Vol. XXIII

MEETINGS

Bay Section the California Teachers' Association; Lewis B. Avery, President, Oakland, Cal.; W. L. Glascock, Secretary, San Mateo, Cal.

Northern California Teachers' Association, S. P. Robbins, President, Chico, Cal.; Mrs. Minnie O'Neil, Secretary.

Central California Teachers' Association, F. H. Boren, Lindsay, President; E. W. Lindsay, Fresno, Secretary. Southern California Teachers' Association, Mrs. Grace Stanley, President, San Bernardino; J. O. Cross, Secretary, Los Angeles.

California Council of Education, E. M. Cox, Oakland, Cal., President; A. H. Chamberlain, San Francisco, Cal., Secre

tary.

California Federation of School Women's Clubs. Miss Anna Keefe, President, Oakland, Cal.; Miss Cora Hampel, Secretary, Oakland, Cal.

California Education Officers, Sacramento, Cal., Hon. Edward Hyatt, Superintendent of Public Instruction; Dr. Margaret Schallenberger-McNaught, Commissioner Elementary Schools; Edwin R. Snyder, Commissioner Vocational Education; Will C. Wood, Commissioner Secondary Schools.

State Board of Education. E. P. Clarke, President; Mrs. O. Shepard Barnum, Charles A. Whitmore, T. S. Montgomery, Marshall De Motte, Mrs. Agnes Ray, George W. Stone.

Little Talks by the Way

By EDWARD HYATT

(Under this head Superintendent Hyatt will try to give some account of what he sees and hears and thinks in traveling about officially among the schools of California. It will be somewhat hasty and ill-digested, being jottings on the road. It will deal with personal experiences, and SO may look egotistic. It will be subject to frequent change of opinion, and will seem inconsistent. It is done as a free and easy means of communication between the school people of the State and the central school office. If it provokes retort or comment, that will be printed, too, provided that it be brief and interesting.)

Learn the Salute to the Flag

and the National Anthem

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands: One nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All."

Now is a good time to look to it that we all know the salute to the Flag, and the proper way to give it. Next, we should know the words, all of them, to the Star Spangled Banner. How many gatherings of Americans can stand respectfully, without fidgeting, and sing the National Anthem clearly, all the way through? And we should learn the proper treatment of our Flag. It may be patriotic to display the flag, but surely there is not the true feeling if we leave it out all night in wind. and rain. In a certain school in California they raise the flag with special ceremony and care on Monday morning. One Monday morning not long ago the teachers and pupils assembled about the flagpole to repeat the pledge and sing the National Anthem. Across the street an old, whitehaired man, in faded clothes, was hoeing weeds. With true reverence and dignity he removed his hat and stood at attention as the flag was raised. It was a simple act, but sincere, in sharp contrast to the usual perfunctory, inattentive, half-bored way many go through such ceremonies. What One School Did

Now, I am going to tell you what the Woodland High School girls did a while. back. Possibly other schools have done the same thing, but I will relate what they did because I happen to know about it and because it presents an excellent chance to point a moral.

Like all good Americans, these girls

SAN FRANCISCO, APRIL, 1917

every girl in the school-some one hundred and fifty of them-wanted to do something to help their country in war time; not knowing just how to do it, just whom to help. Without training or the machinery of organization, the most sensible thing to do was to help those who are trained and organized, the Red Cross. And again, the most sensible and practical thing to do was to send money, and quickly.

At mention of dues or assessments they felt sad. Everywhere you turn in an upto-date school there are dues and tax levies for athletics, for magazines, for class organizations, for this and for that, so that all groaned in spirit at the thought of another. Some girl, eyeing the wastebasket full of paper, said, "Let's save paper and sell it, to get a start, even if it only brings us three or four dollars. Let's have a Paper Day!"

The idea took, spread and grew. Committees sorted the contents of the waste

baskets after school, saving nearly a sack

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands: One Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.

ful each day. Lockers and desks were raided and were tidier than before. ed and were tidier than before. As the enthusiasm grew, teachers searched storeroom and cupboard. Mrs. Lawhead, the vice-principal, sorted over the library, finding many an odd magazine, an out-of-date pamphlet, useful

now.

useful once,

an encumbrance

Old Congressional Reports were found dating back as far as 1860. They were once part of the library of Hesperian College, that Woodland landmark where many of our prominent educators got their early training. Encyclopedias, completely antiquated and long since replaced by modern editions, were found stored away. All told, she "scrapped" over fifty volumes, which, by the standards of efficiency, had no place in a school library. With all the dead wood gone, after this sane and healthful pruning, the Woodland High School library is better today than before. takes courage and judgment to prune a library, but it is salutary.

It

Meanwhile, an active campaign of gathering up accumulations of magazines and papers from the homes was carried on. Bundles were carried in by hand, in buggies, in automobiles. The neighbors became interested and left piles on the front steps to be gathered up by the girls and boys on the way to school. Of course, the boys helped.

When "Paper Day" arrived, they had gathered upwards of two tons of waste paper. Then a local junk dealer, a man in

No. 4

their own community, who made his profit, too, bought it and paid $15.35.

Not very much money for a lot of work? Well, I don't know about that. Fifteen dollars are-fifteen dollars, and every cent was clear. The work didn't hurt them and they enjoyed it. It took a little time and a little energy and a lot of enthusiasm, which they gave willingly. But what I like about it is that it was a good constructive lesson in thrift to those boys and girls. There, in a short time, without the outlay of one cent, they salvaged from absolute waste that mass of usable material. They rescued fifteen dollars from total loss. They turned back into the world what others were throwing away. They saw the value of saving, the value of small things. There, in a concrete, forcible way, it was brought home to them that wastefulness means a direct money loss. Fifteen dollars saved isn't such a small sum after all. Let's see, they feed a Belgian child on six cents a day, or so, don't they? That fifteen dollars would keep several alive for several days.

Just to prove that the work wasn't too hard nor the rewards too small, these young folks declared another paper day about a month later. It is surprising what accumulates in a month. It is also surprising what stores of such accumulations there are in one town. Attic and store and cellar yielded pile after pile again. Other people became interested and the work spread. Papers came in from Davis, from Yolo, from Knight's Landing, from Esparto. Again the paper was weighed and sold, and again the treasury of the Red Cross was enriched by fifteen dollars. The enthusiasm is as high as ever and there is going to be another paper day soon. The girls dues from people, and more profitable. To declare it is much easier than collecting them it is preferable to giving Shows por soliciting money orly or bazaars or sales or other stereotyped means of money gathering. OCT 2 1917 Gardening

of Commerce the

Following LANDSTAWP of the President, the egretar President, the UNIVERSITY of our Governor of California, College of Agriculture, let us now consider the backyard garden. Just because there is so much in the papers today, don't think it a. new idea, a recent fad. Many of us have had gardens for years, and raised our own "green sass" near our own fig trees and beside our own vines. Now that the eyes of the nation are turned upon our little patches, we swell with pride. Therefore we speak up with the voice of authority to "sound a warning" on planting your corn in the shade, and to "discuss the expediency" of irrigating tomatoes. This last month, peculiarly interesting to gardeners, has been spent on what I hope will provide the "piece de resistance" of many a summertime meal. Therefore, I lay aside the hoe

in favor of the pen to garden on paper.

Every teacher should have a garden. Get out after school and relieve the nervous tension by hoeing a while. Get up a little earlier, and persuade the water to run up the designated ditch and not down a gopher hole. Lean on your hoe and watch the birds appreciate your attempts at irrigation. You will learn many things about nature, by observation while picking peas. Find out if you can if the robin and whitecrowned sparrow are going to nest here this year instead of going north. This will not take much time, and you will be wiser and calmer and better company during the day.

If we make ourselves hoe long rows of potatoes of a hot Saturday, the discipline will be worth as much as the vegetables. And our appetites will be better. Should

My dear Superintendent―

The following resolution was passed at the latest meeting (in March) of the State Board of Education and will appear in the next issue of the Blue Bulletin:

"Resolved, That since the Smith-Lever fund, provided jointly by the federal government and the various states of the union, was designed largely for the purpose of promoting project work in agriculture and home economics among boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 18 years, and since the other states of the Union are so using it, the State Board of Education of California, approving and endorsing the work already done in the secondary schools by means of this fund by the Department of Agriculture of the University of California (the authorized distributors of the fund), appreciates the recent extension of project work to the children of the elementary schools and urges all elementary teachers and school boards to take immediate steps to co-operate with the Department of Agriculture of the State University in order that the children of elementary school age may receive the advantages provided for in this law."

The Smith-Lever fund is a fund, as you are probably aware, already in use. (Please do not confuse it with the Smith fund of the Smith-Hughes bill which is now before the legislature for consideration.) The Smith-Lever fund may be used for project work—that is, the raising of vegetables (potatoes, beans, corn, etc.) or the raising of hogs, calves, or poultry, etc., by boys and girls (please do not forget the girls) between the ages of ten and eighteen years. This fund, under the law, is in the hands of the State Department of Agriculture in the various state universities of the United States. Dean Thomas F. Hunt is the head of this department in our own state (University of California). Project work of the character which I have described has been carried on admirably in various counties of our state during the past few years by certain high school boys. This year it has

you need advice, we have splendid resources. There is the Farm School at Davis, with practical men at the head; the College of Agriculture, at Berkeley, at your command. And especially, there is the State Commissioner of Horticulture, Mr. G. H. Hecke. He is not only a scientifically trained agriculturist, but a practical, successful farmer as well. His beautiful ranch in fertile Yolo County is well worth visiting, just as Mr. Hecke himself is well worth knowing.

For a long time, I wondered just where this amateur gardening would land us. I visited backyards overrun with beans and corn, window boxes and flower pots of onions, roof gardens of potatoes. dered what would happen to the huckster who for years has ministered unto the lazy yearner for green vegetables. But now I

just begun to be extended to the younger boys.

In view of the fact that the President of the United States makes an earnest plea that every effort be made to provide food in as large quantities as possible, and that in his recommendations concerning economy and thrift he lays particular emphasis on agricultural industries, the time is ripe to put into practice the advice offered in this resolution of the State Board of Education.

The season is not so far advanced in many parts of the state that we cannot plant to advantage, if we plant at once. Surely those holding administrative positions as educators, and those who are closely in touch with the children of the schools (trustees, teachers and school patrons) will see the necessity of encouraging every boy and girl in the community, where conditions permit, to plant or to raise something.

Superintendents in counties having farm advisers can make use of them immediately to get into communication with Dean Hunt. Where there are no farm advisers the supervisors should be consulted with a view to obtaining local help in order to co-operate with the Department of Agriculture of the State University.

This is a matter of great importance, and I hope you will give it prompt and definite consideration.

Very cordially yours, MARGARET S. McNAUGHT, Commissioner of Elementary Schools.

am reassured. There will be no overproduction, the hucskter will not suffer. One authority says that the potato crop will still be sub-normal, no matter how many are planted; another explains that truck gardens are largely planted to cereals. A third remarks, "Even if it costs two dollars to raise what is ultimately worth one dollar, even though the water is worth more in cash than the cucumbers and beans it produces, we must plant." It isn't the money value, it is the actual food that counts. So let us all line our walks with lettuce, put turnips in the flower beds, dot the lawn with hills of squash and potatoes. Artichokes growing in the parking space bordering the streets are beautiful and furnish delicious food.

What have you planted?

The new Healdsburg High School, a cut of which appears in this issue, is one of the latest high school designs of W. H. Weeks. This building when completed will be one of the most complete high school buildings in the State. Stairways are entirely eliminated and ramps of an original design substituted.

Every department is complete and planned for economy in oversight and original cost. The Manual Arts and Domestic Science Departments are placed in wing buildings with arcades leading thereto. This makes an ideal arrangement, and takes the odors of the cooking department and the noise of the manual arts away from the main building.

In addition to the usual laboratories and classrooms, an agricultural department is incorporated in the plans.

The latest equipment and appliances are provided.

The plot plan shows a very satisfactory arrangement for the lot, which is on high ground, and gives a splendid view of the city and surrounding country. Take it all in all, Healdsburg will have a building second to none in the West.

The estimated cost is $100,000 and it will have a capacity of 500 pupils.

Conducted by W. H. Weeks, Architect For adequate instruction there should be double the present teaching force and public school-teachers as a class should be better paid. Many prosperous sections of the United States cling to a pioneer equipment for the education of children because they are too indifferent and too stingy to improve it. Much the worse disadvantage of

We spend on public schools about one and a half per cent of the national income, or, say, one-fifth as much as we spend on alcoholic drink and tobacco. Our pretension of a deep interest in popular education is a good deal of a sham. If we felt such an interest as we profess, we should be spending three times the present amount, taking the country over. The backward States would be spending five or six times the present sum.

ness that many people who can afford it send their children to private schools. It is because of an idea-founded on fact in too many cases-that instruction in private schools, with fewer pupils to the teacher and greater attention to the individual pupil, is superior to that in public schools.

farm life in various regions lies in the rural schools.

It is by no means wholly from snobbish

If democracy is to justify the best democratic hopes, then every other political question that comes up is inferior to the question of the public schools, for that involves the fundamental thing of giving every child the best practicable start and opportunities as nearly as possible equal to his competitors.

There are very difficult questions of technic-what should be taught and how; but they do not affect the general proposition that at least double the money should be spent on public education. - Ladies' Home Journal.

*

I was born an American, I live an American, I shall die an American; and I intend to perform the duties incumbent upon me in that character to the end of my career. -Webster.

Under Direction of HERBERT F. CLARK Alhambra, Cal.

Editorial

Dewey and Democracy-
A Philosophy of Education

Students of modern education watch with considerable interest the appearance of any publication from the pen of Professor John Dewey. A life given to study and labor in a certain field of human endeavor leads one to formulate in his maturer years a philosophy of that particular realm of of thought. Such has been the case with Mr. Dewey in his latest publication, entitled "Democracy and Education."

It is to be expected that Mr. Dewey will hold pretty closely to his oft reiterated theory that education is life and not merely preparation for life. The fact is that he shows quite conclusively that only those experiences which we have that are of vital present interest are of much value in real preparation for life.

* * *

"If education is growth," he says, "it must progressively realize present possibilities, and thus make individuals better fitted to cope with later requirements. Because the need of preparation for a continually developing life is great, it is imperative that every energy should be bent to making the present experience as rich and significant as possible. Then as the present merges insensibly into the future, the future is taken care of."

It follows, therefore, that although children are in school such a relatively short portion of their whole lives, it still befits the process of education to have the child's experiences in school full of meaningfulness and present significance.

It is only in some such way as this, Mr. Dewey maintains, can we develop children into real social beings and make for true democracy in society at large. "An undesirable society," he says, "is one which internally and externally sets up barriers to free intercourse and communication of ex

perience. A society which makes provision for participation in its good of all its members on equal terms and which secures flexible readjustment of its institutions through interaction of the different forms of associated life is in so far democratic." It is this sort of wholesome philosophy that runs all through this latest book of Mr. Dewey's and makes it of extreme value at this time when a terrible world struggle exists between autocracy and democracy in the world at large.

*

War and Whisky versus Manhood

*

Some of us who have reached maturer years, and in the present crisis have been called upon to place upon the altar of our country our choicest sons, already begin to realize the terrible menace to the physical and moral welfare of our soldier boys in the presence of the yawning, open saloon.

We do not fear to have them die on the

field of battle in defense of their native land; but we shudder at the thought of their coming under the influence of that worst of all human foes, the insidious, hypocritical, treason-steeped, lecherous saloon. No more pathetic scene can be imagined than to see a great fine specimen of manhood clothed in the apparel of a United States soldier emerge from a grogshop and go reeling up the street, his manly, martial bearing broken, despoiled in mind and heart, and conquered by the enemy in his own native land.

We talk of spies and treason, of traitors to our beloved country; but no spy was ever more dangerous, no treason ever more unpardonable, no traitor more reprehensible than the saloonkeeper who doles out to the sturdy soldier the stuff that makes him drunken, or the people who vote to give these destroyers of manhood this opportunity.

To sacrifice our best in the cause of universal freedom, sorrowful as this must be, would be an honor that would follow us to our graves, but to have a life destroyed by the demon of strong drink, to have a son betrayed by those of his own household, would indeed be a stigma that would haunt us throughout eternity.

It is to be hoped that our nation, in this crisis of all ages, will at one full stroke drive from its own vitals that worst form of human cancer, the open saloon.

United States Democracy and the World War

About

year ago, a great deal was being said in educational journals about German efficiency in war as being a direct result of the German system of education. The condition at that time was used by some of our school men to argue for a more autocratic, a more centralized, system of school administration in this country, that greater efficiency might be obtained. Another year of that terrible struggle is

bringing into bold relief the inherent weakness of autocratic management and the gradual rise into significance of an element of real democracy even in the cause of war. After all is said and done, the real strength of any nation lies in the amalgamated ideals

of its constituents, and when these are centered upon a single individual, or in a comparatively small group of the social whole, it is only a question of time and the test of real struggle that the amalgamation breaks up and its vitality disappears. Such has been the experience of Russia, and such, we believe, will be the experience of Germany and possibly of England before this gigantic struggle ends.

The gradual drift of the United States

into this seething maelstrom has proved an interesting observation from the point of view of democracy. We have come to have such utmost faith in the triumph of democracy that we have let our GermanAmerican citizens (note the hyphen) concoct all sorts of plots to cripple our means of defense and aggression without paying much attention to them. We have let them malign and censure our president and central government in a spirit of tolerance

Even

unknown in autocratic Germany. our own people have stormed the gates at Washington on the eve of a terrible crisis. and have made themselves and our country ridiculous in the eyes of the world, yet it is all forgiven in a spirit of real democracy.

And now that the crisis is reached and the "die is cast" it remains to be seen whether "This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom,—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

No sooner is war declared than that every community in this great nation of ours immediately becomes a little democracy or ganized for home protection and ready to sacrifice its all in the service of the larger whole. The youth in life's green spring enlist in the army of the republic, men in middle life, and they in the full strength of years organize into home guards that would prove of mighty strength in times of riot or invasion. The women throughout the land respond to the nation's call with a spontaneity that speaks well for our spirit of true democracy. Already we are beginning to beginning to see that there is no North, no South, no East, no West, but one united land in the cause of a larger universal freedom.

It remains to be seen whether the ingredients that have been poured into the melting pot for the last century will really amalgamate into one constituent whole. This crisis may be the test to prove the genuineness of the contents in the crucible. We have been so open-armed in our reception of foreign material. We have been so open-hearted in our extension of opportunities to our foreign population. We have been so profligate of our national resources. We have had such unbounded confidence in our democratic institutions, and the next few years will test severely all these elements in our national life.

"God had sifted three kingdoms to find the wheat for this planting,

Then had sifted the wheat, as the living seed of a nation;

So say the chronicles old, and such is the faith of the faith of the people! War is a terrible trade; but in the cause that is righteous, Sweet is the smell of the powder."

These two quotations, taken from the same stanza in Longfellow's "Courtships of Miles Standish," indicate pretty clearly the faith of the American people and their present attitude in the crisis now at hand. It is a world test of democracy.