The Government appointed a commission, not a governmental commission in the sense of a commission with any authority, but an inquiry commission to investigate, an investigating commission. This commission sat during a period of about two and a half years, and during that time held public hearings and made inquiries, during which the commission was in session over some 48 days. The preparation of the report was based on the results of those hearings. The title of this report is "The education of adolescents," and the reconstruction of secondary education in England will be very greatly influenced by the findings of this commission. They are elaborate and I shall not attempt to go into them in detail, but here again is a document which shows a source of inquiries that will be helpful in guiding the reconstruction. It has no authority in law, and it is not intended to prescribe what shall be done. It is an informing document that will be utilized in England for purposes similar to those I have been discussing. If the members of the committee are interested in looking at the details of that, they may find that report of some interest. There are, of course, various ways in which these investigations can be carried on. The regional association, to which I have referred, might finance some of these inquiries. I have already indicated that method of doing it, by isolated associations and institutions, will be wasteful and will always be limited. The North Central Association has been in operation 30 years and finds that a great many of the inquiries have not been possible through its limited organization, and the other portion of the investigations to which I have been referring, have some of them been carried on by private foundations, and that has been one of the fertile sources of such investigations. Here are two of the recent investigations by private resources. I have in my hand a report prepared by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, entitled "College Educational Methods of the United States and Europe." This document is drastically critical of the American high school, so critical of the high schools of the United States that many of us are quite unable to accept either its statements or its conclusions. It represents, however, an attitude that is not uncommon in the United States in the criticism of these institutions. Our contention is that if these criticisms are valid we ought to have some support in the distribution of criticism on which reforms should be based. Mr. DOUGLASS. Who are the writers who make up that report? Doctor JUDD. The writer of this particular report was Mr. William S. Learned, member of the staff of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Learning. Mr. DOUGLASS. Is he an American educator? Doctor JUDD. He is a graduate of Harvard who has been for a period of years associated with the organization to which I have referred. He has also conducted an earlier inquiry into the normal schools in Missouri, which is one of his most elaborate documents, and this document is the product of five or six years work in that Foundation by an American born, a native of America, educated in our own institutions. I might read, if I may, one brief statement from it. He says, "The curriculum "-referring to the curriculum of the American high school-"is a rope of sand without organization." Then he writes a paragraph on that. I could give you other examples of criticism. The State of Pennsylvania became so much impressed with this type of criticism of the secondary schools and so much concerned over the matter of its own secondary education, that it has launched a program of cooperation with the Carnegie Foundation, which is outlined in this second document that I hold in my hand. The program for that research is here and has been entered upon by the State of Pennsylvania with the cooperation of the Carnegie Foundation. A little time ago I called your attention to the fact that the State of California is not a member of any one of the regional associations, but in the solution of its own problem of secondary education the State of California has found it necessary to make a somewhat comprehensive study and it has organized a preliminary survey. That survey is supported by a legislative appropriation and is now in progress. The effort will be made to secure at the next meeting of the legislature a substantial sum to carry on that inquiry and extend the scope. I do not know exactly what will be asked for at the next legislature, but the sum that has been mentioned as appropriate for investigation in the State of California on the junior college problem is $75,000. That gives an idea of the scope of the inquiries. Finally, I should like to submit an outline of various problems that we feel are very urgent problems and need the help of the Federal Government by way of scientific inquiries into the conditions so that the regional associations may carry on their operations, and I submit for your consideration as a possible part of the record the statements secured from the other regional associations. As I said there are four other regional associations, and our committee, acting under authorization of the North Central Association, wrote to the officers of those associations, and I will read statements from these officers. The first is from Superintendent George W. Hug, who is secretary of the Northwestern Association. That is the one that includes Washington, Oregon, etc. (The letter referred to is as follows): Dr. CHAS. H. JUDD, School of Education, University of Chicago, SALEM PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Chicago, Ill. DEAR DOCTOR JUDD: Your letter received in regard to securing the support of the Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher School of a plan for national support of a study of secondary schools and institutions of higher learning and their interrelations. This matter was presented at our meeting in Spokane last week by a representative of the North Central Association, Doctor Maxwell, dean of the School of Education, University of Wyoming, and our association went on record as sup. porting the movement. We shall be glad in any way to cooperate with you, and you can count on our active support. Dean Bolton, of the University of Washington, is chairman of the standardization of the higher institutions. You might possibly want to take up this matter with him. Sincerely yours, GEO. W. HUG, Superintendent. Doctor JUDD. The second letter is from Walter Ballou Jacobs, secretary of the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, dated April 9, 1928. (The letter referred to is as follows:) Prof. CHARLES H. JUDD, NEW ENGLAND ASSOCIATION OF School of Education, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. MY DEAR PROFESSOR JUDD: There will be no meeting of the executive committee before April 25, but I think I can assure you of the hearty cooperation of this association in the work you and your committee are planning for the improveof secondary education and higher education in the country. Sincerely, WALTER BALLOU JACOBS. Mr. DOUGLASS. Is Harvard included in that? Doctor JUDD. Yes. Harvard is a member of the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. I have here a list of past presidents and vice presidents, but not a list of the association itself. Harvard is included. Mr. DOUGLASS. You know the president of Harvard is opposed to this bill. Doctor JUDD. The matter we are presenting is the need of certain inquiries of national scope. I should not attempt to represent the president of Harvard, but my understanding of his objection to the bill is that he objected to the features that seemed to imply control, and the contention here is that we are asking for support of inquiries. I know many past presidents of the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, and I could name Charles W. Elliot. I also know several of the other presidents of related institutions, and Harvard is a member of this association, the representative of which has written the letter I have just read. The following are the letters received from the Association of the Middle States and Maryland and the Association of the Southern States. The CHAIRMAN. If there is no objection the letters will be included in the record. (The letters referred to are as follows:) ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS Prof. CHARLES Å. JUDD, School of Education, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. MY DEAR DOCTOR JUDD: With the approval of the President of our association, Mr. Arthur F. Warren, Collegiate School, New York City, I am writing to authorize you to state that our association is heartily in favor of a plan for national support of a study of secondary schools and higher institutions and their interrelations. Such an investigation, adequately supported and thoroughly carried through, ought to be of great value to all types of educational institutions in this country. Sincerely yours, GENE WM. MCCLELLAND. ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS Dr. CHAS. H. JUDD, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. MY DEAR DOCTOR JUDD: It seems that a committee recently appointed by the North Central Association will appear before the Education Committee of the House of Representatives on April 25. The purpose of this hearing is to present the need for national support of a study of secondary schools and institutions of higher learning and their interrelations. Permit me to extend to you the hearty support and cooperation of the Southern Association in your efforts in this direction. The program of our last meeting and those of our next several meetings, will be devoted almost exclusively to problems of the nature included in the study suggested. The committees of our association, however, are greatly handicapped in their work on account of the necessary costs involved, and at the same time the results we obtain are not as convincing as they would be if secured from a study of nation-wide conditions. It is the ardent hope, therefore, of the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern States that the Education Committee of Congress will give favorable consideration to the request of your association. With best wishes, I am, yours very truly, H. M. Ivy, President Southern Association. Doctor JUDD. Summing up what I have said, I shall try to present some concrete illustrations of the types of inquiries that in the judgment of those of us connected with public education and college education would be of very great benefit to the public schools and to the institutions of the country. As I said at the outset, our association is very eager to see those inquiries launched. Our association has taken no action as to the form of the Federal agency under which these inquiries should be made. It is my personal belief that the most efficient agency would be a department suitably equipped to carry on the type of inquiry that is familiar to us in the activities of the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture. But we are very eager to get before your committee the necessity of a nation-wide type of inquiry on many of these problems. With that statement my own presentation as chairman of the North Central Association committee is complete, and if you allow me to I should like to present the other gentlemen of the committee. Mr. KVALE. Could not these various investigations and other activities be carried on under a Bureau of Education, as at present constituted, just as efficiently as if we had a department of education with a secretary in the President's Cabinet? Doctor JUDD. It is obvious that it would be quite impossible to carry on those inquiries with the Bureau of Education unless the resources of the bureau were very greatly increased, and it follows that the increase of the resources of the bureau constitutes one of the major reasons, or the desirability of such increase constitutes one of the major reasons for asking for a department. Apparently, the Bureau is somewhat insulated from the sources of supply necessary to make these inquiries. Whether it will be possible by extending the appropriations of the bureau to do the work that is desirable, I think would have to be a matter of the future. It is our judgment that if we can give you two or three very concrete examples of what ought to be done, it is for your wisdom to decide how that should be done. Inquiries of the sort we are advocating here would ultimately give definite and concrete demonstrations that such a department could probably do very much to correlate existing agencies in the Federal Government. Mr. FENN. I notice that these three letters-one from the Salem, Oreg., public schools superintendent, one from the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Middle States and Maryland, and one from the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern States-seem to be of the same character. Were they inspired from somebody? Doctor JUDD. Yes. Before you came in I made this statement. Our committee here this morning is a committee of one of these associations. Mr. FENN. Then you are thoroughly familiar with the reason why those letters are sent to the committee? Doctor JUDD. I wrote as chairman of our committee to the officers of each of the regional associations, saying that our association was launching this movement and asking if they would cooperate in this movement. These are replies to the same letter sent to the officers of each of the associations. Mr. FENN. That being so, why are the words, "national support," introduced in these letters? I have understood that this bill did not contemplate national assistance to the States. The CHAIRMAN. It does not. Mr. FENN. But these associations seem to be united for national support. Doctor JUDD. National support for the inquiries, not for the schools. Mr. FENN. Is that support not already furnished through the Bureau of Education? Doctor JUDD. Not at all. Before you came in I made a statement of the desires of the organization. Mr. FENN. If it were furnished by the Bureau of Education could not they conduct this matter as well as a department of education? Doctor JUDD. May I answer that question by saying in the first instance that support is not now available for the bureau, a condition that is evidenced by the status of research in education. Mr. FENN. Are you sure that support would be given to the department of education? Doctor JUDD. It is not for a layman to prophesy on that. Mr. FENN. Why would support be given to a department if not to the bureau? Doctor JUDD. A department would be so much nearer the councils of the Nation than its influence would be greater. Mr. FENN. Why would it be nearer? Doctor JUDD. I assume the head of a department would be in more direct contact with the President than a commissioner. Mr. FLETCHER. The commissioner is in contact with the President to a large degree through the Secretary of the Interior. Mr. FENN. Have the funds for research ever been available to the bureau? Doctor JUDD. No, sir, the bureau has always been meagerly supported. Mr. FENN. That would warrant the assumption that funds never would be available for this purpose. Mr. DOUGLASS. If made by the bureau or a department would those researches be intended for the benefit of the educators of the country? Doctor JUDD. Yes, and those whom they serve. Mr. DOUGLASS. They would be advantageous to the teachers and help the student body. Doctor JUDD. Yes. Mr. DOUGLASS. What value, in the minds of your educators, would the department's recommendation have over that of a private investigation like the reports of the Carnegie Institute? |