THE

'HE SCHOOLS of the Nation are once more being asked to participate actively in the world-wide observance of United Nations Day on October 24, fourth anniversary of the coming into force of the United Nations Charter. By unanimous vote of the UN General Assembly that day is to be devoted each year "to making known to the people of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations" through celebrations in all the 59 member nations. Commissioner of Education Earl James McGrath has sent a letter to the chief State school officers in all 48 States, the District of Columbia, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, offering the assistance of the U. S. Office of Education to American schools wishing to plan special assemblies, class discussions, and exhibits. Bibliography for Teaching About the United Nations, prepared by Dr. Helen Dwight Reid of the Division of International Educational Relations, is available on request from the Office of Education. The supply is limited but permission is granted for reproduction for wider distribution where local facilities for mimeographing are available. Several State Departments of Education have already done this.

A Selected

Department of State and UN

The Department of State is issuing a number of helpful publications, including a pamphlet, The United Nations Four Years of Achievement; a popular leaflet, The United Nations at Work; a Guide to the US and the UN; posters, and background information for lecturers. These materials are available on request from the Division of Public Liaison, Department of State, Washington 25, D. C. The Secretary of State has appointed a National Citizens' Committee for United Nations Day, with headquarters at 700 Jackson Place NW., Washington 6, D. C., to promote observance of the Day through the cooperation of all the major national private organizations and Government agencies. They also have prepared special kits of materials to assist schools and communities in developing their plans for local celebrations. Other materials have been prepared by the Department of Public Information, United Nations, Lake Success, N. Y., including films. and filmstrips available free of charge to

schools. The American Association for the United Nations, 45 East Sixty-fifth Street, New York 21, N. Y., has prepared special materials, including sets of small paper flags of the United Nations, with mounting sticks ($1 a set). Some radio scripts are available from the AAUN as well as from the Radio Education Officer, United Nations Radio Division, Lake Success, N. Y.

Other Organizations

Among the other organizations publishing useful and inexpensive pamphlets and study guides are the Foreign Policy Association, 22 East Thirty-eighth Street, New York 16, N. Y.; the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 405 West One Hundred and Seventeenth Street, New York 27, N. Y.; the League of Women Voters of the U. S., 726 Jackson Place NW., Washington 6, D. C.; Rotary International, 35 East Wacker Drive, Chicago 1, Ill.; and the National Education Association, 1201 Sixteenth Street NW., Washington 6, D. C. The Instructor had a special United Nations. issue, May 1949, with many practical suggestions for use at various grade levels. The UNESCO headquarters in Paris recently published a small pamphlet, Towards World Understanding: Some Suggestions Teaching About the United Nations and Its Specialized Agencies. This is available on request from the UNESCO Relations Staff, Department of State, Washington 25, D. C.

Recent Materials

on

A few of the more recent and particularly helpful materials are suggested below: The World at Work: The Economic and Social Efforts of the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies. Texts of the basic documents, with explanations, questions, and charts. (Rotary International, 50 cents, special rates for quantity orders.) This is a companion to Rotary's excellent illustrated commentary on the UN Charter, From Here On! (35 cents).

Report on the UN, by Thomas J. Hamilton and Vera Micheles Dean. (Foreign Policy Association Headline Series No. 75; 35 cents.)

Freedom's Charter: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by O. Frederick Nolde and Eleanor Roosevelt. (Foreign

Policy Association Headline Series No. 76; 35 cents.)

How Peoples Work Together: The United Nations and the Specialized Agencies, an illustrated pamphlet prepared by the staff of the UN Department of Public Information, available from the Manhattan Publishing Co., 225 Lafayette Street, New York 12, N. Y. (50 cents; rates for quantity orders). United Nations Map of the World, by L. G. Bullock. 1946. A colorful map of the world showing the United Nations with their flags and seals, together with appropriate quotations and historical information, distributed by Frederick Warne, 79 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y. ($1.50).

Thrift-Teaching Aids

A WEALTH of material useful in thrift education is available to teachers from the Education Section, U. S. Savings Bond Division, Treasury Department, or from Savings Bond Offices in each State.

These thrift-teaching aids, many of them prepared by teachers and endorsed by leading educators who serve on the National Advisory Committee on School Savings, range all the way from posters to plays, song sheets to radio scripts, clipsheets to curriculum guides.

Specific manuals for teachers include "Teaching Mathematics Through School Savings," for grades 7-9, "Budgeting for Security," for grades 6-12, and two new social studies units, "Learning To Use Money Wisely," for grades 4–7, and “Plans for Spending and Saving," for grades 7-12.

For information on the School Savings Program and the teaching aids available for use in thrift education, teachers are urged to address their State Savings Bond Offices or the Education Section, U. S. Savings Bond Division, Treasury Department, Washington 25, D. C.

In Limited Number

DO YOU need copies of SCHOOL LIFE to complete your 1948-49 files? We have a limited number of copies of each issue of SCHOOL LIFE for 1948-49 available upon request. Address: Information and Publications Service, Office of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington 25, D. C.

"... We have a supreme duty-to help, as teachers, to organize a society in which every man will be able to shake hands, in brotherly trust and friendship, with his kinsman from Europe or Asia, with the black man from Africa and the red man from America. All races, all peoples, all national aspirations must have scope for expression in this postwar world. . ."

66

Without doubt the two most difficult things for humanity to learn are the art of ruling men and the art of educating them We who are educationists-and those we have to guide-must all be the architects of that society in which, if we have well fulfilled our task, human rights and human liberties will flourish."

DR. JAIME TORRES BODET, Director-General of UNESCO, who addressed the opening session of the Twelfth International Conference on Public Education at Geneva, Switzerland, on "The Right to an Education." Above excerpts are from Dr. Bodet's address.

Twelfth International International Conference on Education

D

R. Ruth E. McMurry of the UNESCO Relations Staff, Department of State, and Dr. Rall I. Grigsby, Deputy Commissioner of Education, were U. S. delegates at the Twelfth International Conference on Public Education which met at the Palais Wilson, Geneva, Switzerland, July 4-12. The delegates reported on education in the United States during the past year and answered questions asked by delegates from other countries. SCHOOL LIFE is pleased to present several of the questions asked and the answers given by Dr. Grigsby. See SCHOOL LIFE, November 1948 issue, for questions asked at the 1948 conference.

Belgium:

Has the United States succeeded in equalizing the salaries of teachers in the lower grades and those in the higher grades? How do teachers' salaries compare with the salaries of administrators? Answer: It is difficult to make general statements in regard to teachers' salaries in the United States because there are 48 different school systems. There is, however, a tendency toward the adoption of a single scale of pay for all primary school and secondary school teachers. Comparison with the salaries of other public employees is not favorable to teachers, because stenographers may sometimes receive a higher beginning salary and more rapid increases.

Switzerland:

Is the use of educational films included in the regular school curriculum in teaching geography, for example? Is it possible to obtain such films for the teaching of geography and where?

Answer: The use of educational films is be

coming more and more general in the United States. About 90 percent of the secondary schools are equipped with projec

Does the Citizens' Committee mentioned

in the United States Report have a local influence or does it extend its activities throughout the country?

Answer: The Citizens' Federal Committee has an important part in forming public opinion and awakening interest in all problems relating to education. Also, almost every school has a parent-teacher association. These various associations are federated on a State and national basis. The National Congress of Parents and Teachers has about 6 million members.

Thailand:

On page 9 of the United States Report "general education" is mentioned. Would the delegate from the United States explain this term?

Answer: The term "general education" is understood to mean, most of all, the knowledge which would be useful to pupils in life. In the secondary schools and those of higher level the United States has gone very far in the field of specialization. Now an effort is being made to reestablish the educational program in favor of a deeper culture.

France:

Does the superintendent help the teacher (Continued on page 13)

STATESMANSHIP

(Continued from page 2)

tors themselves and that mutual understanding and cooperation are essential for best results. Statesmen are needed in education, not to "sell the public" a bill of goods about the schools, but to get enthusiastic cooperation in working out a program which will be understood and supported by all.

(2) The Teaching Staff.-In many communities the passing years and short-sighted policies have resulted in a growing gap be tween the administrative and teaching staffs. The situation is often considered somewhat

like that frequently existing between capital and labor, yet there should be no basis for similarity. Bridging the gap is not merely a matter of talking about democratic administration; it involves real leadership in developing a cooperative program which is based on mutual understanding and respect. There is no longer any place for an isolationist philosophy in relationships between administrators and teachers.

(3) Phases of Education.-Artificial barriers have been erected in the minds of teachers and administrators between various integral aspects of education such as elementary and secondary education, English and social studies, and so on. But one of the biggest mental barriers that seems to have been erected thus far is between vocational education and other aspects of edu cation. Too often the programs have been

conducted in practical isolation even though they have been housed in the same building. I am not concerned at this time with how this came about, but with the fact that it often exists and that real educational states

town to another part of the district. In spite of possible economies from cooperative purchasing of supplies or from rendering certain services cooperatively, such prac tices were almost nonexistent. What was needed there, and what is needed in many similar situations in other States, is more real educational statesmanship-leadership in bringing about a recognition of the fact that we are living in a cooperative society and that isolationism should no longer be condoned. Just think how many neg lected opportunities there are in every State for voluntary cooperation among local school systems in studying problems, in rendering services, in planning programs, and in many other respects.

(5) States and Local School Systems.Every school system in a State is handicapped to some extent by what is happening or failing to happen in the weakest school system. That important fact is frequently overlooked. All too often the wealthy school systems are too little concerned with what is happening in some remote section of the State. All too often large city school systems are satisfied to have a weak or political State department of education. Again and again the opportunity for a progressive step has been lost because supposed school

This is

leaders were too isolationist in their thinking or did not have enough statesmanship to cooperate for the common good. one of the most serious situations in education in the Nation today. If the educators

throughout each State could always coop

lems involved.

(4) Other School Systems.-A study made in one State last year showed that, in spite of the fact that representatives of local school systems in each county were required to meet together one or more times during the year, there was little real cooperation. Each district was operating pretty largely as an independent principality. The artificial lines used to bound the many small districts were, in practice, almost as formidable barriers as the walls surrounding medieval castles. Competing busses sometimes ran along district boundary roads. Busses from rural districts sometimes hauled children from one part of a rural district through a portion of an independent small

of real statesmanship on the part of educators than because of any inherent opposition on the part of the lay public.

(6) Schools and Colleges.-How can any real progress be made if there is a wall of isolationism between the schools and colleges of any State? Yet far too infrequently have the schools sought opportunities to learn about and use to maximum advantage the services that could be provided by the colleges. Equally infrequently have the colleges explored fully enough the possibilities of services to the public schools. Fortunately there have been many encouraging illustrations of cooperatively developed programs during recent years but it is still too often true that the campus of an institu

Jon of higher learning is psychologically considered to be bounded by the lines that mark the limits of the physical properties.

(7) States and the Nation. If all the best educational practices that have been developed in any State could be put into operation in every State we would have a far better situation in education than we have today. But many States, like many communities, have difficulties in seeing any good beyond their own borders. Again and again States have continued practices that are outmoded and can be shown to be wrong long after neighboring States have solved the problem. While representatives. from States and local school systems get together, from time to time, for conventions and meetings, States far too infrequently consciously cooperate in studies for their mutual benefit. Moreover, to only a limited extent has there been any serious study by the States of the educational services which are, or should be, provided by the U. S. Office of Education or other agencies of the Federal Government. What we are saying is merely that we live in an era of cooperation rather than a period of isolation and that many school officials do not yet seem, in practice, to have recognized that fact. We have made some progress, of course, but the possibilities to be realized through cooperative effort have thus far scarcely been touched. What we need are more leaders whose vision extends beyond the artificial boundaries of their own fields and whose lives are dedicated to the advancement of the common good.

Improving Organization

and Finance

There are many other important issues in education which require better and more capable leadership if satisfactory progress is to be made. At this time I want to single out just two others because of their im portance and urgency.

One of these is the organization of more adequate local school administrative units or districts. We have played around with that idea for a generation and have made some limited progress. But, if we face the situation realistically, we must admit that many school districts which exist today are more obsolete in terms of modern conditions and needs than the districts which existed a generation ago. Our vision has been too limited and our courage too uncertain to make much progress in solving this im portant problem. A district large enough

to require the services of 40 teachers should be considered a minimum even in the most sparsely populated areas, yet only about 3.6 percent of all districts in the Nation have as yet been expanded to that minimum size.

In the field of school finance we have talked for a long time about assuring adequate educational opportunities for all children, yet such vast differences in wealth have been brought about by our modern industrial civilization that, on a relative basis, educational opportunities for large portions of our children are less adequate today than they were a generation ago.

In State after State, largely because of the pressure of the more wealthy school sys. tems, we have set up a large portion of our State support on a flat-grant basis and pretend that we have solved the problem. Then, because of other pressures, we often set up a series of special aids-for teachers' salaries, for tuition, for exceptional children, for this, that, and the other and assume that all communities will have a comprehensive balanced program. To make such assumption is sheer nonsense. There are techniques available for solving the problems in this field. But they cannot be solved by "guessing" what the legislature can be expected to provide, by assuming that a uniform local tax rate based on widely varying assessment practices will be equitable, and that a plan of apportionment that will bring the fewest questions from the more wealthy areas will meet the needs.

I do not wish to seem pessimistic. I realize that in many parts of the country remarkable progress has been made and even greater progress is in prospect. But I also know what the facts show. They show clearly and unmistakably that we still have great unsolved educational problems in nearly every State. They show also that many of our needs are not being met satisfactorily; that we have too much isolationism in education; that we have taken too many steps on the basis merely of expediency; and that progress has often been blocked or at least retarded by the shortsightedness or selfishness of educators and school officials-by lack of statesmanship in education.

This is a crucial period in education. The public is now more conscious than at any recent period of some of the serious problems and needs in education. Now is

the strategic time for statesmanship in edu cation. The public is ready for and is demanding better educational leadership. The facts show that it is needed. What greater challenge could educators throughout the country want than the opportunity to become outstanding leaders in solving problems such as these; to become the urgently needed educational statesmen of this troubled but promising postwar era!

HELP WANTED-TEACHERS

(Continued from page 7)

you probably would lose both your students' interest and the happiness which comes from acceptance, by the community. as a regular person.

Let us remind young people that our schools need thousands of teachers, that if their younger brothers and sisters are to have an even more happy and profitable school experience than theirs, we must have more good teachers. Competition is not keen in the good and superior brackets. Here is a career of service with appeal for all outstanding youth. America's future is in the hands of her teachers. We should encourage every high school boy and girl to ask, "Is there a future for me in education?" I think those of us already in education should be sufficiently convincing to make them realize the answer is decidedly-YES!

GENEVA CONFERENCE (Continued from page 11) with administrative questions or with pedagogical questions?

Answer: The superintendent is primarily an administrative official who deals with problems relating to buildings and material and sometimes the selection of teachers. The essential task of the supervisor is to give advice to the teachers and help them to improve in their profession.

Italy:

Is it a good idea to have consolidated rural schools?

Answer: In many rural communities in the United States the small rural school with a single class has been joined with other small schools and classes. Thus it has been possible to reduce considerably the expenses of the small schools as well as to improve their curricula and teaching methods. There is a marked tendency now toward centralizing of such small secondary schools and classes.

Have you made any studies of the different classes, social and economic, attending secondary and higher schools, and the relative success of the different groups? Answer: It is felt in the United States that secondary education should be open to all children capable of taking advantage of it. Ninety percent of the high-school age children do attend secondary schools. Higher education, college and university, on the other hand, is still the privilege of the more fortunate classes of society. An attempt is being made to remedy the situation by adopting the policy of a wider distribution of scholarships. There is a distinct tendency to make universities more democratic.

Other questions asked and answered dealt with such problems as establishing a balance between technical education and other aspects of education, school building needs in the United States as compared with those in other countries where buildings were destroyed during World War II, activities of the "welfare officer," and whether the recommendations of the President's Commission on Higher Education granting greater opportunities for higher education in the United States will be carried out.

Edwin H. Miner Named Director of Armed Forces Education Program

EDWIN H. MINER, Associate Commissioner of Education, U. S. Office of Education, since July 1947, has been named Educational Director of the Armed Forces Education Program, Armed Forces Information and Education Division, Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Mr. Miner will serve as director and staff advisor for the Armed Forces Education Program which was organized by the Army during World War II and now extends to all armed services. Millions of servicemen in all theaters of operation were offered educational opportunities through this program during the war. At the present time, through 1,500 educational centers, 1,000 of which are overseas, the armed forces educational program is carried on by 2,500 instructors, 1,500 of whom are civilians. USAFI cours urses enroll 107,000, university correspondence courses 6,300. Educational centers register 57,000 students, and civilian schools 6,000.

Mr. Miner has already entered upon his new duties.

EDUCATING CITIZENS

(Continued from page 3)

One in particular, the National Education Association, is going all out on this year's American Education Week observance, November 6-12, in cooperation with the American Legion, the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, and the Office of Education. This year's Education Week packet practically brims over with facts useful to citizens education committees which are being urged to sponsor the Week this year. To the theme, Visit Your Schools, has been added, Bring the Schools to the People..

Yes, many organizations and citizens individually are working hard for better schools. By national, State, and local action, citizens are being educated on education and its needs-today and tomorrow.

College Scholarships

APPLICATIONS for U. S. Navy 4-year college scholarships offered to boys 17 to 21 years of age beginning the 1950-51 academic year, must be submitted to the Naval Examining Section, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N. J., by November 12, 1949, for competitive examinations to be held on December 3, 1949. Detailed information regarding the scholarships is contained in NROTC Bulletin of Information, 1950, available at high school and college libraries and at Naval Officer Procurement and Navy Recruiting offices. The scholarships lead to a baccalaureate degree and a commission as Ensign in the Navy or Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps.