STATE SUPERINTENDENT

BUTTERFIELD

Ernest Warren Butterfield succeeds Dr. Henry C. Morrison as state superintendent of New Hampshire after one year's service as deputy state superintendent. Mr. Butterfield has been principal of four high schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and superintendent of Dover, New Hampshire, for four years before he was appointed deputy state superintendent by Mr. Morrison in 1916. He is a native of Vermont and a graduate of Dartmouth, so that he has been in New Hampshire twenty-two years. Mr. Butterfield has not only had rare opportunities to know New Hampshire, but he has a masterful way of improving his opportunities. His success was assured before he entered upon the duties of state superintendent.

A NEW MARKET DAY

Cook County continues to lead in many a progressive departure. The latest was on Saturday, October 27, when arrangements were made by County Superintendent Edward J. Tobin for a Market Day at one of the rural schools-East Prairie School. The farmers of the school district brought their garden truck there and sold it at wholesale prices. They brought potatoes (38 cents a peck), onions (45 cents a peck), celery, beets, carrots, cabbage, pumpkins, squash, and various other produce.

The purchasers came from far and near, hundreds of automobiles. The school district women furnished coffee and pumpkin pie.

There were fifteen loads of garden truck, but it was all eagerly purchased because the prices broke the back of the high cost of living. The farmers got as much as they would have got had they carted it fifteen miles to town.

ren

This is to be a frequent public service dered by the rural school districts. The principal, Agnes M. Page, and the Country Life director, Seth Shepard, are to be credited with the success of the movement.

WILLIAM H. ALLEN

Dr. William H. Allen must be a gainer personally locally by the part he played in the New York campaign. It was certainly Dr. Allen who made the Gary system an anti-Mitchel issue. For a long time he was practically alone in the belief that there were votes in an anti-Gary issue.

man

His personal appeal to Mayor Mitchel's agers to play the Gary game squarely should have been heeded. His appeal to the other side to emphasize the mistakes of the Gary boomers was heeded.

No one will ever know how many votes were won or lost by either side because of this issue, but the friends of Dr. Allen have a right to claim a good share of the victory of the anti-Gary factors in the election.

There has never been anything quite so conspicuous in a political line-up on an educational ideal. One thing is entirely certain: New York City or a campaign like this is not a good place or occasion in which to try out a notable educational reform.

STUPENDOUS BLUNDERERS

No one can know all that is meant by the overwhelming majority for the return of Tammany to power in New York City.

One thing, however, is certain, the "better class" of citizens are stupendous blunderers when it comes to a political campaign.

Mayor Mitchel was defeated the day the Fusion committee was announced. It did not take much political wisdom to see that.

There is no hope of permanent political cleanliness until those who should promote it take some lessons in common sense.

TEXAS NEW NORMAL SCHOOLS After the impeachment of the Governor the Legislature postponed the building of the new state normal schools as had been voted.

One only will be built in the near future, the Sul Ross School at Alpine. Great as is the disappointment in South Texas and in East Texas the postponement was not wholly unexpected.

The insanity of lynchings was never so clearly demonstrated as in 1916, when of the fifty negroes lynched only three were for the traditional cause. One man was lynched for slapping a boy in the face and one for "brushing against a girl on the street."

The triumph of Woman Suffrage in New York state is the most significant event in the elections of 1917, and of the suffrage campaign for seventy years.

Now let us have that famous Gary survey that seemed to be held up for the political advantage of Mayor Mitchel.

College professors must remember that privileges always represent responsibilities.

Somebody blunders when an elementary school is not built on the unit system.

These pupils were interviewed in an informal and friendly manner after a rather large amount of written evidence as to their earlier school standing, their physical condition and their record in the Vocational School up to date had been very carefully studied. These three sets of school documents told a good deal of the life story of each pupil. The grammar school records gave something of his heredity, home environment and his physical, mental and moral makeup. The record of the physical examination, made when he entered the Vocational School, was a most valuable help, and the written comments of the vocational teachers upon the work of each pupil in every academic subject and in all technical work completed a record which is probably as perfect as such records can be made.

A study of the cards recording the physical examination established the fact that the physical needs of the pupils had been well cared for in the primary and the grammar grades. There were almost no cases of neglected adenoids or tonsils, and the eyesight of the pupils had evidently received very careful attention.

From the individual comments of the vocational teachers it was comparatively easy to reach the conclusion that the entering boys, numbering approximately 120, could be divided into three groups which might be appropriately designated as "successful," "doubtful," and "failures."

In the group labeled "successful" were the boys from the eighth grades of the Newton schools who had elected to enter the Vocational School, plus a considerable number from the corresponding grade of some of the adjacent towns and cities. These boys entered the school with a well defined purpose and, in a good many instances, after a careful estimate as to each boy's probable success or failure in industrial work had been made by his grammar school principal. Sometimes this estimate was based upon certain technical or so-called pre-vocational tests. That is, the boy had shown a special aptitude in printing or in some form of wood or metal work, or he had done some clever bit of work which pointed towards success in electrical or engineering lines.

This group of pupils, who were mostly grammar school graduates, presented comparatively few problems, and the experience of past years proves that they form a large percentage of the number completing the four-years course and in natural order of events entering upon their life. work well equipped physically, mentally and morally.

the

In searching for the causes of the success of these boys we must reach the conclusion that of all the factors shaping a boy's life the most vital is the kind of ideas and ideals which are habitually presented in his home Poverty anviety sickness

and even tragedy may be there, but if the father or the mother, or both of them, is strong morally and alert mentally, if the parents possess a fund of valuable ideas, if their ideals are high, if even in the absence of what is commonly called education, there is sensible, intelligent conversation, high aims in regard to conduct and work, and an absence of silly, cheap, frivolous talk and conduct in the home, the viewpoint of the boy in regard to life and work is almost always right, and if he possesses good health, and receives skilful training and good advice in school, his success in his chosen vocation is almost sure.

A second vital element of success is a good school organization-one in which the work is so systematized that every pupil has not only skilful expert instructors, but also an adviser, to whom he turns in a perfectly natural manner for any advice that he may need. This adviser must, of course, be in close touch with the pupil's home, but he must be very much more expert in diagnosing the boy's mental difficulties and in adjusting them than is the average parent. In fact, the public has the right to demand that this type of teacher -an expert in the reading of character and in estimating mentality, and a broad-minded humanitarian, who is also very familiar with conditions in industry-shall be found in every vocational school. There is necessarily a very large amount of readjustment in a vocational school.

After a very careful investigation of the "failures" among the first-year boys-an investigation in which several boys were given the Binet test by an expert in mental hygiene-we reached the conclusion that by far the greatest percentage of failures is among a group of boys who were sent in from the fifth and sixth grades of the grammar school. These were lads of fourteen years who for various reasons have lagged behind their mates and give indications of dropping out of school at the first opportunity. Some of these low-grade pupils respond to the stimuli of the vocational shop and academic training and are doubtless saved by that training to lives of useful service. A certain percentage of these young lads are, however, misplaced when they are sent to the vocational school, and this misplacement, as has been said, is a costly economic error. The time of expert instructors, the use of costly machinery and tools, in fact, the whole school organization, is diverted in large degree from the possible and satisfactory tasks of training boys who could become skilful workers and leaders in the industrial world to the impossible attempt to train boys without any aptitude for technical work.

In some grammar schools fourteen-year-old boys of the type commonly called low grade are

given the most careful attention by their incteun

tors and principals. Certain mental tests are given them and a series of technical tasks are presented which demonstrate sufficiently the fact as to the boy's motor-mindedness or the reverse. Sometimes these careful tests prove that-the-boy is not of the type that could be most successfully stimulated by the work of a vocational school. He has no great talent or capacity of any kind, but such gifts as he has are all in the direction that can be best reached by well-planned special instruction in the regular channels of grammar school work. When this is the case it is a serious error to transfer him to the vocational school, where, confused and discouraged by the demands of shopwork for which he has no capacity, and academic work for which he is imperfectly prepared, he becomes completely discouraged and drops out of school.

If we were to summarize the causes of failure in a vocational school we might say that they are:

(a) An unfortunate heredity which manifests itself in weak or confused mentality or in an enfeebled physical condition.

(b) A lack of mental stimulus in the home. (c) A gradual dropping below in the grades, due to frequent absences caused by minor illnesses. (d) A lack of special help and advice from any person competent to give it.

(e) Entering a vocational school without having received any special tests that would prove the boy's fitness for that line of work.

(f) Attempting some line of vocational work for which the pupil has no aptitude.

(g) The personal habits of the pupil. A comparatively small percentage of cigarette smokers was found among the "failures."

If we sum up the causes of the success of our first-year boys, we shall find:

(a) A stimulating personality in the home, either father or mother or both.

(b) Good advice and a skilful method of examination in the grammar school with a view of placing each boy sent on where he could profit best by the instruction.

(c) Good health.

(d) (e)

A well-organized vocational school. Excellent instruction and skilful training in the vocational, work attempted.

(f) The elimination from the corps of shop instructors of persons of very limited education and of narrow mental vision.

(g) The influence of a sympathetic school adviser a person of insight into character and one who is in close touch with actual conditions in industry.

(h) The influence of some social organization such as the Boy Scouts.

(i) A series of school "talks" in which questions affecting the future welfare of the pupil are discussed by experts.

In conclusion we would say that the improvement in physique, manners, mentality, resource 'u'ness, self-control and power of expression of the boys who performed successfully the tasks attempted was so great as to make one very hopeful as to the future of these boys, and also as to the work of the vocational school in giving its pupils the training that will make them worthy citizens of their state and country,

PERFECT OUR EDUCATION
Continued from page 489.

age is determined the child should be placed in a grade wherein its mental acumen would locate it.

In other words, the number of years a child has spent on earth is not very much of a criterion by which to decide its mental status.

If a child is capable of doing third-grade work at six years it should be started in that grade. If it is capable of second-grade work it should commence on its career at that point.

Likewise, because a child is six years of age is no reason why it should be placed in the first grade. As well as some children being fitted for higher work by the quality of their intelligence others may not have attained a thinking power capable of entering and keeping up with the work of a firstgrade class. In that case the latter should be sent to specialized classes that may fit it for higher study. This is an important question; in a remedy of present conditions lies our hope for the thousands and millions of children to come.

Many defectives could systematically be made efficient thinkers.

We would do away with the "infant prodigy" idea by realizing that one child may naturally be further advanced than another-and not attribute a child's brilliancy to some abnormal cause.

Public school education does not recognize, as it should, many of these needs. There are private and other institutions that specialize in these cases and supply these needs.

There are military academies, normal and technical schools, colleges and universities, all specialized institutions.

For education is mighty and the need of this moment is the supply of the next.

Parents must know that mental development and age are not coincidental, witness as with children who develop into manhood and womanhood with a paucity of ability and preparation.

Scientific research has demonstrated the possibility of determining the mental age of a child as unerringly as birth statistics determine its time. age.

Psychologists are valuable in aiding scholastic advancement by examining children and bringing those who are below standard up to the mark through careful placement in special classes and under special instructors.

Our educational system demands revision. Education has wonderfully progressed the past few years and is due for a still stronger advancement during and after the war. We must prepare for it and supply educational needs as soon as they arise. In that way alone can we hope to maintain our high educational standard and increase our efficiency, that this war may be conducted triumphantly by "the rising generation" who will be called upon to carry forward the banner of liberty, progress and democracy.-Los Angeles Examiner.

When small Sigrid made her first appearance in an American school, she was asked the usual puzzling questions, one of which was :

"What is your nationality, Sigrid?"

Fassing her flaxen braids, she answered: "I'm an Am erican of Norwegian design."-Exchange,

Teacher of Psychology of Education in the Moorhead, Minnesota, State Normal School.

[From a letter to President Frank A. Weld.]

I wish the Germans and the Kaiser could see us at work. There would be no doubt then as to whether our intentions were serious. To have a part in all this planning, study and preparation gives me the greatest pride. This has been the most wonderful summer of my life. I have thanked God many times for giving me a physique which makes it possible for me to do, the work that I am doing instead of being forced to do the humdrum work of the civilian in time of war. I am living and working among the finest young men in America. Every civilian who visits the field comments on the excellent personnel of the men enlisted in aviation. I am afraid, however, that we are getting somewhat conceited, although the military discipline acts as a soft pedal on the conceited soldier. I shall never again doubt the benefits of a military training for a boy. I am sorry that I did not get it earlier in my life.

as

I am now well started on the second phase of my training as a military aviator. The aviation student must take three courses of training at First, many schools. ground school; second, flying school; third, foreign school. At the ground school, such as I attended at the University of Texas for eight weeks, we did no actual flying. Here we studied all the phases of the theory of aviation, motors, machine guns and the work of the aviator over the battlefield in its various forms-such as scouting, bombing, fighting in the air, co-operation with the artillery, map making of the enemy's territory, photography, wireless, heliograph, night raiding, contact patrol, and miniature

range.

One of the most interesting courses that we took at the ground school was miniature range. This consisted of the observation of some section of the enemy's territory (in Belgium) in miniature and sending by heliograph the results of the observation to some battery commander. Code messages were used. But observer and officer in charge of battery, which may be ten or fifteen miles from observer, have maps of the same territory. Everything is carried out as it would be in actual battle except in miniature. The student is seated about sixteen feet above the miniature battlefield. Below him is an exact reproduction in miniature of some section of Belgium. Trees, villages, wind mills, trenches, roads,-everything is shown exactly as it would appear to an aviator flying at an altitude of

495

6,000 feet. The instructor who acts as the battery commander flashes a light for only an instant in some section of the field. The aviator must instantly note the tactical situation, e. g. column of infantry 4,000, fifty transports, thirty mounted guns, moving west. He immediately sends by heliograph to the battery commander the above information and gives him the pin-point location of the troops observed. He next directs the battery commander the proper kind of gunfire to be used.

The battery then opens fire and the first hit is indicated by another flash in the vicinity of the target (troops). The observer then signals the results of the shot. He must locate with reference to the target exactly where the shot strikes. This is done by the clock method. By using this method of locating the result of fire the battery can soon train its guns exactly on the target, even at a distance of from twelve to fifteen miles.

COLLEGES AND WAR

Colleges and universities lose nearly one-third because of the war.

The opening reports were as follows: The number of students entering Yale University this fall has been cut from 3,300, last year's registration, to about 2,000. All departments except the medical school show large losses, especially the academic, which drops from 1,502 to 800. The sophomore class has about 250 men; the junior, about 175; the senior, about 100. The Sheffield scientific school suffers somewhat less, partly because of the effort to have engineering students complete their training. Thirty members of the faculty have either resigned or have been given leaves of absence to enter the war service.

was

The medical school was the only department in Harvard University to show an increase, according to official registration figures. The total university's enrollment 2,671, a decrease of forty per cent. from last year's figures. The seniors suffer a fifty per cent. decrease. The graduate schools suffered heavily. The law school showed a loss of sixty-eight per cent. and the business school and architectural school sixty-six per cent. The graduate schools' decrease was fifty-three per cent. President Lowell said he expected every student to take one military

course.

It is expected that Princeton will have an enrollment of approximately 900. This is about 600 less than usual. About forty members of the faculty are engaged either in military service or in government work. Many others are doing work for the government along with their academic work. The majority of students in the university are under draft age..

The University of Pennsylvania opened with a student body much depleted by enlistments. About sixty per cent. of the old students were missing, although the freshman class is larger than ever.

President Butler in his opening address to the students at Columbia University said that more than 250 members of the teaching staff and more than 900 students were engaged in war work. There was an increase in registration in the college and in the extension teaching courses. Nevertheless, classes formerly given in several sections will be given only in one or two.

Cornell has contributed more than 1,000 seniors, juniors, and sophomores to the national service. Registration figures show an enrollment in all regular courses of 3,355, as compared to 4,746 last year. The entering class enrolled 1,109, as against 1,436 last year.

The registration figures from Amherst show a falling off of 150 this year. The senior class numbers fortyseven, as compared with ninety-nine last year; the junior class suffers next in order, showing a loss of fifty.

Dartmouth College has opened with a total of 940 students, against 1,500 last year. The two upper classes bear the brunt of losses caused by the war. ar. There are 383 freshmen this year, a loss of ninety-one from last fall.