Faubus has been issuing communi governors, legislatures, the press and ques worthy of publication in C o n the people that they would observe f i d e n t i a l. faithfully the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. hese “ vulgar” actions of Gover Governor W ade Hampton, whose nor Faubus and his two attempts to Red Shirts had overthrown the Re outsmart President Eisenhower may construction government in South help to swing the weight of public Carolina, had already warned the opinion in favor of the President. President: “ While he performs his Essentially, the Battle of Little Rock Constitutional duty, I think it is our is a struggle for the minds of men. duty to say to him that we will sus M r. David Lawrence has mounted tain his policy, w hether he be Demo his white charger to prove that the cratic or Republican.” Hampton President does not have the legal then preceded Hayes to Louisville authority to use Federal troops to and gave him another warning. The “ enforce” desegregation. But, so people of South Carolina had ex far as I know, he has not advocated ercised restraint, Hampton declared, impeachment of the President. Three because “ they knew, they felt, that deans of law schools in Virginia, bloodshed in South Carolina meant among many others, assert that the civil war in America.” Since South President does have the legal right Carolina was at last free, “ she in as well as constitutional authority to tends honestly, truly, bravely, and, use force. The picture of Elizabeth in the best acceptation of the term, Eckford obeying the order of the loyally, to fulfill all her duties to the Arkansas National Guard not to laws and constitution of the country.” enter Central High School, the Sharing the platform with Hayes scenes revealing the hate-mad mobs, at Bowling Green, Ky., Hampton the poise of Dorothy Counts of gave this veiled assurance: “ We can Charlotte, N. C., in her television pledge him that we will do all in our interview have won supporters who, power to hold up his hands while he is sustaining the Constitution of the D r . L o g a n i s P ro fe sso r o f H i s United States.” In brief, so long as lo ry a t H o w a r d U n iv e rsity . H e h a s Hayes accepted H ampton’s interpre a u th o r e d a n e w b ook , The Negro in tation of the Constitution, there the U nited States, a n A n v i l O r i g i would be no new civil war. Hamp n a l p u b l i s h e d b y V a n N o s tr a n d . ton’s q u id p r o quo promised that every November 1957 however grudgingly, believe in the supremacy of law. The abusive at tacks on the Supreme Court be cause of the desegregation decisions, the Watkins, Jencks and Nelson de cisions, have provoked the indigna tion of Conservatives. Big Busi ness, represented in Arkansas par ticularly by Mr. Winthrop Rocke feller, are taking a second look be fore they relocate Northern industry in the South. Ministers of churches in Little Rock and elsewhere are praying to find out where God stands. Senator Fulbright, conveniently abroad, is silent. Senator Byrd, who is the pro genitor of “ massive resistance,” has recently introduced the argument that it costs $22,000 a day to protect each of the nine colored students at Central High School. Byrd further asserts that “ this whole business is simply to get the Negro votes up North.” O f course, both political parties are striving to derive the maximum benefit from the Battle of Little Rock. But it is somewhat amusing to hear Senator Byrd and others prate about the Negro vote in the North. Lynch ing, segregation, disfranchisement, low wages and insults to the dignity of the individual as a human being, and rosy dreams of life in the Prom ised Land of the North, drove about a million Negroes out of the South during and after World W ar I. Lynching had largely disappeared by World War II, but the other forces of push and pull drove perhaps another million Negroes into the North during and after World War 11. Even before the Battle of Little Rock, a new “ invasion” of the North had begun. It has now gained mo mentum. Carl Rowan, in his article in the S a tu r d a y E v e n in g P o s t. October 12, 1957, stated that a new Negro reaches Chicago every fifteen min utes. Many of the disillusioned move on to Los Angeles. Thus, the virtual reign of terror in some parts of the South has been a prime factor in making the Northern Negro the �Little Rock: balance of power in many local and state elections and even in the elec tion of the President of the United States. My faith in Divine Retribu tion has been restored. The North is reaping a fitting re quital for its naive belief in the “ New South.” After Hampton’s threat of renewed Civil War in 1877 rein forced the “ hands-off” policy of the North, presidents, the Supreme Court, Congress, the Church, Northern newspapers and magazines “ bought” the New South. God is now punish ing us Damnyankces. We did not believe that there existed in the United States the half-literate, un couth Negroes and whites who have now invaded our cities. This back wash of the vestiges of slavery and of Northern indifference or naivete may, however, in the long run prove beneficial, for the “ Negro problem” is now a national problem. Mean while, what about desegregation in Little Rock and in the South? Prosegregationists are delighted that the showdown is taking place in a state where gradual desegregation had begun, rather than in such “ They - Shall - Not - Pass” states as South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Virginia. If the prosegregationists should win in Arkansas, the Deep South would be strengthened in its determination to say “ Never.” De segregation in Border states would be retarded. At best, the North Caro lina plan of student placement by local boards for reasons other than race would be widely accepted, even though some desegregationists assert that this plan constitutes “ massive evasion.” Perhaps the most hopeful aspect of the crisis is the fact that President Eisenhower seems now convinced that the Executive must take de cisive steps to support the decisions of the Supreme Court. He must now realize that it does make a difference whether he endorses a decision of the Court. He perhaps understands that, as he outsmarted the Nazis who thought that he was going to land at Calais, he must not allow Faubus, Byrd, Ervin, Griffin, Talmadge and Eastland to outmaneuver him. If he holds firm and thus helps to win the battle for the minds of men, he may yet emerge victorious. He may find that, once having broken the back of the mob, there is a thin shell of resistance, at least in parts of the South, as there was when he and General Patton broke through the Nazi lines in France. His great est victory may thus be not in World War II but in “ Civil War” II. If he should fail, the South would gain an even greater victory than it did after the First Reconstruction. The London Economist has defined Faubian tactics as “ the techniques of fighting a losing battle in such a way as to cause the greatest loss to all concerned.” It is not certain that he will lose the battle or that, even if he loses it, he will not win the war. But hope that he may lose both the battle and the war is strengthened by Wil liam Faulkner’s letter in the N e w York Times, October 13, 1957. The last paragraph reads as follows: “We, because of the good luck of our still unspent and yet unexhausted past, may have to be the rallying point- for all men, no matter what color they are or what tongue they speak, willing to federate into a com munity dedicated to the proposition that a community of individual free men not merely must endure, but can endure.” The Meaning . . . T HE next big fight on segrega grate, but the integration has been tion will be in Virginia after postponed until after election time. It Christmas, according to Benjamin (the integration order) probably Fine, education editor of the N e w will be ready after Christmas when we will have the next battleground. York Times, who spent 38 days cover ing the Little Rock story. Sponsored And more’s the pity, because every by the Williams Lecture Committee, time we have such an issue, it will Dr. Fine addressed an audience of hurt the nation.” Asked what effect such segrega 800 in Chapin Hall on October 18. “ Virginia has taken the most tion battles will have on the U.S., Dr. backward stand on integration and Fine said, “ We will weather it as will not permit its communities to individuals and as the U.S., but are integrate if they want to,” the speak we strong enough to weather it in er explained. “ Four counties in India, Asia and East Berlin? Even Virginia have been ordered to inte- our friends are wondering.” 4 Benjam in Fine In Dr. Fine’s opinion, the scien tific defeat the U.S. suffered when Russia launched the satellite cannot compare with the moral defeat we have experienced in integration which is “ stronger, more dangerous and more harmful. Without spiritual leadership we are a hollow shell — a second-rate spiritual power in a world that needs first-rate leader ship. “ What we need is better educa tion,” Dr. Fine argued. “ Most of the Little Rock mob had a third- or fourth-rate education. We must be careful because our liberal arts and humanities program may suffer at the expense of scientific training. For too long education has been con sidered a ‘ marginal luxury,’ and the results have shown up in Little Rock.” Dr. Fine insisted that in Little Rock, “ The troops were called out for political reasons, because no Arkansas governor has had a third term. Dr. Fine attributed much of “ the cancerous situation” in Little Rock to the political ambitions of Gover nor Orval Faubus, who hopes to be elected to an unprecedented third term as governor. In the queslion-and-answer period which followed the lecture, Dr. Fine was asked what effect the Faubus maneuvering will have on his third term aspirations. “ As of now, Faubus is in by a landslide because of support from the segregationists, states’ rights people and bigots. I hope it will change by next July, and it will if the good people do some thing about it.” On the political hopes of Faubus, Dr. Fine added, “The Governor of Georgia was a houseguest of Faubus. I firmly believe that there was some WILLIAM S ALUMNI REVIEW �L ittle Rock: kind of — not plot, but understand ing, to which Governor Faubus lent himself.” Dr. Fine elaborated this view following a question about a third party movement in the South: “ My guess is that Governor Faubus has been told, ‘You become our great white hope and you can name your own place on our third-party ticket.’ Probably he will become vice president — a candidate, I mean.” Other points Dr. Fine made were: The South’s attitude toward inte gration — 85 to 90 per cent are against integration, but they will ac cept it if it comes. The national picture— “ We are not out of the woods yet — we have our problems in the North, too. It doesn’t happen only in Little Rock. I spent three hours this afternoon trying to find out why New York City is dragging its heels on desegre gation.” Senator J. William Fulbright — he represents the majority view in Arkansas, “ and I think that’s why he’s a coward. I am convinced that if Fulbright and (Senator John B.) McLcllan had taken a stand Faubus would have cracked within a week.” Administration policy during the crisis— “ I think we need better leadership in Washington, frankly . . . Little Rock was a victory for a segregationist governor, but it was also a victory for the U.S. I won’t say for the first time, or the last, but President Eisenhower did take a firm stand . . . Between innings — no, that isn’t what you call them — — between the eighth and ninth holes at Newport a doctrine was es tablished. Three weeks too late, but he finally came to grips with the problem.” More Mark and Less Log During a pre-lecture party be fore his talk here, Dr. Fine de livered a pair of aphorisms on the subject of expensive schools and inexpensive teachers. When told the cost of the new Williams School in nearby Pitts field was pegged at $72,000 a classroom, he said that instead of building such expensive schools, communities ought to raise their teachers 50 per cent. “ Kids aren’t taught by bricks and mortar,” he declared, “ they’re taught by teachers. I ’d rather have a first-class teacher in a wooden building than a wooden teacher in a first-class building.” Asked what he would set as the requisites of a good teacher he added: Emotional stability; a good sense of humor and a good per sonality; a love of children; ideal ism and a love of the job, not just the need for a job; scholarship — a knowledge of the subject and a knowledge of how to teach it. A Christian Interpretation . . . By WILLIAM S. COFFIN, A College Chaplain NY Northerner discussing a son in the room, who best recognizes southern segregation problem how stuffy the room has become. had better recognize the truth of theAnd, finally, by way of introduc southern claim that the North, with tory remarks, there is no point in far less excuse, has not put its own glorifying the negro. The guilt of a house in order. sensitive white man only becomes Wherever negroes live in one part bearable with the recognition that of town, and whites in another, there negroes in a similar position might is an unsolved integration problem. do the same thing. Segregation is In communities where there arc no not a problem of white men or gen negroes there is likewise an integra tiles alone but of all men. If the line tion problem, for anyone acquainted is not drawn at color then it will be with Harlem housing knows that elsewhere. Sad proof of this is the negroes would quickly move to a discrimination in Israel by formerly community that was ready to wel persecuted European Jews against come them. In other words, there is their darker skinned and less well no community in the North without educated Yemenite brethren. a segregation problem. The second paragraph of the It is right for Northerners to heed Declaration of Independence begins: Southerners, and vice versa, for it is “ We hold these truths to be selfgenerally the outsider, not the per evident, that all men are created November 1957 equal: that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalien able rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi ness.” Historically these truths have been anything but self-evident. How selfevident were they to the signers themselves, many of whom were slave holders? To determine equali ty or inequality, one needs a stand ard of measurement, and standards have differed sharply from culture to culture, from religion to religion. For a Jew or Christian the stand ard was given long ago in the com mandment to love one’s neighbor as oneself. That the commandment has not yet been obeyed, or even uni versally accepted, proves, perhaps, that no commandment is more diffi cult. When the Bible says “ love your neighbor” it never assumes the neighbor is loveable; in fact quite the opposite. With its customary shrewd ness, the Bible also recognizes that there is little merit anyhow in loving the loveable, for if he is loveable he is loveable to me, he entertains me, he shares m y interests, he is loyal to me. Most of all, perhaps, he is loveable because he loves me. The criterion of loveability is my own self-interest, and when one really thinks about it, perferring any man to another is a self-interested choice. Recognizing this, the Bible insists that real love begins with the love of the unloveable: hence, in the Old Testament the injunction to love the stranger within the gates, and in the New Testament the injunction to love one’s enemies. Love of the unloveable is, of course, illustrated in Jesus’ love for the prostitutes, the hated tax collec tors — the lost sheep, the marginal cases, the ones the rest of the world put little stock in. Jesus’ criterion was not how men looked in other men’s eyes, but how they looked in God's eyes, and he was uncompro mising in his insistence that, however unequal in other respects, all men were equally loved by God and thus were of equal value. Equal value in God's eyes means each man's right to full self-develop ment as a child of God. No re striction of freedom, then, is ever morally justified at the expense of personal self-fulfillment. It is at this point that Southern paternalism is in error. “ We take good care of our negroes” does not mean “we allow them to develop themselves fully through participa- �Little R ock: tion in the community on an equal basis.” This “ good care” is an alogous to the care of the mother who keeps her grown son tied to her apron strings. If she really loves him, let her love him enough to grant him his right to his own selfdevelopment. To those who feel the negro in herently has a more limited self to de velop one can only say there is no objective evidence for this, least of all in the field of education. Army tests in World War II showed a higher IQ among Northern negroes than among Southern whites. Does this mean that Southern whites are inherently less intelligent than North ern negroes? “ Negroes don’t want to be equal” is a justified claim except, perhaps, in respect to the numbers who don’t. But what does this mean.? Isn’t the acceptance of an inferior status the most pathetic symbol of human de gradation? Many Roman slaves, and in 1861, many Russian serfs, did not want the responsibility of inde pendence. Neither do many grown children today. But isn’t the point to encourage them to assume re sponsibility for their independence, to encourage them to participate in the community on an equal basis? For without responsibility there is no real participation, and without par ticipation there is no full self-realiza tion. How contradictory is that position which at one and the same time accuses the negro of being in ferior and denies him the possibility of becoming an equal! Policies of desegregation, rapid or slow, which grades first, are far less the concern of the Northerner. The people in the stuffy room know bet ter where the windows are and how much fresh air can be let in without everybody catching cold. Also, where policies depend on technical deci sions, the judgment of a Christian is no more reliable than that of a nonChristian. However, in weighing various policies Christians should bear two things in mind. First, there will be no happy solution, for Christian realism recognizes that self-interest so affects our views, our pride-swol len faces, so closes our eyes, that many of us will not sec our prejudices, much less give them up. Reform as always will be resisted most by those who will profit by it the least. Hence, right always needs a cer tain amount of might. Although it may be an agonizing sight to see, children escorted to school between rows of fixed bayonets, the alterna tive may be far worse, for it appears that without some force on the part of the majority, the minority might succeed in keeping the children out indefinitely. In other words we are not going to have the luxury of choosing between good and evil, but the necessity of choosing between greater and lesser evils. The second consideration is this: Whatever else the meaning of Sput- Tax-Saving Contributions Thomas E. Jenks ’31 has com piled a 12-page pamphlet on how alumni can utilize tax saving in contributions to Williams. The Alumni Office will be happy to send a copy to interested persons. Among the tax-saving methods considered are: appreciated prop erty, gifts of income, gifts of prop erty with income retained, and gifts subject to indebtedness. If you should like a copy, it will be sent promptly on receipt of your request. nick's “ beep, beep,” it means that the world is shrinking rapidly, that either we learn to love one another or we shall surely destroy one an other. Love of neighbor no longer means the man next door, nor even in the next state or country. Gover nor Faubus has yet to take in the fact that he has as neighbors to be loved the majority of the world’s popula tion which does not share his skin color. We are kidding ourselves when we think the events at Little Rock arc local. The world press is showing how badly we Americans have let down our colored neighbors the globe around. Isn’t it time we had another long look at Paul’s statement that “ there is neither Greek nor Jew; there is neither male nor female; there is neither slave nor free; foryou are all one in Christ Jesus.” T he W atch a n d th e I v y — By ROBERT ADOLPH *57 a l Class Day Flower o f Fairfield! and Westchester’s boast! Salt o f Shaker Heights! Grosse Pointe’s toast! Regard, students from college tossed, The world before us and this Paradise Lost. Watch this watch from our Gothic embattlement H url headlong toward th’ unyielding cement: Cogs, screws, gears, stem, strap, and the other guts Lie shattered among our discarded butts. Look downward, Senior, and tremble with fear A t the ruins o f time deposited here — Our past on the pavement, four years o f heaven, W hat have we done with them, fifty-seven? Though this be a day of wistful reflection Upon time lost and our future direction. This day of love I shall not focus Upon the fraternal hocus-pocus. M y function now is to end our mood Of sober pompous platitude; Therefore I hail, as class confessor, Every underpaid professor. Laud with lute and saxophone 6 Each new Ford Foundation loan, A n d may we never finish praising Phinney Baxter’s money-raising. 0 whomp the gleaming glockenspiel For J . Clay H unt and Jack O’Neill. Bang the tinkling silver bell For next month’s crop from Tel and Tel; Belt the drum, and blast the bugle For Earle O. Brown and Foehl the frugal. Smash the cymbal, ah, what is rarer Than lunch at the Union with Lahiguera? Ere with time and fate we grapple Inside Thompson Memorial Chapel, We praise alumni, teachers, dean A n d turn from the watch to the Ivy Green. Oh, ivy, ivy, on the wall, What’s the meaning of it all? W ith grief we see our eldest Eph Plant this symbol o f our belief That the world’s great age begins anew When all God's chillun, like us, are shoe. WILLIAM S ALUMNI REVIEW � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Little Rock: The Battle", Rayford W. Logan, Williams Alumni Review, November, 1957. 4 pages. Description An account of the resource Historical perspective and current analysis of Little Rock, desegregation and status of Negros. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Williams Alumni Review, Rayford W. Logan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1957-11 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_18 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/9a0cebda513fd695a5d5f5f08f42fafa.pdf 4a607ed7ad7ca27c916a2fd645aae00a PDF Text Text A REPORT O N STATE LAWS Early Elementary Education by ARCH K. STEINER, educationist, Laws and Legislation Branch T HIS sum m ary o f basic le g a l provisions in th e States fo r e a rly ele m e n ta ry e d u catio n is current as o f Jan u ary 1, 1 9 5 7 . It revises a n d ex p a n d s inform ation reported by W ard W . Keesecker a n d M ary D. Davis in 1935 (Legislation The ta b le on th e next p a g e , w hich w as com piled from S tate statu tes, h a s b e e n checked for accuracy by th e sev e ral S tate d e p a rtm e n ts of education (all but tw o o f the States h av e returned th e ta b le ). Blank spaces indicate th a t C o n cernin g E a rly C h ild h o o d E d uca tion ) a n d by W ard W. e x p ress sta tu to ry provisions w ere n ot found on th e subject a n d th a t n o n e w ere rep o rted by th e States. K eesecker a n d A lfred C. A llen in 1 9 5 5 IC o m p u lso ry Educa tio n R equirem ents.) I N RECENT YEARS the States from 2 to 9 years and include many have intensified their efforts to different combinations. Twelve States provide adequately for the education provide for kindergarten attendance of young children in the public of the 4-to-6 age group. These are schools. Through legislation they Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minne have added or expanded services, sota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New widened the age ranges, increased York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South their requirements for certification Carolina, Washington, and West of teachers of nursery schools, kin Virginia. Ten States provide a maximum age dergartens, and early elementary subjects, and shown a trend toward limit for nursery school and kinder financing early elementary education garten attendance but set no mini mum age. New Jersey and Wiscon from the general school fund. sin limit the maximum age for nursery AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH schools to 4 years. Indiana, Okla AND ADMINISTER homa, and Tennessee have estab Practically all States now have lished a maximum of 6 years for both some type of legislation authorizing nursery schools and kindergartens. localities to provide for education be Other States with a maximum age of low the conventional elementary 6 years for kindergarten are North grades. In some, the legislation is Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Ver permissive; that is to say, the locali mont, and Virginia. ties m a y provide certain services if Ten States have fixed a minimum they need or require them. In others, age for nursery school and/or kinder the legislation is mandatory; that is, garten, but no maximum. For nur the locality is required to provide sery school attendance, Massachu services under certain conditions, setts has established a minimum of 3 such as petition from a specified num years; South Dakota, 4 years. For ber of parents. kindergarten programs, Maine pro Forty-six States have enactments vides for a minimum of 4 years; Ari providing for kindergartens. In 40 zona, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, the enactments are permissive; in 6 Nevada, South Dakota, Utah, and mandatory. Seventeen of these States Wyoming have a minimum of 5 years. also provide for nursery schools, all Other age ranges vary as follows: by permissive legislation. ►For nursery school: 2-to-6 range, Which States have done what is Illinois and Oregon; 3-to-6 range, shown in the table overleaf. New York; 3-to-9 range, Florida. AGES AUTHORIZED ► For kindergarten: 3-to-6 range, Colorado, Idaho, and Montana; 4Ages authorized for nursery school to-9 range, Florida; 4%-to-6 range. and kindergarten education range V o lu m e 39, N u m b e r 8 California; 5-to-6 range, Kansas, Missouri, and New Mexico; 5-to-7 range, Texas; 5-to-8 range, Alabama. Age ranges, where listed, extend from birthday to birthday. An anal ysis of this type does not lend itself to listing the many applicable exceptions to the ages indicated in the table for compulsory and permissive attend ance in the conventional elementary grades, or to those attendance ages for nursery school and kindergarten. Most State laws in this connection are subject to various exceptions or qual ifications. During recent years, California, Nebraska, and New York have en acted legislation requiring local dis tricts to admit to the first grade of elementary school any child in the locality who has successfully com pleted 1 year of approved kinder garten education. FINANCIAL SUPPORT State legislatures have provided various methods of financing nursery schools and kindergartens. The method most frequently used is local financing through the gen eral school fund. Seventeen States provide for funds in this manner. Included are Maryland and South Da kota, which finance both nursery school and kindergarten, and Michi gan, which provides funds only for nursery schools through this source. Other States that finance kindergar ten with local funds through the gen eral school fund are Alabama, Illinois, 1 �Legal provisions governing early elementary education in the public schools of the 48 States, as of January I, (957 NURSERY S C H O O L S S TATE A u th o r ity to establish (permissive or m a n d a to ry ) Entrance ages authorized K IN D E R G A R T E N S A u th o rity to M e th o d o f establish financing 1 (permissive or m andatory) 2 1 4 3 ’ Entrance ages authorized 5 A t least 5 . . . . T E A C H E R C E R T IF IC A T IO N M e th o d o f Degree fin a n cin g 1 required 6 7 Special ce rtifi cate for kin d e r garten 8 S pecial cer tific a te fo r nursery schools and kindergartens 9 ,— 1 w . i K i ix * P P M A t le a s t 4 . . . . LF -2 P A t l e a s t 3 1. . . X X X X X X LF-1 L F -2 S A -2 COMB * I M a in e 1 12 S A -2 COMB PF S A -2 U' 11 Provides curricu lum guides, standards, and general supervi sion fo r either nursery schools or kindergartens or both 13 S A -2 COMB III* to ’ 1 J* G eneral elem entary certificate sufficient COMB L F -2 X 9X p pi 10 G eneral c ertif ica te w ith specialization in prim ary grades X COMB M 0 Special c e rtifi cate fo r nursery, kindergarten, and prim ary grades S TA T E D E PARTM ENT OF E D U C A T IO N P U nder 4 ........... P P COMB N *w ^ N o rth C a ro lin a .......... is p O h i o . . . . . . ................... O k la h o m a .................. M P P M P P P U nder 6 .............. 2 - 6 .................... L F -3 PF P e n n s y lv a n ia .............. Rhode III d P 18 p A t le a s t 4 . . . . T exas.............. U ta h ................ L F -2 L F -3 18 p M io M ......... COMB L F -3 ........................... i 4 - 6 .................... U nder 6 ........... 5 - 7 .................... A t least 5 . . . . | j /Jer 6 | P A t least 5 . . . . LF-1 L F -2 6 -2 1 53/ 4 -2 1 6 -2 1 6 5 % -1 8 5-2 1 6 -2 1 X X X X X 5 5-2 1 6 -2 1 6 -2 0 6 -2 1 X X X X X X X X 46 5 <"> 5 -2 0 X X 4 5 -2 0 X 6 -2 1 6 -2 1 6 -2 1 6 -2 1 6 -2 1 6 -2 1 X X LF-1 COMB L F -2 6 -2 1 -6 X X X X X U nder 6 ........... 19 C O M B L F -3 U nder 6 ........... COMB 4 - 6 ........... S A -2 4 - 6 .................... 4 - 6 .................... A t Jeast 5 . . . < 53/4 X X L F -2 L F -3 COMB L F -2 L F -2 COMB L F -2 COMB NOTES 15 7 -1 6 8 -1 6 7 -1 6 8 -1 6 8 -1 6 7 -1 6 6 -1 8 6 -2 1 6 -2 1 6 6 X S A -1 LF-1 COMB 14 X X SA 1 P M a n d a to ry (ages re qu ire d to a tte n d ) 6 6 -2 1 6 -2 1 X x L F -2 H 1 la i|iiie N e w J e rs e y ................. N e w M e x ic o .............. Permissive (e x ce p t nursery schools or kindergartens) 1 The various methods of financing are indicated by symbols as follows: PF, privately financed by fees and contributions LF, locally financed: I Special school funds 3 Local funds and/or fees from parents L F -2 LF-1 GENERAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AGES X X X X X X X X 20 X L F -3 L F -2 S C H O O L L I F E , May 1957 X X X Volume 39, Number 8 X X X X COMB, financed by combinations of 2 or more integral parts 3 Authority to establish is limited to independent cities. 3 Nursery schools not included. 7 -1 6 6 -1 6 7 -1 6 (u) 7 -1 6 8 -1 6 7 -1 6 1 6 -1 6 4 7 -1 6 6 -1 7 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 7 -1 7 6 -1 8 7 -1 8 78- * If a child has completed 1 year of kindergarten he may enter the first grade regardless of his age. * Attendance is permitted at discretion of local board. 'School committees may provide extended school services for children aged 3 to 14 who are the dependents of working mothers. * Degree will be required in 1961. Additional training re- Nursery schools are authorized for separate municipal school districts only. " Mississippi repealed its compulsory attendance law in 1956; South Carolina, in 1955. u Local districts may establish kindergartens only after all “ Elementary school is a program of 8 grades, exclusive of kindergarten. Maximum compulsory attendance age is 14 in is Kindergarten is authorized by voters ot the district. 18 17 1 Local boards receive credit for kindergarten equivalent to * program. 7 -1 6 (“) X X SA, financed with State aid: 1 Per pupil formula 2 In the same manner as other State aid is distributed u Average daily attendance must exceed 15. X X L F -2 COMB 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 7 -1 5 7 -1 5 7 -1 6 .......................................... X 97 X 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 6 -2 1 6 6 -2 1 7 -1 6 /— 16 7— 16 6 -1 8 6 -1 8 6 -2 0 6 -2 1 6 -2 1 6 -2 0 6 -2 1 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 8 -1 6 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 7 -1 6 i ' Includes all elementary grades. 19 Local boards may operate programs under such regulations 19 Mandatory in districts with population of 2,000 or more; permissive in others. M Requirements same as in elementary grades, with addi tional minimum requirement of 3 semester hours in student teaching in kindergarten. 31 Nursery school program must meet minimum standards u Makes use of weighted pupil formula in regard to net enrollment. 3 �Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Mis souri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, South Ca rolina, Utah, Washington and Wis consin. Four States finance with local funds but maintain the revenue as a special school fund. Included in this group are Idaho, North Carolina, and Texas, in which such a fund-raising device applies to their kindergarten programs, while in Mississippi it ap plies to both nursery and kindergar ten schools. Another method of local financing is through a combination of local school funds and fees from parents. Wisconsin makes use of this method for nursery schools, while Kentucky and Virginia use it for the kinder garten program. In addition, Okla homa and Tennessee apply this method to both nursery school and kindergarten programs. The next most widely acclaimed method of financial support is a com bination in various proportions of local funds and/or State aid. This may also include private funds. Twelve States make use of this com bination. One group includes Flor ida, New Jersey, and New York, w-hich provide funds for both nursery schools and kindergartens, and another group includes Massachusetts and Washington, which provide funds for nursery schools only. Seven addi tional States providing funds for kindergarten in this manner are Ari zona, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wyoming. State aid is the means of support in nine States in the same manner as other State aid is distributed. In this manner, Indiana provides for both nursery schools and kindergar tens. Other States which finance kindergartens in a similar manner are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and West Virginia. Minne sota and Nevada apply a per pupil formula for determining State aid for kindergarten support. Illinois and Oregon provide funds for nursery schools by privately fi nanced fees and contributions. TEACHER CERTIFIC ATIO N In general, States have enacted legislation providing for higher aca demic standards for certification. Thirteen States now make a college degree prerequisite to any perma nent type of certificate. These are California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Minne sota, New Hampshire, New' Jersey, New York, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington. A more significant trend, how'ever. points toward a greater degree of specialization, embracing a combina tion of subjects applicable to nursery school, kindergarten, and early ele mentary grades. Thirteen States issue a special cer tificate for kindergarten. They are Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Kan sas, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia. Four States issue a special certifi cate covering a combination of nurs ery school and kindergarten subject matter. They are Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, and Ohio. Eight States certify teachers to teach a combination of subject mat ter including nursery school, kinder garten, and early primary grade sub jects. They are Arizona, California, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. Seven States issue a general cer tificate w'ith specialization in early primary education. They are New Hampshire, New' Jersey, New York, Ohio, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming. Thirteen .States require only a gen eral elementary certificate for teach ing in nursery school and kinder garten. STATE DEPARTMENT LEADERSHIP Recent legislative actions enable State departments of education to as sume a greater amount of leadership in providing curriculum guides, es tablishing more uniform standards, and authorizing general supervision to localities. Thirty-two States now have statutory provisions that enable their State departments of education to assume this more responsible role. In consulting the accompanying table for information on increased responsibilities of State departments of education, the reader may find in the column on teacher certification in formation which has implications for State department leadership. U .S . DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Office of Education Reprint froic SCHOOL LIFE, May 1957 4 SC H O O L L IF E , M a y 1957 GPO 9 2 5 1 7 3 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Report on State Laws, Early Elementary Education" by Arch K. Steiner, School Life, May 1957. 3 pages. Description An account of the resource Summary of basic legal provisions in the States for elementary education. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource School Life, Arch K. Steiner Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1957-05 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_17 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/a912cedf9555da3cacb68b4275ed5182.pdf a93acf1a437fdee0ebb1c2a39b318bbc PDF Text Text R E S O L U T IO N S A dopted by th e Sixty-fiftli C ontinental Congress N ational S ociety, Daughters o f t h e A m erican R evolu tion A pril 1 6 - 2 1 , 1 9 5 6 A ppreciation to P resid en t and Mrs. Eisenhow er R e s o lv e d , T a th m m e o th N tio a S c ty D u h rs o th A e h t e e b rs f e a n l o ie , a g te f e m ri c n R v lu n e te d to P sid n a d M . E e h w r their w rm s a e o tio , x n re e t n rs is n o e a et a p c tio fo th h n r a d c u s o their g c u ms a e p re ia n r e o o n o rte y f ra io s e s g . A ppreciation to the Vice P resid en t o f th e U nited States R e s o lv e d , T a th N tio a S c ty D u h rs o th A e a R v lu n h t e a n l o ie , a g te f e m ric n e o tio , e te d to th H n ra le R x n e oo b ichard M N o , V e P s e t o th U ite . ix n ic re id n f e n d S te , its d e a p c tio fo his c u s in a n in his b s s h d ta s e p p re ia n r o rte y rra g g uy ce u to a n th 6 th C n e ta C n re s a d bringing g e g a d le tte d e 5 o tin n l o g s n re tin s n his ms a e to th mmes es g e e br. P ro te c t A m erica’s F u tu re T h ro u g h P atrio tic E ducation We a , A p a o je tiv o o r N tio a S c ty fo 6 y a h s b e h re s rim ry b c e f u a n l o ie r 5 e rs a e n to p m te “a e lig te e public o in n a rd g to y u g a d o ro o n n h nd p io , ffo in on n ld s c a v n g s a shall d v lo in th mth la e t c p c for p rfo u h d a ta e s ee p e e rg s a a ity e rm ing th d tie o A e a c e s ; e u s f m ric n itiz n ” R e s o lv e d , T a th N tio a S c ty D u h rs o th A e a R v lu n h t e a n l o ie , a g te f e m ric n e o tio , c n u e rn s e rts to s re d k o le g o o r C n o tin e a e t ffo p a n w d e f u o stitu n l G v rn tio a o e m n a d a p c tio o th A e a w y o life, s th t w m y in re e t n p re ia n f e m ric n a f o a e a su th fu re d s y o th U ite S te o A e a e tu e tin f e n d ta s f m ric . C onstitutional A m endm ent We a , A h re s rticle 6 p ra ra h 2 o th C n titu n o th U ite S te h s , a g p , f e o s tio f e n d ta s a b e w e in rp te to m a th t tre tie a d o e in rn tio a e n id ly te re d en a a s n th r te a n l a re m n c n o e e th C n titu n a d c t a ro s th Bill o Rights; g e e ts a v rrid e o s tio n u c s e f ad n We a , T e U ite S te is virtually th o ly c u try in th w rld w ic h re s h n d ta s e n on e o h h p rm in rn tio a a re m n o e th n tre tie to b c m in rn l e its te a n l g e e ts th r a a s e o e te a la w o t a p p te le isla n ;a d w ith u p ro ria g tio n 1 �W hereas, T re aties a nd o th er in te rn atio n al agreem ents can he used a s in stru m ents of legislation on m atters o f p u rely dom estic co n cern ; a n d W hereas, Several tre a tie s have become th e suprem e law of th e lan d by vote of only tw o o r three S enators p resen t on th e Senate flo o r; T h a t th e N ational Society, D au g h ters of the A m erican Revolution, again go on record, fo r th e six th tim e a t o u r a n n u a l C ontinental Congress, in strong endorsem ent of the principles of a n am endm ent to ou r Con s titu tio n to provide th a t a provision o f a tre a ty o r o th er in te rn atio n al agreem en t w hich conflicts w ith a n y provision of o u r C onstitution shall not be of any force or effect. R e s o lv e d , U nited N ations T h a t the N ational Society, D au g h ters of the A m erican Revolution, continue to support the U nited N ations O rganization in its ORIG INAL purpose a s a group of SO VEREIG N N A TION S w orking together fo r world peace a n d un derstanding, and to oppose its th reaten ed conversion into a w orld governm ent. R e s o lv e d , Status o f Forces A greem ent W hereas, U nder the provision of th e NATO S ta tu s of Forces T re a ty and a sim ila r agreem ent w ith J a p an , several th ousands of m em bers of o u r Armed Forces sta tio n ed abroad have been su rren d ered to foreign ju risd ictio n s to be tried , a n d in m any cases convicted a n d im prisoned, o r o therw ise p un ished for alleged crim inal violations o f u n fam ilia r a n d /o r unknow n laws, som etim es u n d er procedures conducted in foreign languages before hostile judges, a n d w ith o u t th e benefit o f com petent counsel, if a n y ; and W hereas, Such tre a tm e n t o f our soldiers effectively deprives them o f sub s ta n tia l rig h ts to which they a re entitled u n d e r th e C onstitution o f the U nited S ta te s; T h a t th e N ational Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican Revolution, go on record a s u rging strongly th e elim ination o f a n y provision tinder any tre a ty or agreem ent w hereby ou r m ilita ry personnel w ill be s u r rendered to th e crim inal ju risd ictio n of any foreign country. R e s o lv e d , C om m unist Tuctics Specialized Agencies of U nited N ations W hereas, O ur N ational Society h as been consistently on record a s a g a in st the m any specialized agencies, w hich p u rp o rt to be a p a rt of U nited Nations, fo rm u la tin g policies such a s th e Genocide Convention a n d Covenant of H um an R ights, w hich w ould deprive us of th e in dividual lib erties and fre e en te rp rise on w hich our N ation w as founded so firmly a n d which hav e m ade it so stro n g a nd so g r e a t ; T h a t the N ational Society, D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolution, again sta n d firmly a nd em phatically on its in sistence th a t th e United N ations abide by th e objectives set fo rth in its C h a rte r a n d d esist from particip a tio n in a ny plan, project, agency o r principle w hich w ould in te r vene in our in te rn a l affairs, in te rfe re w ith o u r dom estic legislation, o r sp re a d doctrines c o n tra ry to o u r A m erican philosophies a n d w ay of life. R e s o lv e d , UNESCO W hereas, D au g h ters of the A m erican R evolution have repeatedly objected strenuously to propaganda dissem inated by UNESCO w hich tends to in d o ctrin a te a nd tra in fo r w orld citizenship, a nd conflicts w ith the Am eri can concepts of natio n a l independence a n d so v e re ig n ty ; T h a t the N ational Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican Revolution, hig hly commend th e A m erican Legion fo r th e resolution passed a t the a n n u a l convention held in October, 1955. a t M iami. F lo rid a, which reads in p a r t: R e s o lv e d , “W e call upon all A m erican ed u catio n al in stitu tio n s and upon Boards of E ducation th roughout th e U nited S ta te s to cease a n d desist from the use of the edu catio n al m ate ria ls of UNESCO propounding world govern m ent a s a c rite ria of A m erican citizens.” W hereas, F o r m ore th a n thirty-five y e a rs D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolu tion have been w arn in g ag a in st th e d an g ers o f com m unism ; and W hereas, T h ere is a c u rre n t change in th e tactics a nd techniques of Commu n ists b u t no change in th e ir fu n d am en tal policies a n d long-range goals of w orld d o m in a tio n ; T h a t th e N ational Society, D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolution, again w arn A m ericans to be a le rt a n d rem ain firm in th e ir opposition to communism in a ll its phases. R e s o lv e d , C ontrol o f C om m unist P ro p ag an d a W hereas, T h e investigations by th e Senate In te rn a l S ecurity Subcom mittee reveal th a t v a st q u a n titie s of Com munist, sed itio u s pro p ag an d a a r e regu larly being shipped into th e U nited S ta te s a n d being d issem inated in this country from abroad, w ith o u t com pliance w ith th e labelling requirem ents o f Foreign A gents R eg istratio n A ct a n d o f th e In te rn a l Security A c t; and W hereas, Such investigations fu rth e r reveal th a t m uch of th is poisonous Com m unist propaganda is being d istrib u te d in violation of th e abovem entioned a c ts by diplom atic personnel in “iro n -cu rtain ” consulates and em bassies in th e U nited S ta te s ; R e s o lv e d , T h a t th e N ational Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican Revolu tion, u rg e th a t th e Congress o f th e U nited S ta te s enact legislation pro viding fo r th e confiscation of Com m unist p ro paganda w hich is n o t labelled in accordance w ith th e requirem ents o f th e Foreign Agents R eg istration 3 �A ct a u d the In te rn a l Security A c t; a nd providing fu rth e r th a t diplom atic personnel in th e U nited S ta te s who a r e engaged in the dissem ination of political propaganda be required to reg iste r w ith th e D epartm ent of J u stic e a n d label th e political propaganda which th ey dissem inate. R ed China W hereas, To accept R ed C hina w ould be to condone th e very evils we a b h o r ; T h a t th e N ational Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican Revolution, ag ain go on record as ad a m a n tly opposed to adm ission o f R ed C hina to th e United N ations. R e s o lv e d , Civic R esponsibility W hereas, S ta tistics show th a t m ore th an one-half of th e U nited S ta te s c iti zens o f voting age a re women, th u s placing a g re a te r responsibility upon th e women as v o te r s ; and W hereas, T he selection a n d th e election o f good can d id ates to public office is of u tm o st im portance to o u r w e lfa re ; T h a t th e N atio n al Society, D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolution, encourage a ll of its m em bers to assum e th e ir civic responsibility to register a n d vote in all elections. R e s o lv e d , Socialized Econom y Investigating Com m ittees T h a t the N ational Society, D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolution, ag ain go on record as comm ending th e inv alu ab le service to th e N ation rendered by C ongressional Com m ittees in v estig atin g m a tte rs p erta in in g to in te rn al secu rity and urge th a t such com m ittees be continued. R e s o lv e d , C om m ending F ed eral B u re a u o f Investigation T h u t the N a tio n a l Society, D au g h ters of the A m erican Revolution, again commend th e F e d e ra l B u reau o f In v estig atio n a n d i ts D irecto r, J. E d g a r Hoover, fo r th e ir unceasing efforts to p rotect our N ation ag a in st crim e, c o rruption a ud subversion. R e s o lv e d , W hereas, F re e en te rp rise is one of th e g re a t principles upon w hich th is N ation w as founded a n d provides fo r p riv a te in itia tiv e a n d th e sp irit o f com peti tion which perm its A m erican citizens to b arg ain freely in th e m arkets of com m erce; and W hereas, The N ational Society, D a u g h te rs of th e A m erican R evolution, has consistently opposed th e socialization of education, medicine, industry, labor and economics in any w ay w h a tso ev e r; T h a t th e N atio n al Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican Revolution, urge c ritical exam ination by th e U nited S ta te s Congress o f a ll pending legislation w hich w ould socialize o u r A m erican economy, a n d opposition to a n y move th a t could destroy o u r system of fre e enterprise. R e s o lv e d , A ntarctica Econom y in G overnm ent W hereas, T h e A n ta rc tic C ontinent w as discovered a n d explored in larg e m eas u re by A m erican citizens and h a s untapped reservoirs of n a tu ra l re sources ; W hereas, T he fed e ra l debt h a s been constantly m ounting fo r m ore th a n a decade, w hich, coupled w ith deficit financing, h a s c u t th e p u rch asing pow er o f th e d o llar in h alf, to th e g rea t in ju ry o f th e people o f th e U nited S ta te s ; T h a t th e N ational Society, D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolution, urg e legislators to tak e such steps as m ay be necessary to v a lid a te claim to a re a s of im p o rta n t v a lu e ; and R e s o lv e d , T h a t we commend the B yrd a nd o th er expeditions, fo r th e ir rem a rk able achievem ents in exploring a n d estab lish in g in fo rm atio n regarding m in eral deposits in the A ntarctic, w hich, if m ade available, w ould supple m ent our own. R e s o lv e d , P a trio tic A dvertising T h a t the N ational Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican Revolution, commend a nd applaud th e m any in d u stria l a n d business in stitu tio n s which through th e ir ad v e rtisin g m edia have rendered o u tstanding service in the fight a g a in st com m unism a nd to th e preservation of th e A m erican system of free en te rp rise a nd p riv a te in itiativ e. R e s o lv e d , 4 T h a t th e N atio n al Society, D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolution, u rg e Congress to su b m it to th e several S ta te s a n am endm ent to the Con s titu tio n of th e U nited S tates to lim it th e e x penditures of the Govern m ent fo r each fiscal y ear, except in th e case of w a r o r o th er grave n ational emergency, to th e estim ated a n n u al receipts of th e Governm ent. R e s o lv e d , Jo in t Session o f Congress T h a t th e N atio n al Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican Revolution, ex p ress its approval of th e co n cu rren t legislation pending before the Congress of th e U nited S ta te s w hich provides th a t, unless th e Congress sh a ll h a v e previously ad jo u rn ed , th e m em bers of th e Senate a nd the H ouse o f R ep resen tativ es sh all assem ble jo in tly on th e F o u rth d ay of J u ly of each ye a r fo r the purpose of h e a rin g rea d aloud th e D eclaration o f Independence. R e s o lv e d , 5 �Im m ig ra tio n a n d N ationality Act (M cC arran-W alter B ill) W hereas, T here is pending in th e Sen ate a n d H ouse Ju d ic ia ry Com mittees a series of am endm ents w hich w ould weaken th e p rincipal safeguards of the Im m igration a nd N atio n ality A ct of December 24, 1952, a n d destroy th e natio n a l origins quota sy stem ; T h a t the N ational Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican Revolution, reaffirm its confidence in and su p p o rt of th e M cC arran-W alter A ct o f 1952, a n d urge all p a trio tic A m ericans to p ro te st a n d resist a n y crippling am endm ents a n d a n y legislation w hatsoever which w ould tend to destroy the effectiveness of th e Im m igration and N atio n ality Act. T h a t plans be fo rm u lated by th e m em bership to continue an even m ore aggressive cam paign to prom ote th e stu d y of tru e and factual A m erican histo ry in a ll o u r schools from g rad es th ro u g h colleges and universities, to th e end th a t it m ay become a req u ired su b ject for g ra d u a tion in high schools a n d colleges a n d u n iv ersities w h eth er S ta te supported o r p riv ately endowed. R e s o lv e d , Preserv atio n o f N ational W ildlife R efuges R e s o lv e d , T h a t th e N atio n al Society, D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolution, u rg e th e p assag e of legislation now pending in Congress pro h ib iting the disposal o r relinquishm ent of a n y n a tio n al w ild life refuges, o r p a rts thereof, by a n y executive agency w ith o u t th e p rio r app ro v al of Congress. R e s o lv e d , M ental H e a lth Legislation W hereas, H ouse R esolution 6376—The A laska M ental H ealth Bill—h as passed the H ouse of R epresentatives and th e legislation covered by th is B ill is c u rrently pending in th e S e n a te ; and W hereas, We recognize th e need of adequate care fo r th e m entally ill but deplore legislation which m ay be co n tra ry to th e ir best in te rests a nd the language of this bill is subject to m isin te rp re tatio n which could jeopardize C onstitutional rig h ts of th e in d iv id u a l; T h a t the N ational Society, D a u g h te rs of th e Am erican Revolution, recom mend th a t all bills regarding m ental health, n ational or S tate, be so specific in the declaration o f in ten tio n s th a t th e re could be no possibility of m isin te rp re tatio n of the law, and in no w ay p erm it individual Con stitu tio n al liberties of a ny citizen of th e United S tates, its te rrito rie s or possessions, to be jeo p ard ized ; and R e s o lv e d , T h a t the Congress of th e U nited S ta te s be urged to m ake a com plete investigation into a ll ram ifications and im plications of m ental health legislative program s which a re c u rre n tly being promoted. Ju v en ile D elinquency W hereas, M any a u th o rita tiv e sources rep o rt th a t juvenile delinquency has increased enorm ously due in p a r t to lack o f p a re n ta l vigilance over the id eals a n d a c tiv ities of th e ir children a n d to th e in cessan t flow of program s of crim e, h o rro r a n d violence w hich b e a t upon th e sensitive m inds and em otions o f children a n d adolescents, first dulling th e ir norm al receptivity to goodness and m orality, and, in an ala rm in g n um ber of instances, leading to a sp irit o f vandalism , violence a n d b r u ta lity ; T h a t th e N ational Society, D au g h ters of the A m erican Revolution, determ ine through its m em bers to a tta c k w ith a le rtn e ss and a c tivity th e problem of juvenile delinquency, consulting w ith Ju v en ile C ourts, the F e d e ra l B u reau o f Investigation a n d o th er a u th o rita tiv e sources on th is m ost serious and im m ediate challenge to th e well-being a nd sa fe ty of o u r youth a n d o f our N ation. R e s o lv e d , R e s o lv e d , F ederal Aid to E ducation W hereas, T he N ational Society, D au g h ters o f the Am erican Revolution, has continuously opposed federal a id to education, believing such a id could lead to governm ent control o f all public schools, thereby rem oving S ta te a n d local c o n tro l; T h a t the N ational Society, D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolution, continue to oppose vigorously all legislation w hich could place control of education in the hands of th e F ed eral Government. C onstitu tio n W eek W hereas, T h ere is w idespread in te rest in the celebration of CO NSTITU TION W EEK , from Septem ber 17th to 23 rd ; T h a t th e N ational Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican R evolution, p etitio n th e P re sid e n t of th e U nited S ta te s to proclaim th is week a nnually a n d th a t th e Society ask th e Congress o f th e U nited S ta te s to designate Septem ber 17th a s C onstitution Day. R e s o lv e d , R e s o lv e d , A m erican H istory Study W hereas, One o f th e p rim a ry objectives of o u r N ational Society, D au g h ters of the A m erican R evolution, is “to prom ote th e study o f Am erican h isto ry ” ; and W hereas, T he effort m ade in th e p a s t th re e y ears to stre ss th e teaching of A m erican h isto ry in ou r schools h as m et w ith signal success; 6 T ra d itio n a l Observance of H olidays W hereas, T h ere is a grow ing tendency to d e p a rt fro m th e p roper a n d tra d i tional observance o f o u r religious a n d p a trio tic holidays a n d to su bstitute m ate ria listic observance a n d e x trem e com m ercialism ; T h a t the m em bers o f th e N atio n al Society, D a u g h te rs of th e A m eri can Revolution, shall m ake it th e ir individual responsibility to counteract a n y such m ovem ents in th e ir com m unity a n d to w ork unceasingly to instill in o u r youth a deeper reverence fo r th e e te rn a l values w hich A R E America. R e s o lv e d , �R eligion Versus Atheism W hereas, The principle of religious freedom embodied In o u r C onstitution is one of the foundations of o u r fre e n atio n a n d is now th re a te n e d by ideologies of godless forces a t home a n d a b ro a d ; T h a t we, as D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolution, dedicate o u r selves in p ray e rfu l service to a renew al of fa ith in God a nd tru s t fo r stre n g th in the continuing struggle fo r religion versus atheism . R e s o lv e d , A ppreciation to th e P re sid e n t G eneral T h a t we, th e D au g h ters of the A m erican R evolution o f th e 65th C ontinental Congress, express to o u r beloved P re sid e n t G eneral, Miss G ertrude S. C arraw ay, our deep ap p reciatio n of h e r ceaseless efforts and high achievem ents fo r ou r Society; ou r a d m iration a nd respect fo r h e r executive ab ility in a ll th in g s ; a n d our affection fo r h e r as an individual of personal in tegrity, kind consideration to mem bers, and devotion to the aim s and objects of ou r Society. R e s o lv e d , T h an k s to th e Staff T h a t we, th e D au g h ters of th e A m erican Revolution express our sincere th an k s a nd appreciation to the Staff fo r the m any services each m em ber h a s rendered w illingly a nd cheerfully, p a rtic u la rly the e x tra efforts req u ired by our special observance of C onstitution W eek and d urin g th e Sixty-fifth C ontinental Congress. R e s o lv e d , Courtesy R esolution T h a t the N ational Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican Revolution, express its deep appreciation to th e sp eak ers who gave us th e benefit of th eir v ast sto re of know ledge; to the a rtis ts who so generously shared w ith us th e ir ta le n ts ; to the U nited S ta te s Service B ands a nd to ou r o rg an ists who e n te rta in e d us so d elig h tfu lly ; to the Police a n d Firem en who provided u s w ith such a sense of secu rity a nd safety, a nd to the g rea t num bers o f individual m em bers and th e sta ff who p lanned a n d who executed th e innum erable d e ta ils w hich a successful C ontinental Congress entails, a nd to all o th ers unnam ed, because unknow n, who in a n y w ay contributed to th e pleasures o f th e m em bers and th e ir guests. R e s o lv e d , Press T h a t the N ational Society, D au g h ters o f th e A m erican Revolution, express its deep appreciatio n to th e P re ss fo r th e splendid co-operation a n d fa c tu a l rep o rtin g of th e program of ou r Sixty-fifth C ontinental Congress. R e s o lv e d , R adio a nd Television T h a t the N ational Society, D a u g h te rs of the A m erican R evolution, th an k the va rio u s rad io a nd television netw orks fo r th e ir generous donation of tim e, w hich m ade it possible to b ring to the public inform ation concerning the achievem ents of ou r Society. R e s o lv e d , 3 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Booklet: "Resolutions Adopted by the Sixty-fifth Continental Congress, National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution", April 16-21, 1956. 5 pages. Description An account of the resource Resolutions concerning all aspects of American life. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Daughters of the American Revolution Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1956-04 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_16 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/fcc8fe5429af1c11e09cda80e6cda24a.pdf d0692bdec86995c9c5598e23c0781c83 PDF Text Text « W S C 1 M A M IT O OF A FEW SERIOUS CONDITION Published fey MAERICA/S FUTURE, INC., Now Rochelle w New York �What’s Happened to Our Schools? foreword 53/ / _\ . It is i n c r e d i b l e w a m h t ischief a fe d d a d c c p ts w e ic te ra k o c n w a u o a g a fre s c ty b fo its c e s c n a re k p n re t e o ie e re itiz n a b a rte to th d n e e le d e a g r. Our American socialist revolutionaries knew from the experience of Europe that our constitutional system cannot be made over in the image of Karl Marx by lecturing the older citizens. So they began their evil experiment with the children. And they learned quite early in their campaign that you cannot indoctrinate these young minds with the virus of socialism save through a process which bears the fraudulent label of “progressive” education. While infecting young minds with socialist ideas they have managed, as a by-product, to deliver into our communities a succession of school classes afflicted with an amazing form of illiteracy. Miss Rosalie Gordon, who has devoted a great deal of time and study to this subject, is eminently qualified to provide, in small compass, all the facts any disturbed parent or teacher needs for a clear understanding of this dangerous system. The story told here is, I know, difficult to believe, but no literate citizen can afford to remain in ignorance of it. And this pamphlet will give the reader all the informa tion essential to a thorough understanding of what has happened to our schools. Jo h n T. F l y n n U i _ k _ b y R osa lie M . Gordon Ignorance is not bliss . . . it’s a disgrace. U nder-education — a delib era te p la n to cultivate m ediocrity — is the program in vogue in m ost p u b lic schools. T e fo llo w in g h q u o te d H ere’s pro o f . . . p a ra g ra p h s have not been garbled by the printer. They are an exact copy of the origi nal: “It means merrily that when one na tion is going to separate from another they should state why they’re going to break of. “first it sudmitts that all men are create equal under their creator and when men do not tready you a such you should throw them of. “It state that the we have try talk ing to then. Only to receive injury. It say they tryant is unfit to be a ruler. “It say that talk no good for people like that that are deaf to the voice of justice and consanquntly that we must denounce our separation and hold then as enemies.” The above was not written by a 2 \ (Copyright, 1956, Rosalie M. Gordon) foreigner unfamiliar with our lan guage, nor by a first- or second-grade pupil. It was not written by a moron or someone with a low I.Q. It was written by a perfectly normal junior (third year of high school) in one of our public schools in California. What is it meant to convey? It is his inter pretation of the first four paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence. An isolated case? By no means. Volumes could be filled with similar cases from all over the United States. Here is just one more sample: “It my opinion that every man should continual his education. If it is any way possible. It would increase his abilitty, more than likely increase his salsary on which to surport a family. You will no douth have many expericences.” This was written by a graduate of 3 �a Chicago h ig h school as an entering freshman at the U n ive rsity o f Illin o is on the assigned subject: A re Too M any People G oing to College? Compositions lik e these; thousands o f young Am ericans fro m six to 16 o f average and above-average in te lli gence who can’t read anything more than a com ic boo k; thousands m ore who can’t spell the sim plest words and to whom a m u ltip lica tio n table ( if they have ever seen one) is as clear as a group o f Chinese characters; high school, and even college, gradu ates who can’t w rite a sim ple business le tter and on whom in d u stry must spend thousands o f dollars g ivin g the basic tra in in g in reading, w ritin g and arithm etic they should have had in school; children who th in k Am erican h is to ry began w ith the New Deal, that the purpose o f a io b is to w o rk as little as possible to b u ild up as fast as possible social security and pension rig h ts ; youngsters who th in k that what they feel lik e doing at any given m o m ent is what is rig h t to do, regardless o f consequences to others, and anyway there’ s n othing to w o rry about because the Great W h ite Father (whoever he happens to be at the m oment) in W ashington w ill take care o f every thing . I t is all this and a great deal m ore that has led m illio n s o f ques tio n in g parents, teachers and even thoughtful youngsters themselves to ask — W hat has happened to our schools? T ha t som ething has happened to o u r schools is beyond doubt. The U n iv e rsity o f Illin o is said th a t com positions such as those quoted above were unknown 20 years ago fro m en terin g freshmen. N ow they are the rule rath er than the exception. B e ginning in the 1940’s freshmen entering the university began to steadily deterior ate in th e ir a b ility to read and w rite 4 — so much so that the university had to set up a special course fo r them. A n d in 1956, when freshmen were given a sim ple test in v o lv in g gram m ar, spelling, vocabulary and the form ation o f sentences 954 of them failed to pass it. W hat happens at the U n iv e rs ity o f Illin o is matches the ex perience o f m any other colleges, but the U . o f I. decided to do something about it. I t announced that beginning in 1960 it w ill discontinue its fresh man rem edial course, thus p ro v id in g fa ir w a rning to the high schools that one university, at least, expects them to do th e ir jo b and stop tu rn in g out illiterates. Am ericans once upon a tim e could boast that they had a p u b lic educa tio n system on a par w ith any in the w orld. I t was — and s till is — a free system — that is, it is supported by all the people thro ugh th e ir taxes fo r all th e ir children. A nd in the true Am erican tra d itio n i t was a locallyrun system — a system supported, controlled and adm inistered b v people each in th e ir own com munities, so that no tyra n t, no central all-power fu l government, no benevolent ideo logue could te ll them what to teach o r w hat not to teach, o r could say. w ith L e n in : “ Give us the ch ild fo r only eight years and it w ill be a B o l shevik ( o r a socialist, “ liberal,” New Dealer) forever.” N o one who has watched closelv what has been going on in o u r pub lic school system in Am erica these past two decades can escape the feeling that something drastic — and rather te rrib le — has happened to it. W hat is more, it is difficu lt to believe that it has happened by accident, that there has not been a planned, slyly executed and almost successful attempt to delib erately under-educate our children in order to make them into an unques tioning mass who would follow meek ly those who wish to turn the Ameri can Republic into a socialist society. I know that is a hard statement fo r Am ericans to believe, b u t before you dismiss i t too readily, let’s have a look at some o f the facts. A two-pronged attack . . . that uses progressive education as the means of “building a new social order 9 from the ground up. Here’ how i i done s t s T h e a t t a c k o n o u r p u b l ic s c h o o l s — and through them on our children — has been a tw o pronged one. One o f the prongs is know n as “ progres sive education.” The other may be ex pressed in the phrase “ b u ild in g a new social order” thro ugh the schools. But the modern educationist (as d is tin guished fro m the true educator) in dulges in a fo rm o f expression even m ore obscure than government gobbledegook. W hether o r not, in an ef fo rt to hide the real aims o f th e ir pro gram , this is deliberate, it has served to completely confuse parents and even m any teachers as to the tru e meaning o f “ progressive education” and “ b u ild in g a new social order.” I t is im portant fo r us to realize that the men and women who put over on our schools a system o f education to which norm al Am ericans w o uld be unalterably opposed i f they knew w hat was happening, were neither ric h , pow erful nor famous. They were ac tu a lly rather unim p ortant people out side th e ir own fields, b u t they had in th e ir arsenal o f attack a knowledge o f European revolu tionary methods w ith which Am ericans were — and in m any cases s till are — thoroughly un fa m ilia r. The m a jo rity o f Am ericans m aintained, consciously or uncon sciously, a p ro fo u n d belief in th e ir mode o f society — in a free republic w ith a severely lim ite d central govern ment th a t guaranteed to the in d iv id u a l the lib e rty under w h ich each could find fo r him self his own place in our free-enterprise economic system. Am ericans had no use fo r communism or socialism o r any other ism that could operate o nly under an all-power fu l central bureaucracy th a t w o uld tell every man and woman w h at they could earn, where they could earn it and how they could spend it. How , then, could Am ericans be brought to believe in the very things they hated? I t could be done only b y never c allin g those thing s b y th e ir real names. There had to be swept from the m inds o f several generations o f A m erican children a ll respect fo r th e ir tra d itio n s , fo r th e ir history, fo r home and com m unity a u th o rity . In its place, in a m a jo r mass brainw ashing operation, there had to be in s tille d i f not a love, at least a tolerance, of ideologies completely fore ign to Am erican trad itions. But th is could not be done w ith c hildren who could read and reason, add and subtract, who thought o f themselves as free in dividua ls and not as parts of a mass 6 �— a group. Before the seeds of unAmericanism could be planted in their minds, those minds had to be made fallow, had to be made not to know too much, not to inquire too deeply, not to handle the tools of reason prop erly, so that the bad seed would grow and prosper in the under-edu cated child. Diabolical? Impossible? Let us see. "The new social order” . . . What i i . . . how and by w h o m i was planned and intro t s t duced into our school systems We m u s t GO b a c k a quarter of a century for the beginnings of the campaign to subvert our schools and our children. In February, 1932, Dr. George S. Counts delivered an address to a small association meeting in Balti more, Md. Dr. Counts was, and is, a professor of education at Teachers College of Columbia University in New York. Teachers College is to the teaching profession what Harvard Law is to the legal profession or what Johns Hopkins is to the medical pro fession — only much more so. It not only has turned out thousands of our teachers, but it is to Teachers College that teachers from all over the coun try go for special summer and post graduate courses. And to Teachers Col lege, which also serves as a giant em ployment agency, go thousands of schools for the personnel to man their staffs. At the time of his address in Balti more, Dr. Counts was enthusiastic about “the great collectivist experi ment” in Soviet Russia. He has since become a sadder man—whether wiser is a question of opinion. He now con siders himself one of the leading antiCommunists in academic circles. But it is difficult to escape the feeling that what he really means by his “militant anti-communism” is that he has be come disillusioned with Russian com munism, but not with its socialist com ponents. Dr. Counts, like so many of his colleagues, is no doubt a kindly man who wants to make the world over in some beautiful image of his own, and the Russian bloodletting proved a little too much for him. But he holds fast to the socialist ingredi ents of the communism he now thinks he hates, though he would probably object vigorously to having the social ist label pinned on him. However, this did not prevent him from being the candidate for the Senate of the Liberal Party in New York in 1952. The Lib eral Party is the political wing of Americans for Democratic Action, which has replaced the old Socialist Party as the leader of the socialist movement in America. In any case, in his Baltimore ad dress in 1932, Dr. Counts set forth a philosophy that has permeated Ameri can educational circles to this day. He said that we lived in a world of revo lution, that out of that revolution a new world was coming and that there must be ushered in an age of plenty, with security for all, and no poverty anywhere in the land. How to bring this about? It “would seem to require fundamental changes in the economic system. Historic capitalism, with its deification of the principle of selfish ness, its reliance upon the forces of competition . . . and its exaltation of the profit motive, will either have to be displaced altogether or so radically changed in form and spirit that its identity will be completely lost.” To make quite clear what he was getting at Dr. Counts said this would mean “a coordinated, planned and so cialized economy.” What about lib erty and freedom? This didn’t seem to concern Dr. Counts greatly. He said: “That under such an economy the actions of individuals in certain directions would be limited is fairly obvious. No one would be permitted to build a new factory or railroad whenever or wherever he please.” But how was all this to be brought about in a country wedded to the free society that had given it the greatest abundance on earth? Dr. Counts lost no time in setting forth the method. He wrote several more papers and combined them with his Baltimore address in a little book called “Dare the Schools Build a New Social Or der?” The “new social order” of course was Dr. Counts’ “planned and social ized economy” and it was to be brought about through the schools. Then, a year later, a group of edu cators, mostly in Teachers College, with Dr. Counts as their chairman, issued “A Call to the Teachers of the Nation.” They were calling on the teachers to save “democracy” — a fa vorite word with leftist educators — and they said that “In the sphere of economic relationships, it (democracy) must be dissociated from its indi vidualistic connections and be re phrased in terms of the collectivist reality.” Meantime, as early as 1929, a small group of educators got a grant of money from a foundation set up by the conservative Harkness family, os tensibly for a study of the teaching of the so-called social sciences (in which are included history, economics, geography and civics or government). They studied and studied and studied — all through 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933 — and finally in 1934 came forth with 17 volumes as a result of their labors. But it wasn’t quite a la bor of love, for besides the Harkness grant, they also got $300,000 from the Carnegie Foundation to complete the study. And they got the eminently re spectable American Historical Asso ciation, with headquarters in the Li brary of Congress, to sponsor the whole thing. From 1931 to the end of the study, who do you suppose served as research director? None other than this same Dr. George S. Counts who was daring the schools to build his new social order of the planned economy. The final volume of the study car ried its recommendations. The follow ing quotation summarizes them pret ty succinctly: “Cumulative evidence supports the conclusion that, in the United States as in other countries, the age of indi vidualism and laissez-faire in economy and government is closing and that a new age of collectivism is emerging.” T h ese w o rld -re m o d e lin g e d u c ato rs w eren ’t q u ite s u re w h a t ex a ct fo rm th is collectivism o f th e ir s w o u ld tak e , but they d id n ’t m in d h a z a rd in g a g u ess — a p re tty p ro p h e tic o ne to o : “Almost certainly it will involve a larger measure of compulsory as well as voluntary cooperation of citizens in the conduct of the complex na tional economy,, a corresponding en largement of the functions of govera- 7 �m ent, an d an increasing state of in tervention in fundam ental branches of economy previously left to indi vidual discretion and initiative — a state intervention th a t in some in stances may be direct and m andatory a n d in others indirect and facilitative.” Here was the blueprint of these left ist educators for the “new” America — an America that would be diverted from its forward march in the only really new system of society invented in thousands of years, and turned back to the managed and crumbling systems of Europe from which our ancestors fled. Whatever else may be said of the American Republic — the American system of free competitive enterprise operating in a severely lim ited constitutional government — it was the only system ever invented by man that guaranteed to him complete liberty from that greatest of all ty rants, Big Government. With all its human faults, it brought us also the greatest abundance ever known on earth. Even the poverty of its depres sions could not be compared with the congenital poverty of the European systems. This was only one more proof of its genius. But these men could not see its genius for its faults and rather than try to correct those faults, they set out to scrap the whole wondrous American experiment in favor of the tyrannical and degenerate planned so cieties of a sick and war-torn Europe. But the label had to be enticing — and so it became “the new social order.” The poison in the well . . . that spreads the contamination nationwide i supplied by s textbooks, teachers' colleges . . . and the National Educa tion Association Now THAT THIS GROUP of revolution ary schoolmen had ready their blue prints for “a coordinated, planned and socialized economy” it was neces sary that they get them accepted by at least a good portion of the teaching profession, particularly in the socalled social sciences. Dr. Counts himself was quite frank about this. He said “That the teachers should de liberately reach for power and then make the most of their conquest is my firm conviction.” How did they propose to get the teachers “to reach for power” and put over the new socialist order on their pupils? Did they set about selling their ideas to the more than 900,000 public school teachers in America? Of course not. They knew that would be impossible. They knew that the ma jority of teachers were dedicated men and women who believed in America and in the American system and who wanted to make their students good, intelligent citizens of that system. These subversive ideas had to be sneaked over on the teachers and through the teachers on the students. And what better way to sneak them over than through the teachers’ own organization and through the text books the teachers were given to use creating a swift nation-wide campaign in the schools? In other words, as John of adult education which will support T. Flynn has so aptly put it, it wasn’t President Roosevelt in taking these necessary to poison every glass of over and operating them at full capa water coming out of every tap in a city as a unified national system in given community. It was necessary the interest of the people.” There was only to drop one cup of poison into almost the complete blueprint for a socialist society in America, as pro the reservoir serving that community. The largest teacher organization in mulgated by the National Education America is the National Education As Association! From that time to the present day, sociation. It has innumerable com mittees, sub-committees, state and lo one after another of the revolutionary cal branches which reach into every “thinkers” of Teachers College, Co phase of educational activity. It claims lumbia, and their disciples appeared a tremendous membership among the before the National Education Associa nation’s teachers and its monthly pub tion and its sub-groups, wrote for the lication, the N E A Journal, goes regu N E A Journal and other educational larly to each of these members. But publications, constantly pressing on the like all mass organizations which the teachers of America the need for their majority of the membership has “new social order” — to be brought neither the time nor the inclination about through the public schools. This to watch too closely, the NEA is pretty led the National Education Association tightly controlled at the center by a into some pretty strange fields. In 1937, group of officials who, if not outright for instance, one of NEA’s yearbooks leftists, could hardly be described as described Earl Browder, then head of the Communist Party here, as “an pro-Americans. And this has been true able and restrained radical.” The N E A for many years. As early as 1934, one Journal in 1945 plugged heavily a book of these proliferating committees of by Henry Wallace containing his plan the NEA made a report to the 72nd for government control of our lives— annual meeting of the NEA. It was pre and declared it should be made “part sented by the man who subsequently of the required study of every high became executive secretary of the school and college student.” In many NEA. This report said: schools it was. “A dying laissez-faire m ust be com Before long, teachers were getting pletely destroyed and all of us, in almost no other philosophy from their cluding the ‘owners,’ m ust be sub professional journals and their asso jected to a large degree of social ciations than this degraded European control.” one all dressed up in the bright tinsel So as to leave no doubt what they of the “new social order.” And as new meant by “social control” here is and younger teachers appeared on the what these revolutionary souls in the scene, coming out of many schools of National Education Association were education like Teachers College where feeding to their teacher members: the same poisonous philosophy was “. . . the cred it agencies, th e basic fed to them, they became less and less industries and u tilities cannot be cen resistant to the spreading disease. trally planned and operated under Along with all this went the poison private ownership.” What then? They would join “in ing of the textbooks — not only for 9 �the students but for the teachers them selves. One of Dr. Counts’ collabora tors in Teachers College was Dr. Har old 0. Rugg. First Dr. Rugg wrote a book for professional educators — for teachers — called “The Great Tech nology.” In it he set forth the phi losophy we have been examining above — the philosophy of the “new social order” under which a central govern ment equipped with all-pervading pow ers would completely regulate our lives, taking over entirely parts of the economic system and controlling and managing the rest. Dr. Rugg told the teachers it was up to them to condi tion “a new public mind” to bring this about. And this conditioning must be done in the schools. The teachers must disabuse their pupils’ minds of any archaic ideas they might have about our history. They must be told that the American Revolution was not a revolt of men who wanted to be free against an all-powerful, tyrannical and tax-eating government. It was just a brawl between American “landlords” and the British nobility, and the men who led the Revolution were merely interested in their own property. The students must be taught that our freeenterprise system is a failure — it breeds poverty and inequality and the only fair system is a planned one run by the government. But Dr. Rugg did not stop with the teachers. He wrote 14 textbooks, 14 student workbooks and 14 teacher guides and he himself boasted that this service was studied by some 5,000,0 00 young Americans. Dr. Rugg, per haps overcome by his astounding suc cess, went a little too far. He decided to re-educate the entire population for the “new social order” and began to advocate adult education groups which would get their indoctrination from the teachers along with their children. 10 Dr. Rugg was a bit too brash with some of his statements and thus brought himself to the attention of various patriotic citizens and groups who began to look into what he had been doing with his textbooks in the schools. So shocked were they with what they found that they succeeded in stopping the use of the Rugg text books in many schools. But Dr. Counts, Dr. Rugg, Dr. Wil liam H. Kilpatrick, Dr. George W. Hartmann, Dr. Boyd H. Bode, Dr. John L. Childs — to name a few of this handful of revolutionary souls — had laid a solid groundwork for put ting over their baleful system on the youth of America. The textbooks sim ply became more subtle — and there fore more dangerous. And as soon as a group of irate citizens here and there objected to one which praised Communist Russia too blatantly, it was replaced with another that omitted the praise of Communist Russia but plugged for all its socialist ingredients without calling them socialist. It is possible in this limited space to give just a few examples of the type of textbooks from which more than a generation of American children have been, and are being, taught. Here is one called “The Old World and Its Gifts.” It combines geography, history and civics in one volume (under the new dispensation of teaching “social studies” instead of individual subjects, to which we will come later). It is meant for children in the sixth grade. In teaching the youngsters about Rus sia, it implants in their minds the idea that the Russian governmental structure is pretty much like our own! For example, Russia “is made up of small local governments which corre spond to our townships, cities and counties” and “there are governments for larger regions similar to our 48 states.” A Russian girl in the book takes students on a tour and they visit a Communist school “much like a school in a large American city.” The authors wind up by telling our sixth-grade pupils that while the Soviet Union is not as good a place to live as the United States (which deserves a prize for scholastic understatement) yet “the Russians have accomplished a great deal . . . as much as many other nations have done in a century or more.” Here’s another textbook for seventh graders called “Democracy at Work.” It gets over its unnamed socialist in doctrination through simple little stories. One is called “Safeguarding Against Misfortune: Social Security.” Then there are some very sad little tales about people out of work, fol lowed by this heading: “Government to the Rescue.” Another story called “Sharing the National Income” has a mythical visitor from Mars asking: “Have you Americans made any at tempt to reduce poverty by redistrib uting your national income?” And there’s even a reference list for fur ther reading, including Harry Hop kins’ “Spending to Save: The Com plete Story of Relief” and Maxwell Stewart’s “Social Security.” Harry Hopkins, of course, was the cynical alter-ego of Franklin D. Roosevelt who expounded the theory of “tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect.” Maxwell Stewart is a long time Communist-fronter who was named under oath before a Senate Committee as a Communist. In a textbook for high school stu dents called “Democracy and Social Policy” appears the following: “It is clear that the great majority of Ameri cans expect the government to play a bigger role in economic affairs in the future than at any time in the past. Some persons think the efforts of government agencies should be re stricted to aiding and supervising pri vate industry, trade and finance. Oth ers think it desirable for the govern ment to become a partner in various kinds of economic enterprise. These differences are important. They are far less important, though, than the fact that there is a large measure of agree ment that the government cannot avoid increased economic responsibility of some kind, perhaps of many kinds.” The above examples could be multi plied endlessly from textbooks on every conceivable subject in every grade from first through high school. The social revolutionaries, you must agree, have done their work well. Is it any wonder then, that a recent sur vey of 5,000 high school seniors throughout the United States produced the following startling results among the youngsters who expect to be the future leaders of our constitutional, free-enterprise system: Over 60 percent believe the profit motive can be killed off without hurt ing the American system. Fifty-six percent think the best way to improve our standard of living is not by workers producing more but by giving workers more wages. Sixty percent think employees get too little and owners too much of the profits of a company. Seventy-five percent believe that when an industry puts in new ma chinery, the owners get most of the gains resulting from modernization. More than 60 percent think manu facturers can raise wages by 10 cents an hour without raising the prices of the products they make. Is it any wonder that Dr. Oliver Carlson reported with shock over hearing a conversation among a group of high school juniors discussing their 11 �future. It went like this: “I’ll get mine in two thousand three.” A younger boy, with envy: “I’ve got to wait till two thousand and five.” An older girl: “I’m the lucky one — I get mine in the year two thousand.” With at least another year, and maybe five, of edu cation ahead of them and almost a lifetime in the work-a-day world, they were avidly looking forward to the time when they could start to draw their Federal Old-Age Pensions! The pipeline from li we ll . . . le ready and waiting . . . was and i “progressive education. s ’ I became the tool of the new social organizers t for our educational revolutionaries only one problem. They had infiltrated the teachers’ organiza tions and journals with their “new social order” for a socialist America. They had captured a good many of the teacher-training colleges. They had filled the textbooks of American schools with their sneers and slurs on the American constitutional system and its free-enterprise economy, and with the glories of Big Government that would run every phase of our lives. They had filled the books with Socialist ideas without calling them socialist. They had under their control the well of poison. But how to instill that poison into present and future gen erations — that was their problem. What could they do about children from homes where the traditional vir tues of the American way were part of everyday life? What could they do about children who knew what was meant by discipline, restraint, self-re spect, who had been brought up to consider themselves individuals with the right to reason and think? What good the poison if the moment the child got to his home or to his church he was given an antidote to the T h e r e r e m a in e d 12 poison? How keep the avidly curious mind of youth from devouring in the written word, in the fascinating world of numbers, in the heartwarming stories of their own American heritage the unalterable answers to the noxious draughts of the “new social order?” In other words, there had to be a pipeline from the well of poison di rectly to the child in school. And it had to be so constructed that once the poison was injected it could not be too easily purged from the child’s mind. For this purpose the revolution ary educationists had the perfect in strument at hand in what has come to be known as “progressive educa tion.” That term “progressive education” is a hard one to fight. If you are against it, there is the implication that you are against “progress” in education. If you object to many of its methods, you are met with the answer: Do you want the schools to remain static? Do you want your chil dren taught under the rigid discipline and learning by rote of a hundred years ago? Of course, no one objects to true progress in educational methods or anything else. It is beyond doubt that over the years advances have been made in newer and better methods of imparting knowledge to young minds and in handling the disciplinary prob lems that arise when any group of youngsters are brought together. But progressive education as we know it in our schools today has practically noth ing to do with these things. This is merely the smokescreen thrown up by its advocates and defenders to conceal its true purpose. Progressive education is an entire ly new (in the last 25 years) method of education the purpose of which — whether all its defenders realize it or not — is to deliberately under-educate our children. It was put over on our schools by the same men, the same groups, the same organizations bent on building “the new social order” of socialism in America through the schools. And it was put over by them because it was only through this method that the minds of generation after generation of American school children could be so molded as to ac cept without reasoning and without questioning the subversive political and economic philosophy of these rev olutionary schoolmen. Progressive education was first pro pounded early in the century by John Dewey, a muddle-headed philosopher at Columbia University who was sub sequently built up into a kind of left ist god by the collectivists on the campuses of American colleges. Dewey believed that there is no such thing as truth and certainly no eternal truths, no fixed moral laws, that man has no mind or soul as we have always un derstood those words, that man is nothing more than a biological organ ism subject to constant change and that he is therefore wasting his time try ing to find in religion or tradition the moral and ethical concepts to guide his stay on earth. As a result of such “thinking” it was naturally easy for Dr. Dewey to arrive at the conclusion that tradition had no meaning, that history and the lessons of the past were nonsense, that discipline of the mind and body was foolish and that education had only one purpose — to enable the child to be happy in his environment and, as his environment was constantly changing, for the child to change with it. Dr. Dewey never thought through to the logical conclusion of his phil osophy, but very simply what it boils down to is this. If the child finds him self in an environment — a group — in which the majority doesn’t wash and therefore is always steeped in dirt, he must be permitted to adjust freely to his environment and become good and dirty himself. If, in a few weeks, his group decides to clean up, he will clean up too if left to himself. Then, having tired of being dirty, the group may turn to more interest ing pursuits, such as tearing up the schoolroom, whereupon the child will “adjust” to his new environment, and join in the happy destruction. Ridicu lous as this sounds, it is nevertheless Dr. Dewey’s “progressivism” carried to its logical conclusion. In 1919 a number of Dr. Dewey’s disciples formed the Progressive Edu cation Association to see if they could not sell these “new” educational ideas to America’s schools. They didn’t get very far. Our schools went ahead, all through the ’twenties and even into the early ’thirties, with their tradi tional American system — teaching children to read, to write clearly, to add, subtract, multiply and divide, to spell, giving them a good solid ground work in history, geography, civics and government, in literature, in the na13 �ture of our Republic and our way of life, in manners and deportment and respect for their parents, their teach ers and each other. In other words, the schools went right ahead turning out educated young Americans who had been taught to think for themselves and who had been given the tools with which to reason. Then, beginning around 1932, as those builders of the “new social or der” we have been examining looked about them for the means of putting over their baleful philosophy, there at hand, ready for the plucking, was progressive education. And when Dr. George S. Counts made that speech in Baltimore to which we have referred, setting forth his plan for a “coordi nated, planned and socialized econ omy,” it was the Progressive Educa tion Association which he chose as his forum. His talk was entitled: “Dare Progressive Education be Pro gressive?” Then there began to appear in the progressive education movement all those same revolutionary souls who had been expounding the “new social order” — Counts, Rugg, Kilpatrick. Bode, Hartmann, Theodore Brameld, Goodwin Watson and others. And they did with progressive education exactly — and concurrently — what they did with the “new social order.” The National Education Association and its N E A Journal went whole hog for the new system and began to beat the teachers of America over the head with its glories. The teachers colleges began to inculcate in their embryo teachers the methods and substance of progressivism, along with the “new social order.” The movement issued an educational magazine called Social Frontier (which later became Fron tiers of Democracy) edited by Dr. Counts. It numbered among its direc 14 tors 60 or more American educators and it proceeded to fill the minds of American teachers in issue after issue with the need for putting over “the new social order” through progres sive education. While the movement often managed to obscure its real pur pose in the educationists’ cloudy verbi age borrowed from bureaucracy’s gobbledegook, some of the “new think ers” — no doubt giddy from the amazing success their campaign was having — began to speak out openly and frankly. For instance, Dr. Bode, in Social Frontier, actually said that no matter how cleverly their proposals might be stated they “must not be permitted to obscure the fact that this proposed scheme of education is de liberately aimed at fostering a disposi tion which will m a k e the pupil in tolerant and ‘ sore’ with respect to the contrast between employers and work ers.” (Italics added). Dr. Counts himself revealed the true purpose of progressive educa tion. He said: “In the collectivist society now emerging the school should be regard ed, not as an agency for lifting gifted individuals out of the class into which they were bom and of elevating them into favored positions where they may exploit their less-favored fellows, but rather as an agency for the abolition of all artificial social distinctions and of organizing the energies of the na tion for the promotion of the general welfare . . . Throughout the school program the development of the social rather than the egotistic impulses should be stressed; and the motive of personal aggrandizement should be sub ordinated to social ends. In promotion practices, in school activities, in the re lations of pupils and teachers and ad ministrators, the ideal of a cooperative commonwealth should prevail . . . All of this applies quite as strictly to the nursery, the kindergarten, and the ele mentary school as to the secondary school, the college, and the university.” Dr. Counts then set the tone for putting over the twin evils of “the new social order” and progressive education. He said: “If progressive education is to be genuinely progressive, it must eman cipate itself from the influence (of the upper middle class), face square ly and courageously every social issue, come to grips with life in all of its stark reality, establish a theory of social welfare . . . “You will say, no doubt, that I am flirting with the idea of indoctrina tion. And my answer is again in the aflirmativc, or, at least, I should say that the word does not frighten me.” And indoctrinate they did. This small handful of almost unknown men and women — banking on the average American’s ignorance of European rev olutionary methods and on his tend ency to leave teaching to the teachers —proceeded to turn the public school system of America upside down. One of the most important bastions that had to be stormed with the new progressivism was our traditional teaching of American and European history, geography, and government or civics. These hooded socialist edu cators realized it would be very diffi cult to get youngsters well-grounded in American history and its heroes, in the theory and practice of American government and a knowledge of the physical characteristics of our own and other countries to swallow their planned society. Besides, socialists — whether open, secret or hooded — have great contempt for what they sneeringly call “nationalism,” by which they mean patriotism. They want to bring their planned society not only to America but to every country in the world and then unite them all in a beautiful world social ist government. Therefore, children must be made “world-minded.” They must think in terms not of their own country but of the whole wide world. The socialist planners in the educa tional world accomplished both pur poses — keeping American children ignorant of their own history and tra ditions, and making them “worldminded” — at one fell swoop, through the textbooks used in the progressive system. American history, geography and government were lumped all un der one subject called “social studies” and expanded to cover the world. In the New York City schools, for in stance, where a modified form of the progressive system has been in opera tion for some years, a child gets to junior high school and even high school without ever having a course in American history. Instead he has “social studies” which begin with a smattering of European history all mixed up with present-day living and political conditions and a bare outline of the location of the countries; leaps the Atlantic for a further smattering of the same with regard to America; makes another leap of the Pacific for still more of the same concerning Asia. He winds up with a few scat tered, and often slanted, facts about every subject under the sun and a deep and concise knowledge of none. Interlaced with all this is a constant stream of propaganda for the United Nations and world government being fed to the schools by the National Education Association and UNESCO, the specialized propaganda agency of the UN. And often his “social studies,” under the progressive system, consist of “projects” such as building models of the UN building in New York, go ing on endless “field trips” that wear out both pupils and teachers but keep the pupils from learning and the teach ers from teaching. Along with this, the progressive sys tem has reached all the way down to 1 5 �the lowest grades to prepare the chil dren of America for their role as the collectivists of the future. As Rudolf Flesch has pointed out, they reached back 3500 years for their "progressive” method of teaching reading — a method perfectly feasible in learning the word pictures of Chinese but one almost guaranteed to prevent an American child from learning to read English properly. The child, as a re sult of training that gives him only a so-called basic vocabulary of recog nizable words learned from stilted and contrived texts, loses all desire to dip into that wonderland of knowledge which good books have provided for children since the invention of print ing. He turns instead to pictures, to comic books. Thus, acquiring no basic knowledge of the world of history, lit erature, morals, ethics and economics, his mind becomes the fallow ground into which to drop the seeds of so cialism. Pretty much the same perverted methods of “teaching” are used in arithmetic and writing in the progres sive system, so that the child goes from grade to grade without ever hav ing acquired proficiency in the three classic and basic foundation stones of all learning — reading, writing and arithmetic. In the case of arithmetic, for instance, since the progressivists do not believe in either memorizing or drill, the child is never made to learn the multiplication table. It is impossible, within the limited space of this pamphlet, to outline all the ingredients of the progressive method and its fallacies. However, the publishers of this pamphlet have pre pared an invaluable little document called “How ‘Progressive’ Is Your School?” It is in tabular form, with the progressive and modern tradition al method of teaching each subject in 16 our elementary schools side by side, so that any interested parent or teach er can quickly tell, by using this table as a guide, just how far his own school has gone in this campaign to under educate our children. Along with the progressive system —in fact, as an integral part of it — has gone a complete breakdown in disciplinary functions in the public schools. Since children must be left to “adjust to their environment” — in other words, to do as they please — and since in the progressive lexicon tradition and morals and manners have no meaning so that children are no longer taught respect for their teachers or parents, the teachers have become not much more than glorified babysitters trying to maintain some semblance of order while their charges “express” themselves to their heart’s content. Hovering over and above it all like some evil miasma is “the group.” The group — not the individual child — is the quintessence of progressivism. The child must always be made to feel part of the group. He must indulge in group thinking, in group activity. You can’t make socialists out of individual ists, so this group idea is the nucleus of the progressive system. It means no child must be permitted to forge ahead of another — that would hurt the group. Therefore promotions are auto matic — nobody is “left back” be cause of poor work or in order to get better basic training. Grading and graded report cards are out the win dow. Competition is taboo — it breeds rivalry and endeavor to pull oneself a bit above one’s fellows — and that is anathema to “the group.” It isn’t long before the children get the idea that trying isn’t worthwhile. And with the disciplinary lines slack or non-exist ent, it isn’t long before naturally curi- ous children avid for new experiences turn to other and bizarre pursuits. Of course, criticisms of progressive education such as the above, which have been growing in volume as Americans begin to realize what has been happening to their schools, bring forth only howls of rage and denial from the planners of our new social ist society. But the results of 20 years of their system in our schools are all about us. The two compositions quoted at the beginning of this pamphlet are one example. Right from the home-grounds of the progressivist-social planners comes another. The Dean of Columbia Uni versity’s Law School says that few of their entering students (who have ac tually completed a college course) pos sess sufficient knowledge of reading, writing and history to warrant the study of law. A professor in a midwestern college gave a history test to entering fresh men from the high schools. Many couldn’t say when America came into being. Others didn’t know the dates of the Civil War or World War I. A good batch of them couldn’t name one important historical figure in Ameri can life. The chairman of the board of ex aminers of Chicago’s public schools declared that deficiencies in reading comprehension and arithmetic are two of the most glaring weaknesses of young people seeking jobs as teachers. More than half the students who entered high schools in New York City in 1955 could not read at the normal level for freshman high school students. Some were as much as six under their grade level. The per centage was even higher among those entering junior high schools. Complaints are rampant among per sonnel directors of business and in dustry that prospective employees coming to them from the high schools — and even from the colleges — can’t read, don’t know how to spell the simplest words, can’t add up a simple column of figures and, what is worse than all this, don’t seem to be particu larly concerned about it. Why should they be? Their textbooks and their social-thinking teachers have taught them that they needn’t bother — the great, fatherly government will take care of everything. Still another aspect of the results of progressive education can be found in what has become a nation-wide problem — juvenile delinquency. We have only to glance at the headlines in our daily newspapers to note an ever increasing wave of vandalism, gang riots, robberies, muggings and killings among teen-agers. Of course, there are numerous explanations for our waves upon waves of juvenile crime, but many authorities who have given much time and thought to a study of the problem are agreed that progressive education is at least one of the factors involved. Children filled with revolt against organized author ity, taught to sneer at established in stitutions, left to “learn” according to their own bent, led to believe that “something for nothing” is the nature of life, can very soon become com pliant followers of the few lawless souls — juvenile or adult — to be found in any organized society. years 17 �o v e rlo o k s The final assault one s h o u ld e m b la z o n e d be b a s ic p re m ise on th e th a t office phy o f E d u c a tio n a t th e m o m e n t. The federal gov ernment can give nothing that it does not first take away. T h e f e d e r a l g o v e r a l a id to e d u c a tio n b e e n p u t b e tte r e rn m e n t h a s o n ly o n e s o u rc e o f fu n d s . P u b lic E x p e n d itu r e C o u n c il: N o w h e re h a s th e c a s e a g a in s t fe d o ffic ia l i n A m e r i c a . out of parents’ control through “federal aid to education” T h a t is th e ta x e s of th a n in th e S ta te o f C o n n e c tic u t, b y its “It is infinitely more important that we settle down to sound thinking on the values of local participation and local citizen control of our schools, and finance them with the resources within our states, than to chase our own tax dollars through the depre ciating process of federal bureaucracy and have them come back to us worth much less and accompanied by dic tates on how we shall use them.” t h e p e o p le w h o l iv e i n o u r s o v e r e i g n s t a t e s . B e f o r e i t c o ll e g e i n T e n n e s s e e . T h e S t a t e o f I n c a n g i v e o n e p e n n y t o a i d t h e s c h o o ls r e m a in e d c o m p la c e n t u n d e r t h is tw o d ia n a in C a lif o r n ia o r p r o n g e d a t t a c k o n o u r s c h o o ls b y . t h e s c h o o ls p r o g re s s iv is t t u r n in g little nea r l y t w o T h is w as d e c a d e s o u r p e o p le s o c ia l p a rtia lly r e v o lu tio n a r ie s . due, as we have m anaged c e rta in to e x p u n g e te x tb o o k s fro m th a t H o o s ie rs in to its w ere good lit t l e s o c ia l is t s . O t h e r s t a t e s g o t r i d of n o te d , to th e ir ig n o ra n c e o f th e E u ro o t h e r t e x t b o o k s , o n l y t o f in d t h a t t h e pean ones re v o lu tio n a r y m e th o d s happens w a l ls o f e v e r y s t a t e , c o u n t y a n d l o c a l • • • as resistance builds up at the local level, i to take matters s Fo r o f w h a te v e r b u r e a u c r a t t o b e i n c o n t r o l o f t h e F e d e r a l O ffice o f in fil th e y s u b s titu te d w e r e n ’t Illin o is o r K e n tu c k y o r M is s i s s i p p i o r a n y o th e r s ta te , it m u s t f ir s t t a x t h e p e o p le o f t h e s e s ta t e s . T h e n a n d o n ly th e n c a n i t g iv e so m e o f t h e ir o w n m o n e y b a c k to th e m . F e d e ra l a id to e d u c a tio n , o f c o u rs e , m uch is a p e rf e c t g im m ic k fo r th e ta x - tr a tio n a n d in d o c tr in a tio n , a n d to th e ir b e tte r. E v e n N e w f e e lin g t h a t te a c h in g is th e d o m a in o f o f E d u c a tio n , b e s e t b y th e p le a s o f o u t h u n g r y p o litic ia n s in W a s h in g to n w h o t h e t e a c h e r . I t w a s a ls o d u e i n g o o d r a g e d p a re n ts , h a s th is y e a r in s titu te d w a n t th e se m e a s u r e to Y o rk C i t y ’s B o a r d f u n d s t o k e e p t h e m s e lv e s B u t th e d r iv e f o r f e d e r a l a id to e d u c a ti o n g o e s o n a p a c e . I t i s s p e a r h e a d e d a p r o g r a m o f w e e d in g o u t th e b r ig h te r i n p o w e r b y b r i b i n g t h e p e o p le i n t h e by p la n te d in t h e ir m in d s b y th e e d u c a p u p ils s t a t e s w i t h t h e i r o w n m o n e y . B u t i t is tio n is ts — t i o n a l E d u c a t i o n A s s o c ia t io n w h i c h , a s w e h a v e se en , w ith th e a id o f th e a b e lie f — c a re f u lly im and p e rm ittin g th e m to get none o th e r th a n th a t sam e Na a h e a d in sc h o o l a b it f a s te r th a n th e ir a ls o t h e p e r f e c t g i m m ic k f o r t h e p r o s t r u s e a n d e s o te r ic s u b j e c t w h i c h c o u ld “ g r o u p le v e l .” H e r e a n d tic u la r ly c o u ra g e o u s te a c h e r — g r e s s i v is t r e v o l u t i o n a r i e s . T h e y t a l k a b o u t “ sc h o o l n e e d s” b u t th e y h a v e p ro g re s s iv is t r e v o lu tio n a r ie s , p u t o v e r be n o t f o rg o tte n n e w s o c ia l o r d e r ” a n d p r o g r e s s i v e e d u th a t e d u c a tio n u n d e rs to o d e d u c a to rs. o n ly by is an ab p r o f e s s io n a l A ny m an o r w om an w ho r is k o f h e r jo b — th e r e a p a r a t th e h a s sp o k en o u t. d a r e d to r a is e h is v o ic e a g a in s t w h a t S o m e o f th e m , k n o w in g w h a t th e p r ic e w a s b e i n g d o n e t o o u r s c h o o ls a n d o u r o f f r a n k a p p r a i s a l w o u ld b e , h a v e r e c h ild r e n s i g n e d f ir s t a n d t h e n s p o k e n o u t w as m et w ith a to rre n t of w ho pays th e th e o ld a d a g e th a t p ip e r c a ll s th e he tu n e . on o u r s c h o o ls t h e t e a c h i n g o f “ t h e c a tio n . T h e N E A m a in ta in s , in fa c t, a T h e ir in te r e s t in f e d e ra l a id to e d u c a p o w e rfu l tio n is d u e p r im a r ily to th e fa c t th a t nanced lo b b y in th e dues by W a sh in g to n , of i ts fi te a c h e r- t h e y k n o w t h a t o n c e t h e f e d e r a l c a m e l ’s m em b e rs, t h e s t r i v i n g h a s b e e n r i s i n g i n v o lu m e s n o u t c a n b e g o t te n u n d e r t h e t e n t o f e v e ry m u c h to o d u m b , to c o p e w ith a p r o v and o u r lo c a l ly - r u n s c h o o l s y s te m s , W a s h fed e ra l g o v e rn m e n t i n c e o f k n o w l e d g e s o l o f t il y w ith o u t i n g to n c a n t h e n t e l l t h e s c h o o ls w h a t S h o u l d t h e y e v e r s u c e e d i n t h e i r a im s , t h e p r o g r a m t o t u r n A m e r i c a i n to a e d u c a tio n a le s e d e s ig n e d to m a k e h im fee l th o ro u g h ly in a d e q u a te , a n d even p e rc h e d o n a h i g h i n te l le c tu a l p l a t e a u . A ll o v e r A m e r i c a , t h e s e e t h i n g a n d in n u m b ers. th e B u t n e v e r reck o n p ro g re s s iv is t r e v o lu tio n a r i e s . T h e y d o n o t g i v e u p s o e a s ily . to te a c h a n d w h a t n o t to te a c h , h o w to B u t d u r in g th e p a s t few y e a rs , n o T h e y h a v e o n e m o r e f a t a l to o l i n t h e i r t e a c h i t a n d h o w n o t t o te a c h it, a c l o n g e r a b l e t o i g n o r e t h e e v id e n c e o f k i t w h i c h , i f t h e y c a n g e t i t u s e d , w ill c o r d i n g t o t h e w h im a n d t h e p h i lo s o u n d e r-e d u c a te d p la n w h ic h to backs g e t th e on v ig o ro u s ly hand our of th e s c h o o ls . p l a n n e d , s o c ia l iz e d s o c ie t y o n t h e E u r o p e a n m o d e l w ill b e c o m p le te . g i v e t h e m f in a l ly a n d f o r e v e r a s t r a n y o u n g s t e r s f ille d w ith s tr a n g e id e a s , p a r e n ts h a v e b r o k e n o u t g le h o ld o n t h e p u b l i c s c h o o l s y s te m o f in o p e n re v o lt. In P a s a d e n a , C a lif o r t h e A m e r i c a n s ta t e s . n i a , f o r i n s t a n c e , t a x p a y i n g c it i z e n s — T h is to o l is e m b o d ie d in th e sw e e t t h e s u p p o r t e r s o f t h e p u b l ic s c h o o ls — s o u n d in g p h r a s e “ fe d e ra l a id to e d u c a fo r th e h is to r y t i o n .” T h e a r g u m e n t s f o r i t a r e e n ti c iss u e in in g . W e n e e d a d d itio n a l sc h o o l b u ild f ir s t tim e in th e ir tu rn e d d o w n a sch o o l b o n d o r d e r to g e t r id o f a p ro g re s s iv is t s u in g s a n d a d d i t i o n a l t e a c h e r s a n d m o r e p e rin te n d e n t p a y f o r t h e te a c h e r s , f o r o u r e v e rin c re a s in g sc h o o l p o p u la tio n . W hy s h o u ld n o t t h e f e d e r a l g o v e r n m e n t — w ith i t s b o u n d l e s s b u n d l e o f b i ll io n s — g i v e s o m e o f t h e m t o t h e s ta t e s a n d c it i e s f o r t h e i r s c h o o ls ? T h e a r g u m e n t chaos in to w ho th e ir had s c h o o ls in tr o d u c e d and th e ir c o m m u n i ty . B u t t h e s y s te m h e i n s t i tu te d r e m a in s to p la g u e th e m a n d th e e d u c a t i o n i s t h i m s e lf p r o m p t l y g o t a jo b te a c h in g te a c h e rs in a te a c h e rs ’ 18 19 �Attend school board meetings. Don’t fail to vote in all local elections involv WHAT TO DO? . . Is t h e r e a n y t h i n g Y O U , the parents of America, can do about all this? Of course there is. But you must get clearly fixed in your minds several fundamental facts. The first is that the public schools belong to you. You are the taxpayers who build and main tain the schools and pay the teachers. Without you, there would be no public schools. You therefore have not only the right, but the duty, to keep an eye on your schools and to speak up when you feel the trustees of your funds — the school board, the super intendents, the principals — are abus ing your trust. Second, there is nothing strange or mysterious or beyond understanding of the average intelligent American in the education of his children. The pur pose of education in the public-school system is to train your child to use his mind, to give him information, to teach him to think for himself and to inculcate in him those principles of moral and social conduct which are the accepted code of society. When ever you see the schools doing more or less than this, it is your duty to speak out. Third, your child’s mind is his own . . . but you are his guardian. No school or its teachers has any more right to indoctrinate your child’s mind with alien philosophies than it has to indoctrinate it with a religion different from your own. With these few basic principles in mind, here are a few things you can do. Others will suggest themselves to you as correlative to these: DO THIS . . . The past few years have produced, with the growing revolt against this invasion of our schools, an increasing literature on this whole subject by authoritative and careful pro-American writers and researchers. There is appended at the end of this pamphlet a partial list of these volumes. Get a copy of the folder: “How ‘Progressive’ is Your School?” already re ferred to. This will give you an easy to follow guide, so that when you speak up on the subject of progressive education, you will know whereof you speak. Keep informed. Join parent-teachers associations and mothers’ clubs in your community and Many of these groups around the country have been infiltrated by the knowing or unknowing disciples of the progressivist revolutionaries. They are vocal, strident and forceful — and they work hard. You must work just as hard — even harder in the beginning — to get these organizations back where they belong and to aid them to bring the proper influences to bear on the schools. take an active part in them. Always be on the alert against any and all attempts to get the hand of the federal government — directly or indirectly — on your schools. 20 ing school issues and members of the school board. Keep yourself informed about the activities of the school board. Don’t hesitate to speak up at open board meetings, to contact personally and by correspondence members of the board. Look into the background and philosophy of school board members^and prospective members. And don’t be intimidated by being told you are meddling in something you know nothing about. The men and women who serve on school boards, who superintend and administer the schools are your employees. You have not only the right, but the duty, to let them know how you feel about the manner in which they are discharging their trust. Don't fight with your children's teachers. In many cases they are as much the victims of this system as are your children. The majority of teachers are a hard-working and dedicated group of good Americans. But they are human beings. They are caught up in a system in which they have found that pro test and objections on their part can mean their jobs, their retirement pay or relegation to the “sticks.” Once you have begun to make an impression on your schools you will find allies — albeit often secret ones — among the teachers themselves. Many of them don’t like the system any more than you do, but they don’t dare say so. Never make wild charges, such as branding a teacher or a textbook a9 communist. They never advocate communism openly. They don’t even advo cate socialism openly, but slyly and sneakily as we have explained. But if you charge them with communism, they not only vehemently deny it but shout their anti-communism to the housetops. This immediately puts you in the position of making unfounded charges and anything else you have to soy, no matter how true, is then tarred with the same brush of unreliability. Always be sure of your facts first—and then speak out openly and frankly— and stand your ground. particularly at the high school level. It is to these libraries that your high school students are often sent for their supplemental and “required” reading. The progressivist revolutionaries have not overlooked trying to pack them with a preponderance of leftist books. Not only that, but in their need to break down the moral fibre of American youth, thev have succeeded in getting into some high school libraries books that would not be permitted on the shelves of a men’s club in any of our sophisticated larger cities. And don’t be scared off by cries of “freedom of the press” and “academic freedom.” A high school library is not in the same category as a public library or a bookshop where may be found books of all types for discriminating adults. The high school library is there to supplement the education of young, formative minds. Keep an eye on your school libraries, Don't leave the whole education job to the schools. Try to rid your mind of the feeling, if you have it, that school is some place to send the kids to get them off your neck. Watch their education carefully. Discuss their school problems with them. Look at their textbooks. Be sure they are progressing as rapidly in their studies as you feel they should. If possible, teach your child to read before he goes to school or during his first year there. It isn’t as hard as you think. It can be done with the help of a book like Rudolf Flesch’s “Why 21 �Johnny Can’t Read.” Your child’s ability to read well will give him — and you — a weapon with which to resist the blandishments of the progressivist revolutionaries, as the world of books and writing is opened to him. Suggestions for Additional Reading Be eternally vigilant — and not just until you can get your schools back on the track. Remember that the advocates of “the new social order” and pro gressive education never rest. They are endlessly active. You must fight them whenever they try to get a foothold — locally or at state and national levels. They count, as in the past, on your apathy. They cannot succeed if you are vigilant, vocal and vigorous in your own interest. Now a word of warning. Once you take up the cudgels to restore your schools to their traditionally American pattern, you will be vilified and smeared, made to feel stupid. Bear up and stand your ground. With the destructive evidences of their system all about us, these are the only weap ons the progressivist revolutionaries have left with which to fight. But al ways remember that on the crusade in which you are engaged depends the future of your country children. — and your How ‘Progressive’ is Your School? 25<f Why Johnny Can’t Read by Rudolf Flesch $3.00 Also available in paper covers at newsstands and bookstores at 25# Conquest of the American Mind by Felix Wittmer $5.00 The Diminished Mind — a Study of Planned Mediocrity in Our Public Schools by Mortimer Smith $2.75 Education or Indoctrination by Mary L. Allen (Also available in condensed form in All-American Vol. I, at $1.00). $4.00 Bo o k Digest, A Layman’s Guide to Educational Theory by Coulter &Rimanoczy $3.50 Progressive Education is Reducation by Jones & Olivier $3.00 The Public Schools in Crisis, edited by Mortimer Smith $2.75 Retreat from Learning by Joan Dunn $3.50 Tales of a Teacher by Beatrice S. Nathan $4.00 Communist-Socialist Propaganda in American Schools by Verne P. Kaub $2.50 All of the above available from America's Future, Inc., except the paperbound edition of “ W h y Johnny C a n t R e a d ” which can be pur chased at newsstands or from the reprint publisher — Popular Library, Inc., N e w York City. 23 22 �‘ Eternal Vigilance Is the Price of Liberty” AMERICA’S FUTURE, INC. 542 MAIN STREET, NEW ROCHELLE, N. Y. A non-profit, non-partisan educational organization SEND FOR ANOTHER COPY . . or as many more copies as you can afford and hand them or mail them to your acquaintances, your fellow church and parents’ club members, your fellow employees, your leaders. PURCHASE IN BULK QUANTITIES You can obtain additional copies of this pamphlet by writing to America’s Future, Inc. which will supply them in lots of any number at the .special bulk rates below: P R I C E S 1 copy $ .25 5 copies $1.00 12 copies $2.00 50 copies $ 6.001 " 100 copies $10.00 1000 copies $75.00 For your convenience we will mail copies direct to your friends and associates. You pay at the bulk rate for the total number of copies, plus 3^ per name, for postage. Simply send names and addresses with check to cover. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "What's Happened to Our Schools?" Rosalie Gordon, published by "America's Future, Inc.", 1956. 13 pages. Description An account of the resource Leaflet deriding current "progressive education" in America's public schools. Presents reasons why public education is being undermined by progressive ideas and how to combat it. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource America's Future, Inc., Rosalie Gordon. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1956 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_15 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/e9b536f110693a6303456e41fc0a369f.pdf 04c4188e7bde4a5c2ad7a44d31694afa PDF Text Text Legislative Federal Relations Division National Education Ar s i i o ?* e - n of tK« Unite**! Si .it-t 1201 Sixteenth o -ct, N. W. Washington S,D. C Why our public schools are in serious trouble A series of six articles by Benjamin Fine, Education Editor of The New York Times R ep rin ted fr o m She ]fo r k S h u ts “ ALL T H E NEWS THAT’S F IT TO PR IN T” �A note about the author of these articles Dr. Benjamin Fine has been education editor of The N e w York Times since 1941. In that period he has achieved a reputation un equalled in his f ield for accurate, perceptive reporting. M a n y of his articles have brought to light conditions in our schools and universities of which the public had been unaware. His series of articles on the teaching of American history in the schools and colleges of the U. S. won a 1944 Pulitzer Prize for The N e w York Times “for the most disinterested and meritorious public service rendered by an American newspaper during the year.” As a specialist in the field of education, Dr. Fine is one of many expert reporters on the staff of The Times. As a team, they bring Times readers more news than they get anywhere else— complete, accurate, interesting. �Rearming Saps School Gains As Rolls and Costs Still Soar B y B E N JA M IN F IN E O nce ag a in th e n a tio n ’s public schools a re in serio u s plight. E ig h tee n m o n th s o f defense m obilization have ta k e n th e ir toll. D an g er sig n als a re fly in g everyw here, b u t o fte n a re n o t heeded. M any advances m ade in th e firs t five y e a rs a f te r W orld W a r II does to th e m o rale of th e children, th e p a re n ts, th e te a c h e rs a nd th e a re being sw ep t aw ay. school. B u t th e re is en o u g h dis co n te n t to m ak e th o u g h tfu l e d u ca to rs a n d civic-m inded citizen s ta k e stock. T h e schools a re in need o f g r e a t e r fin an cial he lp —a n d th e y a r e u n a ble to g e t it. M any co m m u n ities a lre a d y allo c a te a s u b s ta n tia l p a rt o f th e ir ta x fu n d s fo r th e schools. O ften tim e s rea l e s ta te is tax e d a l m o st to th e d a n g e r point. B u t e d u ca tio n c o sts m ore to d ay th a n ever before—a nd th e m oney freq u en tly is n o t th e re to spend. E n ro llm en t a R ecord co m m u n ity is easy to im agine. T h e schools, like o th e r a sp ec ts E d u c a to rs em phasize th a t a child E n ro llm en t is a t its h ig h est peak. of civ ilian life, a r e beginning to deprived of h is schooling w ill be T h e T i m e s su rv e y in d ic a te s th a t feel th e e ffe c ts of th e K orean con th e 1951-52 school e n ro llm en t unable to re g a in th e y e a rs lost26,525,115— re p re s e n tin g a g ro w th flic t. A s a re s u lt, th e y fac e a child is 6 only once. One can n o t o f 826,194 in a y e a r. M ost o f th is g loom y ye a r. M any e d u c ato rs a re p o stp o n e th e g ro w th o f a p u p il as w o rried le s t th e gloom c ontinue one m ig h t postpone th e b u ilding of g ro w th h a s occurred in th e elem en ta r y g rad e s, a n d m ore p a rtic u la rly fo r a n o th e r decade. th e f ir s t g rad e . T h e p riv a te and a ro ad o r a g a ra g e . R e p o rts fro m s ta te com m ission T h is c om m ent b y D r. W a lte r p a ro ch ial schools will a dd a n o th e r e rs o f ed u cation, co rre sp o n d e n ts of 3,000,000 ch ild ren o r m ore, th u s M axw ell, s e c re ta ry of th e A rizona b rin g in g th e to ta l e le m e n ta ry and T h e N e w Yo r k T i m e s in each of E d u c a tio n A ssociation, is ty p ic a l: se co n d a ry en ro llm e n t close to 30, th e f o rty -e ig h t s ta te s , a nd in te r A t n u m ero u s schools I h a v e seen 000, 000. view s w ith lea d in g e d u c a to rs all ch ild ren lined u p in f ro n t o f a M oreover, th e school rolls a re p o in t to a dow nw ard tren d . schoolhouse door, m a rc h in g in to g o in g to in crease fo r a t le a s t e ig h t T h e schools a re c a u g h t in a p in ta k e th e ir plac e s in th e school as years, m ore likely ten. cers. F o u r m a jo r fa c to rs a re in N e x t y e a r— 1952-53— th e schools th e f ir s t s h if t m arc h e d o u t—ju s t volved: In cre a sed enro llm ents, in like th e c h a n g in g of s h ifts in fa c w ill enroll 1,700,000 m ore children Dr. E a rl J . M cG rath, United th a n w ere /re g is te re d th is y ear. f la tio n a ry costs, lack o f building to rie s.” T h is is a tre m en d o u s n u m b er to S ta te s C om m issioner of E duca m a te ria ls a n d a n a c u te te a c h e r absorb, p a rtic u la rly since m o st of tion, who declares “ we a re not C osts P ro v id e H ead ach es s h o rta g e . In fla tio n a ry co sts a re a h e a d th e classro o m s a lre a d y a re o v er building enough schoolhouses or E d u c a to rs B a c k D efense ache ev eryw here. School o fficials crow ded. T h e peak w ill n o t ' be tra in in g enough new tea c h e rs to i E a c h Is lea v in g i ts im p rin t on the a re h a u n te d b y risin g prices. j reach ed befo re 1957-58, if by then, m eet th e s itu a tio n .’’ | a t w hich tim e it is e s tim a te d th e T h e New York Times schools, a nd on th e children, too. E v e ry th in g th e y b u y h a s gone up; e n ro llm e n t in public elem e n ta ry in elem e n ta ry I t is n o t a q u estio n of ta n k s v ersu s 50 o r 100 o r even 200 p e r c e n t . i ^ 01111”^ ac a in sis e g n f'fi nonnnn tex tb o o k s. E d u c a to rs everyw here T ee irh ers a rer,e too. tin go s th o y - U e ti n g jn n ^ o n ^ a n ^ rf e re ^ s p o f 6,000,000 ea ch y e a r fo r th e n e x t several th sh C t- f v ^^ w h o le h e arted ly su p p o rt th e Gov bonuses h av e been h a n d ed o ut, b u t 'ov® r 0 * . . . . . . y e a rs, th e te a c h in g rolls also will e rn m e n t’s defense p ro g ra m . T hey n o t f a s t enough, th e te a c h e rs com -| E d u c a to rs a re deep ly d istu rb ed h av e to rise ste a d ily . H ow ever, a p p la u d i ts e ffo rts to m ak e our plain, to keep pace w ith risin g food, by th is condition. T ypical is th e te a c h e r-tra in in g in stitu tio n s are n o t p re p a rin g enough m en and d em o cracy s tr o n g enough to w ith prices. A s a resu lt, m o ra le in manyi Y*ew voiced by D r. E a rl J . Mc- w om en to do th e job. All b u t four s ta n d th e ch a lle n g e of Soviet Com com m u n ities is poor. L a s t s p rin g G rath , U n ited S ta te s C om m issioner s ta te s r e p o rt a te a c h e r s h o rta g e th e 500 te a c h e rs of P a w tu c k e t,. E d u c a tio n : m unism . R. I., w e n t on s tr ik e fo r severalI “The tid a l w av e o f ch ild ren bear- even th is ye a r. T hey now could T h ey s a y th e ir problem is n o t m o n ths, c lo sin g all of th e c ity ’s in g dow n on o u r schools bids fa ir u se 71,886 e le m e n ta ry a n d 15,121 one o f m ore AB C’s o r m ore a ir schools. T h ey won p a r t of th e in-! to overw helm us. W e sim ply a re h ig h 'sc h o o l tea c h e rs. D espite th e need fo r teach ers, plan es. T h ey in sis t ou r econom y c re a s e th e y s o u g h t—b u t a t a s e r i- 'n o t b u ild in g enough new schooly o u n g people seem to sh y a t e n is s tr o n g en o u g h to provide both. ous co st to th e schooling o f th e ir, houses o r tra in in g en o u g h new te a c h e rs to m ee t th e s itu a tio n . We te rin g th e profession. T he tea c h e r pupils. M oreover, th e y in sis t th a t it is I n o th e r com m unities th e s tr u g c a n ’t go on from y e a r to y e a r on colleges r e p o rt a d ec re a se th is y e a r j u s t a s tr u e to d a y a s it w as a g le fo r h ig h e r s a la ry schedules th e p re s e n t m a k e s h ift basis w ith of 16 p e r c e n t in th e ir e n terin g c e n tu ry ago, w hen f ir s t proclaim ed goes on in th e bo ard ro o m s r a th e r o u t se rio u sly u n d e rm in in g o u r classes. T h is m ean s, in effect, th a t fo u r y e a rs fro m now, w hen the by H o race M ann, t h a t school- th a n on th e p ic k e t line. T h e N ew w hole public school sy stem “U n less th e A m e ric a n people are school ro lls will hav e in cre a se d by houses a re th e f ir s t line of o u r de- Y o rk C ity te a c h e rs rec e n tly ended a -y e a r-a n d -a -h a lf “b o y c o tt” of ex p re p a re d to ta k e po sitiv e actio n m ore th a n 5,000,000, th e re will be tra c u rr ic u la r a c tiv itie s. J u d g in g to rem ed y th ese deficiencies, m il few e r tra in e d tea c h e rs. I n th e la s t y e a r it A lth o u g h th e n u m b er o f tea c h e rs fro m th e re a c tio n o f th e ir sp o k es lions of children will c o n tin u e to sch o o ls h a v e m ad e few advances, m en, th e y a re f a r fro m h a p p y a t g e t a m a k e s h ift e d u c atio n .” 4 h o ld in g s u b s ta n d a rd o r em erg en cy a n d m a n y b a c k w a rd steps. A n u m th e com p ro m ise s a la ry in creases. T o d ay m an y th o u sa n d s o f ch il c e rtific a te s h a s d ec re a se d by 5i053, b e r o f c o m m u n ities r e p o rt un ex B u t th e s a la r y issue is o nly p a rt d ren a re a tte n d in g classes ir th e re a re still 66,354 o f th em in p ected s e tb a c k s . O ver th e nation, th e school sy ste m . F o r exam ple, 3,500,000 e le m e n ta ry a nd high of th e ed u catio n al p ictu re. C om pe school b a sem en ts, a p a rtm e n t-h o u se 8,500 o f th e 24,600 te a c h e rs in M is titio n h a s a ris e n fro m h ig h e r-p a y b a sem en ts, e m p ty sto re s, g a ra g e s, school c h ild ren —one o u t of e ig h t in g G o vernm ent jobs, w a r-re la te d ch u rch es, in ad e q u a te p riv a te hom es so u ri a re on e m e rg e n cy c e rtifica te s, p u p ils in th e public schools—a re a n d S o u th D a k o ta re p o rts 1,796 of su ffe rin g a n im p a ire d education p o sition s a n d th e d em an d fo r a nd even tra ile rs. W h a t is m ore, its 7,159 te a c h e rs do n o t hold re g because o f in ad e q u a te facilities. skilled a n d sem isk illed w o rk e rs in one o u t o f five o f th e re g u la r u la r licenses. schools is e ith e r u n s a fe o r obsolete. A y e a r a g o a TIMES s tu d y show ed v a rio u s in d u strie s. M ore te a c h e rs B u t th e “s u b s ta n d a rd c e rtifi B uilding P ro g ra m D elayed 3,000,000 children w e re being de a re leav in g th e p rofession to d ay c a te s ” te ll o n ly p a r t of th e sto ry . prived o f a n a d e q u a te education. th a n a t a n y tim e sin ce W o rld W a r T h e defen se p ro g ra m h a s played T hus, th e r e h a s been a n in crease II, w hen 350,000 d e p a rte d , n e v e r to h avoc w ith b u ild in g plan s. E ven T he N a tio n a l E d u c a tio n A ssocia tio n e s tim a te s t h a t of th e 600.000 o f h a lf a m illion in tw elv e m onths. re tu rn . th o u g h th e n a tio n sp e n t a record F re q u e n tly th e co m m u n ity m u st $1 ,2 0 0 ,000,000 fo r school c o n s tru c e le m e n ta ry te a c h e rs in th e public In c o m p e te n t te a c h e rs , poorly equ ip p ed c lassro o m s, in ad e q u a te em ploy su b s ta n d a rd , u nqualified tio n ih 1950-51, th e co m m u n ities schools 300,000 do n o t hold college b u ild in gs a nd po o r su p erv isio n te a c h e rs because tra in e d personnel w B re u nm u le to k eep p ace w iithi th e ' d eg re e s—th e m in im u m tr> s ta n d a rd . w e i e u i ab i c l u n c e p y a u e w l i .. m a M any school s y s co m bine to c h e a t th e s e h u n d red s a re lack in g . n u m b er o f ch ild ren re a c h in g school ? t le M t lO ^ O M 'a re s ^ i n a d e ^ u S S v ? in ad e q u a tely o f th o u sa n d s o f y o u n g people. The te m s r e p o rt th e y a re " s c ra p in g th e age. A nd in 1952. e d u c ato rs w arn . n u m b e r of p u p ils on double se s b o tto m o f th e b a rre l.” ste e l a n d o th e r c ritic a l m a t e r i a ls I S S L ” ? “ ^ sio n s is g ro w in g ste a d ily . A n e s ti A sm o ld e rin g d isc o n te n t is d e will sty m ie th e c o n s tru c tio n of ' 5 51 Pr_ “2 L " m a te d 400,000 boys a n d g irls a re tected. N e v e r befo re h a v e th e m a n y ba d ly n e tt e d schoolhouses. H n n a t^ rn w M .'n f dvnuth~ M ore th a n 1,000.000 school tio n a l g io w th o f A m e ric a s youth. n o t g e ttin g a full school d a y —som e schools been u n d e r su ch a tta c k s . S lig h t R ise in S a la rie s a r e a tte n d in g school even on trip le F re q u e n tly th e co n tro v e rsy is a r t i te a c h e rs a re now em ployed. 46,000 session schedules. T h ey go h a lf a fic ially co n triv ed , d ish o n e stly d e m ore th a n la s t y e a r. B u t w ith m ore T h e T i m e s s u rv e y show s th a t day, o r a th ird of a day. W h a t th is sig n e d to w re c k th e fre e public th a n 1,000,000 ch ild ren to be added te a c h e rs ' s a la rie s hav e risen �AS DANGER SIGNALS FLY IN NATIONAL EDUCATION FIELD slig h tly fro m a n a v e ra g e of ( $3,097 to $3,290 a nnually. T h is $193 m in crease, or $3.71 a w eek, h a s been e a te n up, th e te a c h e rs declare, by in creased liv in g co sts a nd hig h er taxes. N ew Y o rk S ta te , w ith a n a v e r a g e a n n u a l te a c h e rs ’ s a la ry of $4,500, lead s th e co u n try , follow ed by th e D is tric t of C olum bia w ith a $4,300 a v e ra g e a n d C a lifo rn ia w ith $3,967. M ississippi a g a in is a t the b ottom of th e list, p a y in g i ts te a c h e rs a n a v e ra g e of $1,475 a year. A rk a n s a s is n e x t to M ississippi w ith $1,700, a n d S o u th C a ro lin a is th ird fro m th e b o tto m w ith $2,130. Six s ta te s p a y som e te a c h e rs less th a n $20 a week — M ississippi. S o u th C aro lina. K entucky. Iowa. G eorgia a nd M issouri. T en o th ers p a y a m inim um of $20 to $25 a w eek. F o r th e co u n try a s a whole, the public schools co st ju s t a little m o re th a n five billion dollars, a s lig h t in cre a se over t h a t in 1950-51. Tw o s ta te s - - N e w Y ork and C ali fo rn ia —spend m ore th a n $500,000,000 each. B ecause o f sp ira lin g costs, th e fu n d s needed to o p e ra te the public schools h a v e risen higher th a n ev er before. E d u c a to rs com plain, how ever, t h a t the m oney th e y g e t c a n n o t buy a s m uch as th e ir fu n d s of a s re c e n tly a s tw o y e a rs ago. Once m ore th e e ffe c ts of the K o re a n con flict c a n be seen in th e c lassro o m s o f e v e ry com m unity in th e U n ited S ta te s. A crow ded schoolroom p re s e n ts a problem fo r th e com m unity W ith C ong ress in session th e N. E. A. a nd o th e r school o rg a n i z a tio n s a g a in will seek F e d e ra l aid N E W YORK A N D M ID D L E th a n a y e a r ago, a n d th e num ber! tea c h in g s ta f f d e sp ite i ts en ro ll fo r th e p ublic schools. One m em ber o f te a c h e rs on su b s ta n d a rd c e rtifi m e n t g ain . o f C ongress w ho h a s a d vocated a A T L A N T IC S a la rie s in N ew M exico and F e d e ra l aid bill — S e n a to r L iste r A h e a v y in flu x of y o u n g ch ild ren c a te s h a s decreased. A ll b u t Rhode A rizona a re above th e n a tio n a l a v H ill of A la b a m a —a s se rte d th a t the h a s b u rd en ed schools in th is r e Isla n d need a d d itio n al tea c h e rs, s tr e n g th a nd s e c u rity of th e U n ited gion, a n d w ith no sig n s o f relief larg e ly in th e e le m e n ta ry g rad e s— erag e. A rizona, w ith $3,800, r a n k s fo u rth , o n ly A rizo n a re p o rts it S ta te s a g a in s t a g g re ssio n w ere in sig h t. B o th N ew Y ork and b ound inexorably to edu catio n . In P e n n sy lv a n ia r e p o rt th e la rg e s t M a ss a c h u s e tts a nd C onnecticut c a n o b tain a ll th e te a c h e rs , both a s ta te m e n t to T h e T i m e s he ob en ro llm e n t in creases. The re g is need 500 e le m e n ta ry te a c h e rs each. e le m e n ta ry a n d seco n d ary , i t needs. M ID W E S T se rv e d : te r s o f all th e s ta te s a n d th e D is SO UTH School c o n d itio n s a re g e n e ra lly "E d u c a tio n h a s given us th e tr ic t o f C olum bia h av e in creased C onditions in th e South, alth o u g h rep o rte d a s im p ro v in g in th e w idespread, high level of in te lli a b o u t 200,000. In fac e o f th e need gen ce a n d g e n e ra l com petency by fo r a d d itio n al schools, all s ta te s r e ste a d ily im p ro v in g since W orld tw elve s ta te s in th e reg io n . E n w hich we h av e b u ilt h isto ry ’s m ost p o rt d iffic u lty in o b tain in g bu ild W ar II, a re s till poor. E n ro llm en t ro llm e n t is on th e up sw in g , due in p e rfe c t exam ple o f d em o cratic go v ing m a te ria ls . E ven so, m o st s ta te s h a s been in c re a sin g in som e la rg e p a r t to g ro w th o f defen se in e rn m e n t a n d preserv ed it a g a in s t a re pu sh in g school building p ro s ta te s b u t ta p e rin g o ff in others. d u stries, p a rtic u la rly in M ichigan. Som e g la rin g c o n tr a s ts a re evi th e w inds of alien ideologies. We g ram s. N ew Y ork in te n d s to spend The problem is la rg e ly one o f im fac e a long period of in te rn a tio n a l $150,000,000 th is y e a r, co m p ared p ro v in g school se rv ic es a nd raisin g d en t. M ich ig an p a y s i ts te a c h e rs te a c h e r sta n d a rd s. A bsenteeism a n a v e ra g e a n n u a l s a la ry of $3,700. ten sio n s a nd big a rm a m e n ts th a t w ith $ 100 ,000,000 la s t year. m a y la s t p e rh a p s fo r five, ten or S a la rie s in th is a re a a re a m o n g a n d school d ro p -o u ts a lso a r e se ri se v en th h ig h e s t in th e n atio n , and Illinois, w ith $b,600, is n e a r th e even tw e n ty y e a rs. In te rm s of th e best. N o s ta te e x c e p t D ela ous issues. M an y so u th e rn te a c h e rs a re on "to p te n .” B u t N o rth D a k o ta s h e e r n u m b ers of people o u r po w a re can g e t a s u fficie n t n u m te n tia l enem ies hold a h eavy a d b e r of e le m e n ta ry tea c h e rs. P e n n e m erg en cy licenses, a lth o u g h in $2,185 a n d N e b ra s k a w ith $2,200 som e s ta te s th e n u m b er h a s d e w ith $2,162, S o u th D a k o ta w ith v a n ta g e and our intelligence sy lv a n ia c a n n o t o b tain enough a re f o rty -s ix th , to rty -f ifth a n d so u rc e s tell u s t h a t R u ssia a n d her qu alified secondary, as well as creased in th e la s t y ear. How ever, a la rg e n u m b er of fo rty -fo u rth , resp ectiv ely , in th e s a te llite s a re fev erish ly w o rk in g e le m e n ta ry school tea c h e rs. The to tra in la rg e n u m b ers of skilled reg io n em ploys m ore th a n 10,000 S o u th ern p u p ils receiv e a n im n a tio n a l sta n d in g . A lth o u g h in w o rk e rs, in stru c te d by in d u stria l te a c h e rs who hold su b s ta n d a rd p aired ed ucation. In A rk a n sa s, m an y s ta te s th e n u m b e r o f sub e x p e rts ta k e n o u t of E a s t G erm any c e rtific a te s, an in cre a se over la s t A labam a a n d K en tu ck y , 50 per s ta n d a rd te a c h e rs is n egligible, c e n t of th e pu p ils a re a ffe c te d by a p p ro x im ate ly o n e -th ird o f M is y ear. since th e la s t w ar. su b -s ta n d a rd tea c h e rs, in ad e q u a te s o u ri’s, on e-sev en th of S o u th D a N E W EN G L A N D "W e m u s t fix o u r e d u c atio n al buildings a nd double sessions. The k o ta ’s a n d o n e -e ig h th o f M ichi s ig h ts a c co rd in g ly a nd in su re th a t N ew E n g la n d o ffe rs a c o n tr a s t low est s a la rie s in th e c o u n try are e v e ry A m erican boy a nd g irl h as in g p ic tu re a s r e g a rd s te a c h e rs ’ paid in th e So u th . Som e tea c h e rs g a n ’s te a c h e rs hold s u b s ta n d a rd L a rg e n u m b e rs of th e o p p o rtu n ity fo r m axim um de sa la rie s. T h ree s ta te s —M a ssa c h u in M ississippi receiv e $500 a y ear, c e rtific a te s. v e lopm ent of h is o r h e r c a p ab ili se tts , C o n n ecticu t a n d R hode I s in So u th C a ro lin a $600 a n d in K en p u p ils a re rec e iv in g se c o n d -ra te o r im p a ire d schooling. ties. Only in th is w a y can w e m eet lan d —p a y th e ir te a c h e rs m o re th a n tu ck y $640. All s ta te s in th e r e RO C K Y M O U N T A IN th e need fo r m ore sc ie n tis ts, m ore th e n a tio n a l a v e ra g e , th e o th e r gion fall below th e n a tio n a l te a c h T h e p o s t-w a r b irth r a t e is evi e ngin eers, m ore chem ists, m ore th re e do not. T he s a la rie s of e r’s s a la ry av e ra g e . p h y sic ists, m o re tec h n ic ia n s, m ore M aine, N ew H a m p sh ire a n d V er d e n t in th e R o ck y M o u n tain p u b S O U T H W E ST sk ille d w o rk e rs of e v e ry kind, m ore m o n t a re n o t m u ch b e tte r th a n lic schools. C olorado re p o rts an n u rse s a nd d o c to rs a n d lea d e rs in th o se in som e o f th e s o u th e rn E n ro llm e n t incre a se d in all e n ro llm e n t in cre a se of 5,000, U ta h o th e r p ro fe ssio n s a n d b usiness." s ta te s, w ith T e x a s show ing a g ain 7.000, W y o m in g 3,000 a n d N ev ad a sta te s. O nly C o n n ecticu t, M a ssa c h u se tts of 29,000 in a y e a r. All s ta te s re 3.000. C o n sid erin g th e to ta l n u m T he s ta tu s of public school e du cation, in c o n tr a s t to con d itio n s a and V erm o n t reco rd la rg e en ro ll p o rt c o n d itio n s a re e ith e r “b e tte r ” b e r of p u p ils in each s ta te , th e y e a r ago, a s show n by reg io n s in m en t in creases. A lm ost all th e o r “s a m e a s la s t y e a r.” T exas, g a in s a re sig n ific a n t. W ith th e ex cep tio n o f U tah . s ta te s r e p o rt c onditions a re b e tte r how ever, h a s n o t in cre a se d its T h e T i m e s su rv ey , follow s: �Summary o f Current Conditions in Nation’s Schools TEACHER SHORTAGE IS STILL A PROBLEM T h e present status of total teaching staff, emergency teachers, average annual salary and student enrollment for elementary a n d secondary schools, as reported throughout the nation, follows: 1951-52. 1950-51. N ew Y ork .................. New Je rse y ................ P e n n sy lv a n ia ............ D elaw are .................... D istrict of Colum bia. M aryland .................... 84,700 32,875 63,510 2,050 3,483 13,436 81,500 23,062 61,161 1,931 3,429 12,495 M aine ............................ N ew H a m p sh ire . . . . V erm o nt ...................... M assachusetts .......... C o nnecticut ................ R hode Isla n d ............ 6,400 3,136 2,670 25,750 12,458 4,200 7,000 3,100 2,642 25,396 11,501 3,978 S o . of T each e rs w ith C ertificates. A vorar- Annual S alary. ; 1951-52. 1950-51. 1951-52. M ID D L E ATLANTIC 2,070,000 1,995,000 724,920 682,897 1,654,000 1,602,000 47,405 45,448 96,722 94.584 369,958 348,497 2,800 2,908 1,950 38 429 2,035 2,850 1,554 523 50 377 2,014 $4,500 3,750 3,230 3,710 4,300 3,841 $4,200 3,515 N E W EN GLA ND 159,000 158,247 73,500 72,600 63,300 60,000 625,000 618,889 307,900 283,563 97,120 97,250 125 215 333 300 631 150 110 490 458 2,370 2,880 2,200 3,355 3,700 3,350 3,500 3,100 2,150 1,242 2,500 454 1,200 670 1,000 300 1,200 1,085 3,217 2,700 2,500 1,770 600 475 1,866 1,000 3,396 500 2,250 900 3,500 1,730 2,900 2,450 350 1,100 50 1,188 50 3,167 2,960 3,540 3,800 2,800 3,700 ually, o n ly 35,000 a re being rained. T h is m ea n s t h a t w ith in sn y e a rs a s h o rta g e o f 700,000 ja c h e rs will c o n fro n t o u r schools. W ith e le m e n ta ry school enrollle n t r is in g 1,000,000 a y e a r, th e 3acher s h o rta g e w ill g ro w in creaslg ly a c u te . A nd to m ak e th e sit- R e p o rts fro m v irtu a lly every ta te in a n atio n -w id e su rv e y by 1951-52. SOUTH 645,000 431,450 910,000 518,000 685,000 787,580 695,000 560,115 440,000 490,000 563,398 555,785 1950-51. 680 266 3,654 3,883 3,586 RURAL AREAS W ORST HIT V irg in ia ...................... W est V irginia .......... N o rth C arolina ........ S o u th C arolina ........ T ennessee .................... G eorgia ........................ A lab am a ...................... M ississippi .................. A rk a n sa s .................... L o uisian a .................... K e n tu c k y .................... F lo rid a ........................ 22,800 16,247 28,625 17,600 23,500 25,225 23,350 16,616 13,550 19,266 19,763 18,746 19,900 16,244 29,900 17,144 22,889 24,000 22,240 16,510 13,775 17,000 19,371 17,894 O klah o m a .................. T exas ............................ N ew Mexico .............. A rizo n a ........................ 19,600 46,640 6,100 5,551 18,867 46,042 5,273 5,683 SO U TH W EST 519,750 499,311 1,478,150 1,449,114 155,500 150,000 162,628 161,328 M ID W EST 1,247,563 1,247,205 714,000 690,000 1,252,961 1,204,000 1,100,000 1,066,000 523,400 510,200 530,154 507,028 491,000 477,720 666,161 650,000 114,488 112,917 118,175 116,000 227.879 227,000 345,000 325,930 2,300 700 329 5,000 2,500 390 493 8,500 100 1,796 607 21 4,408 1,000 1,550 4,500 2,500 550 493 8,990 700 1,529 650 175 3,200 3,450 3,600 3,700 3,175 2,900 2,967 2,650 2,162 2,185 2,200 2,775 3,130 3,250 3,525 3,500 3,044 625,000 443,135 907,192 503,090 675,634 782,952 681,007 533,000 426,000 551,201 527,000 2,400 1,475 1,700 3,100 2,350 1,925 47,000 26,000 47,800 41,000 22,413 21,500 27,488 24,600 6,537 7,159 12,628 17,892 44,824 23,900 47,300' 39,000 21,358 21,577 22,038 25,056 6,349 7,059 13,000 17,563 W yom ing .................... C olorado ...................... U ta h .............................. N evada ........................ 2,876 10,500 5,555 1,378 2,873 10,477 5,053 1,323 RO CK Y M OUNTAIN 62,700 59,000 237,000 232,655 163,467 156.407 33,000 31,148 65 650 570 5 90 830 739 - 11 3,050 2.900 3,170 3,316 2,820 2,892 3,038 3,271 M o ntana ...................... Id ah o ............................ 5,225 5,020 5,086 5,100 N O R T H W E ST 112,456 107.456 128,500 125,000 625 556 735 950 3,415 2,639 3,090 2,439 17,200 12,350 63,800 15,501 11,491 61,123 F A R W E ST 423,000 404,000 293,030 272,215 1,855,000 1,735,291 615 1,800 7,600 1,455 1,800 6,655 3,690 3,650 3,967 3,360 3,368 3,667 T o ta l U. S ................ .1,003,768 956,978 25,698,921 66,354 71,407 $3,290 $3,097 w h e re a b o u t o n e -te n th o f th e te a c h e rs hold em e rg e n cy c e rtifi c a te s, th e p ro b lem o f su b s ta n d a rd te a c h e rs h a s been la rg e ly solved. U ta h is m a k in g im prov em en ts. T h e a v e ra g e s a la rie s ra n g e fro m $2,900 in C o lo rad o to $3,316 in N e v a d a . A ll r e p o r t th e y c a n o b tain se co n d a ry , b u t n one c a n g e t ele m e n ta ry te a c h e rs . N O RTH W EST M o n ta n a a n d Id a h o h a v e a p p ro x im a te ly th e s a m e n u m b e r of te a c h e rs — 5,225 a n d 5,020, resp e c tiv e ly —b u t Id a h o h a s 16,000 m o re pupils. Id a h o n eed s b o th elem en t a r y a n d se co n d a ry te a c h e rs w hile 26,525,115 M o n ta n a n eeds only e le m e n ta ry . B o th h a v e m a n y e m e rg e n cy te a c h ers. T h e re is a b ig d iffe re n c e in te a c h e rs ’ s a la rie s. M o n ta n a h a s an a v e ra g e o f $3,415, Id ah o $2,639. F A R W EST T e a c h ers’ s a la rie s in th e F a r W e st a re a m o n g th e h ig h e s t in th e co u n try . C alifo rn ia, w ith a $3,967 a v e ra g e , is second n a tio n a lly a n d W a sh in g to n , w ith $3,690, is n in th , w hile O regon, w ith $3,650, is ten th . C alifo rn ia n o w h a s 63,800, th e second la r g e s t s ta f f in th e coun try . T h e n u m b er o f te a c h e rs on e m e rg e n cy c e rtific a te in cre a se d 7,600. O reg o n h a s 1,800 o f its Are Feeling Pinch— Situation Grave, Educators W arn B y B E N JA M IN F IN E T h is n a tio n ’s public schools face Ohio .............................. In d ia n a ........................ Illinois .......................... M ichigan .................... W isconsin .................. M innessota ................ Io w a .............................. . M issouri ...................... N o rth D a k o ta .......... South D a k o ta .......... N e b ra sk a .................... K a n sa s ........................ W ash in g to n ................ O regon ........................ C alifo rn ia .................. Elem entary Schools Yearly, but They Get Only 3 5 ,0 0 0 2,576 2,018 1,975 2,150 2,558 12,350 te a c h e rs on s u b s ta n d a rd licenses. A ll need e le m e n ta ry , bu t W ash in g to n a lso needs seco n d ary tea c h e rs. T h e T i m e s s tu d y sh o w s serious school p ro b lem s in e v e ry se ctio n of th e lan d . I t a lso show s t h a t no t en o u g h a tte n tio n is p a id to th ese roblem s. S o a rin g e n ro llm e n ts, few e r buildings, a s h o rta g e o f te a c h e rs a n d a lac k o f m o n ey to k e e p p ace w ith school needs h a v e com bined to b r in g a n o th e r e d u c atio n al crisis. W hile th is c ris is is n o t y e t in th e a c u te s ta g e , o u r sy ste m o f free public e d u c atio n m a y b e e n d a n g e re d u n less th e schools receive m o re fin a n c ia l su p p o rt. sm e n ta ry tea c h e rs. Periodic arn in g s J ia v e been sounded by lucators, b u t n o th in g h a s haprned—th e s h o rta g e continues. A lth o u g h th e s h o rta g e is found e v ery w h ere, it is m o st a c u te in th e r u ra l a re a s , in th e So u th , M idw est a n d F a r W est. B u t even th e la r g e r cities (w ith th e ex cep tio n th u s f a r o f N e w Y o rk ) h a v e beg u n to feel th e s h o rta g e . N o th in g q u ite a s se rio u s a s th is h a s h it th e p u b lic schools in a g e n e ra tio n . T h e N eed s A nalyzed T o p ro v id e en o u g h te a c h e rs to ta k e c a re of th e tre m en d o u s in cre a se in e le m e n ta ry enro llm e n t o v er th e n e x t te n y e a rs —a n d to co v er o rd in a ry lo sses th ro u g h d eath , re s ig n a tio n a n d re tire m e n t —th e n a tio n w ill n eed a t le a s t 105,000 n ew te a c h e rs an n u ally . T h ere a re 600,000 te a c h e rs em ployed in th e e le m e n ta ry schools. T h e d ro p o u t r a t e is 12 p e r c en t, o r 72,000. T h e 1,000,000 a d d itio n al ch ild ren will re q u ire a n o th e r 33,000 te a c h e rs an n u a lly . H ow ever, th e te a c h e rs ’ colleges a re s u p p ly in g j u s t a b o u t 35,000 te a c h e rs an n u ally . F a c to r s t h a t h a v e c o n trib u te d to th e te a c h e r s h o rta g e include th e in cre a se d pupil e n ro llm en t, th e f a c t t h a t te a c h e rs a re d ro p p in g o u t o f th e p ro fe ssio n f a s te r th a n th e y a re b ein g rep laced , a n d th e a ttr a c tiv e - �TEACHERS IN GROUP DISCUSSION AT SUMMER WORKSHOP w o rk e r a v e ra g e s $378 a m onth, a tru c k d riv e r o r p lu m b e r $360, an e le c tric al w o rk e r $207, policem en fire m e n $230, w h ile te a c h e rs $122 (y e a rly a v e ra g e I t m a y seem u n fa ir to ta k e th e p o o rest-p a y in g s ta te fo r co m p ari son, b u t T h e T i m e s su rv e y show ed sim ila r d isp a ritie s in th e o th e r F ig u re s p re p a re d b y the N ew J e rs e y E d u c a tio n A sso ciatio n show t h a t b e tw e en 1939 a n d 1950 th e p e r c a p ita incom e o f N ew J e r sey re s id e n ts in cre a se d 126 p e r in th e sa m e perio d a v e ra g e o f te a c h e rs in cre a se d 66 p e r cent. O th e r D e te rrin g F a c to rs L ow s a la rie s a lo n e do n o t keep p o te n tia l te a c h e rs fro m th e p ro T e a c h e rs o b jec t to poor w o rk in g conditions, to in ad e q u a te tra in in g fac ilitie s, to so cial p r e s a n d to a n e g a tiv e a ttitu d e th e p a r t o f th e public. T e a c h ers to be a p a r t o f th e com m ub u t fre q u e n tly fin d t h a t th e y a r e n o t p e rm itte d to be a c tiv e c iti zens. Som e c itie s s till refu se to m a rrie d w om en te a c h e rs re q u ire w om en to resig n if th e y g e t m a rrie d w h ile in service. Educators taking course in Decatur, 111. T h e s h o rta g e is a b o u t evenly divided o v e r th e n a tio n . T h e P e n n in cre a sin g en ro llm e n ts in ou r v a rio u s h ig h school tea c h in g fields sy lv a n ia S ta te E d u c a tio n A sso cia public schools, th e less chance —th e r e a re m ore social stu d ies tion, w hich h a s a m em b ersh ip of 55,000, re p o rts t h a t in i ts s ta te th e th e re is fo r a te a c h e r to do a te a c h e rs th a n c a n be em ployed, s h o rta g e is m o stly in r u ra l sec co m p eten t jo b of tea c h in g . I t is while th e re co n tin u e s to be a tions. P itts b u rg h n eeds te a c h e rs th e child who inev itab ly suffers. sh o rta g e o f ca n d id a tes fo r te a c h fo r k in d e rg a rte n a nd p rim a ry A nd w hen th e child su ffe rs, th e n a in g hom e econom ics, g irls ’ p h ysical c la sse s; i t also n eed s s p e cia lists in tion s u ffe rs.” th e fin e a r t s a n d c ra fts , in hom e ed ucation a n d lib ra ry service. A c ritic a l need also ex ists in Only se ven teen s ta te s req u ire a econom ics a n d fo r th e m e n ta lly re tard e d . m an y p a r ts o f th e co u n try fo r th e college d eg ree fo r th e e lem entary rep la c em e n t of u n d e rtrain e d te a c h I n N ew Y o rk S ta te th e re is a ers. O f a p p ro x im ate ly 600,000 ele school tea c h in g c e rtifica te , fo u r s h o rta g e o f 750 te a c h e rs in elem en m e n ta ry school te a c h e rs in service, req u ire th re e y e a rs o f college, one ta r y schools o u tsid e th is city. T he ab o u t o n e-h alf, o r 300,000, m eas- s ta te req u ires tw o a n d one-half S ta te E d u c a tio n D e p a rtm e n t ex ■A to th e m inim um req u ire ip p e c ts th is s h o rta g e to in c re a se to m en t of a college deg ree. Two y e a rs, six te e n req u ire tw o years, a b o u t 1,150 -in th e c u rr e n t school hu n d red th o u sa n d hav e com pleted tw o s ta te s req u ire one a n d one-half y e a r a n d to 1,750 in th e 1952-53 tw o y e a rs of college; th e education y e a rs, seven a s k fo r one y e a r, and y e a r. T he s h o rta g e is m o st a c u te p ro fe ssio n reco g n izes th e n ecessity one s ta te —N e b ra s k a — does n o t r e in su b u rb a n regions, w hich h av e fo r re ta in in g th em , a n d s te p s have q u ire a n y college p re p a ra tio n . been g ro w in g m u ch f a s te r t h a n th e Dr. W illard E. G ivens, executive cities in re c e n t y e a rs. T he m ain been ta k e n to help th em im prove th e ir ac ad e m ic tra in in g . H ow ever, s e c re ta ry of th e N a tio n a l E d u c a pro b lem s a r e in th e N a s s a u , W e st 100,000 a re so w oefully u n d e r tio n A ssociatio n a n d g e n e ra lly re c c h e ste r, B uffalo, R o c h e ste r and tra in e d a s to m ak e n e c essa ry th eir ognized sp o k e sm a n fo r th e public S y ra cu se a re a s. rep lacem en t a t th e e a rlie s t possible schools, s tre s se d t h a t no n atio n S h o rta g e s a r e g ro w in g in N ew m om ent. e ith e r in p eace o r w a r c a n affo rd j n g la n d . M aine re p o rts a s h o rta g e E to n e g le c t its hom e base— it m u st j th e e le m e n ta ry division, p a rtic u in C n itio s in High S h o od n c o ls D r. W illard E. Givens, who be p a rtic u la rly co n cerned ab o u t la rly in th e r u ra l a re a s. H ere, a s } s a y s : “ W hat our n ation does A t th e h ig h school level only h e a lth , co m petence a n d m o rale o f e elsew here, th e o ffic ia ls a re up a b o u t th e education of the young sm a ll in cre a se s in to ta l en ro llm e n t its people. a g a in s t th e p ro b lem t h a t te a c h e rs “T h e m a in source o f th e con seek e m p lo y m en t in th e m a jo r d e te rm in e s w hether we a re d e a re fo re se e n u n til 1957. A t th a t tim e, ac co rd in g to D r. R a y C. M aul, tin u e d s tr e n g th a n d c a p a c ity of c cities o r s u rro u n d in g co m m u n ities, velo p in g n atio n a l s ta m in a or re s e a rc h a s so c ia te o f th e N a tio n a l w th e A m e ric a n people,” D r. G ivens v hich o ffe r th e b e s t s a la rie s a n d co m m ittin g slow suicide.” C om m ission on T e a c h er E ducation said, “is to be fo u n d in o u r chil- v o rk in g conditions. B y th e tim e w a n d P ro fe ssio n a l S ta n d a rd s , a d ren a n d y o u th . W h a t o u r n a tio n th e c itie s a n d to w n s g e t th e ir pick, p h en o m en al in cre a se m a y be ex n ess of o p p o rtu n itie s in o th e r pected. B y 1960 th e to ta l high does a b o u t th e e d u c atio n of th e th e su p p ly becom es e x h a u ste d bey o u n g d e te rm in e s w h e th e r w e a re foi’e th e r u ra l a re a s a r e reached, fields. school en ro llm e n t will be a t lea st d eveloping n a tio n a l s ta m in a o r ;I t is e s tim a te d t h a t 500 a d d itio n al “T h e b lu n t f a c t is,” w a rn e d Dr. 8,500,000, o r o n e -th ird m o re th a n c o m m ittin g slow suicide.” te a c h e rs could be u se d in M aine. E a r l J . M cG rath, U n ited S ta te s a t p rese n t. O ne of th e lea d in g rea so n s fo ri C o n n ecticu t, too, could u s e 500 T h e c o u n try n eeds 48,000 q u a li th e g ra v e te a c h e r s h o rta g e T i m e s ad d itio n al te a c h e rs f o r th e eleC o m m issioner of E d u c a tio n , “u n less w e do so m e th in g d ra s tic — a n d fied c a n d id a tes ea ch y e a r to r e c o rre sp o n d e n ts a n d e d u c atio n com - m e n ta ry schools. M a ss a c h u s e tts place h ig h school te a c h e rs who m issio n ers ag reed , is th e lo w p a y :re p o rts t h a t i ts s h o rta g e is g r e a tim m e d ia te ly —to relieve th e te a c h leave th e p rofession fo r a ll reasons. of te a c h e rs . O n th e a v e ra g e , th e e s t fro m k in d e rg a rte n th ro u g h th e e r sh o rta g e , a w hole g e n e ra tio n of B y 1960 th e a n n u a l n eed will a p classro o m te a c h e r g e ts a b o u t $60 a f ir s t th re e g rad e s. T he S ta te CornA m e ric a n b o y s a n d g irls will be p ro ac h 70,000. w eek— th e r a n g e g oes fro m $10 to m is s io n e r o f E d u c a tio n , D r. J o h n J. sh o rt-c h a n g e d in th e ir r ig h t to ob T h e p roblem a t th e h ig h school $125. I n M ississippi, fo r exam ple,!D esm ond, p o in te d o u t t h a t th e r# ta in a fu n d a m e n ta l education. level is n o t to ta l n u m b ers of a v a il w h ere th e r e a re 16,000 tea c h e rs, is a tre n d in h is s ta t e ( it is found “T he th in n e r you s tr e tc h yo u r a b le q u alified ca n d id a tes. T h e re is, only 105 g e t $4,000 o r m ore a y e a r, e lsew h ere) to w a rd h irin g lib e ra l av a ila b le te a c h in g s ta f f to cover how ever, a n u n b a la n c e d d is trib u w hile 4,243 g e t less th a n $1,000. Ia r t s college g r a d u a te s a n d r e tr a in In M ississippi, a s h e e t m eta llin g th e m fo r e le m e n ta ry tea c h in g th e u n p rec e d e n te d a n d in ex o ra b ly tio n o f th e c a n d id a tes a m o n g th e �th ro u g h special co u rses a t te a c h e r s h o rta g e is a m a jo r p roblem — caused in la rg e p a r t by th e influ x of people to W a sh in g to n , O regon a n d C alifo rn ia. M rs. P e a rl A. Needs fo r qualified teachers in elem entary and secondary schools E v e ry S o u th e rn S ta te rep o rted W a n am a k e r, S u p e rin te n d e n t of a te a c h e r s h o rta g e . D r. Dow ell J. Pu b lic In stru c tio n in W a sh in g to n , have been estim ated by the states as follows: H o w ard , V irg inia S u p e rin te n d en t e stim a te d t h a t e le m e n ta ry schools No. of A dditional No. of A dditional Q u alified T eachers Q ualified T eachers o f In stru c tio n , n o ted t h a t 3,700, or in h e r s ta te could use 1,050 m ore Needed: Needed: tea c h e rs r ig h t now, a n d th e sec E lem entary Secondary 27 p e r cent, of V irg in ia ’s 13,829 , E lem entary Secondary School. School. e le m e n ta ry te a c h e rs w ere n o t p ro p o n d a ry schools 550 m ore. School. School. S o u t h w e s t (Cont.) e rly c e rtific a te d fo r th e g rad e s Mid d l e A t l a n t ic B o th O regon a n d C a lifo rn ia re N ew Y o r k .................... 3,000 500 New M e x ic o ................. 80 20 th e y a re teachin g . p o rted gro w in g te a c h e r sh o rta g e s. New J e rs e y ................ 2,800 100 A rizona ........................ 0 0 F ifte e n p e r c e n t o f V irg in ia ’s F o r th e 1951-52 acad em ic y e a r, P e n n s y lv a n ia .............. 900 1,000 tea c h e rs, o r 2,119, hold local p e r O regon is issu in g 1,800 em erg en cy M id w e s t D e la w a r e ...................... 38 38 Ohio .............................. 200 0 m its o r e m ergen cy licenses. M ost a n d s u b -s ta n d a rd c e rtific a te s. In D istrict of C olum bia. 290 90 In d ia n a ........................ 700 100 of th e local p e rm it h o ld ers a re C alifo rn ia, th e s h o rta g e e x ists a t M aryland .................... 2,296 468 Illinois .......................... 1,000 200 h ig h school g ra d u a te s only. N o rth th e e le m e n ta ry level a n d in sp e cia l M ichigan ...................... 5,000 200 C aro lin a needs 3,000 qualified ele ized field—te a c h in g th e m en ta lly New E ng l and 0 m e n ta ry tea c h e rs. E a c h su m m er reta rd e d , p h y sically han d icap p ed , M aine ............................ 200 75 W isconsin .................... 3,000 200 th e ne w sp a p e rs o f th e s ta te c a rry a n d in field s su ch a s w om en’s N ew H a m p s h ir e ........ 250 35 M in n e s o ta ..................... 1,000 444 V e rm o n t ...................... 240 125 Iow a .............................. w a n t a d s ca llin g fo r te a c h e rs — p hysical education, a g ric u ltu re and M a ssach u setts .......... 500 0 M issouri ...................... 7,900 m o stly e le m e n ta ry te a c h e rs in ru ra l in d u stria l a rts . L a s t y e a r th e s ta te 500 C onnecticu t ................ 500 228 N orth D a k o t a ............ a ia d ire need of 193 q re a s. G eo rgc h e is inThe s ta n d a rd h ad 7,600 te a c h e rs on em ergency, R hode Isla n d ............ 0 0 South D a k o ta ............ 1,603 rs. s u b s ta n d a rd c e rtifica te s. N eb rask a .................... 700 100 u alified tea So ut h te a c h in g req u irem e n t in G eorgia T h e te a c h e r s h o rta g e problem K a n sa s .......................... 0 V i r g i n i a ........................ 1,500 300 is b ased on a b ach elo r’s degree. c a n n o t be solved o v er n ig h t, edu ca R o c k t Mo u n t a in W est V irginia .......... 1,159 100 75 25 L a s t y e a r 44 p e r c e n t of th e s ta te 's tio n a l spokesm en a g reed . B u t th ey N o rth C a r o li n a .......... 3,000 0 W yom ing .................... 0 24,618 te a c h e rs h a d tra in in g below a re co ncerned o v er th e lac k of in So u th C a r o li n a .......... 320 4,940 Colorado ......................* 2,500 te r e s t in tea c h in g a m o n g s tu d e n ts 50 t h a t level. T en n essee .................... 1,000 200 U tah .............................. 300 50 25 F lo rid a will need 1,000 new ele a n d th e p ublic g en e ra lly . A rec e n t G eo rg ia ........................ 1,000 300 N evada ........................ m e n ta ry te a c h e rs each y e a r fo r su rv e y in In d ia n a show ed t h a t only A labam a ...................... 6,891 1,111 N o r t h w est M ississippi .................. 1,900 100 M ontan a ...................... 277 180 th e n e x t fo u r y e a rs, p lu s rep la c e 2 p e r c e n t o f a sa m p lin g o f 4,000 A rk a n sa s .................... 1,000 500 Idaho ............................ 540 360 m en ts fo r th o se w ho fo r v ario u s h ig h school s tu d e n ts w ere d e fin itely easo n s leav e th e tea c h in g p ro fe s c o m m itted to te a c h in g a s a p ro fe s L o u isia n a .................... 450 150 F ar W e st K e n tu c k y .................... 3,033 434 W ashington ................ 1,050 550 sion each y e a r. A sim ila r sto ry sion, while a n o th e r 2 p e r c e n t F l o r i d a .......................... 2,700 100 Oregon .......... t ............. 1.800 0 com es fro m T exas. The sh o rta g e th o u g h t th e y m ig h t e n te r th e field. So ut h w e st C alifornia .................... 5,500 0 ex ists in u rb a n a s w ell a s ru ra l T he v a s t m a jo rity o f b rig h t s tu d e n ts in In d ia n a a n d elsew here u re areas. O k lah om a .................... 200 75 On th e W e st C o a st th e te a c h e r s ta y in g a w a y from teach in g . T ex as ............................ 2,500 1,300 T otal U nited S ta te s .71,886 15,121 stitu tio Qualified Teacher Needs by States tra in in ge pinrts fro mn s.th e S o u th R o SHORTAGE OF STEEL HITS SCHOOLS HARD Allotm ents by D. P. A. Far Less Than Requested to Meet school c o n stru c tio n c a n n o t be ob tain e d in q u a n titie s n e c essa ry to keep pace w ith s tu d e n t gro w th . One o u t of every five schools in th e c o u n try is obsolete—a nd this fig u re does n o t include th e h it-o rm iss c o n tra p tio n s now u sed as “schools” on an em e rg e n cy basis. D u rin g th e n e x t seven y e a rs, a s tu d y by T h e N e w Yo r k T i m e s show s, th e c o u n try will need to build 600,000 classroom s, a t a co st o f $20,000,000,000 (a classro o m a t to d a y ’s p rices co sts fro m $30,000 ONE OF THE OBSOLETE SCHOOLHOUSES IN THE NATION Basic Requirements M A K E S H IFTS USED W ID ELY Rapidly Rising Rolls Produce Classes Called Too Big for Effective Teaching B y B E N JA M IN P IN E T h e ste e l s h o rta g e h a s h it th e n a tio n ’s schools a te rr if ic wallop.! F a c e d w ith s o a rin g enrollm ents,: o v ercrow ded co n d itio n s a n d in c re a s e d need fo r classroom s, th e school sy s te m s a r e u n a b le to build. L a c k of a d e q u a te sch o o lh o u ses is lis te d a s th e No. 1 ed u c atio n al h e a d a c h e fro m one end o f th e c o u n try to th e o th er. A lm o st u n b elievable conditions! e x is t in m a n y com m unities. E n -| r o l l m e n t s r i s i n g n e a r l y 1 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 a! y e a r o v e r t h e c o u n t r y , c o u p le d w it h in f la t io n a r y c o s t s a n d t h e in a b ilit y to g e t p r io r it ie s o n c r it ic a l m a t e r ia ls , h a v e j o in e d t o m a k e a n a la r m in g c o n d itio n . D e s p it e t h e e f f o r t s o f h ig h ly p la c e d e d u c a tio n a l o fficials, th e ste e l needed fo r to $35,000). Of th e classroom s, 222,000 will be used fo r th e in cre a se d enrollm en t, 126,000 will be fo r n o rm a l re p la c em e n ts a n d 252,000 to red u ce th e e x is tin g backlog. T h is m eans, in e ffe c t, t h a t th e n a tio n m u s t build a t le a s t 80,000 A fire-trap building in Buxas, La. �c la ssro o m s a y e a r fo r th e n e x t f a r : of 2,259 schools u n d e r con s tru c tio n in 1951, c ritic a l m a te ria ls sev en y e a rs. T h is will n o t be possible by a ny w ere a llo tte d to 1,528; m a te ria ls s tr e tc h of th e im a g in atio n . T h e w ere n o t av ila b le fo r 831. O f th e y e a r 1950-51 w a s th e p e a k y e a r 1,001 ap p lic a tio n s fo r p ro je c ts on fo r b u ild in g schools in th is c o u n try w hich to b eg in c o n stru c tio n d u rin g — 40,000 c lassro o m s w ere con th e fo u rth q u a rte r o f 1951, critic a l s tr u c te d a t a co st of $1,200,000,000. m a te ria ls w ere a llo tte d to eig h ty E v en a t th is tre m en d o u s r a te , th e six— m a te ria ls w ere n o t available n a tio n w as g e ttin g only a b o u t one- fo r 915. O u t of 3,260. ap p lic a tio n s h a lf th e buildings needed to m ee t fo r la s t y e a r, ste e l w e n t to 1,624 c u rr e n t needs a n d w ip e o u t th e p ro je c ts, a n d 1,636 w e re tu rn e d b acklog. down. L ittle C o n stru c tio n T his Y ear W a rn s on W e ak e n in g Schools B u t w h a t a b o u t th is y e a r? O r C o m m en tin g on th is s itu a tio n , th e im m e d ia te y e a rs a h e ad ? J u d g D r. M cG rath d eclared : in g fro m p re s e n t in d icatio n s, th e “N o p erso n q u estio n s th a t, in n a tio n ’s school b u ild in g p ro g ra m th is perio d o f in te rn a tio n a l crisis, w ill bog dow n seriously. I t is th e req u irem e n ts of th e m ilita ry d o u b tfu l if even th e c u rr e n t in ad e q u a te r a t e o f c o n stru c tio n w ill be a nd defense p ro duction fo r steel c o ntin u ed th ro u g h 1952. T he in a n d o th e r c ritic a l m a te ria l should cre a se d d em ands of th e defense be m et. B u t i t is also im p e rativ e p ro g ra m fo r c ritic a l m e ta ls —steel, t h a t we p e rm it no f u r th e r w ea k e n co pper, a nd a lum inum —m a k e it in g of o u r public school system . “W e c a n ’t p u t o u r y o u n g s te rs in a p p e a r u n likely t h a t th e needs for n ew school c o n stru c tio n can be m et e d u c atio n al cold s to ra g e fo r the du ratio n . E d u c a tio n m u st be ob in a n y s u b s ta n tia l degree. U n d e r a llo tm e n ts m ad e to the tain e d on a y e a r-b y -y e a r basis. If U n ited S ta te s O ffice of E d u c a tio n a child is given second o r th ird b y th e D efense P ro d u c tio n A d c la ss education, o r no education m in istra tio n , m a te ria ls c a n be d u rin g his fo rm a tiv e y e a rs, the g r a n te d fo r th e m o st p a r t to h a n d icap will re m a in fo r h is e n tire lifetim e. T he ed u catio n of o u r b u ild in g s a c tu a lly u n d e r w ay. P e w new schools will be b u ilt y o u n g people m u st rem a in sq u arely d u rin g 1952, un less m ore steel is in th e fo re fro n t of a n y lon g -te rm m ad e a v ailable. A r e p o rt fro m D r. p ro g ra m fo r th e defen se o f dem oc E a r l J . M cG rath , U n ited S ta te s rac y . O th erw ise w e ru n th e risk C om m issio n er of E d u c a tio n , tells of losing one o f th e g o a ls fo r w hich th e s to r y g rap h ic a lly . F o r the w e a re fig h tin g .” q u a r te r b e g in n in g J u ly 1, 1951, his S p ira lin g co sts also h a v e a ffe c te d o ffice s u b m itte d a n e stim a te of the schools seriously. F o r exam ple, 192.000 to n s of ste e l fo r b asic r e $1,000,000 sp e n t fo r school building q u ire m e n ts fo r a ll e d u c atio n al p u r c o n stru c tio n la s t y e a r p u rch a se d poses. T h e a m o u n t a llo tte d w as only a b o u t a s m u ch p la n t a s $568,000 could h a v e b o u g h t a t th e end 100.000 tons. T h e d iffic u lty w a s incre a se d of W orld W a r n o r a s m u ch as f u r t h e r w h en th e la s t q u a rte r $446,000 could h a v e p u rch a se d in a llo tm e n t w a s m ad e k n o w n —it 1940. w a s sm a lle r th a n t h a t f o r th e C lasses M eet in H om es th ir d . B asic req u ire m e n ts to ta lin g A s a resu lt, o u r u n d e rsta ffe d , 196.000 h a d been re q u e ste d —and bad ly housed schools fac e d a n u n 94.000 to n s w e re assigned. A f te r prec e d e n te d p erio d o f s h o rta g e . It a vigo ro u s ap p e al fro m th e E d u c a is d o u b tfu l t h a t even h a lf of th e tio n O ffice, 10,000 to n s w ere added. 80,000 c lassro o m s needed in 1952 B a d a s la s t y e a r ’s s itu a tio n w as, will be co n stru c te d . School s y s th is y e a r ’s te n d s to be w orse. te m s ev e ry w h e re a re se n d in g out E d u c a tio n a llo tm e n t f o r th e f ir s t S. O. S. sig n als. T h ey a re u tiliz in g q u a r t e r o f 1952 is 97,000 tons, less every conceivable sp ace to keep t h a n 38 p e r c e n t of e s tim a te d to ta l schools open. I t is n o t u n u su a l to re q u ire m e n t o f 225,000 tons. find ch ild ren a tte n d in g school in A cco rd in g to D r. M cG rath , th e p riv a te hom es, c h u rc h basem ents, f ir s t q u a rte r is p a rtic u la rly c riti sto re lo fts o r in one ca se ob c a l fo r school c o n stru c tio n because se rv e d by th is w rite r, a section of p o stp o n e m e n ts th e n will m ean a n u n d e rta k e r ’s p a rlo r. Supplies, th e loss n o t m ere ly of those e q u ipm ent a n d te x tb o o k s a re la c k m o n th s b u t o f a n e n tire school in g in m a n y schools. y e a r. S ta te a f t e r s ta te re p o rts im D r. M c G ra th stre s se d t h a t w ith p a ire d e d u c atio n al fa c ilitie s b e a n a llo tm e n t of 97,000 to n s fo r c a u se of in ad e q u a te buildings. In e le m e n ta ry a n d s e co n d a ry school Illinois, f o r exam ple, th e lac k of build in g s, p rio rity w ill be g iv en fo r steel a n d o th e r c ritic a l m a te ria ls c o n s tru c tio n now u n d e r w ay. The is p re v e n tin g th e c o n stru c tio n o f a g re e n lig h t w ill be g iv en a lso to n u m b e r of school buildings. A p c o m m u n ities t h a t h a v e se rio u s p ro x im a te ly 13,000 s tu d e n ts in Illi o v e rc ro w d in g in e le m e n ta ry and nois a re en ro lled in schools w h ere se co n d a ry schools. I t w ill c ontinue double sessio n s a re necessary, to b e n e c e s s a ry to d e fe r a p p ro v a l w hile 7,500 a re a tte n d in g schools o f n ew b u ildings w h ere th e p u r in bu ild in g s t h a t a re d e fin ite ly in pose is p r im a rily to elim in a te adeq u ate. o b solete s tru c tu re s . P e n n sy lv a n ia lik ew ise re p o rts a T h is is w h a t h a s h a p p e n ed th u s se rio u s b u ild in g sh o rta g e , even th o u g h $35,000,000 w a s sp e n t fo r new buildings d u rin g th e 1950-51 school y e a r a n d $40,000,000 w ill be sp e n t d u rin g 1951-52. I n th is s ta te it is e stim a te d t h a t 8,500 pupils will s u ffe r a n im p a irm e n t in school th is y e a r becau se o f double ses sions o r p a rt-tim e in stru ctio n . E lsew here th e situ a tio n is ju s t as serious. O fficials re p o rt th a t th e b u ilding situ a tio n in A rizo n a is “ste a d ily w o rsening.’’ T here, as elsew here, th e sam e s to ry is re p e a te d : d u rin g th e w a r, buildings could n o t be e re c ted becau se of th e sh o rta g e o f m a te ria ls . A fte r th e w ar, m an y school sy stem s th o u g h t p ric e s w ere g o in g to drop a nd so considered it p oor b u sin ess to bu ild u n til c o n stru c tio n co sts w en t down. 18 J e rs e y P ro je c ts D elayed Som e s ta te s, such a s N ew Je rse y , d eclare th a t a s u b s ta n tia l p ro p o r tio n of th e stu d e n ts a re su ffe rin g som e im p a irm e n t in th e ir schooling because th e y a re enrolled in classes too la rg e to p e rm it effectiv e te a c h ing. In N ew J e rs e y eig h teen projects, including new schools, additions a n d annexes, re p re s e n tin g a to ta l co st of $4,257,225, a re b ein g held up b y lac k of steel o r o th e r c ritic a l m a te ria ls . U nless m ore steel is a l lo cated d u rin g th e f ir s t q u a rte r of th is ye a r, th irty -o n e ad d itio n al b u ild in g p ro je c ts, re p re se n tin g a to ta l co st o f $12,000,000, will n o t g e t s ta rte d . D esp ite a la rg e building p ro g ram , M ary lan d h a s been unab le to keep p ace w ith its s till g ro w in g school en ro llm en t. N ow s ta n d in g a t 369,958, th e en ro llm e n t is th e b ig g e s t in th e s ta t e ’s h isto ry . In the n e x t th re e y e a rs i t is ex p ected to go to 437,000. C lasses a re being held in s h ifts a n d in sto res, ch u rch es, b a sem e n ts a nd o th er re n te d space. B ecause o f la c k o f funds, A la b a m a is n o t p lan n in g a g en eral school b u ild in g p ro g ra m . A very lim ite d a m o u n t o f B u ild in g Com m ission F u n d s is av a ila b le fo r c riti cal e m erg en cy school building needs. A su rv ey is now b e in g m ade to d e te rm in e b u ild in g n eeds w ith th e hope t h a t som e p ro v isio n s will be m ad e to fin a n c e c o n stru c tio n of school p la n ts needed. A s a resu lt, A la b a m a o fficials r e p o rt t h a t 300,000 p u p ils a r e se rio u sly in need of ad e q u ate h ousing. T o do a h a lf-w a y a d e q u a te job, th e s ta te w ould have to sp en d $300,000,000 fo r school buildings. W e ste rn R olls A re R isin g R e p o rts fro m th e M id w est a n d F a r W e st in d ic a te t h a t a h uge b u ild in g p ro g ra m w ill h a v e to be s ta r te d im m ed iately if th e en ro ll m e n t in cre a se s a re to b e absorbed. A school b u ild in g p ro g ra m is u n d e rw a y in W isconsin. M o st ru ra l schools w ere c o n stru c te d befo re 1900. I t is e s tim a te d t h a t $234,000,000 m u st b e s p e n t in th e n ex t tw e n ty y e a rs to p ro v id e ad e q u ate : facilities. L a c k of ste e l a n d o th e r c 1 ritic a l m a te ria ls h a s crippled som e of th e c u rr e n t c o n stru c tio n — a b o u t tw e n ty -fiv e p ro je c ts a r e now bein g held u p p e n d in g F e d e ra l p ri o rities. D u rin g th e c u rre n t school y e a r 24,000 p u p ils a tte n d e d schools in s u b s ta n d a rd classroom s. A school b uilding, survey, c on d u cted b y th e S ta te S u p e rin te n d en t o f P u b lic I n stru c tio n , is in p ro g re ss in Colorado, w h e re th e e ffe c t of lack of ste e l is b eg in n in g to b e felt. F ifty -six th o u sa n d p u p ils w ill s u f fe r im p a irm e n t in th e ir schooling th is y e a r as a r e s u lt o f in ad e q u a te buildings o r double sessions. I n th e n eig h b o rin g s ta te o f U ta h , fifte e n new p la n ts a re u n d e rw a y o r com m itte d , m o stly in defen se a re a s o r such m a jo r cities a s S a lt L a k e C ity a n d O gden. In a h alf-d o zen school s y ste m s, g y m n asiu m s a n d au d ito riu m s a re doubling a s c la ss room s, w hile th re e to w n s u tilize c h u rc h s tru c tu re s . A nd on th e W e st C oast, T h e T i m e s ’ stu d y fo u n d t h a t W ash in g to n ’s public school c lassro o m s w ere m ore crow ded t h a n ev er before. C o n stru c tio n h a s lag g e d c o n sist e n tly b eh in d e n ro llm en t, in sp ite of a $40,000,000 bond issu e a p p ro v ed b y th e v o ters. N eeds of W a sh in g to n A tte n d a n c e s ta te -w id e in W a sh in g to n ju m p e d 19,000 th is y e a r o v er la s t, b u t o n ly 350 new c la s s room s w e re m ad e a v ailab le. School o fficials sa y th e y need 3,000 m ore classroom s. T he to ta l c o st o f the b u ilding p ro g ra m in th e n e x t ten y e a rs, a s su m in g fu n d s a re a v a il able, is e s tim a te d a t $300,000,000. B ecause o f th e c lassro o m sh o rta g e 42,000 p u p ils now a r e rec e iv in g in s tru c tio n in te m p o ra ry “p o rta b le s ” o r in m a k e s h ift c lassro o m s in b a se m en ts, c o rrid o rs o r o th e r sp a ce no t in ten d ed o rig in a lly f o r classro o m use. In O regon school a d m in istra to rs w a rn t h a t a la c k o f steel a n d o th er c ritic a l m a t e r i a l s 'h a s d e fin itely slow ed dow n th e b u ild in g p ro g ra m . I f m o re ste e l is n o t a v a ila b le soon a co n sid erab le n u m b e r of s tu d e n ts will be on double sessio n s n e x t fall. Sim ilarly , C a lifo rn ia , now in th e m id st o f a b u ild in g p ro g ra m c o st in g $200,000,000 a y e a r, c a n n o t k eep p ace w ith i ts g ro w in g e n ro ll m en t. T h e lac k o f ste e l f o r school c o n s tru c tio n h a s becom e se rio u s in p a r ts o f C a lifo rn ia . A s tu d y in d i c a te d t h a t C a lifo rn ia needed oneh a lf o f th e e n tire a m o u n t o f steel a llo cated to th e e n tire c o u n try f o r school b u ild in g pu rp o ses. T h e re does n o t seem to be a n e a sy w a y o u t o f th e dilem m a. T h e schools need m o re s te e l a n d o th e r c ritic a l m a te ria ls . So do h o sp ita ls a n d o th e r w e lfa re ag en cies, Gov e rn m e n t a u th o ritie s r e to r t. A nd, of course, th e defense n e e d s m u st com e above all th e o th e rs . E d u c a to rs a re h o p e fu l t h a t th e G overn m e n t w ill fin d som e w a y to p ro vide th e schools w ith en o u g h m a te ria l a n d eq u ip m e n t to p re v e n t th e ch ild ren fro m g e ttin g ch eated . �INFLATION AFFECTS Cost of Operating Nation’s Schools OUTLAY ON SCHOOLS Declining Dollar Value Pushes Increased Operation Costs Still Higher Over Nation RESISTANCE TO TAXATION Revision Is Sought for Archaic Levying— Bonds for Building Face Locality Opposition By B E N JA M IN F IN E I t co sts a lo t of m oney to run th e c o u n try ’s school system . M ore b uildings, m o re tea c h e rs, m ore eq u ipm ent, m ore supplies a n d m o re ch ild ren give school a d m in istra to rs a c ontinuous he a d ac h e a s in fla tio n d im inishes w h a t av a ila b le fu n d s c a n accom plish. T h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s survey, w hich o b tain e d d a ta fro m the f o rty -e ig h t s ta te s a n d lea d e rs in A m e ric a n edu catio n , show s t h a t th is y e a r th e public school will co st th e ta x p a y e rs a b o u t $5,000,000,000 fo r o p e ra tin g ex p en ses and $1,000,000,000 fo r buildings. This is a n in cre a se of n e a rly $400,000,000 in o p e ra tin g expenses, b u t it is illu so ry b ecau se of th e in ro a d s of in flatio n . F o r th e n a tio n a s a w hole the e s tim a te d e x p e n d itu re fo r a pupil in a v e ra g e d aily a tte n d a n c e in c re a se d fro m $206 in 1950-51 to $216 in 1951-52. How ever, th e N a tio n a l E d u c a tio n A sso ciatio n n o tes t h a t th e p u rc h a s in g pow er of the $216 in p ie - w a r dollars is a b o u t $115. N ew Y o rk , w ith a n ex p en d itu re o f $325 to r ea ch pupil, leads th e ouie.- s ta t e s a nd is follow ed by N ew J e rs e y w ith $312. O th e r s ta te s sp e n d in g m o re th a n $275 include O regon, W yom ing, M o n ta n a and D e la w a re. M ississippi is a t th e b o tto m o f th e lis t w ith $88. S ta te s sp e n d in g $150 o r less a re A labam a, A rk a n s a s , G eorgia, K entucky, N o rth C aro lin a, S o u th C arolina, T ennessee, V irg in ia a n d W e st V ir g in ia . L ess of In co m e fo r Schools D e sp ite th e rec o rd a m o u n t sp e n t fo r sch o o ls th is y e a r, in te rm s of 1952 d o llars, th e p e rc e n ta g e of n a tio n a l incom e t h a t goes fo r public e le m e n ta ry a n d se co n d a ry schools is c o n sid erab le low er th a n it w a s in th e d epression y e a rs . In 1933-34, a c co rd in g to u n ite d S ta te s O ffice of E d u c a tio n fig u re s, 4.32 p e r c e n t o f th e n a tio n a l incom e w as sp e n t fo r public school edu catio n . B ut in 1949-50 (la s t school y e a r a vailable) th e c o u n try s p e n t only 2.57 p e r cen t. A lth o u g h th e m o u n tin g expense o f r u n n in g th e p ublic school s y s te m is c ritic ize d in som e q u a rte rs , F e d e ra l a id fo r school b u ildings is g e n e ra lly f e lt n e c e s s a ry i f th e needs fo r school h o u sin g a re to be m et. The current operating expenditures of the public schools compared . T h ree y e a rs a go th e N ew J e rs e y w ith cost a year ago are estimated by states as follows: public school b u d g e t w as in th e /— Total Operating Expenditure-, n eighborhood o f $150,000,000. N ow 1951-52 1950-51 S o u t h w e s t (C ont.) it is close to $200,000,000. O f th e M id d le A t l a n t i c N. M. $28,330,000 $26,984,653 $531,000,000 collected in ta x e s in N. Y. $590,000,000' $563,000,000 Ariz. 31,213,889 30,500,000 N ew J e rs e y in 1950 to m ain tain ------------------iTO.000,000 N . J ......... 196,600,000 M id w e s t g o v e rn m e n ta l services m ore th a n 297,506,508 P a ............. 314,842,579 270,000,000 244,628,651 a th ird w as u sed to p ay fo r th e 10,906,200 Ohio . Del. 11,046,455 Ind. . . . 150,500,000 141,457,000 ed u catio n of children. A b o u t 85 D. C. 22,135,400 21,211,447 288,000,000 273,000,000 p e r c e n t o f th is a m o u n t w as re Md. . 89,068,221 74,322,145 m . . . . . . Mich. 250,000,000 240,000,000 alized b y locally im posed p ro p e rty N ew E n g la n d W is. . 117,000,000 108,350,000 tax e s, th e rem a in d e r b y s ta te aid 26,438,670 Minn. 26,000,000 M e. .. 125,000,000 115,000,000 d istrib u te d a m o n g lo calities. N. H . 15.600.000 Iow a 15.100.000 117,000,000 100,433,225 Som e s ta te s fin d t h a t an a r 11,481,314 Mo. .. .. V t. .. 13.000. 000 103,000,000 98,837,035 M a ss. 152,240,585 132,381,130 N. D. 23,942,130 21,433,000 ch aic ta x s tr u c tu r e is a t th e b o t Conn. 70.000. 000 65.130.000 S. D.. 30,900,000 27,871,880 to m of th e ir ed u c atio n al tro u b les. 20,429,018 Neb. . R. I.. 2 2 . 100.000 44,200,000 41,000,000 F o r th e m o st p a rt, schools d raw K an . . 85,000,000 73,000,000 th e ir fu n d s fro m p ro p e rty tax e s So u t h r a t h e r th a n g e n e ra l tax e s. Several R o c k y Mo u n t a in Va. .. 85.000. 000 80,194,839 ed u c ato rs have proposed t h a t -the W. Va 69,679,519 58,344,398 W yo. . 16,400,000 14,270,806 ta x s tr u c tu r e be overh au led and N. C-. 122 , 000,000 1 2 1,000,000 Colo. . 55,000,000 48,357,800 m o d ern ized in lig h t o f c u rre n t 54.000. 000 S. C. . 62.000. 000 U tah . 28,300,000 27,578,644 80.450.000 76,451,451 Nev. . Tenn. 6,516,352 6,241,840 needs. 76,807,674 Ga. .. 77,757,830 R isin g B u d g ets in M idw est No r t h w est 73.000. 000 Ala. . 76.000. 000 S erio u s pro b lem s a ris e w h en th e 25,500,000 23,651,144 M iss. 40.000. 000 39,074,159 M ont. budget fo r schools Idaho 23,700,000 20,642,955 o p e ra tin g Ark. . 40.000. 000 40.000. 000 m o u n ts too rap id ly . F o r exam ple, F a r W est La. .. 89,095,580 91.000. 000 W ash. 97,466,000 93,000,000 th e to ta l o p e ra tin g e x p e n d itu re fo r 62,755,055 63.000. 000 Ky. .. 73,104,839 65,661,290 p ublic schools in W isconsin in F la . .. 82.000. 000 78,842,461 Ore. . Calif. 475,000,000 410,268,167 1951-52 w as $117,000,000, in 1950-51 S o u th w e s t it w a s $108,350,000 a n d th e y e a r Okla. 80.000. 000 83.677.000 . .$5,213,525,854 $4,836,213,084 b efo re it w a s $91,000,000. School 254,000,000 255,828,000 T o tal ta x e s a re s e p a ra te ite m s a n d th e y h a v e in cre a se d g re a tly . A n a rc h a ic ed u catio n does n o t g e t so m u ch of double o r m o re 1940 p rices. H ere p ro p e rty ta x e s c a rr y 75 p e r c e n t of th e n a tio n a l incom e a s do som e of Is th e w a y D r. J a m e s L. M cCaskill, th e school co sts in th e s ta te . th e lu x u ry item s. F o r exam ple, in d ire c to r of th e N . E . A. D ivision of In th e la s t sessio n o f th e L e g is 1950 th e people of th is co u n try L e g isla tio n a n d F e d e ra l R elations, la tu r e th e W isconsin F a rm B u s p e n t $8,100,000,000 fo r alcoholic p u ts i t: re a u , a m em b e r o f th e J o in t Com bev erag es, $4,409,000,000 fo r to I n 1950-51 th e a v e ra g e s a la ry m itte e on E d u c a tio n in W isconsin, bacco p ro d u cts a nd sm o k in g s u p in tro d u c ed a selectiv e 2 p e r c e n t plies, a n d $2,291,000,000 on cos fo r public school in stru c tio n a l s a le s t a x bill, th e proceeds of s ta f f m em b e rs w a s $3,080; th e m e tics a nd b e a u ty p a rlo r services. a v e ra g e em ployed p e rso n w as w hich w ere to be u sed f o r school D u rin g th e co m p a ra b le period e a rn in g a b o u t $3,200, o r 4 p e r cen t p u rp o se s to reliev e th e p ro p e rty (1950-51) th e y sp e n t $4,836,213,084 m ore. H ow ever, in 1939 th e a v e r ta x p a y e r. I t w a s b a d ly defeated . f o r th e u p k e e p of th e public a g e te a c h e r’s s a la r y o f $1,420 w as T h ere is som e re s is ta n c e to bond schools. I n o th e r w ords, a b o u t $15,- 12 p e r c e n t h ig h e r th a n t h a t of issu es becau se o f h ig h co n stru c tio n 0 0 0 ,000,000 w e n t f o r th e s e lu x u rie s co sts a n d s h o rta g e of m ate ria ls. a nd a th ird of t h a t a m o u n t fo r the em ployed people in g e n e ra l. I f T he d isp o sitio n is to "m a k e do" ed u catio n o f 25,000,000 b o y s and te a c h e rs ’ s a la rie s w e re in th e sam e u n til th is s itu a tio n s tr a ig h te n s out. rela tiv e po sition to th o se of all g irls o f school age. M in n e so ta re p o r ts t h a t its school e em ployed p e rso a In fo rm e d e d u c ato rs o b serv e th a t o th y r w e re in 1939, n s eto d wy as ex p e n d itu re s h a v e m o re th a n dou th e th y ould th e $6,000,000,000 expended f o r th e a v e ra g e $3,580, o r $500 above th e ir bled sin ce 1941. I n t h a t y e a r th e o p e ra tio n o f schools a n d c o n s tru c to ta l fo r m ain ten a n c e w a s ab o u t tio n o f b u ildings d u rin g 1951-52 1950-51 level. $46,000,000; th is y e a r i t is e s ti I f th e ed u catio n d o llar con tin u es w ill b u y a b o u t h a lf t h a t a m o u n t in to sh rin k , w a rn s D r. M cCaskill, m a te d a t $125,000,000. E d u c a tio n goods a nd services, m ea su red in a l n eed s a c co u n t f o r m o re th a n te rm s of th e 1939 dollar. I n m an y th is n a tio n w ill be u n ab le to ob h a lf o f all leg isla tiv e a p p ro p ria co m m u n ities th e schools ta k e th e ta in th e te a c h in g fo rce a n d build tions. th e schools req u ired to g ive a d e lion’s s h a re o f t a x m oneys, b u t I n K a n s a s $85,000,000 is av aileven th e n th e c o sts m o u n t m ore q u a te e d u c atio n to th e g row ing a b le fo r th e p u b lic schools th is n u m b er o f school children. rap id ly th a n th e fu n d s allo cated . y e a r, a n in c re a se o f $12,000,000 C onditions F a c e d b y S ta te s N ew M oney S o u rc es S o u g h t o v e r th e p rev io u s y e a r. M ost com S ta te s every w h ere, ac co rd in g to m u n itie s h a v e a p p ro v e d bond is V ario u s su g g e stio n s h a v e been m ad e fo r fin a n c ia l a s sis ta n c e to re p o rts fro m T h e N e w Yo r k su es f o r new school build in g s by th e schools. M ore s ta t e a id is T i m e s co rresp o n d en ts, a re fin d in g s u b s ta n tia l m ajo ritie s. s o u g h t in m a n y com m unities. th e g ro w in g school co sts b u rd e n F a c to r s in V irg in ia In cre a se B ond issu e s a n d in cre a se d ta x m ill- som e, y e t som ehow th e y m u st con School ex p e n d itu re s hav e rise n a g e keep m an y c itize n s a w a re of tin u e to m ee t them . rap id ly th ro u g h o u t th e So u th , a l th e needs of th e ir schools. V e rm o n t is a ty p ic a l s ta te in The c o n tro v e rsia l issu e of F e d th is connection. T he o p e ra tin g ex th o u g h th is se ctio n a s a w hole e ra l a id to th e public schools is p e n d itu re fo r p ublic schools is does n o t su p p o rt its public schools a s lib e rally a s som e o th e r a re a s . s till one o f th e “m u s t” ite m s on a b o u t $13,000,000 a n d is in c re a s I n V irg in ia th e to ta l o p e ra tin g th e a g e n d a o f m a n y school o rg a n ing a b o u t 10 p e r c e n t a n n u ally . izations. T he N a tio n a l E d u c a tio n R e sista n c e to bond issu e s fo r o u tla v f o r 1951-52 is e stim a te d a t A sso ciatio n in te n d s to co n tin u e its school b u ild in g s is b eco m in g a p $85,000,000 w h e re a s fiv e y e a rs a g o f ig h t to g e t a bill e n a cte d in th e p a re n t; som e c o m m u n ities b rin g it w as $52,000,000. F o r th e b ien p re s e n t session o f C ongress. B u t up su ch p ro p o sa ls th re e o r fo u r n ium s ta r tin g J u ly 1 th e S ta te B o a rd o f E d u c a tio n is a s k in g fo r th e p ro sp e c t f o r th e m e a su re does tim e s b efo re th e y a re accep ted . n o t a p p e a r to o b rig h t. L ocal school ta x e s in V erm o n t $91,303,675 fro m th e s ta t e ’s g e n School fin a n c in g is com plicated have in cre a se d b y a th ir d in re e ra l fu n d f o r school o p e ra tio n s—a n by inflation. T h e te a c h e rs a re con- c e n t y e a rs an d , since th e y a re in cre a se o f 33 p e r c e n t o v e r 1950s t a r )v se ek in g h ig h e r s a la rie s to la rg e ly levied on p ro p e rty , th e in 52. T h e rea so n s c ite d b y V irg in ia co m p e n sa te fo r co st-o f-liv in g in c re a se is beco m in g b u rdensom e. creases. T h e c o st o f a ll m a te ria ls S ta te a id fo r e d u c atio n h a s in fo r th is p ro je c te d in c re a se —a n d a nd e q uipm ent used b y th e schools creased , b u t does n o t ab so rb th e th ese rea so n s h o ld t r u e elsw h ere— h as gone u p s h a rp ly , som etim es m a jo r fin a n c ia l p ressu re . S ta te or 'a re : ex p e cte d e n ro llm e n t in c re a se �n o so a n eedn w rk d to th point w e th y v c d that m re s te aid is th g children, Florida c n e p c to tio . C n lid tio is d p n e t to o e e h re e in e a xet o ta e ro os e b x n pn e k y to th so tio o all m jo b ca e e lu n f a r e lled u o to m e this e p n a c n id ra le e te t u o th pn et xe c n “n lo g r ta e it.” a o n e k ig w y . e u a n l p b m in N w J r diture in th n a fu re O e h h a s d c tio a ro le s e e e e r tu . th r O e a unw th rs re illing to a c p cet sy e. S u e s te a in a sim o th rn ta s re ilar T e is n o e a s e to all th h re o n n wr e th lim e itations o their p rs n l n e oa ps n o itio . p b m ra e b th e u a rs ro le s is d y e d c to . Aid fo H n ic p e U e r a d a p d rg d fre d m im o e b ce in c m eo psd y rta o p vd T e m s p ssin h ot re g p b m B fo th s h o a im ro e , ro le s e re e c o ls re m n s. Still o e find that c n u itie th rs o W ut g a r a p p tio s fa e o e u a n in T x s a th n e s will h v to b e a in d itho re te p ro ria n ae e xme c d n d c tio ea re e e d ditions in m n s h o s s m a t to c n tru t n w s h o , e p y a y c o l y te s c os c e c o ls m lo locally a d th n c s a fu d n e e e s ry ns o n g n llm n , e to c rb their na u tura e th s s m re te c e o p y higher sal m u tin e ro e ts th building o ta e . D W rth M C re e l n u ia m o a h rs r a r. o c lu , x s o g s sc rc h rta e , a ity o qualified b in d f a d z a for "do n el ing a g o jo .” od b a s n im o n im ro e e t te c e rie , o p rta t p v mn n a h rs a d insufficient s h o e u e s c ta o th A e n c o l c tiv e re ry f e m rica “T e is n d u t that really in e u a n c n b re liz d in fu d o th lo h re o ob d c tio a e a e s o ia n f col dm n s n e cal le e v l. F c rs A s c tio o S h o A inis a to th ro g - o g re e rc into th N w J rs y or e e h re o u h g in sa h e e e e ls w e . to n f e ot pointing u th s p b m a re tra rs, o e o th m s influential p e e ro le s re te c e s o g is lo g o e u ,” a h r h rta e n v rd e e o n , o ts E u a rs in M s a h s tts s y a d c to as cue a ctiva n o m tio f ilitary in lla n s h o g u s in th c u try p in sta tio s, c o l ro p o s rv s D M G th “S c a th te c e s o g , n e fo s e d g u p d c n o d fe s to th s rio s difficulties c u e b be e r. c ra . uh e e u asd y e a h r h rta e ed r p e in p ro u tio f e ne stu y sh u e p re all p a e o m re a e u te sa rie n e fo in strie a d a clim d o ld x lo hss f o f oe et s g w dqa la s, e d r du s n bing birth lack o m n y to m e fa t- ro th m tte e o o ic so ia a d n w buildings to ta e c re o e ra . T x s is still trying to c tc ing en llm n a d o e rapid in e a r— c n m , c l n e ro e t n ffs t k a f n te e a a h p ch lo ic l— n a m t to u ro e ts w e sy o g a a d tte p n o ts s n m d te llm n h re th y h v in u w its building p g m a r c a e in c s a a im e ia e ae p ith ro ra fte re s c v r th ro t c u e . W n e to c a e a d th re la e e t o a th building d a oe e o ass e ed re s d n e p c mn f n e os e d e e rth during th w r p b m to b c n id re . e a ro le k o all th re s n w y p o le tiq a d buildings a nw e aos h ep u te re th m s p rio . T e p b m is D c m g "M re te c e will c s m re e ot e d h ro le e o in o a h rs ot o g , o d n t g , into te c in p ssin n e s for th im ro e a u w o r o o o a h g re g ed e p v c te ith sca rcity o m te ls, m n y h n te . "T a h rs sal f a ria o e ,” e o s ece ’ a d w y th y s y o le v it. W m n o e u a n in their s te a d high c s . n h e ta r a e e e t f d c tio ta . n o ts a s a a s b h d th rise o liv rie , lw y e in e f n e to k o w a m k s a g o D J h J D s o d J M s a ed n w h t ae o d r. o n . e m n r., a s o ts re o S v ra M w s rn s te list ing c s , a n w falling further ee l id e te ta s cue h s tts S te C m is io e o reo a iza n a d co so a n o b h d tha e e Everything th ta o ms nr f te c e a d w a m k s a b d ahr n h t ae a n v r. e rg n tio n n lid tio f e in lled a o for m re th sm ll districts a their m s s h o u e c s m re tha it did ls o te c e A d w n e to k o E u tio , ca a h r: n e ed n w d ca n n e a s o t c o ls s o t o f d c tio , o e re w a c n b d n to d v lo th equality o e u a n s that th p ssin s h o n e . N b sk is b fo K re . T e h t a e oe ee p e e re o a h re is e id n e v ec g c o l ed e ra a h n ic p e w u h v a e u l typical in this re p c T e a that th su sta tia in re s in th a d a p d o ld a e n q a m ra o th p fe s n s tha o le f e ro s io o t e b n l c ae e s e t. h re re e lthy to le rn n rly 7 0 s h o districts in th n tio a b d e m d n c s a b a th s w o e te it will h v n c a c w oe h n r a e o h n e ith th hea ea ,0 0 c o l e a n l u g t a e e e s ry y h w to b s lf- u p rtin . o e e spo g c u e to reg as ret their c o e h ic .” s te E ro en ta . n llm ts, it is fo n , d n tio a d fe s is beginning to u d o a n l e ne u f ee p s n tiv p ta n cal s u e o o rc s f O th w o , th s te a re n e h le e ta s g e O t o s v n re re e ta e n t justify th la e n m e F r dry u s te a d lo o e rg u b r. o u e te d n orth C ro a th s k o e o o y a d a b tte s h o su p rt.” a lin po a to th m s p ssin n e s in s p rin n e ts in N s e o t re g ed e ae f cnm n e r col e us n f th e e u a n p fe s n T e p lle o th q e tio o their e u a n l p g m redistricting D sp d c tio ro s io . hy o d n d c tio a ro ra , e ite th g w g p b m e ro in ro le s c o ls o t re g ed, e a re w g e ith D la a e w re that m re s h o ’ m s p ssin n e s fiv is fo n to b n c s a . T e s te fa e b th s h o , e u a rs o ud e e e s ry h ta cd y e c o ls d c to re s” e e c g iz d e e e s fu d for s h o a im e tiv . tw sa o o n su en rth ao e r h s n v r re o n e th n c s ity e e w e ns c o ls re p ra e listed "m"mfu d pa d te cthrs a e e v ry h re a re co fid n that n et o id re rio h Te U h nified S h o L col egislative w o s t th s n a fo te c in o ha ving p p ro erly qualified te c th e u tio a facilities will b a h e d ca n l e h e e ta d rd r a h g f C m itte in D la a , w ich in th o m e e w re h rs for th e m n ry g d s stre g e e rather th n w a e e e le e ta ra e . n th n d a eknd e sho c o l.” A co in c rd g to e c m ris s tw n la a d p fe T o a D B o p e e ty y n ro s h m s . ailey, S te S p rin High s h o g d a s w n c l in th im e ia c o l ra u te ith o o e m d te y a e rs a e d ha. ta u e g re e itte sio l g u s in re d in e u a te d n o Florida, te c e a d le e training a still p rm d to T e po na ro p te ste dc hy int to th tre e d u in e mn o s net f a h rs n tio , s s e that a c a g in th s h o buildings a th tw m s te c u d r ce in c n itio s n tre s d hne e col rta od n. te st ta e b th public, a evi re kn y e s re e o o t a h n e ta s t- p w s n e e s that m re p ssin e u a n l n e s It will x e u a edd o o s’ Sim ilarly, th m s p ssin n e d n e b th h n re s o citizen e o t re g ed ecd y e u d d f re g d c tio a e d . fu d c n b p v e . ns a e ro id d u ho t e e o ta a col y col o m e req ire $ 5 0 ,0 0 to bring th for th M n n public s h o s s s h o c m itte s thro g u th u 4 ,0 0 0 e e p v ry M n e u a rs s y m re s te N g s h o buildings a d facili te is th c n lid tio o m n c u try a p o that p o le e e a y d c to a o ta m e o so a n f a y o n , s ro f e ro c o l n re re d a d willing to ay n a , or s m fo id o e rm o F e l a , tie u to th s n a o s h o s h o districts. A f ed ra id uthorities o th w e f e h re a s p e ta d rd f c o ls c o l po e e c o ls d ca n A o ia n su p rt th fre public s h o . ss c tio is th a s e Practically all te c fo w e n w r. ah r hite ch re . B s d o th M n n ild n ae n e o ta a E u tio tro g c o ls tre g e u u o ta a ta e , principals a d officials o th U rs n f e nited S te S p m C u d point o t that M n n is a s te S n s h o will s n th n o r ta s u re e o rt e e o ra d n S te B a o E u tio a c n cisio co c rn g e u a n for N o v s s a e a d sm ll p p la d m c tic tra itio s. ta o rd f d ca n re o a ou n n e in d c tio e f at pcs n � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Why Our Public Schools Are In Serious Trouble", six articles by Benjamin Fine, Education Editor, New York Times, no date. 10 pages. Description An account of the resource Series of articles addressing problems facing public schools nationwide. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource New York Times, Benjamin Fine Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource No date Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_14 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/bfde6feab0c89e4a85dec86acef574d1.pdf 42c6c465ead2aebad12ae6d4e01df575 PDF Text Text AASSOCIATION A T IT S C IV IE a #< Published to advance the Centennial Action Program, 1951-1957 Number 22 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, 1201 SIXTEENTH ST E T NORTHW RE EST, WASHING N 4, P . ~ TO @titlciim. ok the Schools What To Do About It All school systems, large or small, rural or urban, are faced with criticism from day to day. Most of such criticisms are natural and probably constructive. This l eaflet i intended to help local teachers associations recog s nize the importance of dealing effectively with everyday situations and also with those c i i a periods that a rtcl rise occasionally in communities. O titic lin t— -£) f ta tf ojy t?czily Jltrinj Criticism i vital to the democratic process. The teaching p r o fe s s io n h a s s long r e c o g n iz e d constructive c r itic is m as a means o f k e e p i n g s c h o o ls re sponsive to the needs of the c o m m u n i t y . D u r i n g thl la s t f e w ye a rs s c h o o le boards, parent-teacher groups, and the p r o fe s s io n Irave m a d e a n e ffo r t to encourage the public to take a more active part in s i ttidying s c h o o l p r o b l e m s and making s u g g e s tio n s f o r their im p r o v e m e n t. C r iti c is m h a s its g r e a te s t v a l u e w h e n c itiz e n s and e iu c a to r s u se i t in w o r k c ing cooperatively to s o lv e s c h o o l problems. J?ome J^ailc fttem i5e5 1 Public schools b e l o n g to t h e people. T h e y e x e r c is e . their prerogatives thru la y representatives on boards of education. 2 The need for public education i accepted and sup . s ported by the people. Conflict about educational proc e sses arises because of ( ) lack of information about a them, and (b) differences of opinion about objectives, methods, and technics. 3 Teachers are employees of the public. This does . not mean, however, that they should s c i i e sound arfc principles for the sake of placating unwarranted c i i rt cism. The teaching profession i obligated to protect s the good reputation of an institution which society has created for i s own welfare. t 4 Experience shows that in those communities where . two-way channels of communication between schools and community have been established and utilized, citizens have confidence in teachers and education be- c a u se they are acquainted with what the schools are doing. 5 When cooperation between schools and community . i at a high l v l sudden outbursts of unwarranted s ee, criticism do l t l harm. Leaders among citizens will ite r s to the occasion and give full support to the schools ie in cooperation with school o f c a s fiil. 6 . When unwarranted criticisms are made, teacher leaders should exercise restraint. It should be as sumed at the start that those who criticize, no matter how loudly, are sincere, honest, well-intentioned peo p e even though they may be lacking in informa l, tion about the schools and their problems. This leaflet is designed to aid officers and pub lic relations committees o f local associations, as w e ll as a d m in is tra tors, school board members, PTA and other civic leaders in identifying and dealing with criticism o f th e schools. It was prepared b y the National Commission fo r the Defense o f Democracy Through Education. Lay a n d p ro fe s sional leaders m ay contact the Commission fo r suggestions for dealing with specific situations. A d d itio n a l fre e copies are available fo r lay and professional leaders. 5-10-56 12M �(S o n itiu ctive @ titicfom Every good te ach er know s th a t criticism is a p a r t of th e educative process. Some of his tim e is s p e n t in conferences w ith p a re n ts an d pupils discussing n o t only in d iv id u al p u p il problem s b u t also th e s u b je c t he teaches, the school cu rricu lu m , the academ ic s ta n d in g of the schools, a n d a variety of o th e r m atters con c ern ed w ith education. I f a criticism appears to b e v alid , he acknowledges it as such a n d concentrates o n ways to overcom e the p a rtic u la r deficiency o r w eakness. I f a criticism appears to be based on a m isco n cep tion , he attem p ts to clarify it. Sometimes criticism goes beyond the w o rk o f th e in d iv id u al classroom teacher and becom es g en e ra l. F o r exam ple, a g ro u p of parents m ay be dissatisfied w ith w hat they re g a rd as poor teaching. T h e y co m p a re notes an d decide, perhaps, th a t insufficient a tte n tio n is b eing given to spelling or some o th e r s u b je c t in the elem entary grades. T h e n they ap p ro a c h school officials a n d p resen t th e problem . O bviously, if th e re is d o u b t about p u p il com petence in any school subject, teachers should ex a m in e s ta n d a r d test results a n d w ritte n work. If there a re serious deficiencies, th e teachers concerned sh o u ld ac k n o w l edge them a n d assure citizens th a t special a tte n tio n w ill be given to th e m in the m onths ahead. T h e ex ten t to w h ich teachers are w illin g to face criticism s objectively is a good ind ication o f th e degree o f confidence w hich th e public w ill have in its schools. t? e it i.active CZiiticiim D u r in g re c e n t y ears d e stru c tiv e c ritic is m , e m a n a tin g fro m in d iv id u a ls a n d fro m n a t io n a l as w e ll as local p ressu re g ro u p s , h a s b e e n d ire c te d a t s c h o o ls g en e ra lly . T h is p ro p a g a n d a , so m etim es a p p e a r in g i n n ew sp ap ers, m agazines, a n d in fla m m a to ry p a m p h le ts , te n d s to u n d e rm in e th e p u b lic ’s co n fid en ce i n th e in te g r ity of teachers a n d in th e effectiveness o f th e p u b li c schools. Som e o f th is p r o p a g a n d a com es fro m g r o u p s w h o are openly h o s tile to th e p r in c ip le o f u n iv e r s a l p u b li c e d u cation. T h e p u b li c schools a re p ic tu r e d as a g o v ern m e n t-o p e ra te d m o n o p o ly a n d effo rts a r e e x e rte d to c rip p le p u b lic schools, fo r e x a m p le , t h r u p ro p o sals for ta x re d u c tio n s f o r p a re n ts w h o s e n d t h e i r c h ild re n to o th e r schools. P ro p a g a n d a a lso com es fro m g r o u p s w h o accu se the p u b lic schools o f s u b v e rtin g th e A m e r ic a n w a y o f life. T h e y ch a rg e th e schools w ith p r o m o t in g w elfare statism , c o llectiv ism , S ocialism a n d C o m m u n is m . I n som e c o m m u n itie s d is g r u n tle d in d i v id u a l s have used p ro p a g a n d a p a m p h le ts a n d a u t h o r i t a r i a n p ro ce d u res to cre a te a c o n tro v ersy c o n c e r n in g e d u c a tio n . Criticism is constructive to the extent that i t is motivated by a desire to i m p r o v e the existing school situation. Distinguishing between Constructive and Destructive Criticism U sually it is difficult to classify th e criticism s of p u b lic schools in to ju s t tw o categories: c o n s tr u c tiv e a n d d e structive. H ow ever, w h en local controversies becom e sh arp en ed a n d e m o tio n s r u n h ig h , so m e in d i v id u a l s a n d g ro ups tend to ta k e extrem e positions on issues. I n such an atm o sp h e re th e d is tin c tio n b e tw e e n c o n s tru c tiv e a n d destructive criticism becomes clearer. T h e follow ing ch a rt p resen ts so m e o f th e d is tin g u is h in g c h a ra c te r istics: Constructive Criticism Destructive Criticism Seeks im provem ents D eals w ith issues Is based o n facts Is specific Is h o n est Uses re stra in t R ecognizes strengths an d w eaknesses T o le ra te s differing opinions T e ars dow n a n d destroys D eals w ith p e rso n a litie s Ignores facts Relies o n g en e ra lities Is freq u en tly d is to rte d T e n d s tow ards sen satio n alism U nderem phasizes s tre n g th s a n d overem phasizes w eaknesses Is in to le ra n t o f d iffe rin g o p in io n s EDUCATION FOR AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP �K now the "Technics ofj o6tlle Cfi.ou.p6 Id en tify the channels th ru which attacks a re lau n ch ed . E x p erien ce shows th a t th e approaches listed below a re m ost com m only used by organized hostile g roups follow ing a d estru c tiv e fo rm u la. H ave any o f these been trie d in your com m unity? No Yes -------- N ew spapers are flooded w ith letters destruc tively criticizing the schools. -------- T h e schools are made a po litical issue d u r in g a schoolboard election o r b o n d issue cam paign. -------- P rivate school attendance is advocated to "relieve” overloaded public school classes a n d encourage com petition for h ig h e r stand ards. -------- A ttem p ts are made to discredit n atio n ally p ro m in en t educational leaders, b u t th e re is an im m ediate outcry of "sm ear” if an y ef fo rt is m ade to indicate the n a tu re of the source of attack on the educators. -------- T h e tim e an d talents of the B o ard o f E d u catio n m em bers are diverted to answ ering detailed an d often trivial questions a n d de fen d in g the philosophy of th e schools to the neglect of other pressing duties. Yes -------- T h e superintendent is subjected to sim ilar treatm ent. -------- T h e "big lie” technic is used—th e su p erin ten d en t and teachers are la beled "Progressivists” repeatedly. -------- E ducationally sound practices are challenged, even tho no effort is m ade to u n d ersta n d them. -------- R u m o rs are spread that there a re su b versives on the school staff. -------- Local groups organize w ith a s e le c te d m em bership and hold closed m eetings. No V icious p ro p ag an d a p u t o u t b y g ro u p s o u ts id e th e com m unity is d is trib u te d . T h e nam e chosen fo r th e pressure g ro u p is o ften m islead in g a n d n o t in d icative of its tru e purposes. T h e g ro u p claims to b e a frie n d of th e school and teachers, b u t attack s th e leaders. T h e p rogram a n d p ro ced u re s of th e g ro u p are sim ilar to th o se o f a n ti school groups in o th e r co m m u n ities. T h e fires of controversy a re k e p t b u r n ing. Know the Charges "They" say schools today: Som e have o f th e been c h a rg e s u s e d in in th e c o lu m n a t t h e l o c a l c o m m u n itie s b y r ig h t in d iv id u a ls F ail to te ach th e three Rs. C ost to o m u c h money. s in c e r e ly d e v o t e d t o t h e im p r o v e m e n t o f p u b l i c e d u F ail to te ach m o ral an d s p iritu a l values. c a t io n . A dvocate “J o h n Dewey's godless p ra g m a tism .” D u r in g r e c e n t y e a r s , h o w e v e r, a g r e a t m a n y c o m m u n it ie s h a v e e x p e r i e n c e d a t t a c k s o n t h e i r s c h o o ls fro m g r o u p s w h o h a v e e m p l o y e d th e s e c h a r g e s w i t h or unreliable o u t s u p p o r tin g d a t a m a tio n fro m w i t h f a ls e o r d i s t o r t e d i n f o r s o u rc e s . h e a r d i n y o u r c o m m u n it y ? A re any of th e m •A re “ godless, secular schools.” Q E m phasize "Progressive” ed u c atio n . Use m e th o d s a n d m aterials w h ich a re subversive. H ave to o m a n y frills a n d fads. A bolish c o m p etitio n th ru new ty p e re p o r t cards. �Helpful Procedures Study the local criticisms carefully to determ ine whether or not they are an expression of genuine dissatisfaction from a group sincerely desirous of remedying an alleged weakness in the school program. Apart from motives, determ ine whether or not the alleged weakness exists. If the schools are being unjustly criticized by a local pressure group, local teachers asso ciation leaders and others should study carefully the technics used. Make certain that procedures for meeting organized criticism are coordinated and compatible. T h e school administration and the local teachers association should cooperate fully in planning ways and means of meeting destructive criticism against the schools. Efforts, of course, should be made to reach an understanding with the dissident group. Assuming that such efforts fail, the local teachers association leaders, in cooperation with the school adm inistration, PTA leaders and other supporters, should decide whether to ignore wild charges from the destructive-minded group o r take a strong stand in opposition to these unfair allegations. If the destructive group appears to be hunting for sensational headlines in the newspaper, the best strategy may be to ignore the wild charges. O n the other hand, if the local newspapers appear to be playing up the wild charges and signs of unrest in the community become evident, vigorous action to counteract the unsupported and the un fair charges may be necessary. Although it is impossible to create an infallible formula that will reduce tension in every school-community controversy, one or more of the suggestions in the chart below should be helpful. The Local Association Ac 1. Arrange a conference between the local association officers and the superintendent. This is the first step. An effective action program is dependent upon under standing and close cooperation between the adminis tration and the teachers association. Consider enlarg ing the group to include parent-teacher leaders and schoolboard members. 2. Appoint a special committee to be responsible for studying the propaganda activities of pressure groups. 3. Devote at least one association meeting to a considera tion of pressure groups. Discuss the issues and plan ways to acquaint parents with the facts. 4. Assign to a committee, preferably the one in charge of public relations, the task of alerting citizens to the nature of these pressures. 5. Intensify efforts to have parents visit the schools. Against Unjust Criticism 6. Develop a file of publications and source materials con cerning pressures affecting the schools. Circulate signi ficant ones am ong schoolboard members, P T A leaders, service organizations, others. 7. Utilize inform ed laymen and teachers to explain the work of the schools on radio, television, and before meetings of civic organizations. 8. Call together education committees of lay organizations to explain the situation and mobilize their active sup port. 9. Encourage the formation of study groups composed of teachers, school patrons, and others to analyze anti school propaganda. 10. Arrange face-to-face conferences with local editors and radio and television broadcasters in order to be sure that they will have the facts ab o u t the local school situation. The Local Association Strives to Build Good School-Community Relations 1. Develop effective technics to use in cooperating with the superintendent and schoolboard to interpret the schools to the community and the community to the schools. 2. Cooperate closely with the school adm inistration and the local board of education in identifying an d solving school problems. 3. Conduct public opinion polls concerning the teach ing of the fundamentals, the curricula, school activi ties to ascertain the extent of community knowledge of and support for the school program. 4. Acknowledge demonstrated weaknesses and cooperate with the school administration in setting up a corrective program. 5. W ork w ith parent-teacher and other civic groups to make sure th at school issues are given adequate and accurate consideration in their meetings. 6. Promote American Education Week an d o ther activities that bring the public into the schools. Suggested Additional Reading Public E ducation u n d e r Criticism by C. W infield Scott a n d C lyde M. Hill, Prontice-H all, Inc., N. Y., 1954. Selected articles b y lead in g o p ponents a n d p ro p o n e n ts o f m odern public e d u c a tio n , su ggestions fo r a ctio n . Forces A ffecting A m erican Education, 1953 Y earb o o k o f th e A sso ciation f o r S upervision a n d Curriculum D evelopm ent, th e Asso ciatio n , NEA. A nalyzes fo rces affectin g to d a y 's schools. O u tlin e s p o sitive p ro g ra m s fo r Im p ro v in g education H ow W e F o ught f o r O u r Schools b y E dw ard D arlin g , W . W . N orton a n d C o., Inc., N . Y ., 1954. A doc u m e n ta ry n o v el describ in g a n attack o n a local publicschool system . N a rra tiv e is fictional, b u t fa c ts a r e tru e . W ritten in c o llab o ratio n w ith m em b ers o f staff o f C e n te r fo r R eid Studies, H arv ard G ra d u a te School o f Education. S trengthening C om m unity Life: Schools C an H elp, p u b licatio n o f th e E ducational Policies Com m ission NEA, 1954. Show s h o w sch o o ls can stren g th en local com m unity life a n d gives illu stratio n s o f h o w th ey h elped in six com m unities. It S tarts in th e C lassro o m , publication o f th e N a tio n a l School Public R elations A sso ciatio n , NEA. A h a n d b o o k f o r classroom te ach ers w h ich h elp s th em g rasp their ro le in p u b lic relatio n s. M any h e lp fu l suggestions. Team ing U p f o r Public R elations, pub licatio n o f th e N a tio n a l School Public R elatio n s A ssociation, NEA. A public re la tio n s h an d b o o k desig n ed p a rtic u la rly f o r a sso ciation le a d e rs , su p e rin te n d e n ts, prin cip als, sup erv iso rs, col lege p ro fe s s o rs , a n d s ta te d e p a rtm e n ts o f ed u catio n . Defense B ulletin, N a tio n a l Com m ission f o r th e D efense o f De mocracy th ro u g h E d u catio n , NEA. Bulletin issu ed sev eral tim es a y e a r to p resid en ts o f local te a c h e rs ' a s s o c ia tio n s a n d o th e r e d u c a tio n a l le a d e rs fo r th e p u rp o se o f a c q u a in tin g them w ith activities b o th inim ical a n d helpful to th e w e lfa re o f public edu catio n . B ibliography o f A rticles concerning C urrent Criticism s o f Schools a n d R eprints o f S ignificant Articles concerning A ttacks on Schools, N ational C om m ission fo r th e D efense o f D em ocracy th ro u g h Edu cation, NEA. (B ib lio g ra p h y b ro u g h t u p to d a te sem i-annually.) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource National Education Association, Local Association Activities Leaflet, # 22, "Criticism of the Schools, What To Do About It", May 10, 1956. 4 pages. Description An account of the resource Leaflet designed to aid administrators, educational organizations and civic leaders in dealing with criticism of the schools. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource National Education Association Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1956-05-10 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_13 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/544a1722f4423a385e8497b4db7bcb7c.pdf 7b6fd039559f3c15339975a66f8faca2 PDF Text Text A PLAN for the Preservation of the Virginia Public School System P ro p o sed I>y P r elim in a ry Statem ent V \ 7 H I L E th is p la n is n o t keyed * ^ specifically to the R eferen d u m f o r a C o n s titu tio n a l C o n v e n tio n held Janu ary 9, i t bears u p o n th a t R eferendum in one im p o r ta n t respect. T h e plan w h ic h fo llo w s is based o n the assum ption th a t the outcom e o f the referendum on the C o n s titu tio n a l C o n v e n tio n in no sense w h ate ver forecloses calm c o n s id e r a t i o n o f the best m e th o d fo r h a n d lin g the im pact on V ir g in ia ’s p u b lic school system o f the S u prem e C o u r t’s decision o f M a y 17, 1 9 5 4 and its im p le m e n tin g decree o f M a y 31 , 1955. A s th e outcom e o f th e referen d u m w as favorable to the c a llin g o f the C o n v e n tio n , it is lik e ly th a t extrem e factions on one side w i ll herald the event as a great v ic to ry f o r “ a n ti- in te g ra tio n " ; on the o th e r h an d, had the outcom e been u n fa v o ra b le , extreme fa c tio n s on the o th e r side w o u ld have in te r preted i t as a great v ic to r y f o r “ in tegre g a tio n .” N e ith e r extrem e, no m a tte r h o w vocal, is believed to be a c o rrc t reflection o f the d o m in a n t v ie w o f the th o u g h tfu l c itiz e n s o f V irg in ia . T h is fo llo w s because m a n y peo ple voted fo r the C o n v e n tio n on the th e o ry th a t it w i l l s im p ly re m ove a possible im p e d im e n t to fu tu re legislative f le x ib ilit y and dis cretion. T h is is a fa r c ry fro m a b la n k e t endorsement o f the k in d s o f extrem e measures advocated in some quarters or even the m ore m oderate proposals o f the G ra y C o m m issio n R e port. O n the other h a n d , a vote against the c a llin g o f the C o n v e n tio n in no sense carries the im p lic a tio n th a t a ll w h o are opposed to the C o n v e n tio n fa v o r q u ic k m ethods o f in te g ra tio n . Q u ite the c o n tra ry, m a n y w h o o p posed the c a llin g o f the C o n v e n tio n d id so o n ly because th e y believe be tte r choices are available. fo r F E B R U A R Y , 1956 DR. B . J . C H A N D L E R , Associate Professor and D R . D O U G L A S S . W A R D . Acting Dean School o f E ducation , U niversity o f Virginia, C harlottesville T h e p la n b e lo w inclines more closely to those advocated in ne ig h b o rin g states o f M a ry la n d , W est V ir g in ia , and N o r th C a ro lin a than to those proposed in M issis sip p i and G eorgia. A n y p la n f o r the preservation o f V irg in ia ’s p u b lic schools in the face o f the U n ite d States Supreme C o u rt decision m a k in g com pulsory segregation o f races in schools u n c o n s titu tio n a l m u st rest upon fo u r fu n d a m e n ta l prin cip le s. A satis fa cto ry p la n m u s t: 1. Be consiste nt w ith the C o u rt’s requirem ent o f “ deliberate speed" in a b o lis h in g the practice o f com p u lso ry segregation. “ Deliberate speed" m ust be determ ined com m u n ity b y c o m m u n ity . 2. E m p lo y the basic processes o f dem ocracy. T h is prin c ip le re quires the active p a rtic ip a tio n in the fo rm u la tio n o f plans o f people w h o stand to be affected b y those plans. F u rth e r, respect fo r m a jo r it y decisions, use o f experts, and search fo r s o lu tio n s th ro u g h fact fin d in g and p ro b le m solvin g m eth- D r . B . J . C h a n d le r ods are basic processes o f dem oc racy w h ic h m ust be fo llo w e d . 3. Respect local tra d itio n s , be liefs. and customs. Deep-seated personal convictions and t r a d it io n al attitud es cannot be changed b y ju d ic ia l fiat. T h e p la n m u s t be reasonable and gradual and m ust a v o id abruptness, o r a tte m p ts to force change. 4. Assure the c o ntin ued ope ra tio n o f the p u b lic schools in every c o u n ty and c ity in the C o m m o n w e a lth . T h e im perative need f o r m a in ta in in g and im p ro v in g o u r p u b lic education system is recog nized generally th ro u g h o u t V i r g in ia . A ls o , any plan th a t is f o r m ulated m ust be econom ical, and a tta in a b le w ith in the fin a n c ia l re sources o f the State. T h e p lan, o u tlin e d in three parts, w h ic h fo llo w s , is consistent w i t h these fu n d a m e n ta l prin c ip le s . I t has fle x ib ility sufficient to p e r m it local a u to n o m y in the opera tio n o f schools. Because i t is S tatew ide, positive in nature, and recognizes th a t the p ro b le m d if- D r . D o u g la s S. W a r d 13 �w o r k o u t operating plans f o r schools to meet problem s a ris in g o u t o f the Supreme C o u rt r u lin g and to s u b m it these p lans as recommenda tio n s to lo ca l school boards. 2. T o a d v is e c o m m u n it y g roups and serve as an in fo rm a tio n clearing house fo r p lans as th e y are developed. 3. T o assemble plans p u t in to o p e ra tio n in school divisio ns and tra n s m it these to the ap p ro p ria te official designated b y the Federal C o urts as e v i dence o f good fa ith in com pliance w i t h the “ deliberate speed” edict. fers fro m c o m m u n ity to c o m m u n ity , i t is believed th a t i t w o u ld meet the C o u rt's re q u ire m e n t o f “ a ll deliberate speed” i f carried o u t in good fa ith . I t is assumed f u r th e r th a t present school staffs in each school d iv is io n w o u ld be m a in ta in e d . T h e P lan 1. E s ta b lis h m e n t b y th e G en era l A s s e m b ly o f a S ta te A d v is o r y C o u n c il o n P u b lic E d u c a tio n .* I t is recognized th a t the G ray C o m m iss io n was an a d h o c bod y. I t has dealt w ith the segregation p ro b le m on an emergency basis. I t n o w seems app rop riate and neces sary fo r a council to be con stitu te d on a lo n g range, c o n tin u in g basis. T h e coun cil shou ld be constituted so as to be b ro a d ly representative and in clude people w h o are in tim a te ly acquainted w it h problem s re s u ltin g fro m the Suprem e C o u rt decision. I t is suggested th a t the c o u n c il m ig h t be organized in the f o llo w in g m anner: A . A p p o in tm e n t: B y the G o ve rn o r, fro m n o m in a tio n s made b y a com m ittee consisting o f the presidents o f the State-supported h ig h e r in s ti tu tio n s . T h is com m itte e sh ou ld consider recom m endations fro m . the various groups w h ic h are to be represented, as nam ed in the fo llo w in g paragraph. B. M em b ersh ip: F o u r legislators T w o State D e p a rtm e n t o f E d u cation representatives O ne representative fro m the V i r g in ia School B o ards Associa tio n O ne d iv is io n supe rinte ndent o f schools O ne representative fro m the V i r g in ia E d ucation A sso ciation O ne representative fro m the V i r g in ia Teachers A sso ciation O ne representative fro m the P a r ent-Teacher A s so cia tio n — W h ite O ne representative fro m the P a r ent-Teacher A s so cia tio n — Negro T w o representatives o f the gen eral pub lic. C. F u n c tio n : 1. T o encourage c o m m u n ity leaders a d viso ry groups to * See Appendix A fo r suggestions concern in g w ork of th e Council. 14 I I. A. B. E s ta b lis h m e n t o f a C o m m u n i ty L e a d e rs A d v iso r y G ro u p in E a c h S c h o o l D iv is io n .1 A p p o in tm e n t: B y the m a y o r, o r the ch a ir m an o f the b o a rd o f supervisors, upo n recom m endations from the groups to be represented as named in the fo llo w in g para graph : M e m b e rs h ip : T w o — C it y coun cil or board o f supervisors T w o — S ch ool board F o u r— P a ren t-T eache r Associa tio n s , in c lu d in g Negro repre se n ta tio n T w o — G eneral p u b lic T w o — S c h o o l a dm in istrators a n d /o r teachers. C. F u n c tio n s : 1. C a re fu lly assess local p u b lic s e n tim e n t regarding school segregation. 2. W o r k o u t procedures th a t lo ca l p u b lic o p in io n is ju d g e d lik e ly to accept. 3. Secure agreement o f leader s h ip o f b o th races concern in g the exact extent, school b y school, o f segregation o r non -seg rega tion proposed.2 4. Present recommended plans to the d iv is io n school board. 5. In fo r m the State A d v is o ry C o u n c il o n P u b lic E d ucation o f p la n s and local develop m ents. 6 . C o n tin u e to meet as lo ng as need exists fo r adjustm ent o r deve lo p m e n t o f plans.3 1. See A ppendix B for suggestions concern ing operation of th e Community Groups. 2. See A ppendix B. Item 2. 3. See A ppendix B, Item 3. III. S ta tu to r y A u th o r ity o f L o ca l S c h o o l B o a rd s to A s s ig n I n d iv id u a l P u p ils to S c h o o ls . I f a satisfacto ry p la n is n o t de veloped in a school d iv is io n u t il iz in g the procedures described above, o r i f plans developed lo c a lly and placed in ope ratio n pro ve unsa tis fa c to ry , the local school board w o u ld be le g a lly em pow ered to : A u th o riz e and supervise the assignm ent o f in d iv id u a l p u p ils b y professional school personnel in accordance w ith cle a rly de fined criteria related to : fa ) sex. f b ) in telligence, (c ) academic achievem ent, and ( d ) place o f residence ( d is tric tin g ) . I t is assumed th a t a ll C o m m u n it y Leaders A d v is o ry G roups w o u ld continue to meet and to p e r sist in efforts to develop plans c o n sistent w ith the fo u r fu n d a m e n ta l p rin c ip le s upo n w h ic h th is entire p la n is based. * * * I t is suggested th a t the p la n o u t lin e d in the fore goin g pages be s u b m itte d to the G eneral A sse m bly irrespective o f the outcom e o f the referendum , o r o f the C o n s titu tio n a l C o n ve n tio n . N o e ffo rt has been made to specify the legislative details o f the plan offered because i t is recognized th a t: (a ) certain e x is tin g statutes w o u ld need to be revised o r m odified, and (b ) d r a ftin g o f le gislative b ills is an exactin g task re q u irin g the services o f legal experts. A p p en d ix A T h e State A d v is o ry C o u n c il s h ou ld organize its e lf in to w o r k in g com mittees to deal w ith phases o f the problem s c o n fro n tin g it. U n d o u b te d ly , a sm all staff, in c lu d in g legal counsel, w o u ld be necessary. In the event the w o r k o f the State C o u n cil extends ove r a perio d o f years (perhaps five o r m o re ) some p ro v is io n fo r lim it in g the term s o f members, and fo r m a in ta in in g m em bership, w o u ld be necessary. A p p en d ix B 1. I t m ay be advisable fo r C o m m u n ity A d v is o ry G ro u p s to h o ld th e ir in it ia l m eetings as execu tiv e sessions. M eetings open to the p u b lic and press m ay be advisable VIRGINIA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION �la te r as local c o n d itio n s w a rrant, a t the discretion o f the local G roup. 2. As o f a given date, non-seg regation m ig h t be announced fo r: ( a ) a ll schools o f a school d iv i sion, ( b ) one o r m ore schools, (c) certain grades in a ll schools, or ( d ) certain grades in one o r more schools. T h e n u m b e r o f Negro p u p ils eligible to atte n d a p a rticu la r school as o f a certain date m ig h t be recommended. 3. P ro b a b ly n o change in pres en t school attendance practices (related to race) w o u ld occur fo r some tim e in certain school d iv i sions. (JiAqinmA, fiduccrfionoL StyWifi/wMif, by H E N R Y A . W IS E (R e tir e d , Form er S u p e rin ten d e n t o f Accom ack C ounty S ch o o ls) To live up to the best traditions of our State and have those [ and the work and effort that they cost; to be proud of Virginia | I Contest on U n ited N ations— Student knowledge of the function and work of the United Nations will be tested in high schools throughout the United States and its territories on March 13, 19S6, date of the 30th Annual High School Contest on the United Nations. The competition, sponsored annually by the American Association for the U nited Nations, will once again take the form of a three-hour examination, combining short-answer and essay questions. Top-ranking students in the nation will receive, as first prize, their choice of a trip to Europe or $500 and, as second prize, a trip to Mexico or $200. American Youth Hostels, New York City, and the Experiment in Inter national Living, Putney, Vermont, will | cooperate in the arranging of prizewinning trips. The study material for the Contest is designed to supplement the regular social studies curriculum with ad ditional factual inform ation about the United Nations, w hat it has done and what it is attem pting to do. The aim of the Contest is not to dramatize the United Nations during a brief period of pre-examination study, but rather to encourage a year-round interest in what is going on in the United Nations. Students in all public, private or parochial high schools are eligible to take the examination. Schools should register through a teacher. Further information may be secured from Miss Lucille Levine, Contest Secretary, American Association for the United Nations, 345 East 46th Street, New York 17, New York. Each school registering will receive one free study kit. for FEBRU ARY , 1956 traditions reflected in our lives; To be in some sense worthy of them because it is our State and our place to work and to play, to live and to love and to grow strong; to glory in it because of its Wash ington, its Lee, its Woodrow Wilson, its Thomas Jefferson, and the hosts of others who have helped to make the name of Virginia a synonym for nobility and devotion to duty; to rejoice in it because of its manhood and womanhood to-day, its boyhood and its girl hood; to be glad of the opportunities it offers for the development of this boyhood and girlhood, and of the opportunity to use these opportunities; to feel regret that many of its men and women, its boys and girls, have never had the opportunity to grow strong physically, mentally, and spiritually, and because of this regret to resolve that from henceforth every man and woman, every boy and girl, shall have his or her chance to obtain and attain the best; to realize more keenly the seriousness of the curse of ignorance, and to exert every effort in our power, cost what it may, to remove this curse from our midst, so that never again shall it be said in Virginia, that a man must "make his mark” instead of signing his name; to wage war against inefficiency wherever it may be found, whether in public life, in private life, in business or in school; to train our boys and girls to control self, to hate and fear deceit, and to love and revere the tru th ; to teach them the dignity of work and the beauty of service; and to remember daily the great trust imposed upon us by those who "sleep in Flanders fields”— to take up "our quarrel with the foe” ; to realize that this quarrel against ignorance and wrong and injustice and inefficiency and deceit and distortion is just as real and just as deadly as was the quarrel with those who would have exterminated all progress and all liberty and all the things that honorable men hold dead; to bear in mind always that "If ye break faith with those who die We shall not sleep though poppies grow In Flanders fields.” 15 �Learning to read involves a complex of skills which each child must acquire in terms of his own physical, emotional, and intellectual make-up. B efore parents can help, they need to know something about the school’s reading program. I Johnny Cant Read ... f HOW Can Parents Help? by C H A R LE S B . H U E L SM A N . JR . T E A C H E R S use fo u r d iffe re n t approaches in teaching c h il dren to read. These operate t o gether rather than in de p e n d e n tly , and an y teacher o r system o m ittin g one o r m ore o f these basic ap proaches is fa ilin g to use the to ta l technique strength th a t is availab le fo r teaching children to read. P a r ents w h o w a n t to help th e ir c h il dren w ith reading m ust, o f course, have an und erstanding o f these techniques. 1. T h e B asic R eader A p p ro a ch Basic readers are graded t e x t books in reading. T h e y begin at 16 the m ost elem e nta ry level (p re primersJ and increase in d iffic u lty year b y year. I n constructing a series o f readers, authors, teachers, and pub lish ers coordinate th e ir e f fo rts to produce a good to o l. T h e y define the c o m p le x o f s k ills called reading; th e y organize these skills so th a t the c h ild comes in contact w ith a ll o f the s k ills in a natural w ay, and th e y p ro v id e suitable re views so th a t th e c h ild has repeated practice in p e rfo rm in g the s k ill. T h is helps the c h ild reta in and con solidate w h a t he learns. A basic series o f reading texts is organized w i t h m eticulous care, g iv in g m a x im u m consideration to w h a t research has discovered a b o u t the processes in v o lv e d in le a rn in g to read. G enerally, a g ro u p o f p e r sons trained in the k n ow led ge and technique o f teaching reading, co operate to design, w rite , try o u t, and p u b lis h basic readers. T o d a y , such readers c o n s titu te an eclectic approach to the p ro b le m o f teaching chi-lren to read. E d u c a to rs and publishers recognize th a t a ll ch ild re n do n o t learn in the same w ay. Instead o f presenting read in g exclusively as p h o n ic o r as v is u al le a rn in g , the tw o m eth ods are com bin ed. T h is gives every c h ild V IR G IN IA JO U RN A L OF ED U C A T IO N � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Magazine article, "A Plan for the Preservation of the Virginia Public School System", by Dr. D.B. Chandler and Dr. Douglas S. Ward, Virginia Journal of Education, February, 1956. 4 pages. Description An account of the resource Authors present a plan for the preservation of Virginia Public Schools in the face of the Supreme Court decision. Plan includes: Be consistent with court's requirement for deliberate speed, employ the basic principles of Democracy, respect local traditions and assure the continued operation of the publish schools. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Virginia Journal of Education, Dr. D.B. Chandler, Dr. Douglas S. Ward Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1956-02 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_11 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/d90224ac2e890cb676bc1f82c8474ea5.pdf 865ac237f9f57c3789e3df05921247fa PDF Text Text iu HORACE MANN LEAGUE NEWS No. 14 AND AmeA&ca REVIEWS 1955 S eries August 15, 1955 At the St. Louis meeting of the C en tral Division of the H orace Mann League in F ebru ary 1955 a w ell-received a d d re ss was delivered by the Superintendent of In struction of that city in which he describ ed the procedures which were followed in integrating the public schools. It is reproduced here at the request of se v e ra l of our m em bers who heard the ad d ress. St. Louis Integrates its Public Schools Philip J . Hickey Superintendent of Instruction St. Louis Public Schools On May 17, 1954, the Supreme C ourt of the United States unanimously ruled that children of a m inority group forced to attend racially segregated public schools w ere being denied the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment and that they were being deprived of liberty without due process of law in violation of the Fifth Amendment. The ruling specified that even though physical facilities and other tangible factors of racially se p arate schools may be equal, s e g regation itself deprives the children of the minority group of equal educational op portunities because it generates in them a feeling of in ferio rity as to th e ir statu s in the community "that may affect th e ir h ea rts and minds in a way unlikely ev er to be undone" and that also affects th e ir motivation to learn in such a way as to tend to re ta rd their educational and m ental development. Immediately a fte r the announcement of the decision that ra c ia l segregation in pub lic education was unconstitutional, the Board of Education of the City of St. Louis perfected plans to integrate the schools under its ju risd ictio n . This alm ost in sta n t aneous response may be attributed to se v eral facto rs. In the first place, the St. Louis community itself had been undergoing a steady p ro cess of dem ocratization over the past ten y ears as evidenced by an ti-segregation pronouncements of its church and synagogue organizations and its local p re ss, desegregation of its le a d ing colleges and universities and its Catholic elem entary and high schools, and consistent d ecrease in racial segregation and discrim ination in hotel accom m oda tions, public and com m ercial rec re atio n , housing, and employment. In the second place, this sam e decade had w itnessed continuously in creasin g integration of St. Louis public school teachers and principals in the perform ance of th e ir p rofessional duties and the operation of their professional organizations, as illu stra te d by in creased integration of course of study and book selection com m ittees, in c re a se d in tegration of the city-wide E lem entary School P rincipals A ssociation the p resen t president of which happens to be a Negro, and the elim ination of ra c ia l b a rs in the M issouri State T eachers A ssociation. And in the th ird place, th e re had been in operation in the St. Louis Public Schools since Novem ber, 1945, a sy stem a tic human �- 2- relations program of far-reach in g proportions which was inaugurated under the auspices of the A m erican Council on Education and the direction of D r. Hilda Taba and which had fo r its objective discovery and utilization of effective m eans of pro moting good w ill, cooperative living, mutual understanding, and appreciation for one another among the groups of people living in St. Louis. By May 17, 1954, this objective had been to a m easureable extent realized (1) through a c u rric u la r ap proach which involved introduction of m aterials and techniques in the se v e ra l are as of learning — a r t, literatu re, m usic, science, e tc ., - - which would conduce to the im provem ent of human rela tio n s, (2) through an e x tra cu rricu la r approach which involved a ric h variety of ac tiv itie s of an intergroup and inter-sch o o l as w ell as an intram ural nature, and (3) through an extensive in -se rv ic e education approach which involved helping St. Louis te ac h ers acquire sk ills in assistin g pupils to o v er come a rtific ia l b a rrie rs to the acceptance of each individual on his own m e rits. At a special meeting on June 22, 1954, therefore, the Board - - as popularly elec t ed representatives of a community already rejecting the principle of segregation and implementing the principle of integration in significant aspects of its life — officially and unanimously adopted and publicly announced a program for d eseg reg a tion of the schools under its control. This program provided (1) for com plete and orderly integration of the St. Louis Public Schools, beginning Septem ber, 1954, and ending Septem ber, 1955, (2) fo r minimum disruption of the educational p ro gram of students during this period of transition by perm itting those alread y en ro ll ed in a p articu lar school to continue to attend that school until graduation if they and their parents desired and if the school did not becom e overcrowded, and (3) for fair and equitable protection of the in te rests of em ployees and candidates fo r employment without regard to r a c e . Several days a fte r the adoption of th is plan, the sta te 's A ttorney-general ruled that because of the decision of the United S tates Supreme C ourt th e re w ere no longer any valid laws in M issouri which eith er r e quired or perm itted segregation of the races in public schools, thus legally c le a r ing the way fo r unmodified inauguration of the program . Both before and a fte r announcement of the plan, a num ber of key leadership and opinion-form ing organizations of th e community volunteered th eir support and a s s is t ance. These included the local p r e s s , which urged prom pt and if possible a c c e le r ated im plem entation of the program ; the League of Women V oters, which published a pamphlet designed to help the public understand and cooperate with what the Board was undertaking; the Metropolitan Church Federation, which set aside a Sunday for prayer in all its m em ber churches fo r the success of integration; the Rabbinical A ssociation, which issued a statem ent calling on all citizen s to work tow ard and pray for su ccessful integration; the Catholic Church, which had already d e s e g re g a t ed its own schools and counselled its m em bers to cooperate with the Board of E du cation in its program of desegregation; the National Conference of C hristians and Jew s, which undertook training of teen-age leadership groups; the city-w ide p aren ts and patrons organizations, which took further steps tow ards integration on the p a r ent level; and the M ayor's Com m ission on Human R elations, which conducted a workshop on integration for teach ers and adm inistrato rs, bringing to the city a number of educators who had had experience in this field. �-3In Septem ber, 1954, as the in itial step in im plem entation of the plan, the public colleges and the special schools and classes w ere reorganized on an integrated b asis. Stowe Teachers College and Stowe Junior College had been an institution with a Negro student body and a Negro teaching and custodial personnel. H arris T eachers College and H a rris Junior College had been an institution with a white student body and a white teaching and custodial personnel. The two w ere combin ed into one institution and housed in the H a rris College Building, with approxim ate ly forty percent of the student body and faculty Negro and sixty percent of the stu dent body and faculty w hite. T here was also integration of the c le ric a l personnel and custodial staff. The tran sitio n was m ade without incident and in a clim ate of frien dliness and good w ill - - with all in any way participating determ ined to see that it was properly consum m ated. The sp ecial schools and c la sse s for various types of handicapped children were integrated according to the sam e pattern in Septem ber, 1954, and the general high schools and adult education program s sim ila rly integrated on January 31, 1955. In Septem ber, 1955, the operation will be com pleted with integration of the regular elem entary schools and the technical high schools. Each school integrated thus far has proceeded to function after the change with norm al educational effective ness and with a degree of social m aturity which has reflected c re d it on all involv ed. One tangible outcome of the high school and college integration has been that crowded conditions which had prevailed for many y ears at the g en eral high schools for N egroes have been m arkedly am eliorated and two buildings — a fo rm e r college and a fo rm er special school - - have been used for relief of se v eral heavily populat ed elem entary schools. Some additional re lie f much needed on the elem entary lev el will be available when integration proceeds to its third and final step. H ere then is the St. Louis experience of in tegration of its public schools as it is now in pro cess. It is a sto ry of steadily evolving dem ocracy, of community cooper ation, of professional vision on the part of te a c h e rs and principals, of wisdom in policy making and announcement of plans on the p art of the Board of Education, of intelligence in executing the plans as form ulated, of development of dem ocratic student leadership, and of a long-range program of educating boys and g irls in wholesome human relatio n s. We believe that it w ill eventuate in St. L ouis' becom ing a g re a te r and m ore dem ocratic A m erican community and in its public school sy stem 's becoming a m ore tru ly efficient serv an t of such a com munity. We are also convinced that from the economic point of view the community w ill receive g rea ter value for its tax do llar because of the elim ination of unnecessary duplica tion of facilities, reduction in expenses of tran sp o rtatio n , and elim ination of waste in classroom s at a tim e when classroom s a r e at a prem ium . Thus the Board of Education will be enabled to devote a la rg e r proportion of its funds to one of its most urgent problems - - reduction of class siz e . * * * * * * * * * * S elm er H. Berg P resident -General Superintendent of Schools Oakland 6, California E. I. F . WilUams S ecretary-G eneral H eidelberg College Tiffin, Ohio � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "The Horace Mann League of America, News and Reviews" No.14, August 15, 1955. 3 pages. Description An account of the resource Reproduction of a talk, "St. Louis Integrates Its Public Schools", given by Philip J. Hickey, Superintendent of Instruction, St. Louis Public Schools, describing the procedures followed to integrate the St. Louis Public Schools. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Horace Mann League of America, Philip J. Hickey Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1955-08-15 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_8 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/0116e9ca3cc3c31efaeb30593bc1dee2.pdf f84d34f69b89647cb910f10984892a03 PDF Text Text TWO TYP ES OF A D V I C E AND A FIRM, INTELLIGENT, CHRISTIAN, AND DEMOCRATIC STAND N T ; There follows reproductions of two (2) editorial^, and an open le tte r from OE one public school superintendent to his fellow citizens, and a poem. The Charleston Daily Mail is a leading West Virginia Daily. The Richmond N s Leader is a leading Virginia Daily. ew Virginia and West Virginia a're alike in the respect that both states have constitutional provisions which require that the children attending the public schools be educated in racially segregated schools. A STAY OF EXECUTION Richmond Mews Leader TIE Q ESTIO IS N T SEG EG TIO BUT U N O R A N THE SUlilEitti' L V OF TtM 'fiiM ; A )' Pardon us, please, if w fa il to join e in the hallelujah chorus raised today by Judge Almond and his jubilee singers. Yesterday's decree in the matter of Prince Edward County is not a pardon and parole; as the Attorney-Ceneral well knows, i t is a stay of execution. So far as integrated public schools are concerned, the problem is not solved; i t is only put off. As we interpret the court's not al together pellucid prose, Prince Edward County — and presumably all other lo calities in Virginia— m operate ay their public schools in 1955-56 as these schools have been operated in the past. The court enjoined Prince Edward from refusing to'admit Negro children to white schools, but this injunction is to apply only "from and after such time as the defendants may have made the necessary arrangements for admis sion of children to such school with all deliberate speed," The court found that such necessary arrangements could not be made prior to commencement of the "regular" school term in September. The court declared, further, that its refusal to order an immediate end to segregation this Fall "is not inconsis tent with the public interest or with the decision'of the Supreme Court." Presumably, the governing officials of Prince Edward County will now vote to reconsider their budget for the 1955-56 fiscal year. Funds will be ap propriated for the public schools,tea cher contracts will be signed, and in September both white and colored chil dren will return to separate classrooms as if there had been no historic court decision. But of course there was such a deci sion. Nothing has been changed by the order entered yesterday. Integrated schools remain as great a threat on Tuesday as on Monday. If Prince Edward County is off the spot, i t is not off for long. The task now,'as Attorney-General Almond remarked, is for the State to get promptly to work "to evolve a law ful solution of the dilemma created by the Supreme Court decision." Such a solution may ‘take the form of a pupil assignment law, a tuition grant law, a Som of our readers seem to be having e a great deal of difficulty with the , Supreme Court's decision on segregation in the public schools. Because West Virginia's Constitution confirms their private sensibilities in this matter, they have somehow got the notion that it. need not make any difference what the Supreme Court of the United States has to say on the subject. Both im plicit and explicit in their comment is the idea that West Virginia can and must refuse to comply. This frame of mind, i t seems to us, rests on some misunderstanding of what the Supreme Court has done and a com plete unawareness of what would be in volved in any effort to defy its de cree. I t is on this subject that our county superintendent of schools has written across the page in a le tte r which we commend for its firmness and fairness. The Supreme Court knew exactly what was in the West Virginia Constitution upholding the policy of segregation. That is why i t wrote in its decree: "All provisions of federal, state or local laws requiring or permitting such discrimination must yield to this new principle." ' This being the case, there is no point in arguing that West Virginia has its ow constitutional sanction in this n matter. That provision was wiped out on M 31, 1955. W remains is not ay hat many different laws,'reflecting local customs and feelings, but one law -the supreme law of the land; For all legal purposes, this ends the matter, but there remains one other possibility. I t is the exercise of what Abraham Lincoln called the peo ple's "revolutionary right" to over throw their government and substitute another. I t could be done. The revo lutionary tradition of the American people is too strong for anyone to conclude that they will never again challenge the authority of the federal government. But the only point worth making is that this is what is involved in th e' distempered feeling that the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court has no July 19, 1955 The Charleston baily Mail July 21*, 1955 �A ST Y OF A Q ESTIO IS N T SE R G T N B T T E U N O G E A IO U H m m rm wmrnw icon>u;THE EXECUTION (con't). local option law; such a solution should embrace means by which local!- . ties, if they wish, can sell their school buildings and abandon public edu cation altogetherj the solution should cover such complex problems as the ac creditation of new private schools and the preservation of teacher retirement benefits. There is much to be done. Meanwhile, we have not the slightest hesitation in expressing admiration for the prudence and wisdom of the Prince Edward people who made resolute plans for the operation of private schools this Fall. If the courts decree had gone the other way - if the court had ordered an immediate end to segregation - they would have been prepared to switch over to private schools by midSeptember, The Prince Edward Educa. tional Corporation performed a near miracle in fund-raising; in l i t t l e more than one month, without a campaign or ganization or a high-powered publicity drive, they raised - on a per capita basis - the equivalent of four annual Community Chest campaigns in Richmond. I t was a valiant effort. And our suggestion to the good people of Prince Edward would be to keep their powder dry. The fight against integra tion-is not to be won in a single after noon, or in a dozen afternoons. O June n 1, we urged the defenders of segregated schools to prepare themselves for S0 > years'qf litigation, if need be. As of today, we have lt9 years to go. * * * * just or usefull meaning for West Virgin nia. Implicit in this trend of thought is a course of action leading on to re bellion, violence and the overthrow of everything we have com to associate e with the United States of America. For what? For the perpetuation of an outmoded and inhumane discrimination between white children and black chil dren which has no sanction in any of our great religions, no authority in the court duly authorized to interpret and protect our democratic principles, no counterpart in the customs and be havior of other civilized and enlight ened societies. * * ■ * •» # Vt FC S B R R OE REFLECTION AND SELF ANALYSIS READ Josiah G, Holland's PCEM ON PAGE It ■ * •» . a - a * # « # # # The Superintendent Speaks T E Q ESTIO IS; O E O D E A D H U N B Y R ISR G R By Dr. Virgil L. Flynn Superintendent of Schools To the Editor of the Daily Mails Banawha County You have published several letters regarding integration and desegregation from contributors to the column "The Point of View" which indicate there are s t i l l many misconceptions regarding the Supreme Court's opinions and Board of Education responsibilities. This letter attempts to clear up some of these misunderstandings, ' The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, Article XIV, Sectional, reads: "...»no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge"the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States,...nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law," O M 17, 195U, the Supreme Court of the United States decided that segrega n ay ted school systems denied Negro pupils equal rights, • O M 31, 1955, the Supreme Court said: “These cases were decided on M n ay ay 17, 1951. The opinions of that date, declaring the fundamental principle that ra cial discrimination in public education is Unconstitutional, are incorporated here in by reference. All provisions of federal, state or local law requiring or per mitting such discrimination must yield to this principle. There remains for con sideration the manner in which re lie f is to be accorded." • Therefore, there is no valid constitutional provision or legislative act re quiring segregated school systems in West Virginia. A state could delay the de-' segregation process until a suit was brought against each non-complying d is tric t, but is i t better to obey the "law of the-land" voluntarily or to wait u n til forced to obey what you already know is the law, or should know is the law of the land. W have four types of social orders in this world: (l) e the ignorant - this is tyranny, (2) the ignorant leading the lude to revolution, (3 ) the wise leading the ignorant - this possibly a benevolent autocracy, and (It) the wise leading the The ignorant leading wise - this is pre is dictatorship or wise, giving liber- �P a g e 3, ty and equality of opportunity - this is the ideal of democracy. I t is an offense against God; i t is an offense against the dignity of each human soul to deny any'individual an opportunity for the most perfect development of his or her humanity, for the intelligent performance of the duties of citizen ship and the right to earn an honest living by professional services or skilled labor of some kind. The Supreme Court did not order immediate desegregation. I t said that local boards must proceed according to certain principles, which are in part: 1. 2. 3. II. Good faith A prompt and reasonable start Deliberate speed Equitable principles As of this date, I am not ready to announce the Board of Education's desegre gation program. 'But I am certain that i t will be in good faith, a prompt and reasonable start, and with deliberate speed. One writer asked, "W w ill happen i f parents or pupils strike?" So far as hat I am concerned, I shall attempt to the limit of m ability to have enforced the y laws of West Virginia. The public schools are an arm of the State. They are established in a demo cracy in order that the State may preserve, protect, and defend its own interests, " The law of West Virginia reads: "Any person who induces or attempts to in duce any child unlawfully to absent himself from school ....sh a ll be guilty of a misdeameanor; and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twentyfive nor more than fifty dollars and may be confined in ja il not less than ten nor more than thirty days," I t is a dangerous thing to suggest to either a student or a parent that they interfere with the orderly progress of a school. The question is no longer "shall we have or not have separate schools?" That has been settled by the Supreme Court in its opinion of M 17, 195k, and its ay final opinion or decree on M 31, 1955. The question is now: "Shall we obey or ay disregard the law of the land?" H can one intelligently teach children to obey ow the laws they like, and disobey the laws they do not like? The firs t duty of a citizen in a democracy is to be a good citizen and obey the lav: of the land. W cannot escape the fact that the principle of the equality has been more or e less grievously violated in America since the founding of the Republic. Broadly speaking, the earlier immigrants looked down upon the later immigrants; the English upon the Scottish and Irish; the West Europeans upon the East Europeans; the Europeans upon the Asiatics; the Protestants upon the Catholics; the Christians upon the Jews; 'and all upon the Negroes. Our history has been marked from earliest times by racial, national, and religious prejudices, hatred and bigotry. Doctrines of racial superiority, reminiscent of Hitler, have always had their advocates in America. Today, in spite of notable progress in recent years and'decades, various groups - particularly the Indian, the Jew, the Mexican, the Negro, and the Oriental - suffer from severe and persistent discrimination. Here, unquestionably is a vio lation of the principle of equality of opportunity which not only corrupts our de mocracy at home but also weakens our voice in the council of nations• This cancer which strikes at the very heart of our democracy seriously impairs our leadership for a free world. In a democracy such as ours there can be no backward people or second or third class citizens if we are to exist as a democratic nation. The problem now confron ting us in the matter of segregation presents a simple question of whether or not we really believe in a democracy with one of its major concepts - equality of opportunity - whether w believe i t should continue, and whether or not we can m e ake* i t work in a crisis. W here injustices are accepted by people over a long period of years the moral tone of the total population goes down. W must accept the m e a jor premise in our Declaration of Independence and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of equality of man for equal opportunities and human dignity of each individual's soul. The problem must be settled not only in the realm of the law but in the realm of the spiritual and the realm of Christian ethics. W must not become a party to the forces of evil and totalitarianism e striving to divide the free peoples of the world. I agree with Bishop G. Bromley Q xnam when he said, "Resistance to the Supreme Court decision on school integration does more to undermine democratic government than any traito r Communist can do. W can deal with a Communist as a tra ito r, but e i t poses something of a problem to know how to deal with a man who dares to carry the Stars and Stripes in a parade of persons who march to repudiate the law of the land and to reject the clear teaching of the Christian faith." Virgil. L, Flynn �* * * * * * * •* * '* * * .* » * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "God give us men. The time'demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and willing hands; M w the lust of office does en hom not k ill; M w the spoils of office cannot en hom buy? M who possess opinions and a will; en M who have honor; men who trill en not lie ; M who can stand before demagogues en And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking; Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog In public duty and in private thinkingj For while the rabble with their thumbworh creeds, Their large professions and their li tt l e deeds Mingle in selfish strife; loj Freedom WeepsS W rong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleepsli" AUTHOR — JosiahG. Holland * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Virginia State Conference-NAACP * * * * * * * � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Flyer: "Two Types Of Advice and A Firm, Intelligent, Christian, and Democratic Stand". Two newspaper editorials, an open letter from a public school superintendent and a poem, reproduced, September 1, 1955. 4 pages. Description An account of the resource Comments from Virginia and West Virginia newspapers and citizens about the Supreme Court Case banning segregation in schools. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource NAACP, Virginia State Conference Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1955-09-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_6 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/1d3d854a2bd9b52467aa521c31a06637.pdf 329bf977aa02594f41c34faba63ed050 PDF Text Text Joint Meeting of Department of Superintendents-VEA and School Boards Assn. Richmond, Virginia - October 26, 1955 SOME fURRENT EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS AND WHAT WE MIGHT DO ABOUT THEM by Dowell J. Howard Superintendent of Public Instruction The program of public education in Virginia has developed as a result of the hopes and aspirations of parents for their children. It is a testi monial to the belief of our citizenry in general that an educational system must be provided for the people and the general welfare of the State and nation Among all services, education is unique in respect to its support. The sources vary from federal, state and local governments to tax-free foundations, private capital and individuals. Basically, the program of public education in Virginia is supported from state and local tax funds. The State in the exercise of its function delegates responsibility to the localities. Through legislation and through tradition public education in Virginia is,therefore, a joint responsibility of the State and local governments. In Virginia and in America we have been concerned in our development of public education with many conflicting philosophies. Thomas Jefferson, a Governor of Virginia, however, provided the stimulus for the gradual develop ment of our public free schools in Virginia. He stated, "When people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government," and "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." This is the basic concept from which stems the fundamental policy of Virginia’s system of public free schools. This policy is largely defined in the statement issued by the ftate Board of Education in Becomber 1950, establishing certain fundamental principles that irust function in a sound system of public education in Virginia. �With reference to the execution of policies in the future development of public education we turn for direction to one of our great historical documents - The Virginia Declaration of Rights: "That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them." In the administration of Virginia9s system of public education the following concepts of government are embodied: The program of public education in Virginia belongs to the people; the needs of the localities determine the program of education designed to serve the best interests of the Commonwealth; the program is designed for - the brilliant, the average, the mentally retarded, the physically fit and the physically handicapped - all to the extent to which they are capable of receiving advantages. Those responsible for administration of Virginia. are responsible to the people The people have a right and a duty to expect and demand efficient administration. The Problem Some of the major problems facing public education at the present time may be briefly stated as follows: 1. Acceptance on the part of those in public education a. That a sound system of public relations is essential and advancement will be made only to the extent that the people understand and accept the purposes and plans. b. That confidence is developed in those charged with responsibility for administration when decisions are made in terms of what it is the people desire for present and future generations and the extent to which they are willing to invest their money. - 2 - �c. That many phases of Virginia's program of public education are second to none and there is a responsibility to keep these facts before the public as well as those pertaining to the weaknesses and increasing needs. d. That financial comparisons, while in certain instances valid, are not the sole criteria for a sound system of public education. e. That appreciation should be expressed for progress being made in financial support, and continued financial support should be expected on the basis of the extent to which the efficiency of the program justifies it. f. Maintenance of the highest possible ethical standards in elevating public education to the high level of dignity a sound program deserves. g. That the program is administered in a practical manner and interpreted in a common sense fashion to the people of Virginia. h. That constructive criticism is accepted as a challenge in the belief and recognition that there is nothing being done in public educa tion that cannot be done better. 2. Acceptance on the part of the people of Virginia the facts: a. That education is an investment in people. A study made by the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, entitled, "Education an Investment in People," has this to say: "People who have a good education produce more goods, earn more money, buy and consume more goods, read more magazines and newspapers, are more active in civic and national affairs, enjoy a higher standard of living and, in general, contribute more to the eoonomy than those who are not so well educated." One phase of this study has been applied to Virginia showing the median family income and median school years completed - 3 - �for all persons twenty-five years of age or older. The correla tion is .87 which is amazingly significant, ex. Hanover, income $2300 - years in school 8; 10.6; Henrico, income $3800 - years in school Arlington, income $5400 - years in school 12.6. That approximately 90$ of all individuals attending day school in Virginia are enrolled in the public schools. That during the past four years approximately 360,000 children have been born who when six years old will attend school. The number of children ages 7-19 inclusive in 1950 was 669,632; in 1955, the number is 776,652, an increase of 107,020, or 15.98 per cent. That the enrollment is increasing approximately 25,000 to 35,000 per year and that by 1962 we will have approximately 890,000 children enrolled in the public schools of Virginia. More pupils plus more teachers equal more money. That approximately 1500 additional teachers are needed eac;h year simply £0 teach additional pupils, to say nothing of replacements for those leaving the profession or those not qualified to teach, or those needed to eliminate double shift situations. That the increasing number of pupils not only require more teachers but also require more classrooms and other facilities. That it requires approximately 4i million dollars per year at present rate of growth simply to teach more children without any plans for improving the status of those now teaching. That the teachers of Virginia are entitled to compensation comparable to anyone else paid from public funds with like training, experience and efficiency. - 4 - �5 / i. That public eeucation administered jointly by the State and local authorities is perhaps the biggest business in Virginia — approxi mately $450,000,000 invested in capital outlay; $123,250,951.46 spent for operation in 1954-55; a building program the past four years of $260,000,000; the sum of $37,085,533.10 loaned through the Literary fund with $15,000,000 additional requested; over 11,580 active scholarship cases, each one requiring usual execution of notes; 52,200,000 meals served in school lunch rooms last year; 125,051,400 passengers transported by 3750 school buses traveling around the world 7v times every day. These are some of the problems facing education that present the greatest possible challenge to the people of Virginia„ I am confident that through the united efforts of all concerned, under your leadership, these problems can and will be met wherever they exist. Thoughts for Consideration 1. There is such a wide difference in the ability and effort of many locali ties that a sound system of equalization is extremely difficult. assesment ratio range is from 6.1 to 60.9. The May it not be well, for many localities to take a good look at their tax structure? Should localities be given an increased right to tax themselves? 2. The localities have approximately $450,000,000 invested in capital outlay while the schools operate only nine months of the year. give consideration to a fuller use of this investment? May we not well For example, do the schools and other agencies of the communities make efficient use of their energy and personnel in the conduct of recreation programs? When the schools close other agencies pick up where the school leaves off and with different personnel and many times different facilities provide recreation for the same children. What are the opportunities for increas ed efficiency? - 5 - �4. . 3. The impact of increased college enrollment is obvious. The time may. well have arrived when we should give serious consideration to adding two years to a number of our larger high schools and in cooperation with the colleges provide these increased educational opportunities near the homes of the boys and girls, relieving impact on college facilities and thereby decreasing costs. 4. How well have we developed a mutual understanding of the problems of public education with the appropriating bodies of the various counties and cities^ 5. Since January 1, 1950, we have expended approximately $260,000,000 in providing improved educational facilities for our children. session we still had Last school 56,250 elementary school children in classrooms hav ing 41 to 50 pupils per teacher; 8580 in rooms having 51 to 60 pupils . ■ per teacher, and 4340 in rooms having over 60 per teacher; 33,733 child ren were on double or two shifts. If we will in any sense cope with the increasing birth rate, we need, •' on the basis of facts you have given, to expend $ 250,000,000 more in the next six years. We now have on loan to you over $37,000,000 from the Literary fund and with your‘ requests for $ 15,000,0G0 more than is currently available. We have a severe teacher shortage and 3400 now teaching in elementary schools alone who are inadequately trained to do so. It is my honest conviction that a major step in the solution of the problems ahead is to exert every possible effort to meet the crisis presented by inadequate facilities and grave shortage of teachers. 6. The schools have a tremendous problem in meeting the challenge that is definitely theirs. The public must be informed of these responsibilities and acquainted with achievements. Our efforts must not be dissipated by - 6 - �7 infringement of others who may find the school a convenient avenue for the promotion of programs not a responsibility of the school. The people should well understand this problem. May we never become complacent over the fact that our problems are old problems, and may we always welcome constructive criticisms. It seems to me, however, that a few facts are very interesting as com- p ar i s o n s are made with the good old days and our present generation. Tests recently given in Cleveland, Lincoln, and Dearborn comparing reading skills with those who studied in those same cities 25 to 100 years ago, reveal that in every case modern pupils came out on top and many by a wide margin; a report compiled in 1949 by the American Educational Research Association based on 230,000 reading scores from 60 communities,* indicated our children are steadily becoming better readers. Recruits in World War I read on the average of 6th grade level while World War II draftees read at the 10th grade level. An illiterate in World War I was regarded as a person who could not read at all, while in World War II those persons were classified as illiterate who read below -the fourth grade level. In 1838 Horace Mann, Commissioner of Education in Massachusetts, wrote in his Annual Report, "More than eleven-twelfths of all children in the read ing classes in our schools do not understand the meaning of the words they read." In the early ?90’s a county superintendent in Connecticut tested his pupils and reported that more than 40$ were deficient in reading. In 1909 the President of the Chicago Board of Education stated, " It?s the com on complaint among business men that young people seeking employment m are not well grounded in the fundamentals." - 7- �There are many other evidences showing comparisons. The present day pupils when given the same tests given in other subjects fifty or a hundred years ago, have far surpassed their predecessors even in the matter of history in spite of the fact that they have lived through 50 or 100 years more history. I desire to make it crystal clear that it is our responsibility to make the concern of the people our concern and that there is nothing now being done in public education that cannot be done better. every day. cisms. This must be our concern We must welcome every opportunity to consider constructive criti It is my conviction that those sincerely concerned will discuss their problems with you and the teachers of their children and we accept the challenge to do a better job. I suggest that we constantly analyze the implications of certain criti cisms made of the schools. Does a sincere interest in the improvement of education prompt the statements or is an ulterior motive involved? Who makes the criticisms and are the persons really interested in cooperating in bring ing about a solution? What is the background and what facts are involved in the conclusions drawn? Is it not important that we give thought to changing righteous indigna tion about the weakness of schools into constructive action? achieved by people of serious mind joining with us schools of their own communities. It will be in calmly appraising the It will be done by those who can be patient and have respect for another’s point of view; those who have the ability and desire to face the facts and broaden their areas of agreement rather than a desire to capitalize on controversy; and draw conclusions those who are willing to weigh the facts only after the evidence on both sides is all at hand. The State Board of Education joins us in our concern about what our children are taught and how they are taught, as they declare in their Statement - 8 - �9, of Policy: "The primary requirement of all is that they acquire the funda mental skills - how to use the tools of learning; to read, write, and speak correctly the English language, and to use numbers accurately. The State Board of Education regards this as the beginning and the foundation of educa tion essential to further progress." The State Board further states, "Along with the classroom courses, the child must be taught by precept, example and experience the importance of moral standards and the meaning of good citizenship. Regardless of the extent to which other agencies meet their responsibilities for such training, schools in a democracy cannot escape this obligation. Public education has failed unless, in addition to mental development and knowledge of facts its pupils go out with a mold of character which will help them to meet their responsi bilities to their country and to their fellow man." I repeat - of course there are weaknesses in our public schools system. There always has been and always will be. Mo one of us has the final answer and constructive criticism where specific and supported by facts should always be welcome. The problems faced today are the greatest of our generation. Their solution rests largely in the leadership in the local communities of our State. You are the ones to whom the parents of our 725,000 children look. I know you will meet the challenge. The battle today is for the minds and hearts of men. Our future rests with intellectual competency and superiority if we are to preserve the ideals of a great nation. I conclude with this thought - During the war, Prime Minister Churchill was concerned that coal was not coming from the mines as he thought it should. He desired to speak to the union leaders from the pits of England at one place. .-9 - �He told them how many tanks England had; he told them how many guns they had and he said, "I heard he was coming with a million men," He referred to Hitler. "The British Mavy will put 500,000 men to the bottom of the Channel, but ,what will we do when 500,000 of them are ashore?" He described England and what she faced as he said, "When it is over we will parade these streets again.• I will be standing there as you march by and I will call out, "Where were you? ” and I will hear somebody say, " I marched with the 8th Army," and somebody else will say, "I was in the skies over Britain, "and someone else will answer, "I was in the Merchant Marine." Then I will see the coal miners of Britain marching by and I will call out,'Where were you?'and I will hear you answer, "We were down in the black pit, right up against the face of the coals " And 3000 miners rose to their feet cheering and the coal came out. May it not be our challenge that education in Virginia and America get "right up against the face of the coal." For every challenge we have there must be courage and forthrightness sufficient in every community to make it very clear that we intend that the free mind can find the truth because we know that only under the conditions of freedom can man preserve the ideals of a great nation, conceived by men whose foresight was their fortune and whose vision was that man shall be free. It is my challenge to you that as you face the problems in your communities in the months ahead, you do so inspired by Virginia’s great leaders and with the knowledge that Virginians throughout their history have never failed whatever the crisis has been but in the end have been triumphant on the side of what has been in the best interests of a great state and a great nation. It is in this higher sense that I salute you in your great and challenging role of stewardship. - 10 - � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Paper presented at the "Joint Meeting of Department of Superintendents-VEA and School Boards Assn.", Richmond, Virginia, October 26, 1955. 'Some Current Educational Problems and What We Might Do About Them' by Dowell J. Howard, Superintendent of Instruction, 10 pages. Description An account of the resource Comprehensive paper describing basics of public education in Virginia and problems confronting public education: people must understand and accept purpose and plans, have confidence in administrators, importance of financial support, etc. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dowell J. Howard Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1955-10-26 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_2_1 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/76abb5ff27d2b53afeb266f257a8dd0d.pdf 3f2d35918dbd9a1e3c0f7399b5b96cd9 PDF Text Text 'Pleased to m eet you ,” Glory May said, Doug didn’t say a word. He ju st looked. The man was distin ctly off the ground. �25 The author, a Virginia housewife, used to fear that mingling races in the schools would only lead to trouble. She re veals why she lost her prejudice, why she now believes that Southerners Will Like Integration By SA R A H PATTO N BOYLE ABOUT THE AUTHOR "By the way,” says Mrs. Sarah Patton Boyle, whose thoughtful article on in tegration begins on this page, "I am con tinually irked by inquiries as to whether I am really a Southerner. To which I am happy to reply th at one o f m y grand fathers was General Lee’s personal scout and the other was a colonel in Stonewall Jackson’s com m and. Moreover, I was not educated in the North, never worked in the North and have crossed the Mason and Dixon’s line only four tim es in fortyeight years—th at is, four tim es over and four tim es quickly hack. I was reared on all the Southern notions and participated in all the practices.” AM a faculty wife at the University of Virginia, and I think a pretty typical Southerner. I was here in Charlottesville when our first Negro student was admitted to the university by or der of the Supreme Court, and it is possible that what I discovered about my own attitudes and those of other members of my community will throw some light on the present school confusion. In the summer of 1950, Gregory Swanson, a twenty-six-year-old Negro lawyer from Danville, Virginia, applied for admission to our school of law. H e was refused. He was not the first Negro to apply, but hereto fore the university, like other state-supported Southern institutions, had met the dilemma of the state segregation law versus justice to Negro tax payers by the simple device of giving colored appli cants scholarships to Northern schools of their choosing. They had seemingly been satisfied with this arrangement —until the advent of Mr. Swan son. When news of his suit hit the headlines I felt a curious mixture of joy and fear. It seemed right that he should come here—a rightness long overdue. B ut I was afraid others would not receive him well. There's going to be a lot of trouble, I thought. Later I learned that my reactions were character istically Southern. The Southwide conviction that everybody else is prejudiced is like a sodden blanket over each individual’s impulses toward democracy. Certainly no reassurance came from the Southern press. Newspaper comment on the "impending situation at the university” gave no hint that Swanson’s admission might be welcome to any of us or that any Virginians except Negroes might re joice in the justice of his winning his suit. Unchal lenged by public statement, written or spoken, there rose before the mind’s eye a picture of a lone Amer ican citizen struggling for inalienable rights against unanimous opposition from the institution which Thomas Jefferson founded. I felt a twisting pain and a rising pressure to do something about it. But what? There seemed nothing I could do. "How do you feel about having a Negro here?” I inquired privately of a series of friends. The an swers ran like this: "I think it’s about tim e at Mr. Jefferson’s uni versity!” "I hope he wins, but I reckon most of us will feel pretty bad.” "Well, personally I think that segregated educa tion is a handicap to both races, but I’d probably be run out of town if I went around saying that.” Intrigued, I began to canvass for private opinions in real earnest. M y findings? That roughly 90 per cent of the women in the university community fa vored admission of Negroes to our graduate schools, but each firmly believed that she was a lonely dem ocratic star surrounded by a black void of prejudice. I now applied for enlightenment to our sociology department. Prof. Lambert Molyneaux pointed to a Southwide poll of university faculty members taken in 1948 by the Southern Conference Educa tional Fund, Inc. It inquired whether or not the professors favored integration in Southern graduate schools; 69 per cent of the returned ballots, even including those from Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina, declared them selves in favor of it. The University of Virginia, while showing itself to be more conservative than some of the Southern schools, still had voted 79 per cent in favor of in tegration. Mr. Molyneaux also informed me th at only a few weeks before Swanson opened suit, a sociology stu dent, C. Lee Parker, (Continued on Page 133) 1 QLUE ATKINS At tlie University o f Virginia: The author—a faculty w ife—with medical stu d en ts Edward Nash and Edward Wood. In 1952, only 3 per cent o f the Virginia faculty m em bers polled objected to integration. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Southerners Will Like Integration, Sarah Patton Boyle Description An account of the resource Article written by a faculty wife at the University of Virginia, describing the phenomenon that she and other Southerners supported integration but thought they were alone in their beliefs, and that integration can and should happen. Article is cut off. 2 pages, scanned in reverse order, first page appears to be an advertisement Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sarah Patton Boyle, Unknown Publication No date Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_1_51 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/fb6799d6ffe1bd2d41690c9dbd98be6b.pdf 4ab4d4d447b5189232fab4bc8c199413 PDF Text Text (Reprinted from N a t io n a l E l e m e n t a r y P r in c ip a l , Vol. XXXIII, No. 5 , April 1954) HANDBOOKS A rlin gton County • Virginia T h e m ost im p o rta n t tre n d in p u b lic education d u rin g the past 25 years has been the increasing e ffo r t on the p a rt o f educators to in v o lv e parents and o th e r citizens in the plan n in g o f the in s tru c tiona l program . Because there has been a greater emphasis u p o n a close relatio nship between the school and the hom e, there has been an in creasing re c o g n itio n th a t parents have a m a jo r share in the education o f th e ir c h ild re n , no m a tte r h o w fine the program o f the school m ay be. T o achieve co ope ratio n between the school and the hom e in the education o f th e c h ild , each m ust have in fo r m atio n abo ut the purposes and plans o f th e other. Schools have in cre a sin g ly sought in fo rm a tio n abo ut c h ild re n w h ic h o n ly the hom e m ay p ro vid e ; m ore re c e n tly , parents have requested and have obtained greater in fo rm a tio n abo ut the p ro gram o f the school so th a t th e y m a y p articip ate m ore e ffe c tiv e ly in achievin g the goals th e y bo th desire. D u rin g the past fe w years m any school systems have given atte n tio n to the developm ent o f par en t handbooks re g a rd in g the school in s tru c tio n a l program . These handbooks have sought to in fo rm parents re gardin g the school program . In the A r lin g to n p u b lic schools seven parent handbooks have been developed and m ore are un d e r w a y. F o u r o f the parent handbooks prepared d u rin g the last fe w years in A r lin g to n have attem pted to describe the school p ro g ra m at all o f its various levels. “ W e G o to School in the P rim a ry D e p a rt m e n t” describes grades one th ru three, and sugV O L . X X X III NO. 5 A P R IL 1954 gests w ays in w h ic h parents m ay prepare th e ir c h ild re n to s ta rt to school f o r the firs t tim e. A ty p ic a l p rim a ry pro g ra m is described and p ro g ress d u rin g the firs t y ear o f school is discussed. “ W e G o to School in the In te rm e d ia te D e p a rt m e n t” covers such topics as the g ro w th and de v e lo p m e n t o f c h ild re n at ages 9 , 10 , and 11 , w h a t parents can do to assist c h ild re n o f this age, and the in s tru c tio n a l program s o f grades 4 , 5 , and 6 . T h e b o o k le t describes a u n it o f w o rk , the g ro u p in g o f ch ild re n , a ty p ic a l d a y at school, and a fie ld trip . In fo rm a tio n is g iven re gardin g the w o r k done in these grades in language arts, social studies, a rith m e tic , science, m usic, art, physical education, and fa m ily life education. T h e c o n tri butio ns o f supervisors, h e lp in g teachers, psycho lo g ic a l services, and v is itin g teachers are described. T h e testing pro g ra m as w e ll as the lib r a ry in the elem e nta ry school is discussed. Such adm in istra tiv e policies as re p o rtin g to parents, p ro m o tio n policies, h o m e w o rk , transfers, and outside tu to r in g are described. S im ila r handbooks have been developed fo r the ju n io r and senior h ig h school program s and have the title s “ O n to J u n io r H ig h ” and “ T h e A r lin g to n C o u n ty Senior H ig h Schools.” “ O n to J u n io r H ig h ” outlines the ju n io r high school in s tru c tio n a l p ro g ra m fo r grades 7 , 8 , and 9 , describes the electives available in each grade, discusses textbo oks and o th e r m aterials w h ic h arc used, and in vites parents to partic ip a te in school a c tiv ties. “ T h e A rlin g to n C o u n ty Senior H ig h Schools” is addressed to bo th parents and senior high school students. I t assists parents and students in und erstanding the purposes o f the senior h ig h schools and the various program s offered. M u c h a tte n tio n is given to the selection o f a course o f s tu d y and m a n y sample program s are given. R e quirem ents f o r gradua tion, courses offe re d in the senior high schools, p ro m o tio n policies, and e x tra c u rric u la r activities are am ong the o th e r topics covered. T h re e o f the seven parent handbooks o f the A r lin g to n C o u n ty P u b lic Schools have soug ht to 19 �in fo rm parents abo ut specific in s tru c tio n a l areas o r methods. T h e firs t o f these thre e is the “ Par ents’ G u id e to Successful C onferences.” I t was developed to assist parents in p reparin g them selves f o r parent-teacher conferences as a means o f re p o rtin g . Such conferences are held in all A r lin g to n elem e nta ry schools tw ic e each year. A r lin g to n parents and teachers feel th a t a parentteacher conference should be a tw o - w a y m atter w ith the p arent and the teacher each c o n trib u t in g in fo rm a tio n w h ic h is h e lp fu l to the other. W h e n conferences as a means o f re p o rtin g w ere in itia te d in A r lin g to n several years ago, the teach in g staff studied the technics o f co n fe re n cin g and the kin ds o f in fo rm a tio n w h ic h should be given to parents in a conference. As conferences w ere held, there was an increasing feeling th a t c o n fe re n c in g m ust be a tw o - w a y co m m u n ic a tio n and th a t parents also needed preparation f o r the conferences. Plans f o r a parents’ guide to c o n fe rances w e re in itia te d in a parent com m ittee. T h e b o o k le t w h ic h was prepared includes in fo rm a tio n re gardin g m ethods o f re p o rtin g , the purposes o f conferences, w h a t parents and teachers each need to b rin g to a conference, w h a t is talked abo ut in a conference, and the attitudes to w a rd c o n fe r ences w h ic h have been expressed b y 6,000 parents in A r lin g to n . “ U n c o v e rin g H id d e n N u m b e rs ” is a parent handbook w h ic h was developed at the tim e th a t an a rith m e tic in s tru c tio n a l guide was being pre pared f o r A r lin g to n teachers. T h is parent hand b o o k suggests w ays in w h ic h parents can capita l ize on the m any n u m b e r experiences w h ic h c h il dren have outside the school in the hom e and c o m m u n ity . Parents w e re m embers o f the com m ittee w h ic h in itia te d plans fo r the teachers’ a rith m e tic in s tru c tio n a l guide. A s th e y shared in th is planning, the idea f o r a parents’ guide in this fie ld developed. Several hun dre d situations in the hom e in v o lv in g num ber experiences are discussed. T h e last page o f the b o o k le t in fo rm s parents as to w h en various skills in a rith m e tic are ta u g h t in the elem entary schools o f A rlin g to n . “ W h a t A b o u t Reading?” is, at present, a leaf let w h ic h describes fo r parents the reading in s tru ctio n a l p ro g ra m in the A r lin g to n C o u n ty P ub lic Schools. T w o o th e r b r ie f bulletin s on reading readiness have been prepared f o r parents. T h e reading readiness bulletin s suggest th a t parents m ay help b y g u a rd in g the c h ild ’s health, g u id in g the c h ild to live h a p p ily w ith others, d o in g things w ith the c h ild to develop an u nd erstanding f o r reading, g u id in g the c h ild to w o r k h a p p ily , and help in g the c h ild to become independent. W a y s in w h ic h the parent can help th e c h ild to develop visual d is c rim in a tio n , visual m e m o ry , a u d ito ry d is crim in a tio n , a u d ito ry m e m o ry , b a c k g ro u n d o f experience, m o to r c o -o rd in a tio n , and a sense o f re s p o n s ib ility are discussed as a p a rt o f the read in g readiness p rogram . These m aterials w ill, in the fu tu re , be com bin ed and expanded to in clude suggestions to parents re g a rd in g th e m anner in w h ic h th e y can assist th e ir c h ild re n in le arn ing to read in w a ys th a t w i ll im p le m e n t and supple m ent the w o r k o f the school. A ll o f these handbooks have been developed b y com m ittees w h ic h have in c lu d e d parents and teachers; at tim es the parents have o u tnum bered the teachers in the com m ittees. T h e suggestions f o r the handbooks have g r o w n o u t o f the w o rk and p la n n in g o f the C o m m u n ity C o u n c il on I n s tru c tio n , an org a n iz a tio n o f 150 citizens o f A r lin g to n w h o represent the 4 7 P a ren t-T eache r Associations, the C ham ber o f C o m m erce, the A m e ric a n L eg ion, the D aughters o f th e A m e ric a n R e v o lu tio n , and o th e r c iv ic organizations w h ic h have show n in terest in the p ro g ra m o f th e schools. T h e C o m m u n ity C o u n c il on In s tr u c tio n is n o w in its fo u r th y e a r and has served d u r in g th a t pe rio d to define the problem s c o n c e rn in g the in s tru c tio n a l pro g ra m on w h ic h th e c o m m u n ity and the teaching staff co u ld w o r k to g e th e r. In c lu d in g parents in the com m ittees w h ic h p la n and develop the pub lica tio n s provid es assurance th a t th e ques tions a c tu a lly in the m in d o f parents w i l l be c o v ered in the pub lica tions. T h e C o m m u n ity C o u n c il on In s tru c tio n plays an im p o rta n t p a rt in in fo rm in g parents a b o u t th e parent handbooks. T h e in itia l d is trib u tio n o f each handbook is made th ru the C o m m u n ity C o u n c il. Since each school is represented in this c o u n c il b y its P T A c u rric u lu m chairm an, im m edia te ac cess to parent in terest is gained t h r u th e P T A in each school. T h e c u rric u lu m c h a irm a n o fte n in troduce s a n e w han d b o o k b y d e v o tin g a P T A m eeting to its discussion. A s u p p ly o f each hand book is available in each school, and persons new to the c o m m u n ity are p ro v id e d copies o f the apTHE N A T IO N A L E L E M E N T A R Y PRINCIPAL �p ro p ria te b o o k le t w h e n th e ir c h ild re n are enrolled in the schools. Parents o f th ird -g ra d e c h ild re n re ceive the handbook f o r in term edia te grades in the s p rin g o f the ye a r p r io r to the fa ll in w h ic h th e ir c h ild re n w i l l be enrolled in the fo u rth grade. S im ila r d is trib u tio n o f the ju n io r high school h an dbook is made in the sixth grade and th e senior h ig h school h a n dbook is d is trib u te d in the n in th grade. T h e seven parent handbooks described thus fa r explain the system -w ide in s tru c tio n a l p ro gram and schoo l policies in A r lin g to n ’s f o r t y seven e lem e nta ry, ju n io r, and senior high schools. T h e y are h e lp fu l to the school p rin c ip a l in b rin g in g abo ut und erstanding o f general policies and practices. T h e re are also num erous explana tions o f p ra c tic e w h ic h are needed b u t are re lated to one school o n ly . M a n y A r lin g to n p rin c i pals have w o rk e d w ith parents and s ta ff m em bers in th e ir schools to deve lop local parent hand books w h ic h supp lem ent the seven system -w ide handbooks w h ic h have been described. These local school handbooks co ve r such topics as con ferences w ith the p rin c ip a l, parent v is ita tio n at school, in fo rm a tio n re g a rd in g P T A organization, VOL. X X X III NO. 5 A P R IL I954 in fo rm a tio n re gardin g the school staff, P T A c o m m ittee plans, policies re gardin g class g ro u p in g , and in fo rm a tio n re g a rd in g student gove rnm ent. A ll o f these topics have local app lica tions w h ic h cann ot be described adequately f o r a p a rtic u la r school in a system -w ide parent handbook. School, hom e and c o m m u n ity experiences are all p a rt o f the edu cation o f the c h ild . T h e school m ust take ac c o u n t o f previous and present c o n d i tions and relationships o f the c h ild in the c o m m u n ity . Parents need to take accou nt o f the ex periences w h ic h the school contributes. P arent handbooks have an im p o rta n t p a rt to p la y in b rin g in g the hom e and school together. In A r lin g to n C o u n ty , the handbooks have in fo rm e d par ents about the school program in w ays w h ic h help them to raise questions and to p articip ate in greater measure in the \V ork o f the school. T h e ir share in p lanning the handbooks has helped parents to feel th a t th e y a c tu a lly p a rtic ip a te in the school program . C. G l f .n H a s s Associate S u perintendent in Charge o f In s tru c tio n , A r lin g to n C o u n ty P u b lic Schools, A r lin g to n � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Handbooks for Parents, Arlington County, Virginia, Reprinted from National Elementary Principal, Volume 33, Number 5, April 1954 Description An account of the resource Article written by C. Glen Hass, Associate Superintendent in Charge of Instruction, Arlington County Public Schools. Describes 7 parent handbooks that explain the instructional program and school policies in Arlington's schools. 3 pages Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource National Elementary Principal 1954-04 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_1_50 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/cb90c4f5627588142ab9493b1a96ff6c.pdf 0e449dd122e195e3dae2076bc6a63de5 PDF Text Text �THIS WE BELIEVE ABOUT This Statement is not presented as a n official policy position of EDUCATION a n y educational, business, or industrial association. It is published by the National Association of Manufacturers, as a public service, in the interest of greater education-industry cooperation. A Statem ent Concerning Education in America By the Educational Advisory Committee and the Educational Advisory Council of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS N E W YORK, N, Y. Second printing— March 1954 �1953 N A M E d u c a t i o n a l A d v i s o r y C o u n c i l c h a ir m a n CONTENTS About This S ta te m e n t................................................................................ 6 : RUSSELL D . COLE, Cornell College M t. Vernon, Iowa H . F. A l v e s , D i r e c t o r Cooperative Program for School Administration University of Texas Austin, Texas D a r e l M c Fe r r e n , H e a d History D epartm ent Hastings College Hastings, N ebraska R o b e r t W . A s h e , P r in c ip a l Glendale U nion H igh School Glendale, Arizona Denver, Colorado I Introduction......................................................................................... 7 M r s . A n n e t t e M . Br a s e l Jackson C ounty Schools Braselton, Georgia II The Purposes of Education in A m e r ic a .............................................9 Ke n The Support of E d u c a tio n ................................................................11 IV The Responsibilities of E ducators......................................................14 VI The Ultimate Responsibilityfor E ducation........................................ 24 VII Summary: This We Believe AboutE d u c a tio n ...............................28 t o n , V is itin g T c a c h e r d D. Cr hol t zer M iss M a r y C. O ’C o n n o r , H istory D epartm ent G irls Latin School Boston, Mass. H ead Re v . T i m o t hy F. O ’L e a r y S u p e r i n t e n d e n t o f S c h o o ls Archdiocese of Boston Boston, M assachusetts ul l W . W . Pa r k e r , P r e s id e n t Southeast M issouri State College Cape Girardeau, M issouri S u p e r in te n d e n t o f S c h o o ls P ort H uron, M ichigan J a m e s H . D u c k r e y , P r e s id e n t State Teachers College Cheyney, Pennsylvania T h o m a s F. R e a r d o n , P r in c ip a l H art School Stamford, Connecticut H e n r y T . H e a l d , C h a n c e llo r N ew Y ork University N ew York, N ew York Dea n M . Sc h w e ic k h a r d S t a t e C o m m i s s i o n e r o f E d u c a tio n H e n r y E. H e i n , C h a ir m a n Committee on Inter-American Cooperation Board of Education N ew York, N ew York A. D. H o l E. O b e r R e v . E. J . O ’D o n n e l l , S.J., P r e s i d e n t M arquette University M ilwaukee, W isconsin E u g e n e B. C h a f f e e , P r e s i d e n t Boise Ju n io r College Boise, Idaho Ho w a r V The Responsibilities of Industry to E d ucation .................................. 18 net h S u p e r i n t e n d e n t o f S c h o o ls T h o m a s H . Ca r r o l l , D e a n School of Business A dm inistration University of N orth Carolina Chapel H ill, N o rth Carolina III P r e s id e n t t V ic e P r e s id e n t St. Paul, M innesota Jo h n J . Se id e l A s s is ta n t S ta te S u p e r in te n d e n t fo r V o c a tio n a l E d u c a tio n State D epartm ent of Education Baltimore, M aryland W il l ia m S. V i n c e n t , E x e c u t i v e Citizenship Education Project Teachers College Colum bia University N ew York, N ew York T he U niversity of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee V i n c e n t W . La n f e a r , D e a n School o f Business Administration University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Ra y m o n d W a l t e r s , P r e s id e n t University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio E d w i n A. L e e , D e a n School of Education University of California at Los Angeles Los Angeles, California L y n n T . W h i t e , J r ., M ills College O akland, California [3] P r e s id e n t O ffic e r �1953 N A M E d c h a ir m a n : v ic e c h a i r m a n u c a t io n a l Adv is o r y Co ROBERT H . W . W EL C H , JR., Jam es O. W elch Company Cambridge, Mass. : m m it t e e V i c e P r e s id e n t H a r o l d F. Sil v e r , P r e s id e n t Silver Engineering W orks, Inc. Denver, Colorado N IC L ia T h o m a s J. Ba n n a n , P r e s id e n t W estern Gear W orks Seattle, W ashington J. W a r r e n K i n s m a n , V i c e P r e s i d e n t E. I. duPont de Nem ours & Company, Incorporated W ilm ington, Delaw are N o r m a n D. B l a c k , J r ., P r e s id e n t "T he Fargo Forum ” Forum Publishing Company Fargo, N o rth Dakota E. J o Am erican Silk Spinning Company Providence, Rhode Island J o h n T . Br o w n , P r e s i d e n t J . I. Case Company Racine, W isconsin T. M . M a r t in , P r e s id e n t Lion Oil Company Eldorado, Arkansas B. C. C o l c o r d , P r e s id e n t W oodw ard Iron Company Birm ingham , Alabama (D eceased, A ugust 17, 1953) F r e d M a y t a g , II, P r e s i d e n t The M aytag Company Newton, Iowa s Representing M anufacturing Trade Associations Group E. A. W a t k i n s , P r e s id e n t W atkins, Inc. W ichita, Kansas C h e s t e r C. K e l s e y , M a n a g e r Asbestos-Cement Products Association N ew York, N ew York C h a r l t o n H . Ly o n s , P a r tn e r Lyons, McCord & Logan Shreveport, Louisiana J a m e s L. C a m p , J r ., P r e s id e n t Cam p M anufacturing Company Franklin, V irginia A d v is e r C. W . A n d e r s o n , E x e c u t i v e V i c e P r e s i d e n t Associated Industries o f the Q uad Cities Rock Island, Illinois R ic h a r d H . T u r k , P r e s id e n t Pemco Corporation Baltimore, Maryland R. E. SALVATI, P r e s i d e n t Island Creek Coal Company H untington, W . Va. is o n Representing Industrial Relations Group hn Lo w n e s , J r ., P r e s i d e n t and G eneral M anager H a r o l d C. M c C l e l l a n , P r e s i d e n t O ld Colony Paint & Chemical Co. Los Angeles, California D a r r a h Co r b e t , P r e s i d e n t Smith Cannery Machines Company Seattle, W ashington J o h n H. M u r r i a n , P r e s i d e n t W . J. Savage Company Knoxville, Tennessee G e o r g e L. D r a f f a n , P r e s id e n t T he O hio Brass Company Mansfield, Ohio M a l c o l m P. F e r g u s o n , P r e s i d e n t Bendix Aviation Corporation D etroit, M ichigan A. C. C o nde, E x e c u t i v e V i c e P r e s i d e n t Indiana M anufacturers Association Indianapolis, Indiana M e m b e r s o f S p e c ia l E d u c a t io n S u b c o m m itte e c h a ir m a n : ROBERT H . W . W EL C H , JR. Educators Industrialists R u s s e l l D . Co l e A. D. H o l t E d w in A. L e e K e n n e t h E. O b e r h o l t T h o m a s F. R e a r d o n D e a n M. Sc h w e ic k h a r J o h n T. Br o w n B. C. C o l c o r d C. E. H a m i l t o n * H. C. M c C l e l l a n Ri c h a r d H . T u r k zer d ♦(P resident, Autom otive Gear W orks, Inc., Richmond, Indiana, and M em ber 1952 N A M Educational Advisory Comm ittee) Ra l p h A. P o w e r s , P r e s id e n t Robertson Paper Box Company Inc. M ontville, Connecticut W a l t e r D. F u l l e r , C h a ir m a n o j T he Curtis Publishing Company Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Representing State Associations Group G e o r g e L. W e is s e n b u r g e r , P r e s id e n t Keokuk Electro-M etals Company Keokuk, Iowa O s c a r C. P a l m e r , P r e s id e n t Palmer Industries Phoenix, Arizona R. G. Fo l l is , C h a ir m a n o j B o a r d Standard O il Company of California San Francisco, C alifornia W a r r e n W e b s t e r , J r ., P r e s id e n t W arren W ebster Company Camden, N ew Jersey R ic h a r d S. R h e e m , P r e s id e n t Rheem M anufacturing Company South Gate, California B o a rd J. K. Sh i n n , P r e s id e n t SEC M anufacturing Company Miami, Florida E. P. H a m i l t o n , P r e s i d e n t H am ilton M anufacturing Company T w o Rivers, W isconsin M [5] �ABOUT THIS STATEMENT T THIS W E BELIEVE ABOUT EDUCATION i he Special Education Subcommittee of the Educational Advisory Committee and the Educational Advisory Council of the National Asso ciation of Manufacturers was appointed for one purpose—to focus attention on areas of agreement between educators and industrialists which would serve as a basis for better understanding and more effective cooperation between these two groups. This Statement contains a brief outline of the premises and the reasoning that led to specific areas of agreement, and a final recapitulation of the Subcommittee’s conclusions. The Educational Advisory Committee and the Educational Advisory Council of the NAM, in a joint meeting on October 27, 1953, approved the Statement of the Special Education Subcommittee which is presented here. It is hoped that this effort will be received by both industrialists and educators in the spirit of tolerant good will in which it was conceived and in which it was conscientiously prepared. If the Statement makes a contribution to further discussions which will result in better understanding and closer relationships between Education and Industry, it will have served its major purpose. Personally, and on behalf of the Special Education Subcommittee, I take this opportunity to express our appreciation to Dr. F. Kenneth Brasted, Direc tor, NAM Education Department, and to George H. Fern, Associate Director, for their capable and untiring staff assistance rendered us throughout the nearly two years of our meetings and deliberations. And I welcome this same opportunity to write one sentence to, and about, my fellow-members of the Subcommittee, both educators and industrialists. Their unwavering respect for intellectual integrity, in others and in themselves, and their interest, co operation, and painstaking labors in hammering out together this consensus, made our association a rewarding and encouraging experience. We can take much pride in the revealing and important fact that we began the job as acquaintances and finished it as warm personal friends. Robert H. W. Welch, J . r Chairman [6] IN T R O D U C T IO N T he National Association of Manufacturers, throughout its history, has consistently supported Education in America. Strong statements have been issued periodically, setting forth the beliefs and positions of Industry. Yet the mutual confidence which so obviously should exist between Industry and Education has suffered many shocks over the years. At a meeting of the NAM Educational Advisory Committee held in January, 1952, several leading educators were invited guests. They, too, it developed, were concerned over an apparent deterioration in relationships. Some of the causes seemed inadvertent and isolated, but there were also evi dences of deliberate intent. It was recognized that a great majority of American businessmen and American educators have little or no criticism to make of each other, but over the past several years attacks by some businessmen on the philosophy or prac tices of some educators have been widely publicized. Similarly, there has been articulate criticism of business and industry by some educators. Resentment has resulted on both sides. Anxiety was expressed at the January meeting lest the friction and mis understanding increase. It was suggested that a Subcommittee could well be established to study the situation and to propose constructive counteraction. Thus the Special Education Subcommittee was conceived and appointed. It comprised six industrialists from the NAM Educational Advisory Committee and six educators from the NAM Educational Advisory Council. At the outset, the Subcommittee agreed that misunderstanding and sus picion between Education and Industry should be reduced to a minimum and eliminated if possible, and that there should be established widespread and general understanding, confidence, and cooperation between these two vital groups in America. Scrutiny of misunderstandings led the Subcommittee far afield. Among causes for disagreement they found such factors as the proper boundaries of academic freedom, objective teaching versus subjective indoctrination, respon sibility for teachers’ actions and activities, and the distinction between justifi[7] �able, constructive criticism and malicious attacks. Ultimately the Subcommittee found itself considering the place of Education in American life—its purposes and practices, its direction and support, and the real measure of Education’s contribution to the happiness and welfare of the American people. As the Subcommittee went beyond the limits at first contemplated for the study, two questions arose. The first was why representatives of these two seg ments of American society should be combining to make a joint appraisal of one of them. In other words, if Industry and Education were to study Educa tion, why should they not also take a look at Industry ? It was agreed that there was no reason why they should not, but such a study was not this Subcommit tee’s assignment. The second question was whether the Subcommittee was duplicating the work of other organized groups, such as the Commission on Financing Higher Education, and the Educational Policies Commission of the National Education Association. Such was not the intent, but it did seem that a brief survey of certain fundamentals regarding Education was necessary to provide background and a clearly understood basis for the study. Short summarizations of the most significant assumptions regarding fun damental aspects of Education are included in this Statement in order to show the lines of thought that led to the final conclusions. The Subcommittee has endeavored to be fair and tolerant of conflicting opinions. It sought to establish principles, or areas of agreement, broad enough to be accepted by men of good will. It endeavored to clarify causes or areas of disagreement. It tried to be practical, and to present a Statement that will be a useful guide in determining future attitudes of individuals and organiza tions, in both Industry and Education. The conclusions reached are presented in a series of connected and con trasting paragraphs in the final section of this Statement. Generally speaking, the first paragraph under each point expresses the more liberal viewpoint. The second paragraph records the more conservative opinion. It should be em phasized that educators are not speaking in one paragraph and industrialists in the other. The division of opinion was w ith in these groups and not b etw een them. The pattern for the final presentation was adopted because it seemed the simplest way of presenting the areas of agreement in each particular discussion. These paragraphs, summarizing THIS WE BELIEVE ABOUT EDUCA TION, have been numbered and will be found beginning on page 28. [8] II THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION IN AMERICA I N t h e Ruins o f U r a room has been unearthed that was a school 4,500 years ago. Clay tablets of instruction used there still exist. Schools and educa tion have been a part of every known civilization. Education today is an accu mulation, rather than a neat integration, of all the things education has been in the past. The specific purposes for which the first schools were established are not known. By the time the prehistoric mist began to lift, education for religious ends and education for secular ends both were established. The first of these has continued, usually with clear-cut purposes (such as the training of new members of a clergy), down through the ages. But secular education from the beginning, whether imparted by laymen or by members of a priesthood, has always had purposes more varied and less clearly defined. It is recognized that two historic streams of culture and religion have largely produced modern Western civilization: the ancient Greek tradition and the Hebrew-Christian tradition. These two great currents continue to influence profoundly the stream of life and education in the United States of our own day. Along with these there have developed scientific research and teaching, and, utilizing both, modern technology which is producing the wonders of mass production in manufacture, agriculture and commerce. Modern western civilization, expanding its outlook and interests under the stimulus of intellectual, political, social, and industrial advances, has adopted many varied concepts of the purposes of education. The divisions and subdivisions of the disciplines that are classified as education have been multi plied until an almost infinite variety of purposes is the result. Today there are insistent demands that major emphasis be placed on academic education, or vocational education, or physical training, or relig ious education, or training for citizenship, to name a few of the goals and objectives. Within each of these categories there are equally insistent demands that preference in time and attention be given to one division or another: as, for instance, the preference for liberal arts versus the useful sciences in aca demic education. Vocational education includes training for agriculture, in dustry, business, and homemaking, with special programs for the continuing education of out-of-school youth and adults. Each group of educators and learners has its own understanding of the major purposes of education. With many divergent opinions, it is inevitable that there should be con[9] �llicts, collisions of forces, and criticisms of educational leadership. It probably would be impossible to resolve all conflicts by one general statement of prin ciple which would be acceptable to all the conscientious partisans involved. It would seem wiser if all persons concerned with education would recognize the advantages of a heterogeneity of ideas as to the purposes of education. Tolerant thinkers can find areas of agreement, and the tendency of any one school of thought to exclude or to disparage all theories but its own should be restricted. With few exceptions, all of the major goals and objectives of Amer ican education have been endorsed by a sufficient percentage of the American people to assure those goals a justified place in the over-all design. The neces sity for less conflict and greater understanding and cooperation between pro ponents of different purposes of education currently sustained in the American school system seems apparent. Probably there never has been throughout all history any complete agree ment as to what the goals of education should be. Aristotle wrote of "doubts concerning the business of it," saying, "all people do not agree in those things they would have a child taught, both with respect to improvement in virtue and a happy life; nor is it clear whether the object of it should be to improve the reason or rectify the morals. From the present mode of education we can not determine with certainty to which men incline, whether to instruct a child in what will be useful to him in life, or what tends to virtue, or what is excel lent; for all these things have their separate defenders.” So be it, today. [10 ] III THE SUPPORT OF EDUCATION provided for the benefit of all of the people and the general well-being of the nation. Annually this country spends more than two per cent of its total national income for educa tion. Where an investment of eight or nine billion dollars per year is involved —an outlay that is and should be constantly growing—it is inevitable that many individuals and organized groups will be concerned with the source of this income, the manner in which the money is raised, and how it is spent. The Subcommittee was concerned with financial support of education only as it might be an origin or source of friction and misunderstanding between educators and industrialists. In a civilized society there are many services which affect practically the total population. The most universal of these probably is protection of person and property by government. In America, other services which the people have come to expect include education, good roads and streets and harbors, an adequate and safe water supply, postal facilities, a telephone system, pro tection against fire, a public press and many others. Some of these services, like the postal system, are provided entirely by the Federal government. Pro tection against fire is almost always a local government responsibility. Roads and harbors are provided in varying degrees and methods of combination by Federal, state, and local governments, the privately-owned toll roads being a rare exception. Finally there are services provided entirely by private capital, such as the telephone and press. Among all these services education is unique in respect to its support. This support is provided, in part, by local governments, by state governments, by the Federal government, by religious bodies, by national charitable organi zations, by private capital as a profit-making investment, by contributions of a non-profit-making purpose both from individuals and from corporations organized for profit, by tax-free foundations, by specific endowments inherited from the past, and by scholarships and grants from many sources and for many purposes. No other service for the benefit of all members of society is pro vided in such diverse forms and ways and from such heterogeneous sources. Constitutionally, public education in America is a function of the several states. The states, in the exercise of this function delegated by the people themselves, in turn delegate responsibility for education to local governments through local school boards. Carrying out their responsibilities, the states pro vide financial support to local communities to guarantee a minimum educa- P U B LIC ED U C A T IO N IS A N e s s e n t i a l s e r v i c e [ii] �tional program for the children within their borders. It is to be expected that a state will require certain minimum educational standards of the local com munities which receive tax-raised funds. The state governments thus maintain a form of "remote control” over the local school systems, but under this con stitutional authority the local communities, for the most part, maintain local autonomy and make major decisions as to policy and practice. Many problems, cross-purposes, misunderstandings and criticisms arise directly from the diversity of support. Some are serious and far-reaching; others are local. The lack of adequate financial support for a private school of secondary education, for illustration, involves different considerations than lack of an adequate tax rate in a local community to supply essential elemen tary school facilities for the children of that community. Failure to make allowance for the differences involved is a source of some of the criticism and resentment that flare up. To attempt to apply a uniform measure of correlation between financial support and control to all institutions of learning or training, public and private, large and small, elementary and advanced, would be unrealistic and perhaps unwise. There is a further basic source of misunderstanding, and it is embedded in the foundation of the structure of financial support for the schools. It is one which all people should recognize and keep in mind. Specifically, the pat tern for organization and support of the American educational system (and particularly the core of elementary and secondary tax-supported public edu cation) constituted an early concession by an individualistic people to the socialistic concept. Wise or unwise, the fact remains that support and control of the schools, to a large extent, was turned over to governmental bodies sometime in the past, through proper legislative procedure that expressed the views of a majority of the people at the time the action was taken. With governmental support and control there is inclined to be less con sideration of minority wishes by the majority, more dependence on the advice of professional experts than on purely local considerations, and more inclina tion to follow current political and sociological ideologies which may not be approved by some individualists. There is still a proper place and way, through the democratic political processes of local government, for the individual to make his opinions known and his influence felt. It should be remembered that the differences in size and nature of educa tional units, in the sources of financial support, in the control correlated with support, all combine to give American education much of its strength, its vitality, its ability to grow with changing times and its ability to meet increas ingly varied demands. For this reason, centralization or consolidation of finan- cial support, with corresponding requirements for minimum standards of edu cation and other controls, should be watched by both educators and indus trialists. The financial support of a minimum educational program within a state should always be balanced by a maximum decentralization of direction and control. Financial support alone is not sufficient to assure the effective and forceful program of education which a dynamic society requires. Industry should make available to Education its vast fund of knowledge and experience, accumu lated through years of research, production, management, and services to the public. Industrial "know how” should be readily available to Education in an advisory way in connection with problems of curriculum, administration, and personnel. In fact, proper support of education should include continuous concern of industrialists and all other segments of the community, as well as educators, with all educational policies and problems, on both state and local levels. [12] [13] �IV THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDUCATORS S chools are established and financially supported, and teachers accept salaries and professional recognition, to do a certain job. That is to give the next generation the best education which the current adult genera tion is able or willing to afford. However, what is meant by "the best educa tion,” and what duties are inherent in that term, are often the source of much controversy. The age of the pupils, the educational level of the classroom, whether the school is publicly or privately supported, the nature of the subject matter, the established purpose of the course of instruction, and the other media avail able for both mental and spiritual influence, all have to be considered. It would be difficult to arrive at a definition of "the best education” that would be sufficiently all-inclusive to apply to all circumstances. In considering the responsibilities of educators, the question arises of "indoctrination versus objective teaching.” It is possible, for example, even in beginner’s arithmetic, to use the classroom for propaganda purposes. Prob lems can deal with the benefits of government subsidies and social security on the one hand, or the advantages of profits, dividends, and successful business ventures on the other. Thus the minds of 8-year-olds can be influenced accord ing to the bias of the textbook and the teacher. Conscious proselytizing is completely outside of a teacher’s clearly recog nized duties. But examples in beginner’s arithmetic must be related to the dynamic world in which the pupil lives if arthmetic is to be interesting and have meaning. To accuse a teacher of dealing in propaganda when no such intention exists is as unjustifiable as deliberate indoctrination by the teacher would be. The question of indoctrination becomes more involved when a graduate seminar in economics, conducted by an outstanding scholar, is considered. To expect an educator who is an authority in his field not to have strong opinions is unrealistic. To ask him to conduct his classes with complete objectivity and without revealing his convictions is to deprive mature students, rightfully de siring to hear his particular theory or viewpoint expounded, of values which might be inherent in the course. Iron-clad insistence on complete objectivity would certainly drive thinkers and leaders from the world of Education. Clear ly, considerable latitude must be allowed before a teacher can justifiably be accused of indoctrination, and all of the circumstances should be known and carefully weighed. [14 ] Any teacher, whatever his political convictions, has the right and respon sibility to participate as a citizen in community, state and national affairs so long as his activities do not decrease his effectiveness in the classroom and are not inimical to the national well-being. In fact, more interest on the part of educators in government and community affairs is desirable. The basic objec tion to indoctrination is not that such teaching will inculcate beliefs which some groups are certain to oppose, but that it is not the teacher’s job. A teacher’s responsibility for religious instruction and moral training is determined by the nature of the institution and the known desires of the administrative body and/or the community. The emphasis to be placed on vocational training is similarly established. Considerations which apply to an expensive private college preparatory school differ greatly from the require ments set up for a public high school in a metropolitan suburb populated by industrial workers. The responsibilities of the educator vary with circum stances, and these responsibilities should be defined as clearly as possible. In addition to an honest job of teaching, educators, more than any other group except the clergy, are expected to set a good example for the younger generation and the community as a whole. Teaching is not "just one of the professions.” It is one of the oldest and most highly and universally honored. Respect for educators is as continuous as civilization itself. Nowhere is there a more clear application of the principle that honor and authority impose obligations and responsibilities. Careful regard for per sonal reputation is one of those obligations. A teacher’s loyalty to his country should be unquestionable; his honesty, integrity and moral standards should be above reproach. He should exercise good judgment in all personal asso ciations and affiliations, including his relationships with professional organi zations for the protection or advancement of the legitimate interests of teachers as a group. Educators have a responsibility for preserving mutual respect between their profession and other segments of the community population. They have a legitimate complaint when critics make sweeping charges of "left-wing ideologies” or "ivory-tower stupidities” against educators in general. But the educator who makes similar exaggerated denunciations against businessmen is being equally unfair; and in both cases immense harm is done. The voice of criticism is welcome on the American scene, but it must be scrupulously exact and conscientious in order to retain respect. Education is one of the accepted overhead costs in America. Educators have an obligation to observe economy and efficiency in the discharge of their responsibilities and in the use of the facilities provided them. By nature and [15] �training, educators are generally inclined to regard economy as a virtue, both in the use of their own and other people’s money. A continuation of this care ful regard for costs will do much to foster whole-hearted support of Educa tion’s growing needs by all groups within a community and by Industry in particular. Educators cannot escape responsibility for keeping abreast of changes, and for being aware of developments in materials and methods related to their own teaching fields. Industry has an equally strong responsibility for bringing information regarding the results of inventions and discoveries to the attention of the schools; but the ultimate responsibility for keeping teach ing geared to a dynamic age rests with the educators. It is the responsibility of Education to support, and frequently to lead, the necessary and continuing fight to preserve freedom of expression and freedom of inquiry. Even tolerance of intolerance must be safeguarded, so long as that intolerance does not attempt to destroy our American heritage of freedom. All educators should oppose any attempt by either government or public opinion to repress expression of honest views or to curtail scientific studies and researches. An educator must stand ready to fight for his right to pursue knowledge in the true scientific spirit. Because Education has a cen turies-old familiarity with the struggle to achieve and maintain freedom for the human mind, the American people rightfully look to educators for leader ship in that continuous battle. To summarize, every educator from kindergarten teacher to the holder of a distinguished professional chair in a graduate school, is employed to do a certain job. The nature, extent, and limitations of that job are usually estab lished with reasonable clarity. They ought to be easily understood by a person of intellectual integrity. The primary responsibility of the educator is to do honestly, and as well as he can, the job for which he was hired. Teachers are expected to be persons, and not automatons. It is inevitable and desirable that their personalities and character should make effective impressions on youth; that their manners, persuasions, and moral and spiritual values should have influence. But teachers are not employed as preachers, politicians, statesmen or prophets. Any conscious effort by a teacher to function in such capacities, at the expense of primary duty, is a failure to live up to an obligation to the society which is supporting him in exchange for his service. No principle of academic freedom is involved here, nor of tolerance and fair-mindedness. It is a matter of integrity with respect to duties that have been assumed. Finally, and perhaps most important of all, Education is responsible for maintaining continuity of thought and culture and moral values between present and past. Neither utilitarian education nor speculative theory should lead off too soon from the "main road” of education. That "main road” of accumulated knowledge and fundamental culture, leading from the remote past through the present and into the future, should be kept open wide and well paved. There is a great need in the confused world of today for better morals, more self-discipline, and a sounder sense of values. Possibly the great est contribution Education can make toward meeting that need is to give all who pass through its doors a deeper awareness of what we owe to the great artists and scientists, the teachers, thinkers, inventors, the explorers and states men, the poets and patriots of the past. [16] [17] �V THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF INDUSTRY TO EDUCATION or group to another person or group are imposed in part by benefits received or to be expected. Industry’s re sponsibilities to Education are based primarily on four broad considerations. F irst, and most apparent, is that Industry must look to Education for its supply of trained personnel. This need includes, obviously, research and de velopment scientists and engineers. If the quality of industrial output and serv ice to society is continually to support and improve an ever-rising standard of living in America, Industry must have in top-management positions the type of men who have the vision and intelligence to assure improved industrial concepts and production. This implies need for training in the liberal arts as well as in science and business administration. Industry also requires nonscientific personnel for specialized departmental duties such as traffic manage ment, job evaluation, and accounting. Education should supply men with suffi cient business management training to shorten the period needed for gaining experience before executive responsibilities can be assumed. Finally there are the skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers—the people who start with beginners’jobs which demand varying degrees of skill, training, and education. All of these people can better adjust to job situations with a minimum of fric tion and costly job-turnover if they have acquired from the schools at least a basic understanding of actual conditions in the world of work. The s ec o n d concern of Industry with the objectives of Education lies in raising the material standard of living in America through the higher expecta tions of all of the people, which inevitably results from raising the level of education. This upward trend helps to create expanding markets upon which Industry thrives. Even elementary education in America has made people want, and work to get, bathtubs and fountain pens, better clothes and encyclopedias, table silver and classical records, and countless other products of industry for which these same people, if completely illiterate, would feel far less urge. The impact of education on material desires and expectations is felt at every level of society and of education, and the greatest importance of this force probably lies in the future. Industry has a tremendous stake in the influence and exten sion of Education in America. A th ir d consideration is that Education fulfill its obligation for teaching moral and spiritual values. The public schools must be non-denominational, but the men and women who teach in these schools, as responsible professional members of society, are at work daily with boys and girls who should derive T h e r e s p o n s ib ilitie s o f o n e p e r s o n [18] a high standard of moral and spiritual values from school experiences. Such concepts develop the individual as a constructive social unit, contributing to the betterment of group living and advancing the standards of conduct essen tial to perpetuation of this nation’s culture. F o u rth and last, Industry must look to Education to assure the economic and political literacy of the people which alone will preserve the American free-enterprise system and social order. Upon that "way of life” both Industry and Education are grounded. Industry, as one member of the American social organism, is concerned that Education, an entirely separate member, continue its significant role in keeping the whole organism healthy and functioning forcefully. Proceeding from these basic considerations, what then are the responsi bilities of Industry to Education? The responsibility of Industry for more active participation in the prepar ation of young people who enter industrial employment (the first considera tion) has increased each year. A complex industrial society, a multiplicity of jobs, the increasingly urgent need for intelligent citizenship, leave no alterna tive. Industry is a natural co-partner in the education of tomorrow's full-time, adult workers. The days when schools were self-contained within their insti tutional walls are past. Those walls are being pushed out to encompass the entire community. Industrial and business establishments are becoming the daily laboratories and workshops of both secondary schools and colleges in the all-important task of training youth, while they are still in school, for jobs of their own choosing. Industrial progress results in occupational changes. Individuals differ in their abilities and desires. No single laboratory or single training program will meet the needs of the nation’s industrialized society. Industry and business ultimately employ large numbers of young people whether they are prepared for employment or not; whether they have gradu ated from college, high school, a technical school, or have become the so-called "early school leavers,” unprepared for employment. It is profitable from the standpoint of both Industry and society to equip them with education and train ing consistent with their desires, aptitudes, and abilities before they leave the full-time school and enter employment. Young people should have the kind of education which will prepare them adequately for their careers and their civic responsibilities. Industrialists and businessmen can help keep them in school longer, or keep many of them in school at least part-time, by cooperating with Education in practical arts courses and vocational and technical courses which are given in the regular school program or as work-study programs. [19] �Education and Industry must g o farther than merely preparing individ uals to enter employment. After people are employed it must be possible for them to work for promotion and advancement. Educators and industrialists, working together, should provide opportunities for continuing education, making certain at the same time that workers become increasingly aware of their civic responsibilities. Since Industry looks to the influence of Education for developing interest in improved living standards, with correspondingly expanded markets (the second consideration), Industry has an obligation to be intelligently aware of what educators are doing and trying to do. It is probably true that the average businessman knows more about current activities in the stock market, in big league baseball, in the movie and entertainment world, and even among prize fighters, than he does about the personnel, methods, objectives, and compara tive standing of the public school system in his home town. To the extent that this indifference is obvious to teachers, they turn less and less for guidance to the communities they serve. It is the duty of industrialists to have a view point, based on factual information, regarding the educational goals and prac tices of both the public and private institutions of learning in their communi ties, and to make that viewpoint known for the benefit and encouragement of everybody concerned. An obvious complementary duty is to give educators better and more attractive opportunities to get acquainted with Industry. Many teachers, while recognizing Industry as vital in the world in which they live and about which they teach, have little or no knowledge of industrial problems or the con tributions of Industry to public well-being beyond what they have learned from books. To them, production lines, inventories, amortization, reinvest ment, re-tooling, packaging, distribution, labor relations, risk capital, and even industrial competition are abstract terms, not palpable things and never-fin ished problems to be struggled with daily in order to supply the products people take for granted. The unfamiliarity of educators with what industrialists are doing and are trying to do undoubtedly is as great as Industry’s unawareness of Educa tion’s problems, objectives, and accomplishments. Industry must constantly take the initiative to overcome apathetic and harmful aloofness, wherever it may appear. It is imperative that American industry, justifiably believing in the necessity, the efficiency, and the sociological soundness of its operations, should have both the enlightened criticism and confident moral support of Education. It is largely educators who appraise for young people the social system they are about to inherit. If the appraisal of Industry is to be based on [20 ] sound knowledge, actual observation, and shared experience, Industry must maintain a continuous open house to Education and make its hospitality evi dent and sincere. Closely related to the more widespread and purposeful "looking-in” on one group by the other, but meeting additional and different needs, are joint conferences where Education and Industry meet on grounds of common inter est. Educators should take the initiative in these ventures just as much as indus trialists. The fact remains, however, that there certainly is a responsibility on the part of Industry to promote conferences where both Industry and Edu cation can gain through mutual assistance or can further civic usefulness through an exchange of ideas, information, or opinions. Industry’s third basic requirement of Education was that the schools up hold moral and spiritual values. Certainly, Industry has a responsibility to Education for moral and spiritual backing against destructive criticism and unwarranted attack. Past experience with Industry’s concern for Education justifies confidence in fair-mindedness as part of that concern. Because of their experience and training, industrial leaders should be disposed to look for facts and important principles in issues which are be clouded by storms of charges and countercharges which too frequently elec trify the educational atmosphere. It is the duty of those in Industry to take a firm stand for judicial consideration of documented charges against specific individuals. Industrialists must insist upon proof of claims of abuses in the educational profession, of conspiratorial purpose, or of other pursuits harmful to Education or to the public, as against general accusations. It is also a duty of industrialists to step in on their own initiative and exert maximum influence to restore tolerance and common sense, whenever storms appear which consist primarily of sound and fury. Finally, Industry’s obligation to Education for the preservation of Amer ica’s social and economic structure (the fourth basic consideration) is in itself economic; it involves financial support. A major goal of American Education, beyond question, is an advanced state of intelligent literacy and understanding for the total population. Indus try is definitely in accord with this aim of Education. This being so, Industry must face and accept its responsibility for a large part of the cost of such an achievement. Youth spends far more hours in school today than fifty years ago, and the schools have had to assume responsibility for many functions of youth-training that once were performed by the home or other agencies. Industrial education, agricultural education, and related instruction for apprentices now provided [ ] 21 �VI THE ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY FOR EDUCATION T here are three major segments of the population concerned with the quality, objectives, and accomplishments of Education in America. First, there are the teachers and educational administrators. Second, there are those who support Education through either taxes or direct contributions, and who are represented by boards of education and boards of trustees. Third, there are the parents, who have a particular and unique responsibility. Many other influences are at work, one being the demands and prefer ences of the students themselves, especially the many self-supporting adults now attending colleges and graduate schools. The total effect of this group and other lesser forces is not strong enough to change the major three-pronged responsibility, however. The influence wielded by each of the three groups varies tremendously with the time, the place, and the kind of educational institution considered. It is obvious, too, that the groups overlap greatly. Teachers, for example, are taxpayers, and many of them are parents. It is likewise obvious that the impact of the opinions of one group on the others is varied and sometimes indeter minate. There are difficulties in drawing even shadowy lines of separation be tween the three groups in trying to assess responsibility. Praise or blame for results that please everybody or nobody can never be assigned to one group alone. When a community has a superior local school system it is usually because teachers, administrators, taxpayers, and parents all take a great inter est and pride in that school system. If a long-established university starts run ning down, it will usually be found that faculty members have become discour aged, alumni contributors have lost interest, and parents of students attending the university are guiltily ignorant of its shortcomings. The responsibility for good or bad education must be shared by all three groups and cannot be apportioned percentagewise among them. There are vast differences in the relationships of these groups to the schools and to the problems of education. Each group has a different base for its duties and its authority. The influence of each group is exerted through mechanics, and with a degree of directness, which differ from the same factors of the other group. Finally, the fundamental reason for each having responsi bility, and the extent and nature of the moral accountability involved, is differ ent in each case. For the deliberations and purposes of the Subcommittee, it [24] was important to consider these differences and the part they play in some of the problems with which Education and Industry are concerned. The most immediate responsibility—and in actual practice the most ex tensive responsibility for the direction and success of American education— lies with the teaching profession. This means that in reality it falls very heavily upon the colleges and on the recognized experts within the teaching profes sion. It is from these sources that the teachers, of all educational specialties and levels and in all of the many kinds of educational institutions, receive the early professional training and the continuing guidance which largely deter mine the methods, skills, and objectives finally manifest in the classroom. Occasionally there is a tendency to claim infallibility for outstanding educational experts, or at least an inclination to claim for them such superior ity of knowledge and judgment in an esoteric field that laymen must not be allowed to interfere in any way with the practices and aims they prescribe for their disciples. This extremist view should not be accepted by either the public or by the great body of educators themselves. But educators and industrialists should have no quarrel with the position, short of this extreme, which is ac corded to recognized leaders within educational ranks. The American people realize that teaching is a specialized profession and respect the value of pro fessional competency. It is taken for granted that proper recognition should be given by both laymen and those in the profession to the opinions, precepts, and carefully considered policies of those who have earned places of leader ship and authority in the world of Education. To the extent that these experts are given a free hand and a loyal following, they must bear a large measure of responsibility for the final results of the entire educational effort. In America at the present time the extent of acceptance of the experts’ authority is great. The next source of responsibility for Education resides in those who pay taxes and make financial contributions which keep schools and colleges oper ating. They do and should have something to say about the quality and quan tity, the methods and objectives of Education. Just as there are extreme views regarding the authority to be attached to professional stature, there are extremists among those who finance Education. The argument that financing bestows power and authority is well expressed in the old saying, "He who pays the piper may call the tune.” Here again, this extreme view is not accepted by educators, parents, or even by the majority of the group for whom it is advanced. Even in areas of ideology that are currently most controversial, those who pay the bills for Education are, generally speaking, willing to endorse the statement attributed to Voltaire: "I disagree with what you say but will defend [25] �VII SUMMARY: THIS WE BELIEVE ABOUT EDUCATION 1] That the purposes of education are many and varied in America, where a high degree of freedom has prevailed in the growth of both private and public education. Wide variation in accepted educational purposes, while decried by some, is to be expected and should be accented as a natural develop ment in a society which encourages great diversity in its search for truth. There probably is no one single purpose of education acceptable to all, but some rather widely accepted purposes without reference to their order of importance may be generalized as follows: (a) To prepare the individual to make a living and to make progress in his vocation, or to help in that process; (b) To prepare the individual for mature and complete living—personal and family, social and civic—in today’s world, and to help develop the moral, ethical, and spiri tual values which benefit both the individual and society; and (c) To increase man’s understanding of the arts, sciences, and humanities, and his appreciation of his cultural heritage. la] But that acceptance of purposes should be related to the size, grade level, and nature of the educational institutions and to the learners who are to attend those institutions. The purposes of education should be determined by the needs of the learners, and in this nation there should be available ample variety in learning opportunities. The relative emphasis to be placed on the different purposes of education should be determined with wide latitude and consideration for all concerned. In all education due regard for excellence of educational programs and quality of teaching should be given. This is an important requirement for the preservation of a society of free individuals. ♦ ♦ ♦ 3] That every teacher in America should have the unquestioned right to impart knowledge objectively concerning all matters related to the subject he teaches. Teachers of economics or of government or of any of the social sciences should discuss without hesitation the theories, practices, and histories of all systems of government including the government of collectivist states, to the extent required for the properly balanced organization of a particular course. When subject matter does deal with governments and ideologies, teachers should take into consideration the maturity and grade level of the learners. The younger the pupil and the more elementary the instruction, the less excuse there is for deviation from objective teaching. Completely objective teaching, however, especially of the social studies, while a desirable goal, can scarcely be expected or achieved in actual practice by teachers who are also thinking human beings; reasonable deviation from this absolute standard should not expose any teacher to attack, intimidation, or insecurity of his position. 3a] But that neither freedom of speech nor freedom of academic inquiry and instruction gives a teacher the right to a captive audience of impression able young people, as a target for propaganda on behalf of theories or prac tices that are disapproved by the community which has put that audience in his charge for other purposes. Within limitations dictated by the circumstances of his semi-official position, a teacher should be free to express his personal opinions and to take direct and active interest in community problems. The teacher should assume his responsbility as a citizen in the community, but he has no right to the classroom as his private pulpit. Nor should a proper regard for the prejudices of individual human beings and tolerance for differing opin ions extend to the point of giving a teacher the right to intolerance of beliefs with which h e does not agree, nor to the conversion of his teaching into exclusive indoctrination of any social or political philosophy. H e * * 2] That all established relationships between individuals, and between the individual and society as a whole, are subject to change, and that any effort on the part of Education or of particular educators to keep the American social organization static instead of dynamic, or to prevent or to ignore change, would be contrary to the proper spirit and purpose of American Education. 2a] But that acceptance and evaluation of change should proceed from a fundamental and firm belief in the American form of government, in the free, private, competitive enterprise system, and in the maximum freedom for the individual that the essential functions of government in a complex modern civilization will permit. 4] That no attack on any teacher or on his teaching, because of his indi vidual ideological convictions (short of advocacy of the overthrow of the government), should be supported or condoned. 4a] But that bona fide attempts, based on reasonable evidence, to show that a particular teacher is taking advantage of his position to preach a social philosophy opposed by his local community or by the group his institution primarily serves, rather than to teach about it objectively, are to be considered judicially and not construed or distorted as attacks, either on academic freedom or on the whole American educational system. [28] [29] �5] That complaints of subversive activities or collectivist indoctrination of students by individual teachers should be weighed and given consideration by the legally constituted school authorities in preference to any such action by any outside agency, governmental or otherwise. This procedure should be followed whether the complaints are initiated by resident members of the local community, by members of the group served by the particular institution em ploying the teacher, or by some other source. 5a] But that it is perfectly proper for American citizens, as individuals, or in groups, or through organizations, to make and publish objective studies of any and all aspects of the educational system, and to obtain as wide distribu tion of the findings of such studies as they can. A study of the declared methods and stated purposes of education, as taught in the various colleges or by indi viduals in these colleges; a study of the textbooks being used or offered for use in educational institutions; a study of the articles, essays, speeches and books put forth by influential educators as guides to other members of the teaching profession—all these are quite properly within the province of ob servation and scrutiny. Few educators would wish to single out the educational system as the one area of American public life which should not be subjected to constant study and criticism. Those few who would must not be allowed to do so. * * * 6] That businessmen, the public, and educators should view with proper and customary caution sweeping charges made by any group which studies the educational system and publishes adverse findings as to its methods, purposes, or practices, or as to the ideological loyalties of some of its leaders. 6a] But that smearing the groups or the individuals responsible for such criticisms is not satisfactory refutation of their evidence or of their arguments. Charges which cannot be substantiated should be refuted. * * * 7] That while in the choice of textbooks, determination of curricula, and formulation of teaching methods, interested individuals or lay committees may make a healthy and valuable contribution, final decisions should be left with educational administrators, teachers, or committees of teachers, subject to the general authority of boards of education or of college trustees. 7a] But that the people who provide and maintain these institutions for the education of their children should have the right of final approval or dis approval of decisions of teachers, committees, and educational administrators, [30] and even boards of education and college trustees. In the case of public ele mentary and secondary schools, this final decision is exercised through the ballot box in the election of members of boards of education. In the case of institutions of higher learning it is exercised through the action of state legis lators, the protests of alumni, or by withholding of grants for financial sup port. Fortunately, this final decision is frequently cumbersome and slow; this constitutes a safeguard against the rash use of such authority in making deci sions. But this right of final authority should always be available if necessary, as a last resort. * * * 8] That constitutionally public education is a function of the several states, and that statewide legislation establishing minimum standards of at tendance, minimum educational standards, requirements for facilities, and the pattern of local administration within certain limits of authority and responsibilty, is necessary and proper. 8a] But that community responsibility, community administration, and community determination of matters concerning local school systems should not be weakened by centralization of either facilities or control beyond actual requirements for the most efficient and economical educational service in a given area. A thousand errors of policy or practice, however gross some of these errors may be, all tend to cancel each other out in time; and America has gained tremendously by this right of small groups to make progress in all fields of social effort by separate methods of trial and error. * * * 9] That teaching should be regarded as one of the great professions; that teachers themselves should act, and should be regarded by the community, as members of such a profession; that this regard should be shown by paying teachers salaries commensurate with the service rendered by a great profession; and that businessmen, who carry a large part of the tax load, should take the lead in creating everywhere public opinion in favor of a salary standard for teachers which will help to attract the ablest young people and to hold them in the profession. 9a] But that educators should earn and retain this esteem through con tinuous professional development, and by a careful regard for personal asso ciations, affiliations, and reputations. Teachers should refrain from joining or supporting organizations which lower the stature of their profession in the eyes of the community. [ 3 '] �10] That the schools today are expected to assume a wider range of responsibilities, as to preparation of children for adult life, than were expected of schools a generation ago. Hence the educational system should have con siderable latitude in familiarizing students with new scientific, technical, and cultural developments; in providing new experiences and outlooks, ideas and knowledge and contemporary concepts which parents—as an older genera tion—may not be in a position to impart. 10a] But that the schools are still only one of the agencies concerned with the upbringing of youth. The home, Sunday schools and churches, Boy and Girl Scout organizations (simply by way of illustration) are others with varying degrees of influence. The schools should neither try, be expected, nor be permitted to assume exclusive or near-exclusive responsibility. The ultimate final responsibility for the education and upbringing of every child still re mains, and should remain, in the family of which that child is a part. The schools must be regarded as agents of, and auxiliary to, parents in the schools’ assumption of a part of that responsibility. * * * 11] That educational programs and standards should be as broad and inclusive as practical considerations will permit; that the measureless value of diversity in educational theories and practices, manifesting itself in many ways beyond the few examples cited here, should be fully recognized by both the profession and the public; that this heterogeneity is a chief source of the strength and progress of American Education; and that in Education as in all other divisions of its cultural activities, America should be and remain a melt ing pot of professional experimentation, and of ideas, purposes, and traditions that merge to make the nation great. 11a] But that too radical or idiosyncratic deviations in educational theory or practice, from the broad standards determined and accepted by pre ponderant public opinion and professional experience, should not be sup ported in so universal a nation-wide service as Education. [32] � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource This We Believe About Education, A Statement Concerning Education in America, by the Educational Advisory Committee and the Educational Advisory Council of the National Association of Manufacturers, March 1954 Description An account of the resource Booklet published by the National Association of Manufacturers expressing their support of public education in the US. 16 pages Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource National Association of Manufacturers 1954-03 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_1_49 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/49e00a2cf0de2a5e11b40127dd931d2d.pdf f1d660223ccd3750c92c3de5d8aa87f7 PDF Text Text Teachers, in their rejection of authoritar ianism have lost, in considerable measure, respect for and acceptance of democratic controls rightfully vested in duly con stituted authority under the form of gov ernment in which we live. Government, without leadership and without controls, whether it be government of a nation or a school system, is anarchy. In a democ racy, leadership and controls are achieved by the will of the people for the good of the majority. Once they “become,” co operative endeavor is the duty of all citi zens. Attack, therefore, should not be directed against leadership per se or con trol per se, but rather against the inade quate functions of leadership and against the ineffectiveness of the controls. Authority in Democracy Necessary While there has been much talk of de mocracy in administration, there has been too little understanding of its concept. It does not, and should not, mean license for teachers to dismiss legitimately constituted authority or reject validly organized con trols as being traditional and anachronis tic; it does not and should not mean that a superintendent ought literally to abdicate his responsibilities in favor of a multitude who speak in a wilderness of doubt. At a recent meeting of school leaders, one superintendent in informal discussion re marked that for a superintendent to send a directive to teachers was most undemo cratic. “It’s no longer done,” he said. This superficial way of defining the terms of democracy has led only to confusion and uncertainty. Democracy in administration and the practice of good human relations go hand in hand. A proper concept of democracy insures better human relations; conversely, better human relations promote the ideals of democracy. The science of human relations as ap plied to the superintendency has many implications. It means having a sensitive awareness of people. It means taking a sincere and positive interest in teachers as people, their needs, their aspirations, their social climate, and their physical environ ment. In large school systems where it is impossible for a superintendent to knowall teachers personally, it will be to his ad vantage to inventory their needs through respective principals and supervisors. It means indicating a willingness to discuss problems, to reduce variances, to alleviate tensions, and to make adjustments when ever and wherever such action is feasible and possible. It means allowing teachers and principals to exercise reasonable free dom in the direction and management of their buildings and classes. It means in viting teachers to share in the selection of textbooks, the revision of curricula, and the making of personnel policies. It fheans understanding the principles of democracy in action and exerting leadership worthy of the democratic frame of reference. All this is no easy task. It is, however, a necessary function of the superintendency as we know it today. We Bring the Community Into Our Schools T. Edward Rutter Every parent, who has sat at the dinner table and heard his children tell of the day’s happenings at school, knows that public schools in America touch family life in an intimate way, week after week and year after year. Because of this close contact between the home and the class room, our schools are perhaps better suited to community co-operation in planning than any other official government agency. Schools in Arlington, Virginia, have tried to make use of this natural interest in schools by bringing citizens into school advisory groups and by encouraging par ents and teachers to co-operate in many phases of school enrichment. Arlington’s school citizens’ advisory committees and councils have had a good deal of publicity. These groups enlist the aid of more than 500 men and women of the community to serve specific school needs. First among the group are advisory com mittees, one for each school, named by the school board to keep a watchful eye on the individual school, and to serve as a liaison between the school community, the superintendent, and the school board. Principals Recommend Parents Since it is impossible for Arlington school •Superintendent of Schools, Arlington County, Va. 30 board members to be really well acquainted with all patrons in each of its more than forty schools, the board usually asks prin cipals to recommend parents to be named on the advisory committees. Each com mittee member is appointed for one year but may be reappointed. The committees range in size from three members for the smallest schools to as many as seven for junior and senior high schools. Each committee appoints its own chair man, meets as often as necessary to con sider the condition of the school building and grounds, and any other matters which the members wish to call to the attention of the school board. Not all advisory committee requests can be granted — but the committees help to bring about improvements which board members might not recognize as needed. Also, the committee members are urged to attend regular school board meetings to learn about the schools. All committees are called in for consultation as an entire group when some specific problem faces the school board and the board wishes to get the reaction of the community as a whole. The H om e Economics A dvisory Council at one of its regular meetings in the beautifully appointed Washington-and-Lee H igh School H ome Economics suite. SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL for OCTOBER, 1953 �THE AMERICAN S c W BtmrbJmrnuil Jeidcf^cio^mnjnfoi ^roiaoSfordii{ii> O C T O B E R ............................1953 A M iddle W ay in — Human Relations and the School Superintendency »<maar . k m,, ru>.Until fairly recently, to organize, to tion of the superintendency. The tradi supervise, and to deputize were considered tional superintendent ordered his personnel the chief tasks of the public-school admin through the exercise of authority dele istrator. In the past decade, however, with gated to him by the School Committee or interest heightened in the school superin Board of Education. School policies and tendency as a profession, two additional procedures did not emerge or evolve as the major functions have emerged, namely: result of discussion, conference, and mental to publicize and to humanize. Of all these interaction between superintendent and and the many less-emphasized functions staff. They suddenly were because he, the associated with the administration of a superintendent, decreed they should be. Rigid authoritarianism has been known school system, the last — to humanize — is probably a superintendent’s most impor to order personnel without consultation or tant task. Paradoxically enough, however, explanation; to limit the activities of teachers without justifiable reason; to dis it is also probably the most neglected. There are several reasons why the “hu cipline staff members without the courtesy man relations” function of the school su of a hearing; to deny the maladjusted perintendency has received less attention adjustment without consideration of the than have other aspects of the job. In the pertinent facts; to superimpose ideas, cur main, human relations as a social science ricula, and methods without allowing teach has been a comparatively new development, ers the privilege of participation or dis and the school superintendency as a pro cussion. fession is a goal just in the process of Benevolent authoritarianism, though emergence. Moreover, the whole area of more subtle in action is, nonetheless, no human relations, significant though it be, more righteous in principle than rigid au is less tangible, less objective, as it were, thoritarianism. The only difference is in than the areas of organization, supervision, method of attack. Here the superintendent authorization, or public relations. It is invites the confidence of personnel, in more subtle, too, demanding a keen insight terests the staff in participation, considers into the complexities of human nature and the “peeves” of teachers, and gives soa sincere interest in the worth and dignity called “lip service” to democratic proce of the human personality. dures, because, on the surface, it “looks good” and makes teachers “feel impor tant.” Despite this seeming willingness to The Older Philosophy show regard for teachers as intelligent Still another conditioning factor has been human beings, the benevolent dictator, in the effect prevailing philosophies of edu the final analysis, does eventually what cation have had upon school administration he would have done anyway with or with from time to time. The philosophy of out the consultation of his personnel. In authoritarianism left little room for the this increasingly enlightened era, in which development of human relations as a func- many teachers have had excellent prepara tory background for their respective teach *Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Holyoke, Mass. ing tasks, these nuances in administrative SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL fo r OCTOBER, 1953 approach do not go unnoticed. Usually they are all too completely understood by the teaching personnel and tend only to result in resentment and dissatisfaction. * “Laissez-Faire” Also Bad A policy of school administration, equally as dangerous as authoritarianism in human relations, is “laissez-faire-ism.” There are those in the superintendency who believe that they should intervene as little as possible in personnel problems. They “delegate” authority to the next person “down” the line because “it was always done that way.” Or, some superintendents just find it more expedient to let things be as they are, or let teachers proceed as they will, irrespective of the long-range effects of such action. These superintend ents operate almost exclusively on the “don’t let yourself get involved” or “things will take care of themselves” premise. Because of the inadequate attention paid to the implications of human rela tions as an aspect of school administration, there has come to be, in some places, a definite cleavage between duly constituted authority, on the one hand, and the teach ing corps, on the other. Where this con dition obtains, teachers seem ever to be on the defensive. They suspect authority; they resent it; they defy it. They are as sensi tive of their position in the matter as labor is sensitive to capital. This is indeed regrettable. Confusion and disorder are bound to result. Failure of educational leaders to crystal lize democracy and to define authority in school administration, particularly in ap plication to human relations, has created a situation that is far from wholesome. 29 �Work of Advisory Councils Advisory councils, also appointed by the school board, serve in Arlington to assist the board in its planning concerning six teen different fields of curriculum and administration. During the past year, councils studied and made recommendations concerning art, audio-visual education, budget procedures, construction, distributive education, guid ance, health, home economics, libraries, music, personnel policies, physical educa- with all phases of our school program and with all members of the staff, it has been found worth while to set up two liaison groups among paid members of the school staff. First, there is a well-functioning Super intendent’s Advisory Council, composed of eleven selected supervisors and principals, who meet with the superintendent once a month to present matters which might otherwise escape his attention and to give their opinions concerning phases of school management which the superintendent classroom discipline, and the teaching of arithmetic and reading are among topics discussed last year by the Parents’ Coun cil. The associate superintendent in charge of instruction directs this group. A Teacher’s Council on Instruction is another unique organization in Arlington. The Teachers’ Council is made up of one teacher representative from each of Ar lington’s public schools. They meet for half a day once each month to report problems from each building for which county-wide policies are needed, and also The A d v iso r y C om m ittees w ork w ith th e board in th e solu tion of in dividu al as w ell as general problem s. Illu stra ted are m em bers of th e H e n ry E lem en tary School and Jefferson Junior H igh School com m ittees who w orked w ith th e board on plans fo r addition s to those schools. tion, school lunches, special education for the handicapped, speech (including radio, TV, and drama), and trades and industry. A member of the school staff, such as the supervisor in the field under study, serves as executive secretary of each ad visory council. A citizen chairman is named for each. Every school board which names ad visory committees and councils must face the fact that it is a time-consuming job to work with community groups. However, the Arlington board hears all recommenda tions from these bodies and learns much from them concerning what should be done in its various schools and departments. It has proved valuable to call all the groups together once or twice a year to discuss the general school picture and thus to inform this block of interested citizens of the way in which school problems are being met in Arlington. Liaison Groups Established In order to carry democratic principles into general school management and also in order to keep more closely in touch SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL fo r OCTOBER, 1953 wishes to discuss with them. Second, Arlington also has a Superin tendent’s Central Committee of Teachers who discuss with the superintendent gen eral personnel problems which may arise. Members of this committee are elected by vote of the teachers themselves. Thirteen teachers represented a total staff of about 700 last year. In the field of instruction, two bodies function in Arlington to bring in as much general “know-how” as possible and also to acquaint teachers and parents with the many new things being done in Arlington schools. A Parents’ Council of Instruction meets once a month to study various phases of the curriculum and the teaching program. Members of this group include one or more parents named by the Parent-Teacher Association at each individual school, to gether with supervisors and principals who attend whenever some subject is to be brought up in which they can be helpful. All other interested persons are also in vited to attend. Extracurricular activities, family life education, the gifted child, homework, to develop instructional practices which may benefit all the schools. This organiza tion, with its alert membership reporting back to the teachers in each building, has engaged in extensive activity which has done much to improve teaching and cur riculum in Arlington. Arlington’s story of community co-opera tion in the schools would not be complete without mention of how some individual schools in the county get help from citizens in their own areas to enrich the curriculum. Tapping Hidden Resources Officials of Read School, an elementary building housing more than 700 pupils, made a community survey last year to list the resources available in that vicinity to make school subjects more colorful and interesting. They discovered parents who had lived in foreign countries, others who had traveled on business or pleasure to far corners of the world. They found camera enthusiasts with movie and still photographs which they were happy to share with the pupils. Residents who had (Concluded on page 90) 31 �F o r A ll the C h ild re n — Let’ Implement Health Instruction s Ross L. Allen,Dr. P.H.' No one dislikes the word “implement” application! We assume, for example, that more than the writer. Yet it fits the situa teachers are adequately trained in health, tion in which school administrators find when we know that it is the exceptional themselves. You are a bit “on the spot” training institution that requires more than as far as health teaching is concerned. one 2- or 3-hour course in personal health There is increasing public pressure to do in its whole curriculum. Where are the something about the provision of health elementary teachers expected to get even education in the public schools. Parents basic knowledge of healthful living. Surely, are beginning to wonder if there is any not from one course! Just how are these thing to health as one of the first objec teachers to use “teachable” moments in tives of education. These words should be health when they do not have the train familiar to you for your own national ing or even the knowledge to recognize organizations have made such statements them when they do occur? Perhaps some of policy in formulations of objectives. Are of you will say, “what concern is this of we really doing anything about health mine? The teacher-training institutions are teaching as a significant inclusion in the at fault. They should require more in school curriculum? Are we really imple health education.” But you know that these menting health in our schools? Let us look institutions will include such teaching, if frankly at the status of health teaching. you as an administrator will demand it as a qualification for employment. Why Not Check Health Attainments Again, you evaluate the progress of your teachers and students in attaining certain standard achievements in arithmetic, social studies, music, etc. Do you ever check the health attainments of students? If you did, syllabi would have to be revised, and teachers would eventually gain the atti tude that accomplishment in health status is just as important as meeting standard ized norms in the arts of communication and the like. Yes. until you make health important as a school inclusion, you can not expect teachers to place emphasis on healthful school living. Parents — the pub lic — are beginning to realize this. They want health for their children in peace, too! Using Teachable Moments In the elementary schools we expect our teachers to instruct children in whole some living. At least, on paper, we expect children to develop wholesome habits and attitudes of health, and we believe that some simple basic health information should be part of their equipment. All of us accept this; we do accept our responsi bility for the health education, in part, of our students. We expect that parents and community agencies will assume re sponsibility for their fair share of the com plete education of the child for health. How do we go about attaining this health objective? In the elementary school, we have agreed that “integration” is the pro cedure that is most effective and feasible. We expect our elementary school teachers to teach health when there are “teachable” moments — whether they occur in arith metic, social studies, or in the school cor ridor. Advantage should be taken of every situation that offers health teaching oppor tunities. In addition to integration, we rely upon a few brief units — or “direct” teach ing of health. Rarely do we give any time for these units similar to the time allotments for the traditional subjects. We depend largely upon “integration.” In theory, this is excellent procedure, but there are so many facets in its practical f t .. t . 'Professor, Health Crln n Y otad 32 . • c . owi..,. r n „ „„ Education, State Teachers College, P la y fe stiva ls allow fo r m a xim u m p a .rticipation in o u td o o r hea lth . edu. , . r . , . . cation and in M ilw aukee p ro vid e a h ttin g close to su m m er a ctivities. SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL fo r OCTOBER, 1953 �COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL (Concluded from page 31) collections of rocks or butterflies or dolls or other objects of interest to children were willing to display them at school. The specialized knowledge brought into the classrooms by these community resi dents has done much to bring warmth and color into the study of many different subjects. Interest in schools in Arlington is so general that the county Parent-Teacher Council is the largest single organization of any kind in the county. This federation of Parent-Teacher Association from all the public schools of Arlington counted an over-all local membership of approximately 18,000 men and women last year. Men are leaders in the association’s work in the county, with more than two thirds of the local P.T.A.’s being headed by fathers. BUILDING AUTHORITIES (Concluded from page 36) equalization be provided through indirect means! The states can determine the school housing needs of their respective districts and should develop programs which will make it possible for-those needs to be met. Such pro grams should be direct, open, involving action by the people, and they should provide state funds to remove part of the cost of capital outlay from local property and to provide necessary equalization among the districts. States cannot discharge their responsibility for education — which requires housing — with out positive action in this regard. in the educational world — a city that has graduated a long list of nationally and in ternationally known educators, poets, businessmen, authors, artists, and jurists from its secondary schools. SECONDARY EDUCATION PERSONAL NEWS OF SUPERINTENDENTS (Concluded from page 43) restricted academic curriculum of a hun dred years ago embracing only a few sub jects is now augmented by a variety of required and elective subjects which help our boys and girls in St. Louis to meet the challenge of a dynamic, democratic society in a changing world. The visions and faith of these early settlers are responsible for our schools today. This history of education could be recast for nearly every state and city in America. St. Louis, however, was the edu cational leader west of the Mississippi River — first in coeducational secondary schools, in free public education, in normal school or college training. St. Louis boasts in having the first public secondary school in the world for Negro youth. Its adult education and technical high schools have set a pattern throughout the nation. Under the leadership of its present super intendent of instruction, and with the full support of a board of education as keenly aware of the progress to be made in educa tion, St. Louis will continue to be a leader J a c k P a d g e t t h as been elected superintendent of the Morgan county schools a t Madison, Ga. E l m e r B. V e c e r a , of Kensington, Kans., is the new superintendent a t Jennings, Kans. V. W. M a d s e n has been elected superintendent at Lake Preston, S. Dak. W a l d o A n d e r s o n , of Ramona, suc ceeds Mr. Madsen. W i l l ia m E. L l o y d , of Richmond, Va., has been ap pointed director of special services for the American Association of School Administrators, Washington, D . C. He entered upon his new duties September IS. F. K. P o n t io u s , of Walnut, Kans., has accepted the superintendency at Galena, where he succeeds C. L. Wantland. ic H. C. L e w i s , of Nicolet, Wis., has been elected su p e r intendent of schools at West DePere, to succeed J. B. Layde, who has retired after thirty years’ service. Ar t h u r T in d a l l has been elected superintendent of the elementary school district a t Whisman, Calif. T. H . R is d a l , of Galesburg, N . Dak., has been elected superintendent of schools a t Minnewaukan. G e o r g e F a l k e n s t e i n , of Turtle Lake, N. Dak., has accepted the superintendency a t Towner, where he suc ceeds Emil F. Sather. H a r o l d Si m m o n s , of Sulphur Springs, Iowa, has ac cepted the superintendency a t Adel. D r . E. E. L e w i s , emeritus professor of education a t Ohio State University, Columbus, was honored guest a t a testimonial dinner on August 8, a t the Deshler-Hilton Hotel. In attendance were some 100 of his former graduate students, now serving in various parts of the country, as well as friends and colleagues. Dr. Lewis has been retired since 1952. R a y m o n d E. R a m s d e l i , has been elected assistant superintendent of schools a t Vernon, Conn. 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"500 Million Years In The M a k i n g N a t u r a l Slate^2s~ 90 Convert any room into a Banquet or Group A c tiv ity Room. . . Set up or clear in minutes TOPS OF MASONITE PRESDWOOD, FIR & BIRCH PLYWOOD, LINOLEUM, RESILYTE PLASTICS QUICKLY FOLDorUNFOLD for Changing Room Uses TUBULAR STEEL LEGS _ PENNSYLVANIA SLATE PRODUCERS GUILD, INC. 203 R E A L T Y B L D G . USED IN CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, HOTELS, INSTITUTIONS, CLUBS, LODGES AND INDUSTRIAL PLANTS S end fo r fo ld e r w ith c o m p le te s pe c ific a tio n s . MITCHELL MANUFACTURING COMPANY 2 7 3 2 S. 34TH STREET THE S T R O N G E S T , • H A N D IE S T MILWAUKEE 4 6 , WIS. F O L D IN G TABLE M A D E! SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL fo r OCTOBER, 1953 �gyms in one ma ke They’ll pay for themselves in use! Horn planning and equip ment give you maximum gym use—for exhibitions that pay —for efficient practice. HORN S e a ts —folded ^ mean plenty of room fo r p r a c t i c e . A smooth, safe surface protects players. Your local Horn representa tiv e helps you plan. Horn factory crews supervise in s ta lla tio n . H orn q u a l i t y construction gives years of trouble-free service. I S e a t s — ex ten d ed m e a n ^ y of room for the p aying Comfortable, easy to clean. Write today for details on Horn folding gym seats and partitions—and the new fold ing stages. HORN P a rtitio n s ^ —electrically op e r a t e d , e a s ily folded back for exhibitions, or ex tended to provide two or more prac tice gyms. 4 ifi_ n& FOR SAFETY, plan w ith ^ H O R N ! Horn folding gym seats provide a smooth, sloping surface when fold ed . . . real protection for th e vital zone! SCHOOL EQUIPMENT DIVISION OF THE BRUNSWICK-BALKE-COLLENDER CO M PAN Y 623 SOUTH WABASH AVE., CHICAGO 5, ILLINOIS SCHOOL BOARD JOURNAL fo r OCTOBER, 1953 89 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource We Bring Community into the Schools, T. Edward Rutter, School Board Journal, October, 1953 Description An account of the resource Article discussing Arlington's inclusion of citizens' advisory committees. 6 pages, article appears on first, third, and fifth pages. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Educational Leadership 1953-10 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_1_46 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/500920307821267bca902077b6e10bf2.pdf 13da8cbc4274fc3d3ed9464f45c6c3b8 PDF Text Text Reprinted from E d u c a tio n a l L ead ersh ip , VoI. X I, N o. 1 An A ppeal for Common Sense AGNES E. MEYER Are current unjustified attacks on schools a modern outbreak of “vigilantism”? A keen observer of the American social scene ana lyzes these attacks and suggests positive means of meeting them. T T IS a great relief these days to get away from the tensions of the na tion’s capital and to look at our many problems from the sane vantage point of life in a local community. It is espe cially heartening to discuss some of these problems in a county which is justly famous throughout the land as an independent, courageous commu nity singularly competent to turn its ideals into a working reality. I am grateful to the American Association of University Women for inviting me and giving me this opportunity to recall the lasting contributions that have been made to the preservation of some of our noblest traditions. I am all the happier to do this be cause the shrill voices which have been getting the headlines of late have dis turbed the even tenor of our ways and tempted us to answer the violent people with equal violence. Yet the natural fears and conflicts of an endangered so ciety can only be assuaged by the appli cation of self-control, intelligence and native American common sense which characterize the highly literate popula tion of Arlington and Americans as a whole. This American common sense is derived from the daily necessity of solving dilemmas, annoyances and de feats; it teaches us to accept difficulties without too much fear or anxiety. If we are more than usually disturbed to day, it is because in the past we have Ed u c a t io n a l Le a d e r s h ip �taken our heritage of freedom too much for granted. It seemed safely enshrined not only in our daily lives but in the Bill of Rights. Now we have suddenly awakened to the fact that freedom must be recaptured by every generation and that it will endure only as long as we stand ready to defend it at any cost, however high. Thus the cooperative endeavors you have made here toward social progress are of especial impor tance today. For the freedoms we all cherish will be lost or preserved not in Washington or in our state govern ments, but in the local communities where people live and strive, succeed or fail, as the case may be. But though very definite threats to the freedoms we have always taken for granted do exist today, let us not exag gerate the danger. We tend to forget momentarily the great progress toward the extension of human freedom we have made during the past generation in ways almost too numerous to men tion. We have underpinned old age, the destitute, and needy families with social security; improvements in the fields of health and education have been amazing; and the Negro with whose disadvantages Europe is always re proaching us has possibly made greater progress toward equal rights than ever before in our history. If we remember the vitality our democracy has shown under the stress of wars both hot and cold, it will strengthen our faith in ourselves and help us to see the real dangers that confront our society not so much as a menace but as another challenge which must be met with the same fortitude and the same calm and constructive attitude. We must trust ourselves and each other as never before O ctober 1953 Agnes E. Meyer, noted journalist and au thor, i widely recognized for her staunch s support of public education and of freedom to teach and to learn. This article i s adapted from an address delivered by Mrs. Meyer in April 1953 before a branch of the American Association of University W o m e n in Arlington, Virginia. Mrs. Meyer i also author of O u t o f T h ese R oots: T h e s A uto b io g rap h y o f a n A m erican W om an, which i to be published in mid-October s by the Atlantic-Little, Brozvn Publishing Companies. and thus strengthen the faith of the country as a whole in its principles, its hopes and beliefs. We must speak our minds fearlessly, for in so doing we dis cover that there are in ourselves and others human resources upon which we have never yet drawn. Nothing is more contagious, more inspiring than courage. C o n s p ira c y A g a in s t S c h o o ls At the same time I do not wish to minimize the real dangers to our de mocracy. And I shall select one of these for discussion which interests you and me most, the sinister attacks upon our public school system. For I think it is a clearly established fact that there has developed throughout our country in recent years— from Scarsdale, New York to Pasadena, California— nation a wide, more or less organized conspiracy to undermine the faith of the Ameri can people in our public school system. When I use the word conspiracy I mean a planned, concerted effort on the part of various individuals and organiza tions, the source of whose ample funds is unknown, to attack public education with identical, monotonously repeated accusations that have just enough truth to make their falsehood seem plausible. These enemies of our schools have ob29 viously borrowed the tactics of the communists and fascists who maintain that if only a lie is repeated often enough with sufficient impudence, many people will finally believe it. It should not surprise us that sub versive elements who wish to hurt de mocracy should single out our unique public school system as their deadliest enemy. For public education is the heart-beat of our nation that daily re news and purifies the blood stream of the democratic body politic. It has helped to make our nation great, toler ant and hopeful, because it has released human talents and capacities in our country to a greater extent than has happened anywhere else in the whole course of human history. Thus if our public education is successfully weak ened or destroyed, so is democracy it self. That there may be a few master minds behind this campaign is indi cated, as I have said, by the constant repetition of the same propaganda using almost identical arguments, lan guage and slogans, distributed often in vicious literature originating from a single source: 1. The schools do not teach the 3 R’s. 2. The teachers and the textbooks are communistic or at best socialistic. 3. Progressive education breeds un disciplined children if not delinquents and criminals. 4. The schools are godless. That is the whole gamut of these ac cusations. They have been answered again and again with irrefutable proof to the contrary. But the answers are ignored. For the type of mentality with which we are dealing in this battle 30 to defend democratic institutions is impervious to reasonable persuasion and moral principles. One of the most regrettable results of these unjust criticisms is that the friends of the public school system have been jockeyed into a defensive position. They scarcely dare to make constructive criticisms themselves, lest they give aid and comfort to the enemy. Thereupon the enemies shout: “Oh, so you think the public schools are perfect!” Thus do the falsehoods multiply one upon the other, and time and energies that should be used to improve our public schools are wasted because the honest critics of our educational system are forced into a state of siege mentality. To be sure, our colleges and univer sities have also recently come under attack from members of Congress. But these Congressional persecutions of our educators would never have taken place, if the witch hunts on the local level had not been so successful in sow ing mutual distrust and thereby de stroying peace and orderly progress. In other words we would not now have a few dangerous Hitlers in Congress if it were not for the fact that we have a flock of little Hitlers in almost every locality. The situation reminds me of a little-known Calvin Coolidge story. A man complained to President Coolidge that a certain Senator was a scoundrel. “Well,” replied Coolidge calmly, “there are a lot of scoundrels in the country and they are entitled to some represen tation.” Thus the whole crux of our strategy to protect the educational system is to meet the attacks in our local communties. The Congressional Hitlers must be criticized, opposed and ridiculed, Ed u c a t io n a l Lea d e r s h ip �since ridicule is one of the strongest weapons. How can we remain silent while these members of the Senate and House maltreat honest American citi zens, disrupt the work of Congress, and challenge the executive powers of the Administration? And no less serious, why should we allow these anti-democratic members of Congress to defame our country and ruin the prestige of our nation in every foreign land? “How long will America stand for this?” asks the British journalist Francis Williams in the Nexus Chronicle. He says of our Congressional lunatic-fringe: “The moral attitudes they depend upon and exploit matter not only to America but to the whole free world. And those of us who hold as our strongest article of international faith the need for the closest bonds of fidelity between Brit ain, the Commonwealth and the United States have an obligation to tell our friends in America just how much dam age those attitudes are doing to the cause of freedom everywhere.” M o d e rn V ig ila n tis m n o t N eed ed I mention these national and inter national repercussions merely to point out the full seriousness of the situation we face. But I come back to my theme by stating as my belief that the few destructive members of Congress are not going to change their evil tactics until they hear from the grass roots. Not even the leaders of the new Ad ministration will be able to cope with them successfully, for no truly demo cratic statesman can afford to resort to punitive action. Yet force is the only thing the authoritarian mentality respects. Only the voters who elected these incipient dictators can use power O ctober 1953 — democratic power of the ballot— the to bring them to their senses and per suade them to renounce their present tactics. To oppose these irrational individ uals successfully on a local basis, we must understand their psychology, for we are contending with deep psycho pathic factors. They are mostly people who because of their own emotional difficulties have never been able to re late themselves to the community and are now revenging themselves upon a society which they feel has rejected them. They are people filled with hatred because they feel insecure, lonely and slighted, and they satisfy this hatred by the systematic destruction of situations and confidence and mutual trust in order to benefit by the general confusion to acquire power for them selves. These Americans who see them selves as the insulted and injured are not of any particular economic or social level. There are among them some of our rootless intellectuals, many of whom formerly found refuge in “Amer ica First,” and now feel more adrift than ever since the majority of Ameri cans have learned that our nation must defend human freedom not only here at home but throughout the world. The only satisfaction of these dis gruntled elements is in destruction of the community solidarity of which they cannot make themselves a part. They are incapable of loyalty to any group— not even to the political party which elects them to office. And their anti communism is nothing but a screen for their hatred of the sound, honest, stable members of society. Therefore, the conservatives make a deadly mistake when they think that these people are 31 a bulwark against communism. The German industrialists made the same miscalculation concerning Hitler. The real hatred of our professional anti communists is precisely for the con servatives themselves whom they envy their respectability and the fact that society looks up to them. That is why they attack such patriotic, honorable and successful men as General Mar shall, Secretary Dulles, Senator Knowland, Charles Bohlen, Bishop Oxnam and others on the Federal level and, on the local level, that emblem of all that is sound and good and essentially con servative, the public schools. It is a desperate contest the nation faces in coping with these elements, for either they must break down through self-defeat, or they will break down everybody else. They are “dead-end kids” with whom every social worker and teacher is familiar, adolescents who are getting square with a world which they feel has never been fair to them. That is also why they use the childish device of name-calling whenever they are criticized. In dealing with these maladjusted members of our society, we are baffled and handicapped by a bad conscience. For they are the result of the weak nesses in our society, of its extreme com petitiveness, of its intense striving for social and economic status, and of its total neglect in the past of children who could not stand these pressures. Our worship of success creates bitterness in the unsuccessful. And these embittered monstrosities, without faith in love and kindliness, without respect for human beings or for any of the values that we cherish, these men who seek success whatever the cost, are a reproach to us 32 because they are the prototypes of our American vices. Furthermore, even the legitimate de mands of democracy are a strain upon the weak, for it calls for self-discipline, and the sacrifice of the will to power for the common good and for the estab lishment of a high group civilization. Thus it is not surprising that in times of danger that call for even greater sacrifices, many self-centered individ uals seek to destroy a society that de mands too much of them. Therefore it is a mistake to charac terize these elements as types of Ameri can fascism. They are a modern ver sion of vigilantism, a role that had dignity in our frontier days because the early vigilantes were filling a real need before law and order had been established. But they have no place and no legitimate function in our pres ent society. What these modern vigi lantes want is to establish their own law and domination for the law and the cooperative behavior of an orderly de mocracy. A n O u ts ta n d in g S c h o o l S y stem Thus we only make martyrs of these psychopathic characters if we gang up on them as disturbers of the peace. The role of the martyr would only be used as another asset and as justification of all that they are doing. We only hurt ourselves and our objectives if we sup press these anti-democratic forces with hostile methods. The most useful les son we can give these vigilantes whether in Congress or in the local communi ties is that true Americans refuse to use coercive power in the war of ideas. The best weapon we have lies in strengthen ing community solidarity through imEd u c a t io n a l Lea d er s h ip �provement of our school-community re lationships which keep open the free communication between all citizens and prevent exactly what the vigilantes want, the fragmentation of our society. That is also the reason why the com munists take great delight in the activi ties of the vigilantes. For the more they confuse us with attacks on the schools and the more we allow our selves to be driven into a merely defen sive attitude, the better the commu nists can fish in these troubled waters. You can readily see from this analysis of the vigilante mentality, why it was a delight to me to get reacquainted with the steady progress toward closer schoolcommunity cooperation that has been made in Arlington. It has been said of Americans that we lack philosophic .and political theories which can be used as a battle cry against the totali tarian ideologists. But this assuredly does not apply to the field of education. It has been accepted in all of our school systems that democracy, as we know it, is the highest form of government be cause it seeks t<^ devejop the latent potentialities of all of its citizens. We do not regard democracy as just another form of government, but as a continu ally expanding method of living to gether. Thus our educational system is an institution which has grown out of the historical soil in which it was rooted and has become indistinguish able from democracy itself. This philosophy of our democratic schools is implemented differently by different educators since they them selves necessarily vary in intelligence, imagination and administrative skill. But I can say without exaggeration that the Arlington school system, given the O ctober 1953 handicaps with which it began six years ago, is one of the finest examples in the country of the application of our Amer ican princples of education. And it has made this astounding progress in so short a time because the citizens of Arlington, the Board of Education they elected, the school administrators and the teachers have all pulled their weight in the boat and have done it in unison. Increasing mutual confidence among all of these elements was an important factor in the actual accomplishments. To an observer like myself it seems that the superior quality of the Arling ton Board of Education has been of value far beyond anything the county as a whole as yet realizes. I have a fairly large acquaintance with such boards and I know of none that ex ceeds this one in the technical educa tion, the varied professions represented and the experiences in administration that are to be found among the five members of the Arlington School Board. The devotion which the Board has shown to its onerous duties and the respect which it has earned have never been more important to the schools than at present when almost all of them, sooner or later, are confronted with criticism and attacks. Equally important in the rapid prog ress of what used to be a neglected ed ucational system was the appointment of first-rate school administrators and supervisors who improved the whole situation by able leadership. Together with the specialists and assistant teach ers who were selected with great care, this battery of experts have pulled to gether a school program which was for merly limited to the 3 R's until it has developed into a curriculum that is 33 comparable to the highest standards. Furthermore, the system became one of even quality, a matter of greater justice to all the children of a county whose schools used to vary from good to bad. Of especial value has been the pro gram of in-service training which I at tended some weeks ago, where small and large groups of teachers were en thusiastic about this opportunity to grow in their profession under expert guidance. It was an education for me to see the various groups and their lead ers arrive at new ideas in vocational guidance, music, mathematics, physical education and other branches of the rich curriculum. It was like a poem— an American poem of mutual confi dence, mutual respect and the resultant harmony of fine minds working together toward common goals. The (low of ideas back and forth, the discussions that took place at these workshops con stitute a truly democratic school system in which the learning process is con tinuous for the pupils, their teachers and administrators. No wonder the morale of the teachers has been trans formed since last I made a study of these schools, and morale of the teaching staff is as important today as adequate sal aries for holding teachers and for re cruiting new ones. Every human being is attracted to an organization where his work is appreciated and where he has the opportunity to rise in his pro fession through increasing competence. Nothing could be a greater asset at this period of acute teacher shortage. C itize n P a r tic ip a tio n Is E s s e n tia l To be sure, it has taken an increased budget to provide this expert leader ship and the workshops, but it was on 34 the whole the most economical way of achieving quickly an excellent and varied curriculum, taught by people who are daily achieving greater pro fessional skill. These remarkable innovations have aroused interest and favorable comment far beyond the reaches of Arlington County in various professional publica tions. But in these comments there has never been sufficient appreciation of the fact that the Board of Education and the school authorities were success ful in these experiments because they took the parents and the general public with them every step of the way. And if I were to single out only one feature of the Arlington schools for commenda tion it would be the broad area of citi zen participation that they have been able to achieve through numerous com mittees, councils and advisory groups who have assisted in the formulation of the curriculum, in the selection of textbooks and in other contributions to individual schools. For the local P.T.A.’s the usual speeches which have no relationship to immediate school problems have become obsolete. Fath ers as well as mothers attend the meet ings to discuss educational issues and to study the problems constantly aris ing in a dynamic school program. It has become a generally accepted theory throughout our country that we should have community-centered schools, but seldom have I encountered that demo cratic ideal so thoroughly implemented as it is in Arlington. And the results have been all the more constructive be cause this county is fortunate in having among its citizens probably a higher percentage of skilled, professional tal ents than most other counties. Ed u c a t io n a l Lea d er s h ip �For example, the whole battle con cerning “progressive education” was headed off by the active cooperation on curriculum and textbooks of a unique organization called “The Parents Coun cil on Instruction.” When parents meet regularly to discuss with the as sociate superintendent what kind of education they want for their children, what philosophy the school should fol low, and what textbooks should be used, the whole community feels in volved in its school program and is ready to defend it, however progressive or modern, against the criticisms of people who yearn for “the good old. days” and the little school house which unfortunately was red. The ironical thing is that these people who see the present educational methods as hope lessly unregenerate are by no means a good advertisement for the old-fash ioned kind of education they now idealize. But Arlington County is to be congratulated for the way in which it has taken most of them tactfully into camp and gone serenely on its way. The parents and citizens who have achieved this truly democratic victory have given a useful lesson in political action of the wisest kind to many less alert commu nities. They also learned that demo cratic action is far more effective than that of the rival ideologies of the left O ctober 1953 or right with which it has to contend. These schools have been transformed into a second home for children be cause both work and play have been shared by the parents, themselves, and by that larger family, the community as a whole. The learning process has a serious content and meaning because it is replete with life, with the real life of the county, the nation and the world. In such a happy setting the child re tains the courage to be himself as he feels his abilities expanding. And he rejoices the more in his own progress because it is shared by his classmates and his family. We talk often of the American way of life as if it were something finished and perfected. It is a way because it beckons us onward to ever greater heights of achievement. And the way that each local community finds of triumphing over the wave of reaction with which it is now afflicted will de cide what the world thinks of us. This is another era when we should say of ourselves what Emerson said of the American people over a hundred years ago: "We are not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers, and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort and advancing on Chaos and the Dark.” 35 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource An Appeal for Common Sense, Agnes E. Meyer, Reprinted from Educational Leadership, Volume 11, Number 1 Description An account of the resource Article calling for a "calm and constructive attitude" in facing attacks against social progress. 5 pages Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Educational Leadership No date Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_1_45 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/c18df260ec31c744f2c6e177d6750fa6.pdf b9c058c420f7a391d7b72b84e9f4e046 PDF Text Text AN ARTHUR C. CROFT PUBLICATION Balancing The Demands On The Superintendency v* T h e d e m a n d s on the superintendency from the community, the school staff, the profession. t 0* Distinguishing between the superintendent-as-official a nd the superintendent-as-person. v0 T h e need for shifting smoothly social systems. u0 Written b y Willard B. Spalding, O r e g o n State System of Higher E d ucation, Portland, Oregon. among various official a n d informal Maintaining equilibrium a m o n g the d e m a n d i n g roles of the superintendent. the sixth sense W HATsense superintendent needs isa asense would —a of equilibrium. Such seem to be a necessity if he is to balance the many roles, functions and responsibilities of his job. But to begin finding that equilibrium it is necessary to take a closer look at the demands made on the su perintendency. And it is necessary to examine the many “worlds” in which the superintendent works and lives. The superintendent of schools is a part of several different social systems. He is a member of the community. He is part of the staff of the schools. He is a member of professional organizations. He is a member of a service club, a church, perhaps a golf or country club, and certainly of many informal groups. He is in a body of friends who visit back and forth. He, like all other members, has a position in the structure of each group with which he is affiliated. Some of his behavior is determined by his role in each group. But, in almost every group, he is still the superintendent of schools. His behavior is also influenced greatly by the group’s perception of the superintendency. D e m a n d s o f th e C o m m u n ity The community expects the superintendent of schools to join civic organizations; a church; and a social or recreational club, such as a golf club. He is expected to be a member of the governing boards or advisory boards of charitable and social service agencies. He is expected to hold similar posts on committees sponsoring civic festivals, symphony con certs, opera, drama, art museums, and other aesthetic activities. He is expected to work closely with, and occasionally to join, the chamber of commerce, an association of manufacturers or the community’s boost er’s club. Membership in these organizations, or on their governing boards, is largely confined to the upper- middle and lower-upper social classes. Most of the values which distinguish these classes must be ac cepted if persons are to continue in these various or ganizations. These values extend from the externals of dress and deportment to the most important be haviors. The superintendent is expected to join these groups. Once he is a member he is enmeshed in the web of their values. Whatever his own personal values may be, he is frequently the captive of the up per-middle class. His position in the social life of the community carries with it the behaviors which this class values. The superintendent also occupies a position within the prestige-power-communication system of the com munity. His opinions sometimes carry weight beyond their intrinsic merit because of the prestige of his office, even when these opinions are removed from his fields of professional competence. He can influence community action more than most persons because communities tend to follow suggestions from persons with power. As he attends meetings of organiza tions, plays golf or bridge, or relaxes in the home of a friend ne nears much about the schools, the other power figures in the community, and plans and pro posals for community action. Some of this informa tion is passed on in order to influence him. Some of it is gossip, the basic element of much that passes for conversation in the community. The forces which im pinge upon the position of superintendent, like those which impinge upon most other positions of influence in the community, may well lead him to believe that his understanding of community affairs is closer to reality than the understanding of others. Many of his actions and decisions will be influenced by this belief. D e m a n d s o f th e S ch o o l S ta ff In addition to the official administrative structure, there are three social “systems” among school staff. The first two, usually made up of nonacademic Copyright 1954, Arthur C. Croft Publications. The Educational Trend is published monthly. General Offices: 100 Garfield Avenue, New London, Conn. Reproduction in whole or in part, without permission of the Publisher, Is forbidden. Printed in U. S. A. Issue No. 154 �e d u c a t i o n a l t r e n d staff members, are the custodial maintenance group and the clerical group. The third is made up of the academic employees, with some tendency to split into a social system of administrators and another of teachers. There is frequently overlapping of social group membership among school staff, as individuals identify themselves with more than one of them. Some characteristics are common to all of these systems, and these the superintendent should un derstand thoroughly. Each has an official hierarchy which has been established by the board of education, often upon recommendation of the superintendent. Each, too, has a natural hierarchy, established by the system itself. The superintendent of schools has a social role within each of these hierarchies. He is the chief ad ministrative officer of the schools and, as such, is the head of the official structure of authority. In this role he has the top status position in all social systems within the school staff. But, as a person, he must find his own place in each system. He cannot become part of the informal custodial group, for example, un less the custodians wish this to happen. If member ship in this group is important to him, he is, at one and the same time, the official leader of the custodians and an applicant for admission to their informal group. If he fails to perceive this, if he uses the power of his official position to force acceptance of him as a person, or if he confuses the official hierarchy with the natural structure of the group, he will find that his relations with his staff become needlessly compli cated and may deteriorate. This applies to relations with teachers, adminis trators, and secretaries as well as to custodians. The superintendent who uses his official power to force social acceptance does so at his peril. And even when he gains social acceptance through the means used customarily by others he is in a difficult situation. Many in the group will see him as a power figure. Some will defer to him unduly, seeking to curry favor. Some will pass information to him, hoping to influence his action. Some will endeavor to use him to their own advantage, or that of their friends and relatives. How can the superintendent solve the problems aris ing from dual membership and dual roles in the school social systems? Some superintendents endeav or to remain outside the informal social structure of the staff. When this is done, the superintendent is involved in a single set of relations, those with the official hierarchy. Such isolation is never completely achievable. As you have observed many times, work ing with people eventually leads to friendships with some of them, and so to social relations. In addition, staff members may invite the superintendent to din ners, bridge games, golf, square dances, or some other activity. If he refuses these invitations, he is a boor; if he accepts them, he becomes entangled in the web of the informal social system. In the long run, the attempt of the superintendent to remain wholly out side this system will probably fail. But he can re main mostly outside of it. When he does this, he has a relatively unimportant place within it. 2 Other superintendents take a completely opposite approach to this problem. They try to become wholly accepted by the informal system. They give staff pic nics, staff parties and staff suppers. Some of this is done because of a belief that people work better when they know each other. More of the activity comes because these superintendents wish to be fully accepted as persons. A third way of handling the problem is by attempt ing to make the official structure the same as the in formal one. You have seen this happen through the selection of persons for administrative posts because of their demonstrated leadership of their professional peers. Occasionally this procedure is successful, but more frequently it is not. People who are appointed to positions of power are perceived differently when they are in them than when in previous positions of natural leadership, since the source of their power is now outside the group. This may be an excellent way to select administrators, but it probably has little to offer as a usable device for making the official coincide with the informal structure. At times, the pressure for coincidence is exerted in the opposite direction. The superintendent seeks to make the informal structure the same as the official one. This means that he expects to be the natural leader of the group, and that the subordinate leaders will also be those in administrative positions. So far as is known, this has never been successful, al though it has been tried. Each social system within the staff of each dis trict expects the superintendent to act as an employer, an evaluator, a rater of professional competence, a firer of the incompetent or unduly troublesome, an interpreter of the staff to the board, a pleader for better salaries, a dispenser of justice, a supporter of the teacher against the recalcitrant pupil, and a defender of the subordinate. Doubtless there are other acts which careful study would discover as signed to the role of superintendent by the staffs of particular school districts. One additional aspect of staff relations should be mentioned. Many superintendents find that their relationships with nonacademic employees tend to become like those of the efficient boss of a business. The product manager of a large physical plant is a common figure in industry or commerce. Such men are often prestige-and-power figures within the com munity. Some superintendents enjoy being classified with these men. Often many members of the nonacademic staff have had previous experience in busi ness; they have learned ways of relating to the boss. They have learned what to expect of bosses. They create strong pressures on the superintendent, forc ing him toward the stereotype of the good business leader. It may well be that some superintendents feel more at home in managing the plant than in developing educational programs. We have all met the individual who likes to talk of his managerial efficiency and who seems to avoid other professional shoptalk. But he is clearly in the minority today. The superintendent is caught in the pattern of hu man relationships which makes the staff of the schools �EDUCATIONAL a social system. He is also caught in the officiallyadopted system of relations, the chart of organization. He must be adept in adaptation if he is to fit well in to both sets of relations. Most successful administra tors seem to have learned how to do this. We would know much more about the process of administration if some of them would take time to analyze their be havior and tell us how they actually operate within the staff of the schools. D e m a n d s o f th e P ro fe s s io n The organization of the teaching profession of the United States follows a wonderfully complicated pat tern. I have occasionally attempted, but never with success, to explain the multitude of professional or ganizations to an educator from another country. By the time I had completed describing the vast National Education Association with its departments and af filiates, my listener was hopelessly confused. When I began on the various subject-matter groups, like the National Council of Teachers of English, he be came bewildered. When I moved on to the smaller groups such as the Association for Childhood Edu cation or the American Education Fellowship he threw up his hands in despair. And I had not yet touched upon regional organizations, state associa tions, county associations, and local associations. The superintendent of schools is assigned roles in many of these groups. His relationships with fellow administrators is of ten closest in some small group such as the Metropoli tan School Study Council, the Chicago Study Group, or similar groups which have sprung up within every state. These are nominally peer groups, yet, as in every human group, there is an internal hierarchy based upon size of job, age, length of experience, salary, length of time in the group, professional rep utation and similar characteristics. Most of these groups study important educational problems and con tribute to the advancement of the profession. But each such group affords its members needed oppor tunities for boasting, whistling in the dark, swapping experiences and licking the common wounds caused by school boards, attacks upon the schools, or tax payer groups. Most superintendents are also members of a state association of school administrators and of the Amer ican Association of School Administrators. Each of these organizations has a formal structure. Each al so has its pattern of human relations which makes it a social system. The superintendent fits into both of these. If he is ambitious to hold office he seeks to establish contact with those members who are re puted to wield influence. If he has held office, he may assume the role of elder statesman. If he is un successful in his search for office h e may, as a by product of his campaigning, become the leader of an informal group within the organization; or he may be come an isolate; or he may become known as a good working member. If he has no ambitions for office, he may fill any of the roles of group membership. Organizations of administrators are essential to the continued study and improvement of the administra TREND tive process. A considerable body of evidence could be assembled to support the thesis that the successful school administrator, with but little adaptation, could become equally successful in leading enterprises of a totally different character, and vice versa. But the forces supporting the professionalization of teaching are too strong to exempt the titular leaders of the pro fession from membership in some inclusive associa tion. Such membership leads to inextricable entangle ment of superintendents in a reciprocal system of professional obligations, duties, and expectations. Here the superintendent must act like a member of the teaching profession concerned about facilitating learn ing. He must see himself as carrying on the social functions which have been assigned to that pro fession. He is expected to work for the goals of the profession even when these goals are not wholly acceptable to the board and community. Superintendents, like other members of the teach ing profession, have individual bents and interests. These lead some of them to retain active interest in a subject-matter association which they originally joined while in the classroom. Others join groups like the Association for Childhood Education in order to learn more about child growth and development, or like the American Education Fellowship in order to keep in touch with progressive education Within each of these groups the superintendent is given certain roles just because he is a superintendent. He is ex pected to behave in these ways. He is generally perceived as the practical man, the one who applies the test of reality to plausible theory, the one who is concerned about cost, public reaction, feasibility, and similar items. All of us know many superintendents who do not fit this role. Yet it may well be that they are forced into it in many professional groups. It is in professional organizations that the super intendent is in most frequent contact with the profes sor of education. This relationship is not always an easy one. Many professors are too little aware of the complexity and difficulty of administration. They tend to look upon it as a necessary evil which must be borne rather than as an essential part of a social in stitution. Many superintendents regard professors as impractical theorists who have never faced a split board of education or an organized pressure group, who are safely verbal, never being called upon to risk their jobs through professional action. On the whole, however, the relationships between professors and superintendents provide fruitful opportunity for the refinement of ideas. H e M e e ts T h e se D e m a n d s In the 1953 Inglis Lecture, I pointed out that the functions of the superintendency may be summed up as follows: The superintendent is a delegate of the community and responsible to it. He uses some of his skills to help the community decide what it wants him to do and what it wants the school to do. He recognizes that the aims and purposes of the school are set by political action. He seeks to get the community to 3 �EDUCATIONAL TREND consider and act so that its desired aims will be clearly understood by everyone. He seeks a stable decision based on considerable agreement. The superintendent is a channel of communication between community and school. He makes sure that the ideas and values of one interact with the ideas and values of the other. As the community considers the purposes of the school, he encourages the school to consider the possibility of achieving these purposes. As the school plans its programs he brings to it the purposes set for it by the community and makes sure that all are included as goals. In this role he makes sure that the expertness of the teacher is used re sponsibly to achieve the ends desired by the people who support the school. The superintendent is the forefigure of profes sional opinion. He expresses the ideas of the staff to the public. He interprets professional action and thought to laymen. The superintendent is an educator of the staff of the schools. In this role he organizes so-called inservice training programs which are frequently taught by others. But he does much more than this. He pro vides professional publications, arranges conferences and forums, calls attention to the results of experi ments and research, and gives advice. The superintendent is a manager. Public funds must be spent prudently and accounted for accurately. Inventories are expected to be up to date. Buildings and equipment must be maintained in good repair. Schedules of classes are needed. The tasks of man agement appear to be routine only when they are per formed skillfully. The superintendent is an employer. He interviews prospective teachers and selects those whom he will recommend for employment. He observes teachers at work. He helps them improve their performance. He dismisses those whose performance does not meet his standards. His roles call for other functions such as securing better pay and working conditions, synthesizing op posing ideas, protecting the common good in edu cation, developing morale through teamwork, im proving educational programs. Probably more care ful study would reveal still further functions. Some functions are called for by some roles and not by others. No single function is required by all roles. T h e S e a r c h f o r E q u ilib r iu m A friend of mine who administered personality tests to candidates for the Ph.D at a major institution once remarked, somewhat facetiously but with much truth, “Superintendents have more anxiety than any people whom I have tested outside of mental institutions.” It is possible to assume that some of this anxiety arises out of what seem to be unresolved conflicts among the many roles of the superintendent and among the functions which are required by these roles. If this is true, resolution of these apparent conflicts would do much to ease the situation. It is impossible to deal adequately with such an important problem short of a many-paged monograph. But the direction in which a solution may be found can be indicated. One basis for resolving these conflicts was pro vided many years ago by Mary Parker Follett in her concept of integration. She held that most con flicts arose because of failure to seek for an answer which would encompass both points of view. While she developed the idea out of observing disputes between management and labor, we can use it in an other area. It may well be that some of the appar ent conflict could be eliminated by re-examination of the functions and roles in order to discover other be haviors which could encompass and integrate some of them. I believe that the emerging concepts of equilibrium hold great promise for the solution of this problem. These theories involve notions of the maintenance of zones of compatibility or harmony between evidently contradictory points of view. That there is a degree of incompatibility among the superintendent’s roles and functions is certainly true. But all are essential, all must be performed by the same person. In some manner they must be kept in equilibrium. The unifying element in the superintendent’s many functions, the means of relating them, I find in the systems of government and human relations which is the United States of America —a social system in moving equilibrium. Its boundaries are not clearly defined. Because it is progressing, old limits often disappear. It is a dynamic system. Principles of operation which fit a static system will not apply here. The main responsibilities of the superintendent of schools are to impart these qualities to a school system and to preserve them for it. If a school system becomes mechanistically struc tured, he should help it become dynamic. If a school system becomes static, he should help it move. If a school system loses equilibrium, he should help it regain balance. In short, whenever and wherever the school system does not fit the system of govern ment and human relations which is the United States of America, then there is a job for the superintendent of schools to perform. The profession can be proud of its accomplishments. But it must maintain a dynamic, moving equilibrium. It must remain amorphous. It must not have fixed boundaries. A theory of dynamic administration does not arise quickly. Discovering its basic premises will not be easy. But much has been done. The future augurs well. Good theory arises because wise superintend ents do what seems to be right and sensible at the time. If a researcher observes and analyzes, he con tributes to the growing body of theory. But he would have nothing to observe if the practitioner had not acted. So progress within the profession, even progress in the development of administrative theory, rests where it has always rested, on the shoulders of the men and women who are superintendents of schools. They will continue to bear that burden with a nice sense of what is just and true. Subscription rate $3.00 per year. Additional copies of this Trend, Issue No. 154, are available at 25<* each, or in quantities at the following discounts: 51 to 250 copies 10%; 251 to 500 copies 15%; 501 to 1000 copies 20%; 1001 or more copies 25% (plus postage). Send oraer to the Business Offices: ARTHUR C. CROFT PUBLICATIONS, 100 Garfield Avenue, New London, Connecticut. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Educational Trend, Balancing the Demands on the Superintendency, Issue Number 154 Description An account of the resource Pamphlet advising superintendents on how to balance the demands of the community, school staff, and profession. 4 pages Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Arthur C. Croft Publications No date Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_1_44 https://projectdaps.org/files/original/12f7263e3504a26e64d1fb86c0eddbb5.pdf d3635a6087fbd021fe4f7841f6118bc1 PDF Text Text LEGAL STATUS OF SEGREGATED SCHOOLS P a rt I o f a S tudy on the Status o f the Education o f Negroes Joint Committee of the National Education Association and the American Teachers Association �JO IN T C O M M ITTEE O F TH E NATIONAL ED U CA TIO N ASSOCIATION AND T H E AM ERICAN TEACHERS ASSOCIATION 1952-53 Representing ATA Representing NEA A. C . C ap p s School of Education University of Missouri Columbia, Missouri “A m b ro s e C a l i v e r Assistant to the Commissioner U. S. Office of Education Washington, D. C. “ M a r io n W . F o x C. H a t c h State Department of Education Montgomery, Alabama R o b e rt 121 North Hartford Avenue Atlantic City, New Jersey C. N e w b o ld Retired State Agent for Negro Schools Raleigh, North Carolina N. °J. R u p e r t PiconExecutive Secretary Virginia Teachers Association Richmond, Virginia Pa ul LEGAL STATUS OF SEGREGATED SCHOOLS “W a l t e r N. R id le y Virginia State College Petersburg, Virginia Part I of a study of the status of the education of Negroes sponsored by the Joint Committee of the National Education Association and the Amer ican Teachers Association “H. C o u n c i l l T r e n h o l m , President Alabama State College Montgomery, Alabama M a ry L. W illia m s R a n k in Garnet High School Charleston, West Virginia— Chairman Assistant Superintendent of Schools Detroit, Michigan 1953-54 Representing NEA A. C . C apps School of Education Columbia, Missouri S a ra h L. L e ite r 4719 Homer Avffliue Suitland, Maryland C. N e w b o ld Retired State Agent for Negro Schools Raleigh, North Carolina N. “ J. R u p e r t P i c o t t Executive Secretary Virginia Teachers Association Richmond, Virginia Pa ul Ra n k in Assistant Superintendent of Schools Detroit, Michigan Representing ATA “A m b ro s e C a l i v e r Assistant to the Commissioner U. S. Office of Education Washington, D. C. C. H a t c h State Department of Education Montgomery, Alabama R o b ert “ W a l t e r N . R id le y Virginia State College Petersburg, Virginia “II. C o u n c i l l T r e n h o l m , President Alabama State College Montgomery, Alabama M a ry L . W illia m s Garnet High School Charleston, West Virginia— Chairman NEA Headquarters Contact “R. B. M a r s t o n , Director, NEA Membership Division “Subcommittee appointed to work with the NEA Research Division on the studies (Part I and Part II). [2] National Education Association 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W. W ashington 6, D. C. American Teachers Association P. O. Box 271 M ontgomery, Alabama January 1954 [3] �The Fourteenth Amendment and Its Meaning The question now placed before the Supreme Court of the United States is whether or not the Four teenth Amendment to the Consti tution of the United States is violated by the states which edu cate Negro children in schools separate from white children. This problem has been passed over lightly in previous cases decided by state supreme courts and lower federal courts; it has never before been presented to the Supreme Court of the United States. Be cause the Fourteenth Amendment has entered into the historical back ground of segregated schools, how ever superficially, and is now the main issue, it will be discussed be fore the history of segregation in the public schools is described. T h e Fourteenth Amendment contains five sections. Section 1 reads: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the juris diction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privi leges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State de prive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Section 2 defines the apportion ment of representatives to Congress among the several states and Sec tion 3 prohibits officeholding bv persons who, after taking an oath to support the Constitution, subse quently engage in insurrection or give aid to the enemy, except that this restriction may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of each House of Congress. Section 4 has to do with Civil War debts. Section 5 empowers Congress to enforce the Amendment. Much of the controversy in Con gress before the resolution, which l a t e r became the Fourteenth Amendment, was passed concerned Sections 2 and 3. When the Con gressional committee recommend ed the resolution for passage by Congress, its report contained the following statement: The conclusion of your Committee, therefore, is that the so-called Confed erate States are not, at present, entitled to representation in the Congress of the United States; that, before allowing such representation, adequate security of fu ture peace and safety should be required; that this can only be found in such changes of the original law, as shall de termine the civil rights of all citizens in all parts of the republic; shall place representation on an equitable basis, shall fix a stigma upon treason, and protect the loyal people against future claims for the expenses incurred in support of re bellion and for manumitted slaves, to gether with an express grant of power in "Congress to enforce those provisions. To this end. they offer a joint resolution for amending the Constitution of the United States . . . . /Italics added/ In the debate it was said in the House that Section 1 simply meant [1 6 that whatever law punishes or pro tects a white man should operate in the same way upon the Negro. In the Senate, Section 1 was said to have two objectives: (a) to make the prohibitions of the Bill of Rights binding on the states and compel them to respect these rights, and (b) to abolish class legislation in the states and do away with injustices resulting from subjecting one caste of persons to a code not applicable to another. The resolution was passed by two-thirds vote of Congress and sent to the state legislatures for rati fication in 1866. The Southern states rejected it; also three border states—Delaware, Kentucky, and Maryland. By a joint resolution the Delaware legislature stated that the Fourteenth Amendment “would be an attempt to establish an equality not sanctioned by the laws of nature or of God.” Several states rejected the Amendment and later ratified it; several withdrew t h e i r ratification after having adopted it. However, 30 states had ratified the Amendment by July 1868, and the U. S. Depart ment of State issued a proclama tion to the effect that it had become a part of the Constitution by adoption in more than threefourths of the 36 states. The right of enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment was em bodied in Congress. Soon thereaf ter a bill of rights was proposed to implement the Amendment. Pro posals of later vintage went thru somewhat similar ups and downs of debate. The legislative history of 1870-1875 has special signifi cance today because many of the Congressmen who debated the is sue then had helped frame the Amendment, and today the Su preme Court is considering (a) if the Fourteenth Amendment was meant to ban segregation or could be so interpreted, and (b) if steps taken in this direction should be the responsibility of the Supreme Court in interpreting the Amend ment or of Congress in its enforce ment. Mr. Sumner of Massachusetts sponsored a civil rights bill which was adversely reported in 1870 and again in 1871. In December of 1871, Mr. Sumner was successful in attaching his civil rights pro posal to the Amnesty Bill then un der consideration in the Senate. The purpose of this civil rights bill was to clarify the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment, to make certain that hotels, public convey ances, and schools were open equally to all. Debate was heated. Some opponents felt that Con gress had no right to legislate on such matters as education, worship, and amusement, which were as pects of the private life of the peo ple. Others opposed because the civil rights bill did not assert or affirm any right which the Negroes did not already possess, and was therefore unnecessary. Mr. Blair of Missouri offered an amendment to permit each locality or state to 1 �decide whether it should have mixed or separate schools. He pro posed a special election to de termine the question, but h is proposition was defeated by a vote of 30 to 23. In the meantime, Mr. Hereford of West Virginia had introduced a resolution declaring that it would be contrary to the Constitution and a usurpation of power for Congress to force mixed schools upon the states, but Mr. Hereford’s resolu tion was also defeated. A civil rights bill was finally passed in 1875, but it omitted all references to schools.1 Therefore, the issue was left to the states in dividually, and no subsequent leg islation of Congress changed this situation. 1 The foregoing historical summary is based upon: Flack, Horace E. The Adop tion of the Fourteenth Amendment. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1908. 286 p.; Kenrick, Benjamin B. The Journal of the Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction, 1865-1867. New York: Columbia University Press, 1914. 414 p. History of Segregated Schools Before the Civil War, most states operated separate schools for Negroes, and among these were many Northern states. E arly Practices of States Massachusetts. Separate primary schools had been established in Boston since the early 1800’s. They were originally opened at the re quest of Negro residents whose children could not attend the regu lar public schools because of the prejudice existing against them. In 1846 certain Negroes petitioned the school committee to abolish the separate schools and permit their children to attend the schools for white children. After due delibera tion the school committee passed a resolution that continuance of the separate schools “is not only legal and just, but is best adapted to promote the education of that class of our population.” The issue was taken to the Massachusetts courts where it was argued that the separate schools constituted an injury, not a benefit, to both races, because it tended to create a feel ing of degradation in the Negroes and of prejudice and uncharitable ness in the whites. The Massa chusetts court said: This prejudice, if it exists, is not cre ated by law, and probably cannot be changed by law. Whether this distinc tion and prejudice, existing in the opin ion and feelings of the community, would not be as effectually fostered by com pelling colored and white children to [8] associate together in the same schools, may well be doubted.2 At any rate, the school commit tee had made its decision and the court found no ground upon which to doubt the honest judgment of its members. Since by law the school committee had full authority over the schools, the court held that the matter was within the committee's discretionary power. This Massachusetts decision is unique in that it is the only one thruout all the intervening years validating a local schoolboard’s implied power to operate separate schools. In all other cases, absence of legislative authorization has been held to prevent a local de termination to separate school chil dren by race or color.3 Therefore, attention must be con centrated upon state constitutional and legislative provisions authoriz ing the maintenance of separate schools. Today, segregation is a live issue but it is contained most ly in Southern states where state constitutions and statutes provide for separate schools. Fifty years ago the problem was more wide spread. Many of the Northern states enacted legislative authority for segregation in the public 3 Roberts v. Boston, 5 Cush. 198 (Mass. 1849). 3 Crawford v. District School Board for School District No. 7, Klamath County, 137 Pac. 217 (Oreg. 1913) wherein many other cases are cited in support of the majority rule. [9] �schools immediately after the end of the Civil War. sachusetts, saying: Nevada. One of these was Ne vada where an act of 1867 pro vided that Negroes should not be admitted to the public schools for white children altho trustees might provide a separate school for Ne groes, to be supported out of pub lic-school funds. This law made a definite prohibition against ad mitting Negroes to schools where white children attended, and, by use of the word “may,” left to local trustees discretionary power but no mandate to operate schools for Ne groes. The courts ruled the law to be unconstitutional. The state constitution requires the legislature to establish and maintain schools for all children of school age; the legislation did not mandate schools for Negroes. As to the Fourteenth Amendment, the court declined to speculate but was of the general opinion that the statutory violation of the state constitution did not necessarily violate the federal con stitution.4 Thus, segregation did not gain a foothold in Nevada. . . . in the circumstances that the races are separate in the public schools, there is certainly to be found no violation of the constitutional rights of the one race more than of the other, and we see none of either, for each, though separated from the other, is to be educated upon equal terms with that other, and both at the common public expense.5 previously discussed, Altho upholding segregation, the court sounded a note of warning that Negroes could not be exclud ed from white schools unless there was available a Negro school of equal educational opportunities. N e w York. New York had au thorized separate schools by an act of 1864. When this law was chal lenged as a violation of the Four teenth Amendment, the New York court said that separate schools “did not deprive children of Afri can descent from the full and equal enjoyment of any accommodation, advantage, facility, or privilege ac corded to them by law, and they in no way discriminated against colored children.”6 The court interpreted the Four teenth Amendment to mean only California. California’s segrega that Negro children should have tion law, enacted in 1869, was like the same privilege of obtaining an Nevada’s except that the word education with equal facilities; that “shall” was used in place of “may.” they receive such education in sep Thus, educational opportunities arate schools did not impair any of were required for Negro children. their legal rights. The effect of When the law was challenged in San Francisco, the California court 5 Ward v. Flood, 48 Calif. 36 (Calif. relied on the Roberts case in Mas- 1874). * State v. Duffy, 7 Nev. 342 (Nev. 1872). 8 People v. Gallagher, 93 N.Y. 438 (N.Y. 1883) followed in People v. Queens School Board, 56 N.E. 81 (N.Y. 1900). [ 10] this decision was negated by pro hibitory legislation enacted in 1945. Ohio a n d Indiana. Ohio’s seg regation law, upheld as constitu tional,7 was repealed in 1887. Indiana, another Northern state, authorized separate schools in 1869 and again in 1877, leaving the question to local determination. This law was upheld as constitu tional in 1874.8* In 1926 the statute was challenged as violating the state constitutional provision for a uniform school system open equal ly to all. The court then said: . . . uniformity will be secured when all the schools of the same grade have the same system of government and dis cipline, the same branches of learning taught, and the same qualifications for admission. The classification of scholars on the basis of race or color, and their education in separate schools, involve matters of domestic policy which are within the legislative discretion and con trol, and do not amount to an exclusion of either class. The Legislature has the power to provide for either separate or mixed schools.® In 1931, white pupils in a partic ular school went on strike after Ne gro pupils in Grade X had joined them, having been transferred from a Negro school that had been op erating the first 10 grades. The schoolboard allegedly broke the strike by promising to remove the Negro pupils within 90 days. They 7 State v. McCann, 21 Ohio St. 208 (Ohio 1872); State v. Buntin, 10 Fed. 730 (Ohio 1882). 8 Corey v. Carter, 48 Ind. 327 (Ind. 1874). 0 Greathouse v. Board of School Com missioners of Indianapolis, 151 N.E. 411 (Ind. 1926). were moved back to the Negro school after the Christmas vacation and therefore took judicial action on grounds of discrimination. The court found that the forced attend ance of these pupils at the Negro school was justified not only on the basis of racial segregation but also because it was the school to which they should be assigned on the basis of residence. . Since equal op portunities were offered in Grade X of both schools, no discrimina tion had occurred.10 Possibly separate schools were the typical and ordinary pattern in the country as a whole during the last half of the 19th century. In diana did not repeal its enabling act until 1949. However, much earlier, many other Northern states outlawed segregation by explicit constitutional or statutory provi sions. Illinois a n d Michigan. Illinois a n d Michigan courts decided against separate schools in the first few years after the end of the Civil War. The Michigan court held in 1869 that Detroit could not refuse admission of Negroes to the regu lar public schools for white chil dren because a statute enacted in 1867 provided that “all . . . shall have equal right to attend any school.”11 Illinois in 1874 had ju dicial precedent that separate 10 State v. Wirt, 177 N.E. 441 (Ind. 1931). n People v. Board of Education of De troit, 18 Mich. 400 (Mich. 1869). [ii] �schools were unconstitutional.12 A few years later Negro children were refused admission to the white school in an Illinois school district and were sent to a distant school for Negroes. In the original trial of this case, the court refused to admit evidence of actual refusal of Negroes at the white school, altho it made the following abstract comment: It may be that the wisest of both races believe that the best interests of each would be promoted by voluntary sepa ration in the public schools, and while such voluntary action, not in violation of law, could not be interfered with by the courts, yet the law is too plain for argument, and has been often decided, that no child otherwise entitled to attend any public school in this state can, on account of the color of such child, be ex cluded, directly or indirectly, from such school by any school officer or public authorities.1 3 A new trial was ordered because the court had erroneously refused admission of evidence as to wheth er or not the Negro children had been refused admission to the white schools. On retrial it was shown that such refusal had oc curred and that the Negro children had been discriminated against on account of color when they had been excluded from a certain mixed school and required to attend a separate school.14 This incident in Illinois shows that even in 1901, in 1 Chase v. Stephenson, 71 HI. 383 3 (111. 1874). 1 People v. Alton, 54 N.E. 421 (111. 3 1899). 1 People v. Alton, 61 N.E. 1077 (HI. 4 1901). states where segregated schools had been declared illegal, attempts were made on occasion to separate Negroes from white pupils. N e w Jersey. Another incident occurred in New Jersey where the law explicitly prohibited exclusion because of “color.” A mulatto child was excluded and the schoolboard argued that it had acted within the law. No exclusion had been or dered because of color; the schoolboard did not exclude a n y pupils because of color; an Italian, it said, might be as dark-skinned as the mulatto and the Italian would not have been excluded. The mulatto had been refused admission be cause of race, not color, and the law did not prohibit exclusion on account of race; the law referred only to color. The court held that the meaning of color in this coun try was well established historical ly; that the law meant race and not the skin color of Caucasians.15 Segregation Abandoned Outside the South As time went on, segregation was abandoned in most of the Northern states. Negroes were aided by con stitutional and statutory provisions prohibiting discriminations because of race or color. Some of these pro visions were general; however, identical general statements were variously interpreted. Six state constitutions — Indiana, Montana, “ State v. Union District School Trus tees, 46 N.J.L. 76 (N.J. 1884). [12] New Mexico, North D a k o t a , South Dakota, and Utah—provided that the public schools shall be “equally open to all.” In four of these states the courts have not been called upon to interpret this general provision in the light of its meaning regarding separate schools for Negroes. Two—Indiana and New Mexico—by legislation pro vided for separate schools, but these statutes have now been re pealed (Indiana in 1949 and New Mexico in 1951). Three other states have a differ ent kind of general provision in their constitutions. Iowa, Ne braska, and New York constitutions provide that the legislature shall provide for the education of all the children of the state. The Iowa court held in 1868 that this pro vision prohibited exclusion of Ne gro children and precluded the maintenance of separate schools for them.10 This decision was fol lowed by other cases in the next decade and well established the practice of mixed schools in Iowa, altho there is not explicit constitu tional or statutory provision on the point. New York’s constitutional provision for the education of all the children of the state was held not to prevent legislation establish ing separate schools for Negroes,as has been pointed out, but New York negated this interpretation by legislation in 1945 prohibiting sepa- rate schools. The issue has not arisen in Nebraska. Constitutions of five states are more explicit. Colorado, Idaho, Washington, and Wyoming consti tutions prohibit distinctions or classifications on the basis of race or color (altho Wyoming by statute permits segregation). New Jersey’s constitution is now even more explicit, prohibiting any segrega tion in the public schools. Some what similar statutory provisions have been found in 10 other states: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana (since the 1949 amendments), Massachu setts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. This survey, therefore, results in a total count of 22 states that have taken positive steps by consti tutional or statutory provisions to prohibit segregated schools. No constitutional or statutory provi sions either permitting or prohibit ing separate schools have been found in seven states: California, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, and Vermont. In the other 19 states segregation is practiced on the basis of constitu tional or statutory permissive or mandatory provisions. Segregation Today Among the 19 states currently op erating segregated schools is Del aware which, it may be recalled, is one of the states that rejected the Fourteenth Amendment. Dela 1 8 Clark v. Board of Directors, 24 Iowa ware is also one of the states which 266 (Iowa 1868). [13] �is currently interested in a case pending before the Supreme Court of the United States in an attempt to continue segregated schools. Fifteen of the 19 states where separate schools are maintained do so by constitutional mandate on a statewide basis, and four by statu tory provisions—two of which are mandatory and two optional on the part of the local board. The in fluence of the South in this respect can be shown in the development of segregated schools in Kansas. Kansas was settled just before the controversy over slavery reached its peak. Its settlers came from the North and from the South, with divergent views with regard to Ne groes. Even today the Negro pop ulation is small, being slightly under 4 percent of the total. How ever, 90 percent of the Negroes re side in cities of the first class, defined as being over 15,000 in pop ulation. During the 1880’s Kansas experienced what has been called “the black exodus” when large numbers of Negroes from the South settled in Kansas cities. Therefore, Kansas law made a distinction be tween schools in cities and schools outside the larger localities. Kan sas law prohibits separate high schools in first-class cities, making an exception of Kansas City. Twelve cities, including Topeka, fall into the population category of first-class cities. It is the Topeka situation which is before the Su preme Court of the United States today. Topeka was settled mainly by Northern whites, but segregated schools began about 1900. The Kansas courts interpreted the statutory restriction on segre gated schools to mean a tacit au thorization for segregation at the elementary-school level, since the law is silent regarding elementary schools.1 A number of cases have 17 * 1 arisen in Kansas from the early 1900’s to the case now pending be fore the United States Supreme Court. Several second-class cities at tempted to segregate Negro ele mentary-school pupils but this was held to be outside the scope of the permissive law which applies only to first-class cities.18 It was not al ways certain where elementary grades ended in first-class city school systems and where highschool grades began, leading to controversies as to which grades could and could not be segre gated.19 In all these cases con stitutionality was upheld follow ing an early decision where the state supreme court denied the argument that segregation violates the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1906 the Kansas court said that “our attention is not called to any provision of this amendment that 11 Reynolds v. Board of Education of Topeka, 72 Pac. 274 (Kans. 1903). 1 Cartwright v. Coffeyville, 84 Pac. 8 382 (Kan. 1906); Woolridge v. Board of Education of Galena, 157 Pac. 1184 (Kans. 1916); Thurman-Watts v. Coffey ville Board of Education, 222 Pac. 123 (Kans. 1924). 1 Graham v. Board of Education of 9 Topeka, 114 P. (2d) 313 (Kans. 1941). [14] has been violated nor what is claimed by the petitioner upon the question.”20 The current case arose in Topeka; pending decision by the Supreme Court of the United States the local schoolboard has taken steps to eliminate segregation but the statute remains in force. Altho the Arizona law is not lim ited to cities of a designated size, as in Kansas, the statutes of these two states are similar to the extent that a distinction is made between elementary- and high-school pupils. Arizona law requires segregation of pupils in all schools other than high schools. The court has held that this is mandatory at the ele mentary level, regardless of the number of pupils.21 Then, the law also states that if 25 or more Ne groes attend high school, the board shall, upon petition of 15 percent of the electors residing in the dis trict, call an election to determine whether they shall be segregated or attend the white high school. If a majority of the voters choose seg regation on the ballot, which must include an estimate of the cost of operating the separate high school, the board must comply and pro vide equal accommodations and fa cilities. These provisions apparently give the board no choice at the elementary-school level and permit the residents to decide at the highschool level, if the district contains 25 or more Negro high-school pu pils. However, the law also gives schoolboards the general power to classify pupils, and the state su preme court has held that the board’s general classification power includes power to operate a sepa rate high school, regardless of the number of Negro high-school pu pils, and without putting the matter to the vote of the electors.22 In other words, segregation in Arizona is mandatory in elementary schools and is optional with the board in high schools, except that the board may be compelled by the electors to segregate high-school pupils if there are 25 or more Negro highschool pupils. No distinctions are made be tween elementary- and high-school pupils in the other 17 states. Fif teen of these provide for separate schools by constitutional provision. These provisions vary somewhat, altho the practice thereunder does not differ to any great extent, and the difference in language is incon sequential in the main provisions. Table 1 shows in column 3 the states whose constitutions contain the language quoted in column 1 of the table. Since Table 1 refers only to con stitutional provisions, it does not include Arkansas, Arizona, Kansas, and Maryland, as segregation in these four states is not by constitu- 20 Richardson v. Kansas City Board of Education, 84 Pac. 538 (Kans. 1906). 2 Harrison v. Riddle, 36 P. (2d) 984 1 (Ariz. 1934). 2 2 Burnside v. Douglas School District No. 27, Cochise County, 261 Pac. 629 (Ariz. 1927) followed in Johnson v. Douglas School District No. 27, Cochise County, 261 Pac. 633 (Ariz. 1927). [15] �tion but by statute. The Arizona Judicial Interpretation and Kansas laws have already been Southern jurists took these pro described. Arkansas merely charges visions for separate schools very local schoolboards with the power seriously. One drop of Negro and duty of establishing separate blood was sufficient to justify ex schools for white and Negro pupils. clusion in some states; in others Segregation in Maryland is actually one-sixteenth or one-eighth part by implication rather than by di Negro was the statutory line. In rect requirement. The statutory decision after decision, state su provision regarding admission of preme courts and lower federal pupils refers to “white youths.” courts upheld segregated schools Another section of law empowers under a variety of circumstances. schoolboards to establish schools In at least one of the Southern for colored children when the col states an equal rights provision ored population warrants. Under was written into the state constitu these provisions separate schools tion adopted immediately after the became accepted practice, and on end of the Civil War, but it was the basis of established practice given little practical effect, at least growing out of the statutory impli as far as the schools were con cation, the courts have held that cerned. The Mississippi Constitu Negroes cannot compel admission tion adopted in 1869 stated that no to the white schools.23 money could be appropriated for any charitable or public institution 2 3 Williams v. Zimmerman, 192 Atl. that made a distinction among the 353 (Md. 1937). TABLE 1 State Constitutional Provisions for Segregation of Races in Public Schools Provision in state constitution Number of states 2 1 Separate schools shall be m aintained----- ......... 10 States with such provision 3 Ala., Del., Ga., Ky., La. (between ages 6 and 16), Miss., Mo., Okla., S. C., Texas No school shall allow white and Negro children to be received together in the same school -------------------------------- ____ 1 Tenn. No child of either race shall be permitted to attend a school of the other race —____ 2 Ala., S. C. White and colored children shall not be taught in the same school..................... ......... 3 Fla., Va., W. Va. Children shall be taught in separate schools ................ - ............ ......... ......... 1 N. C. [16] we do not know what its purpose was. It does not inhibit distinction among citi zens on account of race, color, or previous condition, altho that was prominent when the instrument came into being. It pro hibits any distinction, on any ground, for any cause, no matter what, among citi zens. It surely does not mean that. It is probable that it was a mere platitude, intended to announce the general propo sition for legislative observance that equality and fairness must govern ap propriation of public money for public institutions. Despairing of ascertaining its meaning, we take refuge in contempo raneous practical interpretation . . . . 2* 4 /"Italics added/, citizens thereof. A new constitu tion had been adopted before the Mississippi court had to interpret the equal rights provision, and the new constitution had omitted it. Furthermore, the new constitution required separate schools for Ne groes, who challenged the educa tional segregation as being in violation of the Fourteenth Amend ment and of the equal rights pro vision of the state constitution of 1869. The Mississippi court said mere ly that the suggestion of violation of the Fourteenth Amendment was “without force.” Regarding the equal rights provision of the state constitution, the court did not see that it applied. It would seem to have been sufficient if the court had said that the new constitution superseded the old one, and omis sion of the equal rights provision in the new constitution ended its ef fect. Instead of so ruling, how ever, the court pondered over the meaning of the provision in the su perseded constitution, as follows: Whatever the effect and purpose of that provision, it cannot be held to deny the legislature the right to make separate provision for the different races in the matter of schools, and it was admissible for the legislature to authorize the es tablishment and maintenance of schools for whites and schools for Negroes. If not, much that has been done is viola tion of the constitution. The practical interpretation of the constitution, begun soon after its adoption, and continued until it was superseded, forbids the idea that this declaration of the constitution forbade public support of separate schools for the different races . . . . We confess Segregation, in and of itself, was considered constitutional whenever challenged in any of the states hav ing constitutional or statutory authorization therefor, but the gen eral principle developed to require that the separate schools offer Ne groes equal educational opportuni ties. What “equal opportunities” means is to be discussed in the next section of this report. Here it should be pointed out that not all the 15 state constitutions shown in Table 1 leave the question of equality of opportunity open to lo cal determination and judicial re view thereof. Kentucky prohibits distinction in the apportionment of state aid; Delaware prohibits any distinction in the apportionment of state aid for teachers’ salaries; Flor ida and Texas declare that im partial provision shall be made for both races; North Carolina requires that there shall be no discrimina2 Chrisman v. Brookhaven, 12 So. 458 4 (Miss. 1893). [17] �The Equal Opportunities Rule It was pointed out earlier that a number of states with constitution al provisions requiring separate schools have limitations requiring equal opportunities in the schools for Negroes. Aside from these pro visions, however, courts of many states have ruled that opportunities must be equal to satisfy the re quirements o f t h e Fourteenth Amendment and similar provisions of state constitutions declaring the policy of equal protection of the laws. The applicable language of the Fourteenth Amendment is the “equal protection of the laws” clause, not the clause prohibiting states from abridging privileges and immunities, because the latter refers only to rights of individuals as citizens of the United States. In 1874 the Supreme Court of the United States distinguished be tween rights of individuals as citi zens of the United States and their rights as residents of a state.30 Since education is a state function, the Fourteenth Amendment clause guaranteeing equal protection of the laws is the basis upon which the equal opportunities rule was founded in the evaluation of edu- cational offerings in separate schools. This point is mentioned briefly here because attorneys in a few cases have erroneously grounded their arguments on the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and found that education was not with in the guarantee. In cases where Negroes have sought admission to the white schools, they have in the past more often challenged the accommoda tions in the Negro schools than urged the unconstitutionality of segregation itself, altho occasional ly it has been a secondary plea. In cases where they have not sought admission to the white schools, ap parently accepting the principle of segregation, they have challenged the quality of the schools main tained for them, on the ground of violation of the equal opportunities rule. Altho mentioned in a few earlier cases, one of the first definite state ments setting forth the equal op portunities rule came from Indiana when the separate-schools enabling act was upheld as constitutional.37 The same principle was stated in Ohio shortly thereafter.38* It then became necessary to evaluate the circumstances of each case to de “ Slaughter House Cases, 16 Wall. 36 termine whether accommodations (U.S.S.C. 1873). See excellent discus sion of the application of the Slaughter House Cases to school segregation in: Carber, Lee O. “Appendix.” The Year book of School Law, 1952. Philadelphia: the Author (3812 Walnut St.), 1952. p. 75-105. 3 Corey v. Carter, 48 Ind. 327 ( Ind. 7 1874). :M United States v. Buntin, 10 Fed. 730 (Ohio 1882). [20] were equal or unequal at the Ne gro school involved. No general definition of educational equality could be made. The courts usually held that substantial equality suf ficed and that identity of oppor tunities was not necessary.30 Equality of opportunity was measured in some cases by an iso lated aspect of the school system; in other cases the entire school program was reviewed by the courts. Size of school, number of schools in comparison with number of pupils, school construction and equipment, length of term, distance from home to school, courses of study offered, qualifications of teachers, and classification of grade levels were some of the points con sidered by the various courts. In Kansas and North Carolina it was held that schools for white pupils can be larger and more numerous in districts where the white population is larger, that smaller schools or fewer schools for Negroes in such districts does not constitute inequality.40 In Okla homa the court held that inequali ty existed when t h e N e g r o population of a district was larger than the white population and the value of the Negro school was much lower than the value of the white school.41 Equality in length of term was set forth as one of several qualifi cations of equality in the L o w e r y case by the North Carolina court, and the Jones case in Oklahoma held that- a nine-month term for whites and a seven-month term for Negroes was evidence of inequali ty. Also, in Kentucky the court pronounced unequal a situation wherein white pupils attended school for nine or 10 months while Negro pupils had a three-month session.42 On the other hand, a Kentucky court did not disapprove as unequal another situation where schools for Negroes were operated for eight months in a district where schools for white pupils were main tained for a nine-month session.43 In this case the court implied that discrimination should be deter mined with respect to faculty, fa cilities, or equipment only and no discrimination was alleged on these points. Educational opportunities with regard to the period the schools were open were considered also in Florida when a schoolboard or dered a split session for Negro pu pils. It was during the bean-har vesting season and 95 percent of the bean pickers were Negro. The schools for white children were not closed during the season. The court 3 One of the earliest statements of held that the distinction was not 8 this idea was in Bertonneau v. Board of discriminatory because the school- Directors, Fed. Cas. No. 1,361 (1878). 40 Reynolds v. Board of Education, 72 Pac. 274 ( Kans. 1903); Lowery v. School Trustees, 52 S.E. 267 (N.C. 1905). 4 Jones v. Board of Education, 217 1 Pac. 400 ( Okla. 1923). 4 Claybrook v. Owensboro, 16 Fed. 3 297 (Ky. 1882). 4 Board of Education of Brea v. Bal 3 lard, 185 S.W. (2d) 538 (Ky. 1945). [ 21 ] �n statement made by the Maryland Supreme Court in 1937: lege level when it required the University of Missouri to admit a Possibly there might be, under some Negro to its law school, there being circumstances, inequalities encountered in Missouri no law school for Ne in dealing with the two races separately groes. The state had provided outthat would render the maintenance of the of-state scholarships for Negroes so separation inconsistent with the constitu tional requirement of equal protection of that they could obtain education the laws, but the allowance of separate in fields not available within the treatment at all involves allowance of state, especially at the graduate some incidental differences, and some in a n d professional levels. The equalities, in meeting practical problems presented. And it is the opinion of the Court, however, held that this sub court that the differences here amount to stitute was not an equal opportuni no more. Inequalities in the separate ty.55 From that decision onward, a elementary school teaching are com number of cases were brought by plained of as having an effect to deny the Negroes seeking specialized college colored children equal opportunities to qualify for the examinations, and thus training in such fields as journal equal access to the high school course, ism, law, and education. In each instance the Court held that the but this could not be remedied by ad mitting to a high school a child who is state must admit Negroes to white not fitted for it. The remedy would have institutions or provide equal educa to be one reaching farther back.1 1 * tional opportunities in an institu The similarity between the Kan tion for Negroes, and equality of sas and the Maryland opinions lies opportunity seemed to have been in the implication, if not direct given a more precise definition statement, that segregation in and than ever before. It was held that of itself cannot avoid some minor admission of a Negro to a white inequalities, especially if the evalu college was not enough if he were ation is made with respect to op required to sit in the classroom portunities offered in individual apart from the white pupils, read cases rather than with respect to in the library at a table by himself, the school population as a whole. and eat in the college dining room Until 1938, courts made general at a separate table.50 This decision statements that educational oppor suggests that the right to equal op tunities in separate schools must be portunities is a personal right that substantially equivalent, but no ef would preclude in the future such fort seems to have been made to decisions on the public-school level require identical opportunities in as have been rendered to the ef individual cases. In that year the fect that there is no inequality beSupreme Court of the United States 85 State ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, 305 started a new movement at the col“ Williams v. Zimmerman, 192 Atl. 353 (Md. 1937). U. S. 337 (U.S.S.C. 1938). “ McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Re gents for Higher Education, 339 U. S. 637 (U.S.S.C. 1950). [24] cause some white schools are poorer than some Negro schools and some Negro schools are better than some white schools. Such an “averaging out” of op portunities has occurred in several cases such as the 1949 decision on the Pulaski County, Virginia, schools. In that case Negroes charged that building facilities were not equivalent but the court used the “on the average” yard stick. It was alleged that Negro pupils suffered discrimination with regard to transportation but the court discovered that the buses used to transport Negroes were less crowded and traveled over better roads than the buses transporting white pupils. The high-school op portunities were ruled to be equiv alent; curriculum differences at all levels were said to be “inconse quential”; and there was no evi dence that the compulsory attend ance law was enforced more strictly for whites than for Ne groes.57 This was only one of several re cent cases in Virginia. In 1948 King George County and Gloucest er County schools were found to have provided inferior schools for Negroes.58 These cases made a modern presentation of evidence— blueprints, photographs, statistics, and other objective data. In these counties the courts examined the construction of buildings, t h e equipment and other facilities fur nished, qualifications of instruction al personnel, library facilities, and transportation services. The in equalities were ordered to be reme died. No inequality was found in Arlington County,50 but in Prince Edward County the court ordered admission of the Negro high-school pupils to the high school for whites, pending completion of construction of a new high-school building for Negroes.00 Negroes in Prince Ed ward County appealed to the Su preme Court of the United States on the ground that moving their children back and forth between the two schools would constitute a detrimental discrimination, a n d that question has not been decided. From the decisions in the college cases the Supreme Court appears to have given equality a new defi nition so that each individual Negro must be able to get an edu cation identical with that available to a white pupil of his age and capabilities. Sufficient time has not elapsed for the new principle to show itself in new decisions in state courts when inequality is charged at the public-school level, but it does seem that the type of decision where white and Negro 6 Corbin v. County School Board of school facilities are averaged out 7 Pulaski County, 84 F. Supp. 253 (Va. 1949). 8 Smith v. School Board of King 8 George County; Ashley v. School Board of Gloucester County, 82 F. Supp. 167 (Va. 1948). “ Carter v. School Board of Arlington County, 182 F. (2d) 531 (Va. 1950). ® Davis v. County School Board of ° Prince Edward County, 103 F. Supp. 337 (Va. 1952). [25] �r should be considered out of date. An entirely different line of deci sions may follow in the event segre gation is continued. Of that there is some doubt as Negroes are now concentrating on the argument that separate schools, even if equivalent in facilities, deny them opportuni ties by the mere fact that they are separate. This is the issue now pending before the Supreme Court of the United States. Two poinls are claimed: (a) segregation can never provide equal opportunities because there is inherent therein a detrimental psychological effect caused by the separation; and (b) segregation is unconstitutional de nial of equal protection of the laws, regardless of its effects, or lack thereof. Cases Currently Before the Supreme Court Five segregation cases were ar gued before the Supreme Court of the United States in December 1952.°1 Four of the five were con cerned with state constitutional provisions for separate schools; the fifth, with segregation in the Dis trict of Columbia. Three of the first four cases were appealed by Negroes from Kansas, South Caro lina, and Virginia; the fourth was an appeal by the state of Delaware from a decree of the Delaware Su preme Court ordering admission of Negro children to white schools. For the first time the Supreme Court of the United States was faced squarely with the question of the constitutionality of segre gated schools under the Fourteenth Amendment of the federal Consti tution. Attorneys on both sides of sev eral of these cases relied on an 1896 decision of the Court, referred to as the Plessy case. The Plessy case involved segregation in intra state railroads in Louisiana.62 The Court permitted the practice of separating Negro and white pas sengers. The case had nothing to do with separate schools, but the 0 Brown v. Board of Education of To 1 peka, No. 8; Briggs v. Elliott, No. 101; Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, No. 191; Bolling v. Sharpe, No. 413; Gebhart v. Belton, No. 448. /’Numbers refer to docket numbers in October 1952 term.7 0 Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U. S. 537 3 (U.S.S.C. 1896). [26] Court’s decision included the fol lowing statement: Laws permitting and even requiring their separation in places where they are liable to be brought into contact do not nection with schools for white and colored race to the other, and have been gener ally, if not universally recognized as with in the competency of the state legislatures in the exercise of their police power. The most common instance of this is in con nection with schools for white and colored children which has been held to be a valid exercise of the legislative power even by courts of states where the po litical rights of the colored race have been longest and most earnestly en forced.0 3 Altho several courts over the years since the Plessy decision in 1896 have relied upon it in school cases, it was pointed out in the current cases that it should not be a precedent upholding separate schools since that was not the issue on which the Plessy case was de cided. Ordinarily, a court settles only the issue before it in the spe cific facts of the particular case. Comments on the side are dicta, not establishing precedents, but of ten carrying considerable weight. Attorneys in favor of segregation argued that the Plessy decision had risen “above the specific facts in 0 The case referred to in the quota 3 tion was the Roberts case in Massachu setts, discussed on page 9 herein. It had upheld separate schools but was decided before the Fourteenth Amendment had been adopted. Therefore, it was argued in the current cases that it is not a prece dent on the effect of the Fourteenth Amendment. [27] �issue /in it/ and announces a doc trine applicable to any social situa tion wherein the two races are brought into contact.” Since courts are loathe to overrule precedents unnecessarily, attorneys against segregation voiced two opinions: (a ) that the Plessy decision was not a precedent for school cases be cause the issue there was railroad segregation; and (b) that the Court could outlaw school segregation without disturbing the Plessy de cision because no inequality had been found in the Plessy case, whereas school segregation does result in discriminatory inequality. It was argued that segregation m intrastate transportation had been upheld only because no inequality had been proved therefrom, where as a psychological reaction resulted from separation of the races in the public schools. This kind of dis crimination is “something apart from the objective components of the school system.” In the South Carolina case evi dence had been submitted showing that the humiliation which Negro children undergo in a separate school is a permanent type of in jury to their minds which is actual and not theoretical. Therefore, it was argued that segregation in the public schools could be outlawed under the recent decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States at the college level where inequalities re sulting from segregation had been controlling—and the Plessy dictum need not be considered. In the Kansas case the lower court said that segregation creates a sense of inferiority in Negro children which affects their motivation to learn, that “segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to retard the educational and mental development of Negro children.” Despite this finding, the court in that case had decided that segre gation per se does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment because the Supreme Court had said so in the Plessy decision. Actually, in none of these five cases was the issue o n appeal the material inequalities of present conditions. In the Kansas case no allegation was made that the sepa rate schools were inferior; pending appeal of the South Carolina case, the schools had been brought up to a standard fixed by the lower court as constituting equality; in Virginia inequality was acknowledged but was to be eliminated by immediate improvements, and the inequality was not in issue. Also, in Dela ware, altho inequality had been acknowledged, it was not the is sue on appeal. In each of these cases the real issue was whether segregation in itself amounts to in equality or unequal treatment un der the laws, thus becoming un constitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment which prohibits the states from denying the equal pro tection of the laws to any person within their respective jurisdic tions. [28] In the fifth case, from the Dis trict of Columbia, the issue was the same except that it related to the power of Congress under the Fifth Amendment to provide for sepa rate schools, and in fact whether or not Congress had actually ever authorized segregation in the Dis trict of Columbia schools. During oral argument of these cases in December 1952, the Jus tices asked many questions dealing primarily with several specific problems: (a) the possibility that changed social and economic con ditions of the nation since the Four teenth Amendment had b e e n adopted might have altered what would have been a valid interpreta tion of the meaning of the Amend ment when adopted, and (b) the practical consequences if segrega tion were abolished. The Delaware Court had taken the position, based upon Supreme Court decisions in the college cases, that immediate admission of Negroes to white schools was a necessary result of a finding of unequal opportunities. The progress that had been made in other states, even after these suits had originated, showed that courts in other states had believed in giving a grace period to correct inequalities. The Court therefore appeared to be disturbed by a third question: (c) whether segregation, if banned, should be wiped out ipso facto, or given a period of time in which to die off painlessly. One might also find in the Justices’ questions a fourth problem that may be stated as: (d) if segrega tion is to be banned, should it be accomplished by judicial decision or by act of Congress. Each attorney representing the parties in these five cases was asked one or more of these questions during his oral argument. In most cases the answers were not entirely satisfactory. With regard to the consequences if segregation were banned, the attorney for the Kan sas schoolboard admitted that no serious results would ensue be cause the Negro population in Kan sas is small. There, the greatest difficulty might be the assimilation of Negro administrators; but the attorney could not say that the determination of whether or not to outlaw segregation should depend upon the proportion of Negroes in the general population. The at torney for the Virginia Negro pe titioners stated that there are now a sufficient number of teachers and space to assimilate all the pupils, but the attorney for the Virginia schoolboard felt that it would be impossible to raise public funds in his state to support an integrated school system because the taxpay ers would refuse to vote bond is sues. The Delaware appeal was taken by the state because of the “terrific impact” of the order of the state court to admit Negro pu pils to white schools—and this speaks for itself on the question of consequences. From December 1952 until close to the end of the 1952 term of the [29] �Supreme Court, decision on these cases was awaited with mixed feel ings. The South Carolina Consti tution was amended so that if the Court banned segregation the state could continue separate schools by abandoning its public-school system. Plans were under way so that state financial aid could be given for the support of private schools; all schools in the state would be privately owned, but su pervised and supported out of pub lic funds.64 State and local school authorities in other states maintain ing separate schools hastened to equalize educational opportunities so that if segregation can be con tinued after the Court rendered its decision, they will be able to with stand an onslaught of cases charg ing unequal opportunities since that principle is well established. On June 8, 1953, the Court or dered the five cases to be reargued on October 12—held over from the 1952 term to the 1953 term to give attorneys on both sides of each case an opportunity to file new briefs and argue anew on specific questions the Court posed for them, as follows: 0 It was early decided and universally 1 followed that the Fourteenth Amendment does not refer to discriminations prac ticed by individuals against individuals. Private schools could be segregated schools without violating a decision that segregation in the public schools is un constitutional. There is nothing in fed eral law that requires a state to maintain a public-school system; public-school systems are mandatory only when so specified in state laws. 1. What evidence is there that the Con gress which submitted and the State legislatures and conventions which ratified the Fourteenth Amendment contemplated or did not contemplate, understood or did not understand, that it would abolish segregation in public schools? 2. If neither the Congress in submitting nor the States in ratifying the Four teenth Amendment understood that compliance with it would require the immediate abolition of segregation in public schools, was it nevertheless the understanding of the framers of the Amendment (a) that future Congresses might, m the exercise of their power under Sec. 5 of the Amendment, abolish such segregation, or (b) that it would be within the ju dicial power, in light of future c o n d itio n s , to construe the Amendment as abolishing such segregation of its own force? 3. On the assumption that the answers to question 2(a) and (b) do not dis pose of the issue, is it within the judicial power, in construing the Amendment, to abolish segregation in public schools? 4. Assuming it is decided that segrega tion in public schools violates the Fourteenth Amendment (a) should a decree necessarily fol low providing that, within the limits set by normal geographic school districting, Negro chil dren should forthwith be admit ted to schools of their choice, or (b) may this Court in the exercise of its equity powers, permit an effective gradual adjustment to be brought about from existing segregated systems to a system not based on color distinctions? 5. On the assumption on which questions 4(a) and (b) are based, and as suming further that this Court will exercise its equity powers to the end [30] described in question 4 (b ), (a) should this Court formulate de tailed decrees in these cases; (b ) if so, what specific issues should the decrees reach; (c) should this Court appoint a spe cial master to hear evidence with a view to recommending specific terms for such decrees; (d ) should this Court remand to the courts of first instance with di rections to frame decrees in these cases, and if so, what general directions should the decrees of this Court include and what pro cedures should the courts of first instance follow in arriving at the specific terms of more detailed decrees?” During the summer of 1953 the Attorney General of the United States asked the Court to postpone reargument of these cases so that the United States could file a brief. December 7 was set for reargu ment. Early in December 1953, more than 11 hours were devoted to re argument of these five segregation cases in the Supreme Court of the United States. Attorneys on both sides attempted to answer the questions asked the previous June by the Justices. Those seeking to prove that the Fourteenth Amend ment contemplated elimination of segregated schools quoted from the debates in Congress and in state legislatures on the Amendment as to its effects. Altho the comments of any of these individuals could not be considered conclusive evi dence of the meaning of the Amendment, it was urged that they 8 21 L.W. 3307, June 9, 1953. 5 indicated a general understanding. Opponents stated that the mean ing of the Amendment could not be drawn from the crusade of radi cal abolitionists because Congress never went as far as these crusaders wished. The rights of Negroes were specifically protected in the legislation creating the Freedmen’s Bureau, and integrated schooling was not included in the statute. Furthermore, the Freedmen’s Bu reau installed segregated schools thruout the South. Insistence of the sponsors of the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 was quoted to the ef fect that it did not outlaw school segregation. The spokesman for the U. S. Attorney General’s of fice was of the opinion that the his tory of the Fourteenth Amendment did not support the claims made by either side. As to the question of the Court’s power to construe the Fourteenth Amendment as abolishing segrega tion in the public schools, one point of view expressed the idea that the Fourteenth Amendment in and of itself granted this power. Another argument was that the Ju diciary Act and an 1871 law grant ing legal action to any person deprived of a constitutional right, together give the Court the power and make it a duty to settle the issue. On the other hand, it was claimed that the Court had no power to upset a precedent of 100 years’ standing under the stare d e cisis rule. ("Stare decisis” means that a court should stand by its de- [31] �cisions so that the law can be defi books and the integration in To nite, known, and fixed.) peka was merely a policy declara It was generally agreed that if tion by the local schoolboard. the Court rules against segregation, With regard to the District of it should remand the cases to the Columbia case it was argued that lower courts for further action to the Court need not declare segre implement its decision. The Jus gated schools violative of the Fifth tices could not get much help from Amendment, but could decree that the attorneys in the oral argument legislation enacted by Congress did on the guiding instructions it not require segregation, that the should send to the lower courts in schoolboard could permit Negroes the event of such a decree. to attend the white schools volun On the question of immediate tarily and that the schoolboard had abolition of segregation or its grad exceeded its authority in requiring ual elimination, however, most of segregation. It was also argued the attorneys were in favor of al that regardless of whether segre lowing each state to move ahead at gated schools in the District of its own speed. One of the lawyers Columbia were mandatory or per for Negro appellants believed that missive, they were unconstitutional. a year should be sufficient in any Decision in these cases is not ex location. In this connection, the pected before late spring of 1954. Justices pointed out that the Kan The Court might rule that segrega sas case was largely moot since tion per se constitutes inequality Topeka had already taken steps to that must be eliminated within a eliminate segregation and one of reasonable period of time; or it the Negro children involved in that might rule that segregation per se case had already been admitted to is not unconstitutional provided the a white school while the others segregated schools offer complete had been promised admission as equality of opportunity. On the soon as arrangements could be other hand, the Court might decide made. However, both sides of the that segregation is an issue subject Kansas case declared that the issue to Congressional legislation but not remained since the statute permit a question within its judicial ting segregation is still on the power of determination. [32] k � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Description An account of the resource This collection consists of the personal papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, and covers the period from 1945 through 1991, with the bulk of the material falling between 1947 and 1959. The materials in this collection were generated or collected as a result of Mrs. Campbell's involvement in the Arlington County School Board, as well as her interests and activities in education and local politics. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Legal Status of Segregated Schools, Joint Committee of the National Education Association and the American Teachers Association, January 1954 Description An account of the resource "Part 1 of a study on the status of the education of negroes", covers the 14th amendment, history of segregated schools, the equal opportunities rule, and cases currently before the Supreme Court. 14 pages Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived RG 19, The Personal Papers of Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Joint Committee of the National Education Association and the American Teachers Association 1954-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1950s Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource This image is subject to copyright. Unauthorized use of the images in the Local History Collections of the Arlington Community Archives is prohibited. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 19_6_1_1_43