Evening star. [volume], September 07, 1947, Image 70

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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Special Educational Supplement
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TWENTY-TWO PAGES. WASHINGTON, D. C., SEPTEMBER 7, 1947 __
School Systems Strengthened
To Care for Growing Loads
NEA Official Outlines Progress Achieved,
> ! But Sees Improvements as Task of All
q ' By Willard E. Givens
Executive Secretary, National Education Association
Thirteen miiyon babies—4,000,000 more than predicted by
population experts—were born in the United States in the five
years after the United States entered World War II. This
new tide of life will swell enrollments in the elementary and
secondary schools of the Nation this fall to almost 29,000,000.
Through these children the schools will perform their task
oi improving American me.
Having just completed a year in
which the shortage of competent
teachers was the greatest in the
Nation’s history,
our system of ;
public education
has made nu
merous gains
which will help
to strengthen it
for this task.
State legisla
tures and local
school boards,
thoroughly i n
formed of the
Nation's educa-1
tional plight
through the ex
cellent coverage -
given to the
proble/n by the Willard E. Givens,
newspapers, magazines, radio and
motion pictures, are taking steps to
provide more school .funds. Maxi
mum salaries for teachers during
the coming year, according to early
estimates, will average from $300
to $500 higher than last year.
Advances have been made in
many States, but mention of a few
will serve to illustrate the trend.
Tennessee established a state mini
mum salary schedule, which means
that local boards may pay more but
not less. Last year the top salary
required in Tennessee was $1,192;
this year it is $2,295. Texas is an
other State, where the top of the
schedule doubled, going from $1,324
to $2,880. Pennsylvania made a big
step forward. Last year the highest
salary applying to the small towns
on the State schedule was $2,300;
this year they are moving up toward
a new maximum of $3,400. Indiana
teachers are moving from an old
maximum of $1,700 to a new one
of $3,600. Alabama voters last week
overwhelmingly approved a con
stitutional amendment to divert in
come tax revenues to school pur
uoses, thus assuring an approximate
50 per cent increase in teachers’
salaries.
Cities Boosting salaries.
What the State legislatures have
done means much for the teachers
in the open country and the little
towns, where salaries were the low
est in the United States.
Although they get less help
from the State legislatures, big
cities also have been moving ahead
on salaries. They have been going
over from the old plan of paying the
first grade teacher a little and the
high school teacher a little more to
the single-salary schedule, with
equal salary and opportunity for
teachers in all grades.
Some of the biggest increases are
those being opened up for elemen
tary teachers in the big cities. In
San Francisco, for example, the
elementary teacher whose salary
stopped last year at $3,576 has the
chance now to go to a maximum of
$5,700 if she has the top qualifica
tions. Here in Washington, Con
gress raised the top salary for Dis
trict teachers to $4,500, which means
a step-up over a period of years
from the $3,350 that was practically
the top of the scale for elementary
teachers last year.
In spite of spectacular increases
in salaries in some parts of the
United States, research studies of
the National Education Association
show that in terms of actual pur
chasing power the average salary
which will be paid to the teachers
of ths> United States during the
• coming school year is no more than
they were receiving previous to
World War II.
Must Pay for Talent.
To insure teachers of the high
est capability for service in the
American public schools, we must
select and prepare the best talent
which America affords. We can not
get this talent unless we are willing
to pay salaries which are adequate
to attract and hold able young peo
ple in the teaching profession. The
task is too big and too critical to be
undertaken by the teaching profes
sion alone. Educators need the co
operation and help of all citizens.
As qualilfied teachers take their
places in the classrooms, we must
maintain conditions which will
keep them there. The day has not
yet passed when large numbers of
teachers enter the profession "as a
stepping stone to something
higher.” The lack of continuity of
service and the shifting of the indi
vidual teacher from one position to
another weaken fundamentally the
quality of the teacher's service to
pupils and to community.
Fewer than half of the Nation's
teachers have the protection of a
tenure law which insures their con
tinuance in service as long as their
work is efficient. Uncertainty and
concern for the future are recog
nized enemies of good workmanship
in every occupation. The Nation
should give to all its teachers the
professional security represented in
good tenure laws. Teachers secure
in their position grow in the prac
tice of their profession and enter
actively into the affairs of the com
munity in which they live.
Retirement Plans Required.
We must not only obtain good
teachers and keep them actively
employed during their maximum
period of useful service, we must
also make adequate provision for
dignified retirement when teaching
service is unpaired by age or dis
ability. A sound retirement policy
will keep in the classrooms of the
Nation younger, more vigorous
teachers, whose preparation for
their work includes mastery of a
program of studies that is con
tinually being adapted to the
changing needs of youth, an£ of in
structional skills being constantly
improved by research and experi
ment in the techniques of instruc
tion.
Adequate provision for aged and
. disabled public employes is now
k recognized as a public responsibility.
Retirement benefits for teachers
(See GIVENS, Page E-4.)
*
---
Veterans' Finances,
Jobs May Pull 33 Pet.
From Local Colleges
VA Streamlines System
To Speed Subsistence
Checks to Students
By George Beveridge
If present trends continue, up to
a third of the World War II student
veterans who drop out of Washing
ton colleges during the next term
will do so because of financial diffi
culties or to take jobs.
This was indicated last night in
a Veterans’ Administration survey
of the dropouts earlier this year at
four major colleges in and near
the District—George Washington,
Georgetown, Catholic and Mary
land Universities.
The survey showed that 7.8 per
cent of the veterans enrolled
dropped out, while only 5.9 per cent
of the nonveterans left school. But
the percentage of former service
men who dropped out for scholastic
reasons was the smaller of the two.
More than 150 of the 1,252 vet
erans who failed to finish attributed
reasons directly to “financial diffi
culties.” Another 225 said they were
leaving to take jobs.
Five Dropped for Low Grades.
George Washington listed only
five veterans, along with 13 non
veterans, who were dropped because
of poor grades. Ten veterans, how
ever, were dropped for missing too
many classes and 97 others listed
“job conflicts” as the reason for
leaving.
Forty per cent of those at Cath
olic University, on the other hand,
said they could not get along on
the amount of money they had,
while 12 per cent left for scholastic
reasons. Twenty per cent of the
nonveterans left for the latter
reason.
A large numoer oi iormer uis ai
Catholic and Georgetown Universi
ties said they weren’t able to con
tinue their studies tjecause they
couldn’t find housing. The largest
number at Maryland—85 out of 386
who left—did so to take employ
ment.
And 30 other veterans at the
school said that “home duties, fam
ily, etc.,” were just too much for
them to continue with schooling.
VA to Speed Allowances.
In answer to the survey, the four j
schools listed a total of 15,965 vet
erans and 10,943 nonveterans as be
ing registered in the last term. Of
these, 1,252 veterans dropped out
and 645 nonveterans left school.
Meanwhile, anticipating an en
rollment of more than 30,000 stu
dent veterans in and near Wash
ington this month, the Veterans’
Administration last week set up a
new policy designed to eliminate de
lays in payment of monthly sub
sistence allowances.
Under the GI bill, veterans with
out dependents get $65 a month
while going to school. Those with
dependents get $90.
The new agency policy wipes out
a ruling put into effect early this
year—which is held responsible for
delays of checks to thousands of
District students two months ago.
The earlier ruling said veterans
had to be removed from payment
rolls at the end of every term—
even if they started school again in
a day or two. The reason was to
prevent overpayments to those who
might decide not to continue the
following term. But for those who
did continue, the administrative
tie-up that followed because of the
added work resulted in long delays.
Schools to Certify Veterans.
Under the new policy, schools will
be asked to certify which veterans
will continue from one term to the
next, and payments will be unin
terrupted, the agency said. This
will save Veterans Administration
a vast amount of paper work and
is certain to make the student
veterans considerably happier.
The six«schools, and the veterans’
enrollments they expect this month,
are:
George Washington. 7,000; Mary
land, 5,200; Georgetown, 4,395;
Howard. 3.600; American, 2,175, and
Catholic, 2,000.
In addition, 800 veterans are ex
pected to continue at the Central
High School Veterans’ Center and
600, officials say, will enroll at Arm
strong High School. Another 4,700
former servicemen are anticipated
at business schools and smaller uni
versities throughout the city.
Schools Are Crowded as Veterans and Their Kids Both Head for Classes
Students of Catholic
Schools Here Begin to
Register Tomorrow
By Frank J. Acosta, Jr.
The District's 10,000 students of
Catholic elementary and high
schools will begin registration to
morrow—a full two weeks before
public school students.
Dr. Leo McCormick, superin
tendent of schools for the Balti
more and Washington archdiocese,
said this week that one of the fea
tures of the Catholic education pro
gram in the District will be the
opening of two new elementary
schools, one at Four Corners, Silver
Spring, and the other on Rhode Is
land avenue N.E.
Almost all booked to capacity, the
score of Catholic high schools ex
! pect to complete registration to
| morrow and Tuesday and get classes
{started Wednesday.
Georgetown Visitation Convent
High School, entering its 149th year,
will offer its 425 students several
new courses and have the largest
enrollment of its history in the med
[ical secretarial school.
520 at St. John’s College.
St. John's College, which has op
erated as a high school for the last
30 years, will hold its classes in two
locations again this year. Under
j the direction of Brother Fidelis
| Thomas, the first-year boys will hold
{classes at 2607 Military road N.W.,
while the other three classes will
continue at 1225 Vermont avenue
N.W. Total enrollment will be 520
this year and the brothers said
registration was closed months ago.
Immaculate Conception Academy,
entering its 82d year, will offer its
! 220 girl students the same courses
!as last year, with three additional
j sisters for instruction. Classes will
begin Tuesday. Registration is
closed here also.
A new principal, Sister Cor Maria,
{will be in charge of St. Cecelia's
High School when its 275 students
{arrive tomorrow. Sister Rose Eileen,
i who was principal for several years,
{has been transferred to a post in
Washington State, it was announced.
St. Patrick’s Academy, at 924 G
street N.W., is one of the few schools
I (See PAROCHIAL, Page E-7.)
Public Schools Open Sept. 22
For About 91,000 D. C. Pupils
By Coit Hendley, Jr.
Education Editor of The Staf
Summer vacations will be over for
approximately 91,000 Washington
children when they trudge back to
the public schools September 22.
And in many cases, their fathers
and mothers also were joining them
in the trek back to school. Univer
sities, colleges and private schools
all report veterans are jamming into
the classrooms in an effort to fur
ther their education or training
under the GI Bill of Rights.
Public school classes will start at
9 a.m. that first day. However, par
ents may enroll their boys and girls
in the school nearest their home on
September 18 and September 19 from
2 p.m. to 6 p.m., as well as during
the first day of school.
Pupils entering the public school
system for the first time are required
only to present a birth certificate
and a vaccination certificate. If the
children are entering kindergarten,
they must be 5 years old by Novem
ber 1 and if they are entering the
first grade they must be 6 years old
by the same date.
Tuition for New Nearby Pupils.
One change in the school system
this year will affect parents living
in nearby Maryland and Virginia
areas. Under a recent ruling of Cor
poration Counsel Vernon E. West,
which interpreted a paragraph in
the Congressional Act granting
money to the District schools, chil
dren from the nearby areas must
pay tuition fees to enter the District
schools unless they were enrolled
before July 25.
Just what effect this will have on
enrollment in the schools is unpre
dictable at this point, School Supt.
Hobart M. Corning said.
Dr. Corning said so many factors
had to be taken into consideration
this year that an accurate estimate
of enrollment this fall could not be
made. Indications are, however,
that it will be about the same. The
loss of students ficm the tuition fee
ruling will be offset in some degree
by an expected larger enrollment in
the lower grades. This increase in
the youpg pupils is a result of the
high wartime birth rate.
Enrollment last year was 91,577. A
breakdown of that figure shows the
following: Elementary, 52,811; ju
nior high, 19,651; vocational high,
1.655; senior high, 16,556, and teach
ers’ college, 904.
Two new schools are expected to
be completed this year, both for col
ored children. They will to some
extent relieve the crowded condi
tions which last year forced more
than 6,000 colored children to go to
school part time.
The schools are the Slowe Ele
mentary School, Fourteenth and
Jackson streets N.E., and the Rich
ardson Elementary School, Fifty
third and Blaine streets N.E. Archie
G. Hutson, director of construction
for the District, estimated the Slowe
School would be ready in about six
weeks, while the Richardson School
will open about January 1.
Other Projects in Prospect.
The Slowe School will have four
classrooms, with space for four more
on the upper floor when conditions
warrant it. The other building will
have 16 classrooms with an assem
bly hall and a gymnasium.
Plans and specifications for 16
other projects are in the process of
being revised and bids for the work
are to be advertised within the near
future on many of them.
These changes in the plans were
made necessary by Municipal Arch
itect Merrel A. Coe’s plan to cut the
cost of construction by 6 per cent by
trimming off fancy finishing touches
normally put on school buildings.
This means that terazzo tile in the
corridors will give way to a cheaper
asphalt tile. Inside walls of the
classrooms will be painted cinder
block'instead of the usual plaster.
Bricks made at the Opcoquan Work
house by District convicts will be
used not only for common brick pur
poses but also for facing. Fencing
and paving of playgrounds and
some of the landscaping will be de
layed and not included in the initial
contracts.
Mr. Coe emphasized at the time
his cutting-of-costs plan was an
(See D. C. SCHOOLS, Page E-6.)
Nearby Area Schools
Offer New Facilities;
Teachers' Pay Raised
By Alex R. Preston
Increase in teachers’ salaries, in
some instances by as much as $1,200
a year, and added classroom facili
ties are the principal changes in
the public schools of nearby Mary
land and Virginia this fall.
Arlington schools resumed classes
Wednesday, while those of Fairfax
and Alexandria started Thursday.
Schools in Montgomery and Prince
Georges counties will open Wednes
day. Registration at Montgomery
institutions is scheduled for tomor
row and Tuesday. In Prince
Georges, registration will take place
at the schools on the day classes
begin.
New Facilities Opened.
No new facilities were available
when schools opened in Fairfax
County, but County School Supt.
W. T. Woodson said that during the
present term the following projects
are expected to become available:
A new elementary school for
colored in Falls Church, and addi
tions to Falls Church High School,
probably in the spring, to Franconia
and Centerville elementary schools,
and to Mount Vernon High School.
The county now offers a full four
year high school course. Students
who entered the eighth grade last
year will be the first to complete
high school courses in four years
instead of three.
The county’s school system has
400 teachers this year, an increase
of about 30, Mr. Woodson said.
Six Additions Completed.
Among new facilities available for
the first time this year in Mont
gomery County are the following:
A 12-room addition costing $215,-1
680 to the Montgomery Hills Junior!
High School, Silver Spring; a four
room addition, costing $57,000 to the
Gaithersburg Elementary School: six
rooms and a cafeteria addition cost
ing $130,000 to the Lynbrook Ele
mentary School, Bethesda; a new
school for the Kensington-Wheaton
area, containing six rooms and cost
ing $148,400; four rooms added to the
(See NEARBY, Page E-8.)
"Supersonics/ Today's Jitterbugs, Dance the Coffee Drag, Pulverizer and Corkscrew
By Carter Dawson
Once upon a tinft there was a
jitterbug named Dawson. Now this
jitterbug lived in the age of the
"big apple” and existed through the
early 1940s, when she migrated from
the regions of high school to the
realms of work and was conquered
by civilization.
One day this jitterbug was staring
out of her office window watching
all the commonplace bugs on Penn
sylvania avenue when she began to
wonder: "What has happened to
the breed of jitter and all my root,
cute, zoot and solid-to-boot Jack
son cousins?”
So the happy old bug footed it
back to the land of sock and looked
up her 1947 prototypes.
She returned as a sad, beaten
old bug, ready to be exhibited in
& bottle marked "Former Jitterbug
—Very Ancient Species,” for this
is what she found:
The term jitterbug is as dated as
“23 skiddoo.” Jitterbugs in today'i
sock set are known as cats, fierce
cats, frantic cats, wild cats or su
personic persons. And individual!
who once were called drips, dope!
or squares wouldn’t be called bj
iland Of
H SOCK
L-U
such names today. Now they'd jusl
be gophers, flys or low cats.
If you’re shuffling down the road
and you meet a wise cat or some
fine lad you're willing to recognize
you utter "volte vout” or a sound
*
like DUDoa-DUDDa-DUQDa or a series
of burps. These signals are used
to show you’ve seen each other.
Wolf packs, a thing of the past
in name only still congregate at
corners and special dugouts to clown
around. The guy gangs now are
called store boys gopher boys, the:
saints or sly cats. They say ‘‘lo,
babe,” or “hi, woman” to girls who
please them instead of giving the
old wolf call or dog bark. While
they try to "spring” (old fashioned
ly known as bum) cigarettes or
money, they speak in foreign dia
lects or tut talk. Tut talk involves
changing letters in words so that if
you said yes, it would come out
yakesus.
The teen-agers who have studied
Latin sometimes use it in place of
"regular” English so undergraduates
%
t
nugiii/ any, hmiuuuov
mappa” which cat translated means
and adults won’t understand. They
“look at that babe's map.” Rhym
ing slang is outmoded and cut words
such as natch, def and ridic are in
their last moments.
To the feminine socks everybody
is a “hon” and their favorite boy
is “my man.” The male cats that
go steady introduce their woman as
“my wife,” and after a date they
never neck or pet. The smotch.
Gone ape the days when you
trucked or pecked across the dance
floor, or even did the shorty george.
The hop, skip, jump days have been
replaced by slow drags and bow
legged duck-walking dancing. Un
less you’re an oldtimer you fast
dance by opening the mouth and
rocking on the heels. As one cat
t
put it, "We’re not doing much witr
our feet. The idea is to rock 01
bounce and let the boy twist the
girls.”
One of the fast dance steps is
called the coffee drag or B. O. step
because the girl dances under hei
partner's arm. Then there's the
corkscrew, where the cats curl theii
bodies like a corkscrew in action
and a step called the pulverizei
which includes everything.
I
A wise cat rast oances to any
thing from a tango to a waltz. It’s
the slow romantic songs like “That’s
My Desire" or “Peg O’ My Heart"
that these supersonic persons re
quest nowadays. The ratatooty
numbers are in the minority. In
some sections of Washington it’s
only the girls that dance with each
other when the old swing tunes are
played.
As for picking your dance part
ner, it involves more than just ask
ing, “care to dance?” or “come on
worm, let’s squirm.” Now you sa
shay up to the cat of your choice,
demonstrate your prowess as a dan
cer by performing a solo number for
the “lucky ” to scrutinize and extend
your hand. If the hand is grabbed,
you’re ready to take off.
The old zoot suit has been left
behind in the sock set’s haberdash
ery. The male cats are featuring
(See DAWSON, Page E-4.) 1
V
D. C. School Health
Supervision Improves
But Still Is Deficient
Too Short of Nurses
For Effective Program,
Dr. Seckinger Says
By Thomas G. Buchanan
Your child will get closer health
supervision in school this year than
he did last fall, but lack of funds
still shackles the city’s public health
efforts.
“We are far too short of nurses to
have an effective school health pro
gram,” admits Dr. Daniel L. Seck
inger, assistant District health of
ficer.
As the new school year ap
proaches, the Bureau of Public
Health Nursing has 118 r.rff nurre
positions authorized by C?ngre?3 in
the current budget, of which all but
[two are either filled or about to be
filled by qualified candidates.
With these nurses, the Health De
partment must carry out its pro
gram of maternity and infant care,
venereal disease and tuberculosis
control, and numerous other prob
lems arising in Health Department
clinics as well as furnish nurses to
check the health of the city’s school
children.
Inadequacy Admitted.
To the latter assignment, Dr.
Seckinger expects to allot an aver
age of 15 nurses each school day.
That will enable each child in the
District school system to receive
about 15 minutes’ care during the
year.
Inadequate? Of course it is, says
Mrs. Josephine P. Prescott, director
of public health nursing. Lack of
personnel to follow up known physi
cal defects detected each year in
school children here means that
from 70 to 80 per cent of those de
fects—teeth that need filling, eyes
that should be tested for glasses—
go uncorrected.
A survey of major American cities
made by the District Tuberculosis
Association last year placed Wash
ington 51st among 53 large cities in
the quantity of school nursing serv
ice provided. Setting the desired
standard at one nurse per 1,000 chil
dren, the survey found Washington
had approximately one health nurse
for 6,700 school children.
Even this low figure was based on
an estimate of 15 full-time school
nurses. Health department statis
tics reveal, however, that the school
system got the equivalent of 14.47
nurses a day In 1945, but only 6.68
in 1946. For the first four months
of the last school year, according to
Dr. Seckinger, the only public health
nurses who could be spared for school
work were six nurses assisting doc
tors in giving diphtheria injections.
Authorized strength Reduced.
The number of staff nurses au
thorized the local health depart
ment was reduced from 151 in the
1945-6 budget to the-present figure,
118. Efforts by the health depart
ment to increase the total by 70 were
rejected in the last session of Con
gress. Opponents of any increase
have argued the extra nursing posi
tions could not have been filled, but
candidates have been more plentiful
since health department nurses were
given a professional rating and their
starting pay was boosted to $2,640
this year.
Had the health department got
ten the 70 extra nurses it sought,
30 could have been allotted to the
school system, Dr. Secklnger says.
“With that number,” according to
the health official, “we could really
begin an adequate health program."
Mrs. Prescott knows exactly the
kind of school health service her de
partment would like to provide—if
the nurses were available.
Ideally, the nurse should be as
signed regularly to certain schools,
making frequent visits to each of
them and following her inspections
by calling at the homes of children
who need special medical attention.
It was particularly difficult during
the war years to carry out even a
minimum program of this sort, be
cause with an annual turnover of
more than 40 per cent many nurses
did not stay with the Health De
partment long enough to become
personally familiar with the health
problems of each youngster in their
care.
With the higher pay rate nurses
may be expected to remain longer
on the Health Department staff,
and those who are assigned to
school duty will have the opportun
ity to follow each child from the
time he enters school until he
graduates.
Growth in School Fits Children
For Responsibilities as Adults
Dr. Corning Cites Skill of Teachers in
Shaping Varying Abilities Toward Goal
By Dr. Hobart M. Corning
Superintendent, District Public Schools
Johnny, age 5, is on his way to school. Mary, Bill, Susan
and Jim—thousands upon thousands the Nation over—approach
the now-open doors of the schools and stand upon the threshold
of destiny for, within the school children grow in skill and
appreciations, in self-reliance and self-management, each
according to his ability and his interests, and through this
I Uiutboa IUVJ UM/UUIt k vAUJ tu (WOUUW
the responsibilities of adult citizen
ship.
Children enter school with varied
abilities. Johnny may be able to
run faster than Bill. Mary may be
more skillful in drawing than Susan.
Each child rep
resents a unique
pattern that is
a composite of
innate abilities
and preceding
experiences
gained within
his own home
and his own
neigh borhood.
No two children
are alike. And be
cause the Amer
ican teacher, in
her own wisdom
and in keeping
Dr. Corninr. with our tradi
tional revpect for the uniqueness of
the individual, has become aware of
individual differences, she has be
come skilled in adjusting the way
she teaches and the content of what
she teaches to the child's capacity
for learning.
Teaching has become, accordingly,
a highly complex profession; it is no
longer a routinized activity consist
ing only of the impartation of
knowledge. It requires, rather, under
standing of the nature of child psy
chology, the laws of growth, the
effect of experiences upon the child;
it requires insight into the drives
and compulsions that are responsible
for behavior. The, good teacher
knows the child in his entirety be
cause his health,' his home back
ground, his strengths and weak
nesses, his interests and aversions
must be studied and understood, if
educational achievement is to be at
its hest.
The teachers of the Washington
schools represent the profession at
its best. The parents of the com
munity know this to be true, and
accord teachers the support and re
spect that their professional ac
complishments merit. Indeed, many
a parent has said of teachers, “I
don’t know how they do so much for
so many.” All of us who are parents
know the difficulties sometimes en
countered in understanding our own
children and planning wisely for
their rearing, and hence, marvel at
the skill, and adroitness of teachers
responsible for the education of
large numbers bf children in classes
admittedly too large for the most
effective teaching.
It is generally agreed that despite
the fact that individuals differ in
many respects, there is, nevertheless,
a high degree of similarity among
them, which makes it reasonable to
expect them to develop certain skills
and understandings in common.
In the matter of the maintenance
of health, each child, v/ith a few
possible exceptions, m'.y fce expected
to learn the essei'tials of bodily
care, including care of the teeth,
maintenance of cleanliness, the de
velopment of good dietary practices,
and habits of regularity as to the
time and amount of sleep.
All children, as another example,
may be expected to acquire a skill
in reading and in writing, although
in some instances, functional liter
acy will occur on a low level of
achievement. Not all children will
be able to read and understand the
philosophers, but all educable chil
dren should be able to read the
printed material common in the
daily life of the American citiasn.
Similarly, though few children will
aspire to become learned mathemati
cians, all children should become
proficient within the limits of their
capacities in the use of the number
system in its ordinary and manifold
applications in daily life.
Don’t Underrate Capacity.
Children are different, then, but
in some respects they are also sim
ilar. Let no child returning to school
leave the period of formal education
without a command of fundamental
skills and understandings! Make
certain that none of us, as teachers ‘
or as parents, shall assume too low
an opinion of any child’s capacity to
learn, nor in any way neglect doing
all that can be done to equip that
child for useful membership in our
highly complex culture.
on vi us warn uiiiuicu w ur
happy. But sometimes we go far
afield in our definition of happiness.
It is believed by some—such are few
in number—that a child is happy
only when he does what he wants
to do, and conversely does nothing
that he does not want to do. Occa
sionally it is well for us to settle
down to a careful reinterpretation
of values in order to determine what
is good and what is bad, either from
the point of view of the Individual
or from the point of view of society,
because happiness can be achieved
only upon the basis of a sound sense
of values.
There was a time in education
when all that might be called work
was good, and anything that might
be called play was bad. This was
an extreme and untenable position,
detrimental to the proper develop
ment of a well-adjusted personality
and often rather fruitless in terms
of educational achievement. The
conception of the teacher as a stem
visaged taskmaster, an occasional
cartoon to the contrary, has long
since disappeared—and with good
reason, too.
Teacher Nd Playmaster.
On the other hand, there has been
some tendency in recent years to
regard the teacher as one whose
major function m life was to amuse
children, to keep them entertained
with this or that device; to act, in a
sense, as a playmaster. This point
of view is also untenable as applied
either to education or life in general,
because it is based upon an unsound
appraisal of what is good and be
cause it presupposes that happiness
is derived chiefly from doing those
(See CORNING, Page E-6J