may be constantly under religious influence, but this does not imply antagonism to the public school. On the contrary, public officers who are members of those denominations are as emphatic and as earnest as any others in their belief that "our future safety and welfare depend upon the effective maintenance and operation of our public schools." And many of the most ardent and efficient superintendents and teachers of public schools are of like faith. Unquestionably the attitude of general enthusiastic approval of the commonschool system has developed upon American soil; and it came largely as the result of campaigns which began with Horace Mann and have continued to this day. Observance of American Education Week is an example of such a campaign. Let all good Americans contribute to it to the extent of their powers. Libraries Have Increased in Numbers, in Notable Advance in Equipment and Service. Need of Good Books in Rural Districts. L By JOHN D. WOLCOTT IBRARY facilities for the American people have increased during the past decade at a far greater rate than the increase in population. An investigation in progress in the Bureau of Education indicates that the number of libraries with 5,000 volumes or more increased about 30 per cent between 1913 and 1923, and the number of volumes in such libraries increased about 50 per cent. The population of the United States increased 14.9 per cent from 1910 to 1920; marked improvement appears, therefore, Mrs. Hathaway Did Not Write the in the accessibility of the libraries and A Article N ARTICLE in the June number of SCHOOL LIFE entitled "Teachers May Conserve the Eyesight of School Children" was prepared by a subcommittee of the sectional committee on the code of lighting school buildings. It was incorrectly ascribed to Winifred Hathaway, secretary of the national committee for the prevention of blindness. Mrs. Hathaway The was chairman of the subcommittee named and she forwarded the manuscript. impression was erroneously gained that she had written it. She states that she did not do so, and asks that due correction be made. We comply with pleasure, for we regret the error. to Dental hygienists are licensed practice in 21 States, according to a survey conducted by the Interior Department, Bureau of Education, and set forth in School Health Leaflet No. 9; and in other States she may serve as a teacher in oral hygiene. Hospitals, clinics of welfare agencies, industrial and com in their ability to serve the people for whose use they were established. The number of small libraries—that is, with fewer than 5,000 volumes-has also greatly increased. There has been a corresponding gain in the efficiency and in the reach of library service, which can not be expressed in figures, but it is well substantiated. Library extension used to be regarded as referring almost entirely to increase in the number of libraries and to planting new libraries in localities which previously lacked them. The other aspect of the term is now more emphasized, namely, that of improving and intensifying the service of libraries already existing and widening its scope in directions not previously reached. This is done without neglecting the need of enlarged material equipment for library service. The advance in both the equipment and service of public libraries in recent years has been notable, but about onehalf of the American people, chiefly in rural territories of the South and West, mercial plants, and especially the public Every Adult Samoan Can Read and schools, offer a large field of service for such workers. Ten educational institutions, in eight States, offer instruction in this department of health preservation. Write Illiteracy does not exist in American Samoa. The official Government languages of American Samoa are English and Samoan. Every adult Samoan can read and write in one of those languages. The public schools in American Samoa are conducted in English and are rapidly adding to the number of English-speaking children and adults in Samoa.-William W. Edel, lieutenant commander, Ch. C., U. S. Navy, Superintendent of Education, are still without adequate access to suitable reading matter. The cities and towns of the country are mostly provided with library facilities; justice requires that this same service should now be extended to the rural communities, so that every citizen may enjoy its advantages. Country life needs the information, inspiration, and recreation which good books afford. A book for every reader is the goal of the modern library movement. The best method of accomplishing this end has proved to be, for most sections of our country, the county library. When the county is adopted as the unit for public-library administration a library located at some central point is made responsible for book service throughout the county, by means of branches and stations suitably disposed, and often also by book automobiles which serve the citizens directly at their homes. A proper campaign of education usually brings the people of a county readily to see that it is worth while to tax themselves, either to establish a new county library or to contract for county-wide service with some library already existing. Twenty-nine States now have countylibrary laws, but the movement for the establishment of these libraries is still in its infancy and is expected to make great progress within the next few years. Only about 200 counties in the United States out of a total of 2,964 now enjoy county-library service, and 42 of these counties are in the one State of California, where the system has been especially developed. Of the eighth-grade graduates from the schools of Colfax County, Nebr., in 1925, 7 were 11 years old, 28 were 12, 50 were 13, 37 were 14, 18 were 15, and 4 were 16. The average age of the 144 was 13.3 are promoted in years. Pupils Colfax County by subjects and not by grades. The school year in Czechoslovakia comprises 230 days, according to the schedule recently fixed by the Ministry of Education. Sunday is the only day of the week on which the schools åre closed. Education Brooklyn Botanic Garden Conducts Original Research, Imparts Instruction of University Grade, Trains Teachers of Nature Study, Maintains Classes in Plant Life for Pupils from Elementary and High Schools, and Disseminates Knowledge of Botany by Extension Methods. Supported in Part by Municipal Appropriations and in WH Part by Private Funds By C. STUART GAGER, Director Brooklyn Botanic Garden HAT can a scientific institution like a botanic garden contribute to popular education? Much, surely, if the will is there; and when the dissemination of knowledge of plants is a function of the institution coequal with the advancement of botanical science through original research, as with us, there is no lack of incentive. The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is essentially a public institution; it is conducted for the benefit of the public and it is supported in part by municipal appropriations. Those appropriations are supplemented by the income from a modest endowment, membership dues, and special contributions. Dissemination of botanical knowledge is accomplished in every way that can be devised by an ingenious and enthusiastic staff. First is the obvious and usual method of maintaining labeled collections of living plants upon the grounds and in the conservatories of the garden, to which the public have free access. In connection with it is an herbarium of more than 186,000 preserved plants from all parts of the world and a reference library on plant life and related subjects open to the public. Periodicals Aid in Dissemination of Knowledge Four periodicals and occasional publications are issued, including the American Journal of Botany (monthly), Ecology (quarterly), Genetics (bimonthly), the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record, and leaflets. A bureau of public information on all phases of plant life is conducted, and consultation and advice, with the facilities of the laboratories, library, and herbarium, are freely at the service of persons who have special problems relating to plants or plant products. To increase the value of the collections to visitors who wish to make a serious study of them, arrangements may be made for the services of docents to accompany parties of six or more adults. Lectures for the general public, usually illustrated by lantern slides or motion pictures, are presented throughout the year, and the subjects selected are usually appropriate to the season. One full-year course upon plant life is offered which con- University work is done by the garden or field. The work is correlated to meet the needs of each grade of the elementary school. Practice with classes of children is part of the work. For admission one must present a certificate from a city training school or a normal school, a college diploma, or proof of several years of successful teaching. These courses have a definite credit value. Short Courses in Nature Study Brief courses are offered to teachers who wish to extend their knowledge of nature study and gardening for use in school work but are unable to spare the time required for the full courses. Instruction of children has been emphasized by the botanic garden for 12 A fee of 15 cents is charged for each course of five lessons and from 25 to 50 cents for the six months of outdoor gardening. This is ostensibly to cover materials used, but in reality the purpose is to add a feeling of respect for and dignity to the work. In the 12 years in which this practice has been in force only two children have been unable to pay the fee. The products of the children's labors are divided between the children and the charity organizations of the vicinity. Plants raised in the experimental greenhouses by the children go generally to the school classrooms and school gardens. The attendance at all lectures and classes during 1924 was more than 100,000 adults and children. To encourage gardening in the school and at home an annual children's garden exhibit is held at the botanic garden each September. Prizes for excellence in various subjects are awarded to schools and to individuals. The competition is open to any school and to any child in Brooklyn. Visiting classes with their teachers come to the botanic garden from elementary, junior high, and senior high tributed to the children for study after their return to school. The increasing size of the classes in recent years has led to the use of the megaphone and of "instruction sheets." If a class, for example, has for its subject "Ten common trees of Brooklyn," an of the instruction sheets. These sheets go back to the schools with the children and make the follow-up work more effective. Each class which visits the garden receives a gift of a potted plant, usually raised by children in the instruction greenhouses. Material for high-school use is also supplied to teachers when requested, if possible. The various algæ and protozoa, as well as living plants, leaves and twigs, or other plant parts, are most often so supplied. Petri dishes are upon request filled with sterilized nutrient agar for use in the study of bacteria and molds. The right use of a limited quantity of material is emphasized, and promiscuous and wasteful collections are avoided. Timely seasonal exhibits are displayed at the botanic garden several times every year, and the schools are invited. These exhibits form the basis for nature study in many of the schools. Lincoln Children Well Taught in Music Music appreciation and singing are taught to all pupils in the first three semesters of the junior high school of Lincoln, Nebr. In addition, chorus work is open to all in the junior and senior high schools, and glee clubs are maintained and operas and orchestras are presented by especially proficient students. Lessons in orchestra and band playing are given gratuitously, but a charge of 15 cents per lesson is made for A hundred taught simultaneously by the use of a megaphone instruction sheet is given to each child upon which the facts to be observed are stated. When the hundred or more children gather about a tree, the teacher with the aid of a megaphone points out the things that she wishes to emphasize; the children easily follow with the help piano and violin lessons. This charge covers the actual expense of conducting the classes. A business school for women, the first in Cuba, was recently opened with an enrollment of 60 students. E DUCATION has too long been limited in the public mind to youth and the teachers; it must begin with the parents. In the Federal Government we elect our legislators and our executives, but even in the distant centers of administration they hear always the voice of the people-the people who pay, and without whom the Government could not go on. In the school as in the State the administrators should be those best fitted to represent us, but always behind them, beside them, should be the people who pay, and as a wise politican keeps his constituents informed of his activities in their interests, so will the wise educator keep ever before his patrons his plans and his needs and his consciousness that upon the parents of his pupils and not upon him alone depends his success or his failure in his term of office.-Margaretta Willis Reeve. E SEEK in our general education not universal knowledge, but the opening up of the mind to catholic appreciation of the best achievements of men and the best pro a cesses of thought since days of thought set in. What we seek in education is A FTER making allowance for every evil, and striking a fair balance, it is apparent that in the United States there have been realized, more fully than ever attained by a great population elsewhere, the aims and ideals of the Declaration of Independence. How are we to conserve what we have and rise to higher levels? Our advantages will not be conserved by citizens who are indifferent to their trust. You have no right to talk of your Americanism, to speak of your veneration of our Constitution, and your appreciation of our privileges while you ignore the plainest Week duties of citizenship. We can not meet P most talented manhood and womanhood as a people in assemblies and govern for the teaching profession. We know the directly. We must govern through rep- price we must pay for this kind of service, resentatives, and the test of our fidelity and it is wise economy to pay it.-Albert to the principles of our Government is C. Ritchie, Governor of Maryland. found in the quality of our representation. It is the duty of every qualified citizen to vote, to throw his weight into the electoral scale. It is his duty to take part in the proceedings which lead to the choice of candidates for office. It is his duty to consider how he may be most influential in securing good government, not simply by voting or by the selection of candidates, but in aiding in the development of sound public opinion and in maintaining the standards of truth and honor which must characterize a sound democracy.Charles E. Hughes. see a I do hope, in the present spirit of public concerns in which I shall permit UBLIC EDUCATION is now, as it always has been, of supreme national and State concern. Our future safety and welfare depend upon the effective maintenance and operation of our public schools. The privilege of free instruction in schools maintained and supported under State authority is the constitutional birthright of every child in the Nation. The schools must therefore be continued with an increasing degree of efficiency, so that all the children may receive instruction which will fit them for the responsibilities of citizenship and adapt them to the vocations which they propose to adopt.-Alfred E. Smith, Governor of New York. TH HE WELFARE of a democratic nation depends on the intelligence and integrity of its citizens. The level of material prosperity which America may attain and the degree of wisdom which may be displayed in the solution of national problems wait on the education of the people. America can not hope to rise above her schools and colleges; indeed, only through them can she realize the dreams of the past and the hopes of the future. The condition of education in the United States is therefore the vital concern of all American citizens; it demands their earnest thought and careful consideration.-Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1920, no. 29. WR E STOP education too soon and too suddenly. In every civilization you will find men and women who go on learning and growing as personalities till they die. We shall have to recognize that our universities, our colleges, and our schools leave education unfinished. There must be constant and continuous home study. We need to train our people in the use of the public library, and we need to inspire them to develop libraries in their own homes. The habit of reading and the ability to enjoy a good book must be fostered among those who at present have left their education behind.-Nicholas Murray Butler. IN N OUR COUNTRY and in our times no man is worthy the honored name of statesman who does not include the highest practicable education of the people in all his plans of administration. He may have eloquence, he may have a knowledge of all history, diplomacy, jurisprudence, and by these he may claim in other countries the elevated rank of statesman; but unless he speaks, plans, labors at all times and in all places for the culture and edification of the whole people he can not be an American statesman.-Horace Mann. By What Standard Shall School Costs Be True Economy Implies the Best Results. One-Teacher Schools Are the Most Expensive if Efficiency is Considered. Investigations in Connecticut and Maryland Repeal the Story of Economy in Large Units WH By KATHERINE M. COOK HAT PRICE EDUCATION? Shall school costs be measured by outlay in money alone or by the educational results achieved from the money expended? In the present interest in school costs it is important to retain a sane attitude toward economy in education. Economy is the relation between cost and efficiency. It is measured not alone by the amount of the expenditure, but by the results attained, the returns on the investment. The school of one or two teachers is proverbially a cheap school-cheap in cost and type of building and equipment, cheap in maintenance cost owing to short terms, cheap in the salaries of teachers. Whether cheap schools are economical is the important question. Recent reports from two States which have well-organized rural school systems offer food for thought to the farmer citizen who is interested in getting the most for his money in education as in other necessaries of life. The States are Connecticut and Maryland. What is true in them is substantially true under similar conditions in other States. Comparing costs and results of education in consolidated and in one-teacher schools in Connecticut shows that 29 per cent of pupils 14 years of age drop out during the school year in one-room schools, but only 8 per cent drop out in consolidated schools; 41 per cent of those 15 years of age drop out in one-room schools as compared with 12 per cent in consolidated schools; the percentage of elimination in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of one-teacher schools is approximately twice as great as in the same grades in consolidated schools; 23 per cent of the teachers in the one-teacher schools have had two years or more of professional training, compared with 49 per cent having such training in consolidated schools; and teachers in consolidated schools have on the average two years more experience than those in oneteacher schools. The study does not set forth the comparative expenditure in buildings and equipment in the two types of schools. Doubtless more money is invested in consolidated schools; but the cost per child in average daily attendance in consolidated schools is actually less, the expenditure being $65.32 in consolidated schools and $66.19 in one-room schools per child in average daily attendance. This is true in spite of the fact that consolidated schools are paying higher salaries for bettertrained teachers and are expending considerable sums for transportation. The data collected in Maryland include slightly different items and are classified according to one-teacher, twoteacher, and graded schools. Efficiency measured by percentage of children attending school daily, continuing throughout the school years, completing the elementary grades, and achieving promotion apparently varies directly with the type of school as expressed in terms of the number of teachers. Observe the following table: Comparison of schools of three types in Maryland Conditions in these States are of special significance because the schools are systematically organized and professionally supervised. It seems reasonable to conIclude that one-teacher schools in these States are more effective (compared with other types of schools in the same State) than can reasonably be expected in States which have made no special provision for improving the efficiency of one-teacher schools through supervision. The evidence indicates that the one-teacher school suffers handicaps which even careful supervision can not entirely overcome. The report from Maryland contains no information concerning money costs in the different types of schools. In the majority of the States statistics show that less money is spent per capita in rural than in urban communities for education and that the results achieved are somewhat in proportion to the expenditure. |