1

there were the same season at least 29 other cities which carried on systematic extension work. They did not appear in Table 2 because no Evening Use Record cards were received from them. The supplementary reports from these 29 cities indicate, however, 105 schools which would have been eligible for inclusion if cards had been sent in. This number added to the 296 enumerated in Table 2 gives us a total, in round numbers, of 400 schools which may be rated as in the same general class as respects volume of evening occasions. We have already seen (summary of Table 4) that 267 schools, or about two-thirds of the 400, provided over 16,000 group-occasions in one month. To say then that the 400 must have provided some 24,000 occasions in the same period would be a logical conclusion were it not for the practical certainty that the untabulated third would not average up as highly as the tabulated two-thirds. This certainty is based upon the fact that New York City alone furnished 11,294, or 68 per cent, of the 16,492 occasions shown in the tables, and there are, of course, no other cities of the same size in the untabulated group. With New York left out of Table 4, the number of group-occasions per school was 37 and this is probably a safe average to attribute to the untabulated 133 schools. An estimate computed on this basis gives 21,413 evening group-occasions in 400 schools during March, 1914.

The length of the school extension season in the different cities. varies greatly. In a few it lasts throughout the year; in a small number October and April mark its limits; in many places it does not get well under way until some time in November, and gradually tapers off in March. To estimate a three months' season as the average for the country as a whole is probably putting it well within the actual fact, and, since March is one of the poorer months, multiplying its figures by three to obtain the grand total of 64,239 group-occasions for the season is a calculation that also leans toward conservatism. The attendances estimated per occasion in Table 6 average 51 for all lines of activity. On the same basis the 64,239 group-occasions would represent an aggregate attendance in the 400 schools during the winter of 1913-14 of 3,276,189. That is to say, the gatherings (outside of the regular night-school classes) in those schools of 82 cities which were devoted to systematic extension work totaled for one season over three and a quarter millions of people. These figures are, of course, not set forth as accurate statistics of attendance. They represent merely an estimate, but one that is believed to be well below the real fact.

These cities are: Allentown, Pa.; Aurora, Ill.; Baltimore, Md.; Bloomfield, N. J.; Boston, Mass.; Buffalo, N. Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Duluth, Minn.; Gary, Ind.; Hoboken, N. J.: Jersey City, N. J.; Kansas City, Mo.; Lawrence, Mass.; Lexington, Ky,; Milwaukee, Wis.; Omaha, Nebr.; Orange, N. J. Pittsburgh, Pa.; Reading, Pa.; Richmond, Va.; St. Paul, Minn.; San Francisco, Cal.; Santa Rosa, Cal.; Superior, Wis.; West Hoboken, N. J.; West Orange, N. J.; Youngstown, Ohio.

97381°-15-4

It will be remembered that no schools (see p. 30) were included in Table 2 whose evenings open fell below twice a week (or one night for two lines of activity) in frequency during the period of the report. This rule excluded not only many schools located in the 53 cities represented in the table, but all of the schools in 52 other cities 1 from which filled-out Evening Use Record cards were received. So the extension work we have analyzed in detail is that of selected cities and in each city of selected schools. It represents only a slice off the top of a pyramid of wider use, whether viewed from the standpoint of the country as a whole or that of the individual city. The lower part of this pyramid, in the case of the country, was vaguely outlined in the first list (Table 1) of 603 cities. To give for the individual city a more definite idea of the excluded portion of the pyramid is the object of Table 7. In these five cities the completeness of the records furnished by the school authorities enables us to state accurately the number of the schools whose evenings open were below the standard of frequency which we arbitrarily set and how many group-occasions took place in them during one month. TABLE 7.-Group-occasions during March, 1914, in selected (tabulated) schools compared with those of excluded schools in five cities.

The figures for four (South Bend not in tabulated list) cities show that the schools in the excluded list are from three to nine times as many as those in the selected lot, and while they can not be taken as the ratio for the country as a whole they throw a clear side light upon the broad, pyramidal outlines of the extension work in the individual city. Generalizing roughly, the extent of wider use is inversely proportional to its intensity.

1 Cities reporting extension activities which are not tabulated: Adrian, Mich.; Annapolis, Md.; Beardstown, Ill.; Beverly, Mass.; Boulder, Colo.; Charleston, S. C.; Chelsea, Mass.; Chicopee, Mass.; Clinton, Mass.; Dunkirk, N. Y.; Elmira, N. Y.; El Paso, Tex.; Everett, Mass.; Fargo, N. Dak.; Fresno, Cal.; Greenfield, Mass.; Harvey, Ill.; Holyoke, Mass.; Iola, Kans.; Kansas City, Mo.; La Salle, Ill.; Leominster, Mass.; Marquette, Mich.; Marshfield, Wis.; Michigan City, Ind.; Muskegon, Mich.; Nelsonville, Ohio.; New Bedford, Mass.; Noblesville, Ind.; Olympia, Wash.; Pana, Ill.; Pasadena, Cal.; Paterson, N. J.; Prescott, Ariz.; Rahway, N. J.; Rutherford, N. J.; St. Cloud, Minn.; Santa Ana, Cal.; Scranton, Pa.; Selma, Ala.; South Bend, Ind.; Southington, Conn.; Springfield, Ill.; Springfield, Mass.; Stoneham, Mass.; Summit, N. J.; Swissvale, Pa.; Wabash, Ind.; Westerly, R. I.; White Plains, N. Y.; Whiting, Ind.; Windber, Pa.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES BEFORE 6 P. M.

Brief mention only can be made of the growth in activities in public schoolhouses during the interval between the afternoon dismissal of classes and nightfall. In high schools this has long been a favorite period for meetings of student societies and athletic contests both in and out of doors, and now a similar practice has got under way in the elementary schools. In many places, immediately after school is the hour for the teachers' meeting and the time when the mothers' club meets in the kindergarten. To these occasions are being added others which have grown out of various local educational and social needs. For example, in Grand Rapids, Mich., parochial classes in domestic science use the public schools on certain afternoons from 4 to 6 o'clock, and three times a week the parents' council meets at 3.30 p. m. In Evanston, Ill., a children's class in gymnastic dancing supported by membership fees, a children's orchestra, the room basket-ball teams, and several other pupil organizations keep school buildings open after the ordinary closing time. These are samples only of the miscellaneous afternoon occasions which are developing spontaneously in the schoolhouses of many cities.

In some places the after-school day activities have been placed upon a systematic basis. In Louisville, Ky., programs averaging from 82 to 20 group-occasions a month were given during the season of 1913-14 in four schools, which, after supper, were also devoted to social center work. The afternoon activities included story telling and lectures, entertainments, adult society meetings, some form of athletics, club work, and games or reading rooms. For a number of years the physical training department in Newark, N. J., has organized folk dancing, basket ball, and games for the after-school enjoyment of the regular pupils, and similar opportunities are afforded in other cities, sometimes under a school athletic league and sometimes unde a playground organization. In New York City much of the Public Schools Athletic League work has for many years been carried on at the close of classes. For the school year of 1913-14 the physical training department of this city was allowed an appropriation of $79,000 for opening 163 after-school play centers. Through this provision playrooms and yards were thrown open, under supervision, to the public from 3 to 5 p. m. five times a week. The attendance and growth of this work are indicated by the following figures: TABLE 8.- Attendance for two years on March 5 at the New York after-school play centers.

Other phases of this subject are the (a) lengthening of the regular day program as illustrated in the case of the Gary plan and its imitators, and (b) the extension of the school year that is accomplished by the vacation session and the all-year school, but no recent data upon these features are available for this discussion. Casual reports, however, indicate steady growth in all of these fields.

LETTING REGULATIONS.

The marked increase of late years in miscellaneous evening occasions in school buildings is largely due to the new spirit which has appeared in school letting rules. It does not yet pervade all of them, but each year sees an extension of its vogue. It is well expressed in the regulations (published March, 1914) recently adopted by the Joliet (Ill.) Board of Education.

In order that the public school plant may serve a wider community use, the board of school inspectors will bear the expense of lighting, heat, and janitor service when the school is used for the following purposes:

(1) Adult clubs or organizations for the discussion of educational, civic, and community problems.

(2) Public lectures, entertainments, or indoor recreational or educational activities. (3) Club work among young people-literary, musical, dramatic, social-under supervision arranged by the school authorities.

(4) Political discussions may be permitted when announced in advance, and equal opportunity given for presentation of both sides of the question, in accord with the American spirit of fair play.

The above activities must be determined and controlled by a free organization of patrons and teachers of the community. The present rule barring the use of tobacco on school premises must be respected.

Free use of school accommodations has for some time been pretty generally accorded to parent-teacher societies and other associations with allied aims. Some cities still forbid the holding of pay entertainments by such organizations, while others give this privilege when the proceeds are for the advancement of educational purposes or for the benefit of the general public. When any charge is made to bodies in this group, it is usually only that required for the extra compensation of the janitor. A minority of cities ask such organizations to defray also the expense of heat and light.

But the more significant fact is the tendency that is exhibited in the Joliet rules just quoted. It is the recognition of the principle that a school board is exercising an educational function when it gives the use of an auditorium to a woman's club, an antituberculosis society, or an amateur musical club. If the occasions of these and similar organizations do add to a community's fund of knowledge, culture, and civic life, then the facilitation of them through the donation of school accommodations is strictly within the purposes of a board of