Ed THE WESTERN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 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. SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS STATE By C. S. Pixley The regular quarterly session of the State Board of Education was held during the week of July 16th and lasted six days. Some of the most important things done by the Board at this meeting were as follows: The adoption of the Robbins & Row language books published by Row, Peterson & Co. The life diploma of Bert R. E. Smith was revoked. The secretary was instructed to advertise for the submission of a text for a teachers' manual in physical education. Authorization was given for the printing of a bulletin on the flag, a bulletin containing the regulations of the Board under the SmithHughes law, and a reprint of Bulletin No. 20 entitled "Landscape Improvements of Rural School Grounds." The rules and regulations of the Board for the government of public schools were amended in several minor particulars, and the resolution previously adopted referring to the supervision by principals and teachers over moral conditions in the schools was revised to be included with the other rules and regulations. The revised version finally adopted is as follows: "Principals and teachers of public schools, elementary and secondary, shall exercise careful supervision over the moral conditions in their respective schools. Gambling, immorality, profanity, frequenting saloons or public poolrooms, the use of tobacco, narcotics and intoxicating liquors on the school grounds, or elsewhere in violation of State law or local county or city ordinance, shall not be tolerated. "Whenever the principal of any school is informed that any pupil attending such school is committing any of the offenses hereinbefore mentioned, such principal shall direct such pupil to appear before him, and if, after an opportunity to be heard in his own behalf, such pupil is found guilty of such offense by such principal, he shall be forthwith suspended from such school for such period as such principal may determine, not to exceed one week. Upon a second conviction of the same offense or of any other offense herein mentioned, such pupil shall be suspended from attendance upon the schools of the State for the remainder of the current school term. "Whenever the principal of any school has any information that any parent or guardian of any school pupil is responsible for the commission of any such offense by such pupil or that any other person, firm or corporation is encouraging any such pupil in the commission of any such offense or is responsible therefor, such SAN FRANCISCO, AUGUST, 1917 principal shall forthwith report such information to the Juvenile Court of the county in which such school is located. (See Sections 1665, 1667, 1684, 1685 and 1702 of the Political Code, Sections 308, 336 and 397b of the Penal Code, and Section 1 of the Juvenile Court Law.)" The following resolution referring to the closing of schools was adopted: "In pursuance with the provisions of Chapter 192 of the Political Code for the closing of schools in an emergency created by the present war, the State Board of Education offers the following special rule for the government of the schools of the state: "When the citizens of any community consider that a condition exists which requires the employment of pupils then in attendance on any school or schools in harvesting a perishable crop, and the trustees or board of education of the school or schools decline to dismiss pupils for this purpose, such citizens may submit a request to the State Board of Education to have such school or schools closed to meet the emergency. "Should an emergency arise when sufficient help to harvest a perishable crop can not be obtained in a locality, the citiezns of that locality may appeal to the State Board of Education to close the schools in other localities or to release pupils in school in such other localities to make the harvest. "In either or any case and in accordance with the provisions of the above referred to law, the State Board of Education will undertake to pass upon the needs of the case and to secure the approval of the Governor to the order, should the closing of the school or schools be deemed necessary.' The Commissioners were authorized to issue State Credentials under the provisions of subdivision 8, Section 1519A, as amended by the 1917 legislature. No. 8 The Board adopted the following resolution referring to the twelve units of pedagogy required by subdivision (b), Section 1775: "In accordance with the provisions of subdivision (4), paragraph (b), Section 1775 of the Political Code, the State Board of Education prescribes the following: That elementary certificates may be granted for the coming year to persons who have completed any twelve units of pedagogy in an accredited university, at least four of which shall be based on practice teaching, and that the Commissioners of Education be requested to confer with the universities during the coming year, with a view to recommending a course of pedagogy to meet the conditions of this section of the law." Pending applications for life diplomas, health and development recommendations, high school credentials and credentials in special subjects were disposed of. The new form of application for life diplomas in special subjects adopted in 1916 was ordered discontinued. Retirement Board Business Claims for retirement salaries amounting to $54,000 were approved. The Board decided that henceforth retirement salaries shall commence to accrue from the date of approval by the Board. The appointment of Dr. Paul Wageforth of San Diego and Dr. H. E. Southworth of Los Angeles as examining physicians for the Retirement Board were confirmed. The Board authorized the Finance Committee to invest $250,000 of the Teachers' Permanent Fund. Retirement salaries of $500 per annum were granted to the following persons: Albert Charles Barker, Oakland; Leonora Juanita Brownell, Capitola; S. H. Butterfield, Burbank; Ella Chase, San Francisco; Leonidas Llewellyn Evans, Ripon; Jennie Fischer, San Francisco; Elizabeth Jane Gibson, Los DEPARTMENT OF Angeles; Mrs. Hattie F. Gilbert, Petaluma: Henry Clay Hampton, Bishop; Rose A. EDUCATION Haskins, Petaluma; Zoe C. Herrick, RedRECEIVED lands; Ada Mabelle Laughlin, Los Angeles; Isabel Liscoe, El Cajon; Ida M. Love, San Jose; George W. Moore, Colusa; Mrs. Marion Rainey, Oakland; Ettie Louise LELAND STANFORDhompson, Oakland; Charles J. Walker, Fresno; George S. Wells, San Jose. JUNIOR UNIVERSITY Retirement salaries under section 14 of the law were granted to the following applicants: Florence R. Glennon, Monte Rio, $333.33; Eugenie C. Harrison, San Francisco, $333.33; Mrs. Amanda H. McReynolds, Santa Rosa, $416.66; Lura Manning, Azura, $416.66; Miss Emma C. Markell, Los Angeles, $450; Charles N. Watson, Cazadero, $283.33. Old Felicitas. (From "Indian Stories of the Southwest.") The Board will meet in special session on September 3, and the next regular quarterly meeting will be held October 15. INDIAN STORIES OF THE By Elizabeth Judson Roberts Mrs. Roberts has written a book of the She has most fascinating Indian stories. written about the Indians and villages that she has known since childhood. San Pasqual, San Diego Mission, Mesa Grande and El Capitan are almost as familiar as her father's farm in San Pasqual Valley. The book, while local in color, has an intense interest as wide as humanity. Mrs. Roberts has the story-teller's art in perfection. She tells the story. There is the beginning, There is a the main part, and the end. sympathetic charm for the pitiful old Indian that is irresistible. The book will be popular, in school, library and home. The Harr Wagner Pub. Co., 239 Geary St., San Francisco, has printed and published it in an attractive form. Price $1.25, postpaid, ADULT IMMIGRANT EMORY S. BOGARDUS, Ph. D. Professor of Sociology, University of Southern California This investigation covers a first-hand and intensive study of 140 representative adult immigrants in the night schools of the City of Los Angeles. The work was carried on during the two school years of 1914-15 and 1915-16. A schedule was prepared, and seven students from the class in Social Surveys and the Sociology Seminary were selected for the work.* These per sons acted either as regular teachers or volunteer teachers in three of the representative night schools of Los Angeles. The facts which are herein tabulated and analyzed were secured indirectly from the immigrant by the teacher, e. g., while the teacher was giving the adult pupil personal instruction in English or civics, he or she secured the facts and the pupil's viewpoint upon the questions which are discussed in this paper. It frequently took the investigator a month or longer in which to secure the answers to all the questions from a given pupil and to verify these answers through the use of the cross-question method. No schedules have been included concerning which there was doubt as to the reliability of the data. The questions upon the basis of which this study was made are given herewith. *These students were Messrs. R. E. Pollick, Ross Hodson, Errol P. Janes and Misses Blanche Hood, Irene Mills, Cecelia Irvine and Bessie Hoagland. List of Questions 1. Sex? Race? Age? Occupation? 2. How much public education did you have in the home country? How much private education? 3. How did you come to the United States? To Los Angeles? 4. How many years have you lived in the United States? In Los Angeles? 5. What is your political attitude? First papers? Second papers? 6. Your religious attitude? 7. How was your attention called to the night school? 8. Why are you attending the night school? 9. How may the night school be improved? 10. What is the attitude of your employer to the night school? 11. How may others be interested in the night school? 12. What would you do in the evening if not in the night school? One hundred and three of the immigrants who were considered were men and 37 were omen. The majority of the entire group belonged to three racial groups, namely: Italian (33), Serbo-Croatian (24) and Mexican (23). The remainder included Germans (7), Jews (6), English (6), Greeks (4), Magyars (3), Negroes (3), Spanish (3), Russians (2), Poles (2), Bohemians (2) and others (22), The ages varied from 15 to 40. Twentyfour and 25 years represented the high point of the numbers of the immigrants in respect to age. The classification by occupation gives the following results: Skilled (52), unskilled (50), housework (19), business (6), clerk (5), agriculture (4), student (1) and unclassified (3). It will be noted that the unskilled and skilled work entire group. In the skilled class were found machinists, painters, carpenters, shoemakers and tailors. The business group refers chiefly to peddlers of fruit, pool hall owners, etc. The housework section is composed, of course, of the women immigrants. Table I. Table I. Years None. 1 yr. or less. 2 yrs. 3 yrs. 4 yrs. Public number were quite indifferent to political and governmental matters. Those persons. who are listed under the attitude of "interested, but non-partisan" represent a group who are in the process of becoming real citizens. They have had their interest in our American government definitely aroused but are still perplexed with reference to taking a stand which would seem to com Public and Private Education in Home Country No. of Immigrants Receiving mit them more or less permanently as to party issues. In the third group are those who have become somewhat familiar with political matters and are avowed party men (and women)-here the Democratic and Socialistic parties predominate. Under the heading of "refused to answer," the prevailing attitude is summed up in the phrase of one of the immigrants-"afraid to talk." Fear was the prevailing factor in most of these cases. Under miscellaneous attitudes the following answers are self-explanatory: "No friend of political grafters," "All political grafters," "My politics about the same as the customer's who happened to be talking with me," "I like no war." Education 45 11 Private Education 125 7 12 1 ད 5 yrs. 6 yrs. 7 43 140 0 1 140 From Table 1, which classifies the 140 adult immigrants from the standpoint of the public and private education in their respective home countries, the large numbers in the groups which received no education are significant. The two columns The two columns of figures, one showing the numbers who had or had not received public education, and the other giving the numbers who had or had not received private education are arranged in parallel fashion for purposes of comparison. Table II. Reasons for Coming to the United States and to Los Angeles Primary Reasons Came with relatives. As an adventure. In regard to naturalization, the facts show that 70 per cent, or 99 immigrants had not taken "first papers." The percentage is much larger than was expected. The answers show that most of these immigrants had not thought much about the need of or the benefits to be derived from naturalization. Table IV. Religious Attitude Unstated and miscellaneous. Total. Το escape compulsory military service For educational reasons.. 5 For climatic and health 1 The various reasons for coming to the United States and to Los Angeles are given in Table 1. The economic reason (to make more money) is an outstanding factor. Those coming with relatives include many who came with parents or other relatives as children and young people. Seventy-two or about one-half had lived in this country five years or less, and the remaining number, 68, had been in the United States more than five years. One hundred and six had lived in Los Angeles. five years or less; 34, more than five Number 38 32 16 12 6 3 33 .140 From a religious standpoint, it is to be said that a large number of the entire group manifested a distinct indifference to religion, or a gradual breaking away from an active religious attitude. The call to the forces of religious education and to the churches in this regard is urgent. Table V. How was Your Attention Called to the Night School? Reasons Number Table 5 shows the significance of the personal element in getting the adult imNumber migrant interested in the night school. The friend or fellow-workman is an effective agent. The school principal or teacher who makes a personal effort in inviting the adult immigrant is performing an excellent public service. Public notices, advertisements in the newspapers, and especially handbills were mentioned by many immigrants as being the first important factor in getting the given immigrant to the night school. Handbills left in the shops were mentioned by several immigrants as important, e. portant, e. g., "teacher left handbill in 2 12 11 140 Table 3 affords another surprise—in the ers compose more than two-thirds of the fact that nearly one-half of the entire The leading reasons why the adult immigrant is in the night school may be found in Table 6. As may be expected, the chief reason is the desire to learn English. Back of this interest in most cases was the desire to earn more money. "I know English, I earn more money" was not an uncommon answer. Other answers of this type were as follows: "To earn more," "In order to get position," "Learn arithmetic and English in order to facilitate business," "Learn English, get better job," "To learn arithmetic, to increase wage-earning capacity." Another type of answers centered around the idea of learning English in order to be able to read English newspapers and thus keep better informed of American happenings. The third reason, e.g., "compulsory," refers to the work permits which are granted by the Compulsory Education Department with the provision that the worker attend night school. Under the heading of "unclassified and miscellaneous" occur such answers as these: "To learn everything," "To learn music" and "My girl wants me to go." Table VII. How May the Night School be Improved? Reasons Very good now. Don't know More social center work. Number 37 30 24 It was to be expected, as shown in Table 7, that the majority of the adult immigrants would have no suggestions of especial value as to the improvement of the night school. It would be, in other words, only the exceptional adult who would have a suggestion of merit. In this regard, the request for more social center work is not to be over-rated; while the request for smaller classes, more teachers, and more individual help from the teacher is probably the most pertinent suggestion which is offered. The desire to have more emphasis placed upon the teaching of music represents a genuine need and may well be heeded in an extensive fashion. Table VIII. Attitude of Employer to the Night School. Attitude Favorable Don't know. his attitude. Doesn't know immigrant comes. No employer and miscellaneous. Unfavorable. Total. Number 58 43 12 20 7 140 From Table 8, it may be pointed out that the employer seems either to be favorable It or else indifferent to the night school. would appear that employers are in an excellent position with reference to encouraging their employees to attend night school. It would seem, also, that employers should assume a definite responsibility in encouraging their employees to avail themselves of the advantages of education. In that connection, attention may be called here to the opinion of many leading thinkers that it is unfair for an adult who has been handicapped by lack of education to be forced in his efforts to overcome that handicap by going to school at night after he has worked eight or ten hours per day. It has been said that since eduthat since educational development is more more important in certain ways than economic development, the educationally handicapped adult should have the best two hours of the day instead of perhaps the poorest two hours of the day for schooling. It is somewhat significant that seven immigrants stated that the employer was opposed to their attending the night school. Table XI. How May Others be Interested By telling our friends. More social center emphasis The leading answer in reply to the question: "How may others be interested in the night school?" is that of personal and printed advertisement. Some of the typical answers were these: "Tell others about the don't all attend." The adult immigrant would go to the motion picture theatre, the pool-hall, and the saloon, if he were not in the night school, in a large number of cases. "Bum the streets" was a common answer. "Go out with the bunch," "Hang around with the boys," "Spend money for drink," "Stand on streets" and "Waste time at movies or hang around street corners" are answers which represent a situation that is worthy of consideration. The love of music, which SO many immigrants possess (noted in Table 7), may well receive more attention from the school authorities. The immigrant as a class, has a large contribution to make in American life in the way of his musical possibilities. In general, America has neglected a vast opportunity in this field. Some of the conclusions from this study may be made in the following order: (1) An amazing lack of knowledge of and real interest in our American government and public life on the part of the immigrant is evident. If those immigrants who are attending the night school show this indifference, what can be said for the large numbers of immigrants who are not yet aroused even to the advantages of attending night school? America has an important function to perform in bringing all aliens (and probably many Americans) to a proper appreciation of and participation in our public life. This process must needs be an educational one. (2) The forces of religious education must greatly increase their efforts, unless hundreds of thousands of aliens are to lose their religious faith and belief. If religion is a vital force in human life, the public educational forces. must not go on stolidly blinking at its importance in the educational system. (3) The personal method is the most. effective for arousing interest in the night school. The immigrant who invites or brings another immigrant, the teacher, principal, employer who personally extends a hearty invitation probably represents the best means of enlarging the influence of the night school. (4) The night school is looked upon by many immigrants chiefly as More an institution where they can learn English and thereby increase their earning ability. This belief is good in a vocational way, but the night school has an opportunity for arousing other latent possibilities of its adult pupils. (5) teachers and more personal attention to the individual pupil is the leading need in the development of the night school idea. (6) A comparison of the immigrant's work in the evening school with what he would be doing if he were not in school in the evening gives convincing evidence of the importance of maintaining and of extending the night school plan. (7) The need for selected conscription of all aliens (who come to the United States with the idea of remaining) for training in English, in the principles of our government, and in an appreciation of the highest American ideals at the earliest feasible time is increasingly apparent. Thereby we will be rendering to the immigrant important service and at the same time he will be stimulated to give the best of his heritage to our public life and welfare. Under Direction of HERBERT F. CLARK Alhambra, Cal. Editorial STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO GIVE MORE TIME TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA The attitude of the State Board of Education in deciding to spend more time in Southern California is a commendable one and will be appreciated by all good school people in this section of the State. The fact that Los Angeles county alone furnishes about one-fourth the school population of the State and that one-half of the school children and teachers reside south of the Tehachapi has furnished the Board ample basis for the action. The move is a further indication of the rapid advancement this section of the State has made within the last decade along educational lines. Gratuitous Service Basis for Special Favors It is extremely difficult to discuss all phases of educational work in an open, frank manner without seeming to impugn the motives of our co-workers in the sacred cause of education. It is, however, rather a patent fact that all men are created human and that our Southern California Section is discussed in the superintendent's office. Of all the teachers or principals in the city school system, this deputy or assistant knows his group best. It is inevitable that he will be influenced by the acquaintance and comradeship which he has established with this group of willing workers. It is just as certain that these good people who have done all this gratuitous service will expect some better consideration from the power of their worthy chief. He stands at his end of the table and pleads for his special friends. He extols their good points quite forgetful that back there in that great corps of hard working teachers there are scores of others fully as competent as the one for whom he pleads. His attitude is a natural consequence of a custom that has grown up in a system where personal favoritism has been a dominating factor. It is a custom that should be discarded. The chief fault with this sort of thing is that it makes of school work a game. If you want to get anywhere you must "play the game." You may do your individual work ever so well, but that isn't what counts. What else do you do? Have you time to conduct teachers' examinations in your vacation? Do it free a time or two and we'll see that you get pay for it. In numerous ways this insidious custom breeds special favoritism and discourages honest work. A pathetic condition that arises out of the custom is that some of our good people worthy school men are no exception to that "play the game" until they "land a good universal condition. One cannot maintain either that there is no need for gratuitous service in the cause of education, for it is a recognized fact that most teachers are led into the work by an altruistic motive and that their chief compensation is not in the dollars and compensation is not in the dollars and cents received but in the satisfaction of having served a worthy cause in their journey through life. All along the line the worthy teacher is doing more than her allotted portion, is giving gratuitous service to the cause she loves. It is difficult for the teacher to be absolutely unbiased at report card time if she has utilized the ever-willing pupil to do the thousand little tasks that arise in the school room. A teacher often discovers toward the close of the year that she was too generous in her markings of that little pupil who stood at her elbow ever-ready to help and run errands. It sometimes happens in a large school system that the superintendent's force are given the permission to call on certain teachers of their own choosing to do certain gratuitous tasks during the school year. This deputy or assistant superintendent, of course calls on those with whom he is best acquainted, or with whom he feels a comradeship. Gradually he builds up within a system a sort of clientele on whom he calls for all sorts of services. These people he meets and instructs in the various duties assigned to him. becomes especially interested in them; they become to him his co-workers in the field of his department. The annual or semiannual assignment and transfers of teachers takes place. The promotion of teachers job" and then they settle down into a state of dry rot. They lose their aggressiveness. They are no longer willing workers in a worthy cause. There are hopeful signs for better plans. Competitive examinations for promotions. Publicity of vancancies to occur. The opportunity for all teachers who feel qualified to apply for different positions. These will tend to destroy favoritism, to build up confidence and break up the "game." DOUBLE TIME FOR STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Pressure of the demand of educators of southern California for explanation of the new educational laws passed by the last legislature has compelled the State Board. of Education to double the time devoted to the weekly conferences at the branch office in the Union League Building. Instead of two half-days a week for these conferences, the commissioners and the members of the board will hereafter devote two full days a week. One state commissioner of education will be at the Los Angeles office for a week each month. The new schedule of the conferences with the members of the board or the commissioners will be Wednesdays and Saturdays. President E. P. Clarke of Riverside and Vice-President Mrs. O. Shepard Barnum of Alhambra inaugurated the new order of things yesterday. order of things yesterday. Mrs. Barnum has been in charge of the branch office for the past two years and given personal interviews to educators for report to the boards that the latter as a whole may act intelligently on applications for licenses, certificates, and other matters. Move for Co-ordination The purpose of it all is to get the principals, teachers and others started right on the application of any new phases of educational legislation so that all may function as a body along the lines intended in the law. Los Angeles county has nearly onefourth of the school population and teachers of the State. South of the Tehachapi are one-half the schoolchildren and teachers. Los Angeles county has one-third of the high school teachers of the State. Hence the educational center of California is in Los Angeles county. This is the reason for the wider range of action through these interviews. It takes more time to get the new educational twists to the educators in southern California because there is a greater bulk of intelligence to be touched with the new point of view. State Officer to Attend From now on, either Mrs. Barnum or some other member of the board will be available to applicants in and about Los Angeles. One week each month one of the state commissioners of education will be at the branch office to talk technical matters over with educators who have suggestions or need enlightenment on new points of educational law. All technical matters are referred to the commissioner who is a specialist on that subject. Mrs. Barnum and members of the board pass only on the personality of the applicant and give interpretations of the laws as decided upon by the Board of Education as a whole.-Los Angeles Tribune. Yosemite IN SHEER CLIFFS AND IN SCENIC GRANDEUR IT IS UNSURPASSED. Remarkably low fares. Write for illustrated Yosemite Booklet. Agents will gladly assist you in arranging your trip. Southern Pacific Write for folder on the Apache Trail of Arizona. The Teachability of Gregg Shorthand Hardly a day passes, certainly not a week, that some teacher does not exclaim: "What I like about Gregg Shorthand is its teachability!" No one so sincerely appreciates Gregg Shorthand as the teacher who has struggled to interest a class in a complicated geometric geometric system, bristling with exceptions to rules and beset with shading, positions, and awkward angles. The prime reason for the teachability of Gregg Shorthand is, of course, its simplicity. Its scientific alphabet permits the combining of frequently-recurring sounds without change of form. Consequently rules are few and exceptions negli gible. For a discussion of the other factors which make Gregg Shorthand easy to teach and to learn as well as easy to write and to read, and which have made it the choice of more than 75% of the schools of the United States, write for our booklet the "Teachability of Gregg Shorthand." It is free to teachers. D BERKELEY HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVI- success of those at the front depends upon TIES (Extracts from a letter sent to the parents at the close of the term by Principal C. L. Biedenbach) Extra Activities This has been a very busy and fruitful term in the Berkeley High School. We have every reason to be proud of our achievements; especially so, in view of the fact that it would have been very easy for the school to have become demoralized because of the existing conditions which have prevailed throughout the nation. From the very beginning of the term, attempts have been made to interest the school in military and other war service matters. Some people have thought that because a number of male students of the school are old enough to join the army it would be only right to stimulate them to enlist. Others have made appeals for money to into existence because of the desire to assist help local organizations which have come those who are going to the front. In this emergency it seemed best to the school authorities to keep the school going in its usual course as nearly as possible, not making any changes in the regular routine of work, but to enlarge the scope of the school's extra activities in ways which would be helpful to the worthy outside causes and at the same time beneficial to the school. While remembering that it is the business of the teachers to teach and of the pupils to study, it was evident that here was an opportunity to extend with advantage both the teaching and the studying. There is no lesson so important to teach and to learn as that of service-personal, voluntary service-to the individual, to the community, to the nation, and to mankind. The existing national crisis was one especially adapted to give ample scope for that kind of education. So when the call came from the Berkeley Chapter of the American Red Cross to assist in securing memberships, the whole matter was taken up with the heartiest enthusiasm. The president of the local chapter of the society was invited to address the students, and the teachers were directed to supplement his address by special talks to their individual classes. The need of personal service to one's country, to the extent of giving even life itself for her protection if that is necessary, has been so strongly presented in various ways that the school stands as a unit ready to respond to every worthy appeal. Services at Home Immediately after the declaration of war, the teachers assembled at an evening meeting and discussed the ways and means by which they personally could be of service and to what extent they could make the school so directly. All sorts of plans were suggested and discussed, and it was agreed that every possible means should be adopted to make the school ready to do its full share in carrying to a successful conclusion the policies announced by President Wilson in his great message to Congress on April 2, 1917. It was realized that, while a high school is not the place in which to stir up The Gregg Publishing Co. the fighting spirit unless the war call for boys of that age has actually come, nevertheless, there is an infinite amount of actual service which can be rendered by both the boys and the girls in such a school. The the efficiency of the work done by those at home, and the responsibility of those at home is all the greater because they are not active participants in the place where participation may mean death or worse. War-time Service Fund The Berkeley High School students responded most loyally to every appeal. When a request for traveling bags came from the University Ambulance Corps about to start for the scene of war in France, they contributed eighty-five dollars at one collection for the materials needed by the sewing classes. This sum of money bought the materials and left a balance of forty dollars which was turned into the general fund of the Ambulance Corps. This call suggested the advisability of establishing in the school a war-time fund so that future requests of this nature could be met without special collections. Asparagus Corps A request came to the school for a group of boys to go to work in the asparagus fields on Bradford Island near Antioch and the President of the Board of Education addressed the boys of the Senior Class on the subject. Practically all of them expressed a willingness to perform this service. Three conditions were imposed: first, that the boys bring a written request from their parents for excuse from regular school duties; second, that they be pronounced physically equal to the work by the physical instructor; third, that they be so well up in the school studies that they would not suffer because of their absence from school. Twenty-four boys were selected. and sent out under the personal supervision of the head of the physical education department. They are also under the general supervision of the Agricultural Department of the University of California and the Berkeley Board of Education. Every effort is being made to care for them so that they will come back from their work better lt and stronger for having undertaken it. is recognized that this expedition is in the nature of an experiment. High school boys have often worked in the fields and on the ranches of the State during the summer vacations as individual employes, and their experiences have sometimes been very disagreeable. In many cases they have suffered harm from the unsanitary and excessively laborious conditions to which they were subjected. This is the first attempt, however, so far as we know, to put into the field an organized unit of high school students to work under authorities who make it their business to provide the best working conditions. It is hoped that this experiment will help to solve the problem of how best to handle the farm labor question not only during the present emergency but also for the future. First Aid Classes The Physical Education Department of the school has undertaken to teach First Aid to the teachers and to the students who are not already members of the regular classes in physical education. Although this class has been organized for afterschool work, more have applied than can be accommodated. |