E

into three parts: Exhortation, catechism, and new business. Standard proportions are exhortation, five tenths; catechism, four tenths; new business, one tenth.

...

Under the head of exhortation come speeches sprinkled with: Teachers must . . . We should recognize . . . It is imperative that... Catechism includes: We believe in the right of every person to education . . . We believe in larger administrative units . . . We believe the property tax is unsound etc. New business comes from the researchers and the experimenters. It is usually to be found in the side-show sessions not in the "big top" general meetings. Because our readers have heard the exhortations and know their

...

catechism, SCHOOL LIFE chooses to present from the Cleveland convention of the department of superintendence brief reports of new business.

Most reports in this classification were given before the American Educational Research Association sessions.

What makes for ease in reading? Prof. William S. Gray, University of Chicago, supplies an answer to every writer's prayer for guidance: "Elements which contributed most to difficulty for all the readers tested were length of sentence in words, number of words not known to 90 percent of sixth-grade pupils, and number of different hard words. Elements which contributed to ease and simplicity of reading material were percent of easy words, number of explicit sentences, number of first, second, and third person pronouns, and percent of monosyllabic words." Apply these standards to "The Story of Our Lord", currently in print and see how Dickens passes Professor Gray's test.

Surprising facts were turned up when nearly 8,000 Michigan high-school pupils took the American council psychological examination, Edgar C. Johnston, principal, University High School, Ann Arbor, reported. Of those pupils planning to go to college 16 percent ranked in the lowest quartile. Of those who had given up hope of going to college 14 percent were in the upper fourth in ability.

tendents recently held

'Ability to recall and ability to infer are different abilities", Ralph C. Bedell, assistant professor, State Teachers College, Kirksville, Mo., said. "Boys are superior to girls in the ability to infer,

In

but no differences occur in recall. spite of the fact that over 25 percent of the subjects were practically unable to do inference of the type commonly demanded in the general science course, regression equations show that the ability to infer is three times as important as the ability to recall in obtaining teachers' marks."

Just when we were ready to accept the idea that teachers should give special consideration to left-handed pupils, along comes Clifford Woody, director, bureau of educational reference and research, University of Michigan, quoting results of a study by his assistant, Albert J. Phillips: "There is a tendency for the group of right-handed pupils in grade I to make more reversals in the reversal and in the reading tests than the group of lefthanded pupils. No plausible explanation is available, unless it may be an unverified assumption that teachers feeling that left-handed pupils may have a tendency to make reversals exercised more care with them. . . . One outstanding conclusion is that handedness per se with the two groups under consideration had little or no influence on the type of reading responses made."

"The greatest educational needs of unemployed adults are for authentic information about their own vocational

assets and liabilities." This, said Dr. M. R. Trabue, University of North Carolina, is one of the outstanding findings of the Minnesota Unemployment Stabilization Institute's studies on individual diagnosis and training. Other findings: "The grown man or woman who needs further training is very likely to be unaware of that need. If he does feel a desire to secure further training, he is more than likely to be mistaken regarding the field in which he should seek training. Fewer than 1 in 20 of those who undertook train

ing in fields that had been rated inappropriate gained anything of value from the training; 3 out of 4 of those who took training in accordance with the recommendations of the occupational analysis clinics were successful."

Six regional accrediting associations with a membership of 4,600 secondary schools have set themselves the task of finding an answer to the question, What is a good high school?", said Prof. George E. Carrothers, University of Michigan.

F

ROM the hundreds of letters written by young men in C.C.C. camps

I have selected a paragraph. The letter tells the usual story of a boy who is a high-school graduate with the hope of going to college. With no money and no job he roamed the country hungry, hopeless, bitter. He tells of enrolling in the C.C.C., of his impoverished physical condition, his renewed hope, and particularly his joy in his day's work:

A new confidence has entered my being which has renewed my old hopes so that I am confident that they shall be fulfilled. The C.C.C. has given me the power and confidence of creating things with my own hands. It has helped me create something that shall not only be admired by my generation, but for generations to come. This I have done with my own hands and each time that I finish a piece of work I have a feeling that must be akin to that of some famous musician as he receives the plaudits of his admiring audience, or some sculptor exhibiting a piece of work to his patron.

A young man who is capable of such development should have a chance to continue his education. When the first camps were set up in the spring of 1933, it was not long before Dr. George F. Zook, United States Commissioner of Education, Director Fechner, other Government officials, and many public-spirited citizens realized that these young men needed something more in the way of an educational program than the War Department was at that time able to supply; that effective rehabilitation of these young

men demanded not only that they be fed and clothed and given honest work to do, but that in their spare time they be given the utmost opportunity to learn about the world in which they live and their relation to it.

Program set-up

In December 1933 the President, Mr. Fechner, the War Department, and the Commissioner of Education approved an educational plan. Under the Commissioner of Education in Washington an educational director of the Civilian Conservation Corps has general supervision of the whole educational enterprise. The War Department, in charge of the operation of the camps, divides the United States into 9 Army corps areas in each of which is a commanding general. At each of these 9 area headquarters there is an educational adviser, appointed by the Office of Education but responsible to the area commander. This educational adviser functions on the one hand as a member of the commanding general's staff (his adviser on this educational program) and on the other hand as the supervisor of the educational effort in all of the camps within the area.

There are 1,468 camps, located in every State of the Union. In most of these camps there is a camp educational adviser selected and appointed by the Office of Education, and responsible to the camp commander. Assisting this camp educational adviser is one enrollee chosen from the ranks for his fitness to help in

the camp program. He is called an assistant camp leader. In addition to these two men, who give their full time to the camp educational program, there are usually in each camp 3 military officers and several members of the forestry and parks staff, all of whom are interested in the educational program and most of whom are actively helping to carry it on.

When the camp educational advisers were selected, the educational integrity of the enterprise and the educational fitness of the candidate were our sole concern. Thousands of qualified persons offered their services so that it was possible to select men well trained for teaching. The men chosen for positions in 1 State included 1 with a doctor's degree, 15 with master's degrees, and 7 who had done graduate work beyond the bachelor's degree. We have done all we could to select men who are able to adapt themselves to this, the biggest single volunteer adult education enterprise the world has ever seen.

To carry on the program successfully camp advisers must quicken their imaginations; they must see not only their obligation but also their opportunity to lead these men a step forward intellectually from where they are now; to arouse intellectual curiosity. These advisers must realize that they cannot judge, that in fact, no one can judge the success or failure of this enterprise by conventional standards. This educational program will be good because of what it prevents, as well as what it accomplishes.

The purposes, methods, and organized plan of the C.C.C. educational program are outlined in the "Handbook for the the Educational Advisers." It is the guidebook for this whole enterprise, and it contains both an adequate philosophy of adult education and a full complement of suggested procedures for all concerned

with the program. Camp advisers are

urged to read and reread this remarkable pamphlet until its ideas become their ideas, its program their program. Its aims to develop in each boy his sense of confidence, his understanding of the social order, and his vocational interests-are uniform.

The study effort in camp must necessarily be informal in many cases; we in the Office of Education think the more informal the better. We are not striving for credits; here is learning prompted by desire for knowledge. Here are scores of thousands of young men figuratively and sometimes literally on the ends of logs; we need hundreds of Mark Hopkins.

Once given this point of view the camp adviser finds out what things the enrollees want to know. He organizes discussion groups and classes, selects textbooks, uses magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, and moving pictures. He uses not only the camp staff officers and the trained men in Parks and Forestry Services, but where available the better trained enrollees as class discussion leaders. He has much volunteer service from interested citizens in nearby communities. Nor does he forget the spiritual uplift to be found in music, in dramatics, debates, and such activities, and he organizes the boys in groups around these interests. Among these enrollees are a great many college and normal-school graduates, accomplished musicians, experienced actors, and men who have held responsible places in community and civic organizations. The camp adviser is able, also, to establish relationships with those nearby educational and social agencies that will not only aid the educational program in the camps, but facilitate the return of enrollees into wholesome social and economic life upon their discharge from the

camps.

Problems

Our obstacles are great; they include large variety of study interests, dearth of suitable text material for adults, lack of comfortably furnished and adequately lighted discussion and class rooms, lack of ample library books-though each camp has a library-lack of laboratory facilities, fatigue on the part of enrollees after a day of labor, and insufficient experience of the

advisers for this particular task. Our advantages, however, are greater. In the first place, enrollment is voluntary. No one has to study anything; only those who want to learn will continue in a class. Moreover, the men themselves decide what they want to be taught. Then, too, no credits are at stake; for the most part the work is informal and the plan flexible. We shall get ingenious and virile teaching. The teacher or discussion leader who cannot hold the attention of a group of men, under conditions which the camp presents, simply is not the right man for the job. He may have been an able administrator, or he may have been an acceptable teacher of formal classes, but if he cannot do this job under conditions as they are, he must give place to someone who can. great advantage is that here is comradeship in quest of knowledge. Learners and teachers live together under camp conditions. A teacher or discussion leader confronted by a student's baffling question cannot well retreat behind a Jovian frown. His success will largely depend upon the extent to which in genuine comradeship he and those who help him can lead these young men along the paths of knowledge.

Real teachers

But our

Can men who have been classroom teachers and principals and superintendents now undergo a metamorphosis and become under camp conditions not only teachers, but counsellors, leaders of discussion groups, sympathetic companions to young men in quest of knowledge? I think they can; if they are real educators in the true sense of the word they will respond to this challenge with results that will be inspiring. The reward will come with expressions of gratitude from the boys in the camps similar to this one:

The Civilian Conservation Corps has regenerated me mentally, physically, and spiritually. It has given me practical knowledge about camp life, plumbing, carpentry, bookkeeping; but more than that, it has taught me to appreciate the good things of life. I have learned to appreciate what Thoreau calls "The beneficence of Nature." In the deepening twilight my eyes stray up until they rest upon the last tall pine on the hills, etched against the afterglow of the sun. And as it fades, a flood of memories closes in upon me memories of the boy who wearily tramped the streets and sought death in the bitterness of despair. Happiness to him was something out of reach, somewhere beyond the stars. I know now the serenity of soul that comes from a busy, well-ordered life. And happiness-well, happiness is here, not beyond, but beneath the stars.

Recent Theses

A LIST of the most recently received doctors' and masters' theses in education, which may be borrowed from the Library of the Office of Education on interlibrary loan:

ALLEN, GRACE E. H. A comparison of the changes in pupils' information and character resulting from instruction in plane geometry by the individual vs. the recitation method. Master's, 1933. Pennsylvania State College. 58 p.ms.

BELL, ROBERT E. The provision for the education of gifted children in the elementary schools of New York State. Doctor's, 1933. New York University.

175 p.ms.

CARLEY, VERNA A. Student aid in the secondary schools of the United States. Doctor's, 1933. Teachers College, Columbia University. 119 p.

CARPENTER, MANLEY A. Supervision of athletics in rural high schools of Onondaga County. Master's, 1933. Syracuse University. 105 p.ms.

CYR, FRANK W. Responsibility for rural school administration: Allocation of responsibilities in the ad ministration of schools in rural areas, with special refer. ence to the county. Doctor's, 1933. Teachers College, Columbia University. 159 p.

DEAN, ELIZABETH A. The Latin club in the junior high school. Master's, 1933. Boston University. 63 p.ms.

DICKINSON, VIRGINIA. The present status of ability grouping. Master's, 1933. Boston University. 87

p.ms.

DOWD, SUSAN C. Special educational opportunities in Springfield. Master's, 1933. Boston University. 88 p.ms.

DOYLE, Rev. JOHN J. Education in recent constitutions and concordats. Doctor's, 1933. Catholic University of America. 139 p.

ERDLY, CALVIN V. Reshaping a high-school curriculum and instructional organization on basis of graduates' comments. Master's, 1933. Pennsylvania State College. 65 p.ms.

GEORGE, JENNINGS G. The influence of court decisions in shaping school policies in Mississippi. Doctor's, 1932. George Peabody College for Teachers. 265 p.

GRAHAM, JESSIE. The evolution of business education in the United States and its implications for business-teacher education. Doctor's, 1933. University of Southern California. 228 p.

HELM, MARGIE M. A technique for the determination of the number of duplicate copies of collateral reference books needed in college libraries. Master's, 1933. University of Chicago. 82 p. ms.

TRAXLER, ARTHUR E. The measurement and improvement of silent reading at the junior high school level. Doctor's, 1932. University of Chicago. 217 p.

TYLER, TRACY F. An appraisal of radio broadcasting in the land grant colleges and State universities. Doctor's, 1932. Teachers College, Columbia University. 166 p.

WELLCK, ARTHUR A. The annuity agreements of colleges and universities. Doctor's, 1933. Teachers College, Columbia University. 65 p.

YOUNG, CLARENCE M. Improving the experienced teachers; a study in supervision. Master's, 1933. West Virginia University. 28 p.ms.

RUTH A. GRAY

Aids

V

ALUES

Free.

The Tennessee Valley Authority. 1934.

8 p., illus. (Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, Tenn.) Free.

Describes Muscle Shoals properties, nitrate plants, Wheeler Dam, Norris Dam, the town of Norris, the power policy, the Electric Home and Farm Authority, and cooperatives. (Civics; Geography; Economics.)

Child Labor-Facts and Figures. 1933. 85 p., illus. (Children's Bureau, Publication No. 197.) 10 cents.

Features of the child-labor problem such as: Child labor in the United States; Children's work and working conditions; legal regulation of child labor; and a brief history of child labor. (Economics; Child health; Educational legislation.)

Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs. 1933. 85 p., illus. (Treasury Department, Bureau of Narcotics.) Free.

Illustrates the work of the Federal Government in preventing smuggling of opium, morphine, cocaine, and other dangerous drugs into the United States. (Pharmacy; Medicine; Civics.)

Maternal Deaths-Brief report of a study made in 15 States. 1933. 60 p., charts. (Children's Bureau, Publication No. 221.) 5 cents. (Adult education; Obstetrics; Sociology.)

Boulder Dam and Power Plant. 6-page illus. folder. (Bureau of Reclamation.) Free.

Description and pictures of the Boulder Dam and power plant operating model which was on exhibit at the Century of Progress Exposition, with a discussion of the dam itself, the power plant, and its purpose. (Civics; Current events.) (See illustration) Economic Bases for the Agricultural Ad

Written to provide a more general understanding of broad agricultural policies which will affect every citizen, directly or indirectly, and will aid individuals and groups to think and argue about the subject. (Civics; Sociology; Agriculture.)

Flags Flags, colors, standards, and guidons; description and use. 6 p. (War Department, Army Regulations No. 26010, changes No. 1.) Free.

Changes in Army Regulations issued in November 1931 which presented existing rules on use and display of flags, guidons, signal flags, automobile plates; battle honors; supply, repair, replacement and requisition, disposition, storage, shipment, and preservation of flags and their sale or loan.

Performance Tests of Radio System of Landing Aids. 1933. p. 463-490., illus. (Bureau of Standards, Research Paper 602.) 10 cents.

Description, application, and operation of the system of landing airplanes by the use of radio. Results of tests at College Park, Md., and of demonstrations and tests at Newark, N.J. (Aviation; Radio education.)

Diets at Four Levels of Nutritive Content and Cost. 1933. 59 p., charts. (Department of Agriculture, Circular No. 296.) 5 cents.

Information on certain aspects of food purchasing. The four diets are stated in terms of the quantities of foods or groups of food required yearly for individuals of different ages and degrees of activity, and also in terms of the quantities needed yearly and weekly by families of typical composition. The nutritive value and cost of each diet are discussed so that teachers of nutrition, social workers, and others can readily see the needs of the particular group with which they are concerned. (Home economics; Public health.)