put their combined strength behind the effort for national recovery.

SEARCHLIGHTS

The Federal Office of Education has instituted a new parent education service, monthly releases entitled "Searchlights", for the use of parent-teacher associations, study clubs, and leaders of these groups on the problems of child life, family relationships, and the newer aspects of education. Each release will consist of shortrunning comments on recent books and pamphlets that throw light upon the problems and personalities of children; books that help parents solve their problem; the new education and what it does for children; fiction that reveals the problems of adolescent youth; and books for parents who want to learn how to analyze their own home problems.

EXPLORING THE TIMES

The American Library Association has invited several able men to outline for the general reader the broad sweep of events leading up to the present, and to suggest a few outstanding books and pamphlets which will help to explain the forces at work, the resulting issues and how they can be met. Five reading courses have been published under the series title "Exploring the times", designed to point the way to good reading and intelligent thinking on current

And not the wrecking crew.

IT'S OUR HABIT

Four American college boys, the story goes, were cast away on a desert island. The first thing they did was to elect a president, vice president, secretary, and sergeant at arms.

Organization to meet needs is, indeed, an American habit. We organize to eat lunch with our friends; organize to play golf, cards, ball, tennis; organize for police protection, fire protection, insurance against damage, death or injury, learning, religion, water supply, electricity and gas, parks, streets, traffic control, books,

has been asked to present his own subject from his own point of view.

Authors and titles issued to date: World Depression-World Recovery, by Harry D. Gideonse.

Collapse or Cycle?, by Paul H. Douglas. Living with Machines, by William F. Ogburn.

Meeting the Farm Critics, by J. H. Kolb. Less Government or More?, by Louis Brownlow and Charles S. Archer. The price is 25¢ each or $1 for the set of five. Full information may be had from the American Library Association, 520 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Ill.

SEX EDUCATION BOOKLETS

dancing, and charity. Children in elementary school elect Junior Red Cross officers. Oldest inhabitants hold regular meetings. What President Roosevelt has done is to apply this unique American capacity for organization to Nation-wide needs.

We have learned to work together to provide personal and local needs. Now we are called upon to work together for the welfare of our Nation.

Cooperation is common custom in modern education. We have worked out the techniques of happy participation for the achievement of definite objectives. The teachers and pupils of America will

ages has been accomplished by Thurman B. Rice, M.D., of the Indiana University

School of Medicine in a series of five pamphlets. These pamphlets have been published by the Bureau of Health and Public Instruction of the American Medical Association. "The Story of Life" is intended for boys and girls of about 10 years; "How Life Goes On" for girls of high-school age, and "In Training" for boys of high-school age. "The Age of Romance" and "The Venereal Diseases" are intended for young people beyond the high-school age. The first and second of the series are especially well done.

SEPTEMBER 1933

9

T

HIS YEAR some American cities will have shorter school terms than they had in 1930, and much shorter terms than

many cities had in 1880 and earlier.

In the early days of the city school systems, sessions continued practically the year round. Vacations were short and holidays were few. The prevailing custom was to divide the school year into four terms of 12 weeks each, with a vacation of a week at the end of each term. In some cities all the vacation came in summer, with the exception of about a week at Christmas. The summer vacation was extended gradually, usually about a week at a time.

Daily school sessions were also longer than they now are. The history of the Cincinnati public schools, as recorded in early school reports, reveals a typical example.

TABLE 1.-Length of school term and of daily sessions, 1841-42

10.7%

Number

of days actually

in session, 1931-32 (days)

184

6

192

195

7

201

5

186

202

184

25142-36

200

182

2

203

190

26-37

190

184

during the session of the college of professional teachers in October, and 1 week, including Christmas and New Year's Day. Saturdays, Thanksgiving Days, and May Days were holidays.

In 1849 a formal rule fixed the length of the summer vacation at 5 weeks. Four years later (1853) a further extension was made, and the schools were ordered closed from the last day of June to the third Monday in August.

No substantial change was made for 7 years, but in 1860 another week was added to the vacation, which extended from the last Friday in June to the fourth Monday in August. Another 7-year period elapsed, and again (1867) the vacation period was increased, this time until the first Monday in September.

The regulation in effect in 1911 provided that the annual vacation should be from such date in June as might be designated by the board of education, to the first Monday after the first Tuesday in September. Schools were actually in operation 200 days in 1910-11, and 184 days in 1931-32.

It appears, therefore, that in this typical city, the actual reduction in school time per year has been from 233 to 184 days.

Table 1, taken in part from the Report of the Commissioner of Education for 189192, shows that the conditions in Cincinnati are representative of the entire country. Of 1,000 representative cities, about 5 percent have a school term varying from (Turn to p. 16.)

THE LAW ON IT

★EACH of the 10 new Government agencies described in this article is built on a law passed by Congress. History, civics, and current events classes will find the laws helpful in understanding the New Deal. Any of the laws listed in the accompanying thumbnail sketches can be obtained through your Congressman. Watch SCHOOL LIFE for references to other Government pamphlets useful in schools.

S

Do you

TRANGE new initials are getting into the newspapers. know what they stand for? Can you name the 10 new Federal agencies whose long names have shrunk to initial letters?

Do you know the purpose of each of these 10 weapons Congress has given to the President to wage the recovery campaign?

Every principal and every teacher will be eager to have pupils understand the details of the New Deal in American government. But the facts can't be found in textbooks. Not yet. To fill the need, SCHOOL LIFE supplies 10 thumbnail pictures of the 10 new agencies. Later issues will tell more about the various agencies in plain terms.

The aim of the 10 agencies is to prime the pump of national prosperity by spreading employment, by expanding credit, by trying new methods of Nationwide cooperation on common problems.

Tennessee Valley Authority (Public Act 17, 73d Cong.). Dr. Arthur E. Morgan, chairman, Washington office, Temporary Building F.

Purpose: Ever since the World War full use of the vast water-power resources at Muscle Shoals has been forestalled by failure to reach an agreement on who was to use the power, and how. Muscle Shoals and other potential water-power

resources of the Tennessee River will now be the focal point of the first American experiment in developing an entire river valley as an industrial, social and economic unit. The first major project is construction of the Norris Dam at Cove Creek, on the Clinch River, about 20 miles northwest of Knoxville. It will create one of the world's largest artificial lakes. A transmission line has been authorized between the new dam and the Wilson Dam at Muscle Shoals. The Tennessee Valley Authority, of which two Morgans,

prominent educators both, are directors (Arthur E., president of Antioch College,

and Harcourt A., president University of

Tennessee) along with David E. Lilien

thal, of Wisconsin, is empowered to make

"such surveys, general plans, studies,

experiments, and demonstrations as may

be necessary and suitable to aid the proper

use, conservation, and development of

the natural resources of the Tennessee

River drainage Basin." This promises to

be one of the most adventurous experiments in creating a high standard of living for all the people in a given region ever undertaken.

ААА

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (Public Act 10, 73d Cong.). In charge, Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture. Administrator, George N. Peek.

Purpose: To increase the farmer's share of the national income. This is accom

plished through two principal means. One is to assist farmers, by compensatory payments supplementing their market returns, to adjust their production of certain basic agricultural commodities to the effective demand for these commodities. Such payments are made only to farmers who do adjust their production. Money to make the payments is derived from a processing tax imposed upon the commodity in question. The amount of the processing tax is limited to the difference between the current farm price of the commodity and its purchasing power, in manufactured commodities that farmers

buy, during the period 1909-1914. The other principal means of increasing farmers' incomes is by establishing among processors and distributors, marketing agreements, enforced by licensing provisions when necessary, which assure a fair price to the producers of farm goods, without extortionate increases in consumers' costs.

PWA

Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (Public Act 67, 73d Cong.). Administrator: Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior.

Made agriculture, manual training and aomestic science courses optional, and defined physical education as being exclusive of interscholastic athletics.

Fixed $40 per month as a flat minimum salary for teachers with all types of certificates and all amounts of experiences.

Fixed $1,530 as a minimum salary and $2,400 as a maximum salary for county superintendents.

Kansas

Directed School Book Commission to reduce the price of school books Revised budget law.

Maryland

Reduced salaries of all teachers, principals, and super intendents ranging from 10 to 15 percent.

Minnesota

Provided for an income tax and the creation of an income tax school fund to be distributed by State Board of Education to districts on the basis of compulsoryschool-age population.

Missouri

Appropriated one third of the general revenue of the State for the support of the public schools Reduced appropriation for vocational education approximately one third of the amount appropriated 2 years ago.

Nevada

Prohibited school districts from issuing bonds that would run for a longer period than 20 years.

New Jersey

Prohibited discrimination between salary reduction of municipal employees and those of school districts.

New York

Provided for reduction of public moneys to be paid -to the several school districts of the State.

Established a division of child development and parental education in the State department.

North Carolina

Appropriated $16,000,000 for a State-wide 8-month public school term in place of the present 6-month and optional extended terms.

Ohio

Non-State aid districts shall receive during the ensuing year an amount equal to approximately $13,000,000 in addition to local sources of revenue. Limited borrowing of money by boards of education.

South Dakota

Passed a gross income tax to provide school districts of State approximately $4,000,000 annually. Provided a $1 dog tax for school purposes. Reduced salary of county superintendents on an average of approximately 15 percent.

T

West Virginia

Created a county district for school purposes. Existing magisterial school districts and subdistricts and independent districts abolished. New districts under control of county board of education. Minimum term for elementary and high schools 9 months.

Wisconsin

Reduced minimum monthly salary for teachers from $75 to $65.

Notice

REVIEW of Educational

A Legislation, 1931 and 1932,

prepared by Ward W. Keesecker, Office of Education specialist in school legislation, is just off the press. It is Bulletin 1933 No. 2, chap. 7 of the Biennial Survey of Education in the United States. Order from Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., Price

5 cents.

O BRING into focus the thinking of pressing problems of financial support for public education, the National Education Association joint commission on the emergency in education called a national conference of educational leaders in New York City from July 31 to August 11.

Dividing their problem among committees, the conference produced a series of reports which will be published by the National Education Association as a handbook. This volume, it is hoped, will provide local and State groups supporting education with a body of expert opinion on financing education which will prove helpful.

From the various reports has been condensed a modern charter for public school support which follows:

Charter

Believing that the financing of schools is a matter of cardinal public concern, basic to the present and future welfare of our democracy, we offer the following program for action by the American people:

Universal education.-Funds to provide every child and youth a complete educa

tional opportunity from early childhood to the age at which employment is possible and socially desirable. This right to be preserved regardless of residence, race, or economic status and to constitute an inalienable claim on the resources of local, State and National Governments.

Lifelong earning.-Educational opportunities at public expense for every adult whenever such opportunities are required in the public interest.

Effective teaching. In every classroom competent teachers maintained at an economic level which will secure a high quality of socially motivated, broadly trained, professional service. Lacking this, the whole school program is weakened at its most crucial point.

Equitable taxation. For the adequate support of all governmental activities, including the schools, a stable, varied, and flexible tax system, providing for a just and universal sharing of the cost of government by all members of the community.

Public information.—Accurate, intelligible, and frequent reports to taxpayers and the public on the management of the school money so that complete understanding and constructive attitudes with