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THE

TEACHERS' AGENCIES

PARKER THE Agency for Wisconsin, Northern Mich

igan and the West. Write for full details

of "The Parker Way" of placing teachers and

Teachers' Agency dealing with school boards. The most liberal

MADISON WISCONSIN contract of any Agency in the country.

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DEMAND FOR TEACHERS.

WHAT OUR MEMBERS SAY ABOUT THE THURSTON TEACHERS' AGENCY. "You are certainly a revelation-I never knew of any agency finding the openings that you do. I am constrained to again express my gratitude. You secured for me a fine position when all others failed." Direct calls from school officials. We PERSONALLY RECOMMEND YOU. Send for circulars-free registration for a limited time. Enroll now. Address ANNA M. THURSTON, Mgr., 378 Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill.

"ONE FIFTH OF A CENTURY"

THE CLARK TEACHERS' AGENCY

Steinway Hall, Chicago

225 Peyton Block, Spokane, Wash.

The Manager, B. F. Clark, has had over twenty years' experience in finding the right teachers for the right places— from the UNIVERSITY to the GRADES. Send for "Our Platform" (64 pages) giving over 500 letters from teachers.

THE 1909 AGENCY BOOKLET.

Have you seen our booklet for the present year describing "The Parker Way" of placing teachers and dealing with school boards? It is invaluable to every teacher and will be mailed free upon request.

THE PARKER TEACHERS' AGENCY,
Madison, Wisconsin.

WESTERN POSITIONS FOR TEACHERS

City Supt. $2000; Primary $90: Upper Grade $90; Man. Tr. $1200; Dom. Sci. $2000: Dairying $1200; German and Spanish $1200: English $1000; Coach $1500; Sciences $100; Hist. $1200; Math. $900; Chem. and Geol. $1500; High School Prin. $1200; Ward Prin. $1200.

For these and Scores of other positions for next year we must

have qualified persons. Elections occur soon.

COME OUT WEST WHERE IT PAYS TO TEACH
EDUCATIONAL CATALOGUE SENT FREE
BUSINESS-MEN'S CLEARING HOUSE

304-8 Century Bldg.

Denver, Colo.

N. B. Free Bureau of Imformation regarding points of interest in Denver and Colorodo during N. E. A. Call and ask.

SCHOOL BOARDS

WANTING TEACHERS
SHOULD SECURE THEM
FROM THE MOST RE-
LIABLE SOURCES.
WRITE TO ANY OF
THESE

Teachers' Agencies

TEACHERS'

BREWER AGENCY

THE

1302

AUDITORIUM BUILDING, CHICAGO

THE ALBERT TEACHERS' AGENCY

C. J. ALBERT, Manager

378 Wabash Avenue

Chicago, Illinois

In correspondence with 8000 Scnools and Colleges. Over 7000 teachers located. The best schools are our clients. Service prompt, effective and helpful. Address the Chicago Manager.

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EDITORIAL COMMENT

BY PROFESSOR M. V. O'SHEA, THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN.
RETAIN COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES.

Following every commencement season there is more or less sharp criticism of the importance given to graduation festivities in the high schools of the state. The sentiment hostile to commencement seems to be spreading; at any rate, those who are dissatisfied are becoming more active in expressing their discontent through the lay press. The charges made against graduation exercises are that many pupils are put to expense beyond their means; that all pupils are excited for some weeks before the final events, so that they can not apply themselves to their studies; and that the whole thing is a matter of show and pretense anyway, and therefore it should be abolished.

It is possible, even probable, that some pupils go to extremes in the matter of dress for the commencement stage; but with this exception we have, on our part, only praise for graduation exercises. There is no event in the majority of the communities throughout our country which unifies the people so completely as does an appropriate highschool commencement; and there is nothing which arouses any more public enthusiasm for the school. This is the one occasion during the year when everything in the community is hopeful and optimistic. Without public exhibitions of this kind, in which everyone concerned tries to look his best and do his best and say his best, the tone of the school in many a community would be sensibly lowered. Of all public celebrations, this one of commencement is the one most to be commended, and the one we ought to support with the greatest joy and vigor.

LET PUPILS PLAY THEIR PARTS The writer has asked a number of educational people for their opinions regarding the value of commencement. Most of them approve of it, but

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a few have suggested that the exercises are being carried too far. Several correspondents maintain that we should have one commencement evening for the graduation of those who have completed the high-school course; but class-day exercises, class plays, alumni balls, and the like should be rigidly suppressed. For ourselves, we feel it would not be a very great loss if something should be substituted for the ball; but we think it would be a distinct loss to abolish class plays or class-day exercises, or any other event in which the pupils take the initiative. We think it can be demonstrated that a pupil will get more good from a class play than from many weeks' work in formal elocution. By the same token, he will gain more from reading an original paper on class-day than from several essays prepared in response to force a posteriori. Let us encourage in every way we can all wholesome exercises in which pupils take the initiative and play the leading rôle. Without doubt the concentration of these events in commencement week leads to undue excitement on the part of some pupils. If we can control this evil we ought to do it; and probably a wise principal, with the co-operation of his faculty, can minimize the overstrain from this source. If we can keep excitement in check, and make pupils take a sensible view of the matter of dress, there is every reason why we should encourage rather than discourage commencement exercises.

A FEDERAL CHILDREN'S BUREAU. President Roosevelt has recommended the establishment of a federal bureau for the purpose of collecting and disseminating information regarding the condition and the care of dependent children. His recommendation grew out of the revelations made at a recent conference in Washington of distinguished men and women engaged in philan

thropic and corrective work with children. It was shown at this convention that the proportion of dependent children in our country is constantly increasing, probably due to the shifting of population from the country to the city. It was also shown that we have no efficient means of gaining reliable information regarding causes which produce defects and delinquencies in children, and the methods of remedying the evils to the fullest possible extent. So far as we have heard, no voice has been raised against the principle embodied in President Roosevelt's recommendation. The wonder is that a suggestion of this sort has not been made heretofore by men whose expressions would receive proper attention. It has long been a matter of general discussion among those who work with children that a large percentage of delinquents and dependents are so because of the conditions under which they live. If this were more generally appreciated, these evils might be remedied in large part by private and public action.

Dependent and delinquent children are a menace to the stability and progress of any community. Those who are sub-normal, intellectually or morally, become a charge upon the public; and those who are criminally inclined constantly prey upon society, and are the chief source of its distress. In some of the older civilizations the proportion of the intellectually, morally, and ethically sub-moral individuals has become so great that they have reduced the level of social well-being, and they threaten completely to annihilate these civilizations. In a city like Algiers, or even Naples, one may see the pathetic results of a policy which has permitted the causes which produce delinquents and dependents to continue unabated until the whole social structure is permeated with decay. There is no reason whatever why in a city like Chicago there should not develop in time such a situation as exists today in some of the cities of the old world. An efficient federal bureau would be the first step in dealing with this problem in the vigorous way which is essential in order to avert national disintegration. Teachers ought to express their views on this matter in some effective way.

THE PERILOUS SEATS OF THE MIGHTY.

Ask a group of students of education in any section of this country what eight living Americans have played the chief part in forming their professional creed, and it is certain that among the

first mentioned in every case would be Professor William James, President G. Stanley Hall, and Professor Hugo Münsterberg. For a decade or more these names have been on the lips of admiring and grateful teachers everywhere, and they have always been mentioned only to praise and to bless, never to censure or to abuse. However, the path of professional glory leads but to the grave, dug by the willing hands of competitors for the applause of the world. Within the past three months disciples of the great above-mentioned prophets have been shocked and pained—possibly enlightened-at the ferocious assaults made upon the character and intelligence of their quondam teachers and idols. Professor Paul Shorey has thrust his literary spear through President Hall. He has attempted to show that The Adolescence, which has excited the admiration of men in all walks of life, is mostly verbiage, high-flown rhetoric, and crass error. And this is President Hall's Masterpiece! Most tragic of all, perhaps, Professor Witmer has just come from saying the last sad rites over the remains of Professor James and Professor Münsterberg. With some hesitation and difficulty he succeeded, as he thinks, in adjusting the noose to their necks, and sending them to their eternal rest, in a professional sense. Try to imagine how a large body of devoted teachers in this country will feel when they learn that Professor James is not a psychologist; he is instead a mystic, an obscurantist, and not to be trusted as a leader. Of course, if this is the truth, it should be told, though the heavens fall. But is it the truth? or is it only professional jealousy? In the words of our inimitable Togo, we require no answer.

GOOD NEWS.

Plans are being perfected in the University for effective instruction in journalism. Professor W. G. Bleyer has just been appointed to a professorship in this subject. This matter merits specia! mention in the Journal, since no phase of educational work is more important at this moment than the proper training of the men who mould public opinion through the press. These men, taken as a whole, need improvement in two directions. In the first place, they would be benefitted by practical studies in ethics, so that so far as education can affect them they may be incited to give publicity to the truth instead of to error, and to favor the uplifting agencies in society rather than those that

minister to sensationalism and vulgarity, and that ultimately lead to decay. In the second place, they need to be better equipped intellectually, so that they can understand the subtle forces that are at work in society, and properly present them to the people. The press of this state and of the country might be a most potent instrument in re-enforcing educational institutions in spreading the light among men; but in some places it simply undoes what the school with infinite toil seeks to accomplish. Quite irresponsible and incompetent individuals are often the media through which the most complex phases of social life must be made intelligible to the people, with the result that they give a distorted and false view of many of the subjects of which they treat. Let a man attempt to teach his fellows in a public way respecting any more or less intricate business, say the training of children, and the chances are that the press will mispresent his views for the purpose of gratifying the rather morbid love of people for hizarre phenomena. The teachers of this state ought on every opportunity to express their belief to the effect that those who attempt to enlighten the public through the press should represent the best morally and intellectually in the community. Here's hoping that the action of the university Regents in establishing a course in journalism may without delay exert an influence for good upon the character of the press in this part of the world.

SIGNS OF PROGRESS.

The writer of this note can remember the time when secondary school teachers rarely convened for the purpose of considering professional problems. In those days it was held that any one could teach a subject as well as any one else, if he had acquired as much formal knowledge about it. It used to be said that it was foolish to discuss the method of teaching any high-school branch, for there wasn't any such thing. The advice given tɔ novices used to be in effect: "Strike in anywhere. Sail away; you can't miss the route. If your pupils don't snap at the bait, give 'em a taste of the gad. Licking is good for pupils anyway. All you have to do is to assign so many pages of a text book, and see that these are memorized by heart." But this sort of philosophy is on its last legs. Requiescat in pace. All over our country today one finds high-school teachers eagerly seeking for professional light; of course, the stone-age "edu

cators" are excepted. One of the most auspicious signs of the times is the movement for the local, state, and national organization of the teachers of particular subjects, as history, Latin, modern languages, and the like. The most recent action of this kind of which we have heard is the formation of the American Federation of Teachers of the Mathematical and the Physical Sciences. It has over 1,000 members on its rolls already, and it is growing rapidly. This should give encouragement to all students of education whose chief hope it is sometime to see waste and inefficiency eliminated from secondary education.

NEGATION IN CHILD TRAINING. "Don't let your boys and girls race over other people's lawns! Don't let them gather in the alleys!"The La Crosse Tribune.

This is undoubtedly good advice to be given to parents and teachers, provided it is followed by something more for the instruction of those who determine whether our children can live a natural life in the city. Will the La Crosse Tribune please indicate what is to be done with boys in a city who haven't a square inch of ground which belong by right to them, so that they may conduct themselves as nature intended they should? If there are no open spaces, except private lawns, in a city, and no place but alleys where boys may congregate to play marbles, or to do any of the thousand things which children ought to do together; if there are no playgrounds about the public schools, and if pupils are punished for running on the grass; if the city makes no provision to meet the most fundamental needs of child life, would it really not be better tɔ let boys and girls have a little tether in racing over other people's lawns, and in gathering in the alleys? These latter things are bad, no doubt; but it is worse to hunt children from pillar to post, and to repress every native instinct in them, which is attempted to be done in many cities today where no thought has been taken to provide public playgrounds. The writer of these lines has personally investigated the influence of playgrounds upon the

conduct of the young in a number of the cities of this country, and he has found whenever a public

playground is opened in the ward of any city

juvenile crime of every sort therein decreases above

fifty per cent, as a rule. If children have a fair chance to indulge their elemental impulses, which are essential to their development, they will not prefer to trespass upon private domain, and they

will not choose the alley as a social meeting place. It is easy to issue commands to restrain children; but this sort of thing alone never has solved and never can solve the problem of juvenile errancy.

ONE VIEW OF SCHOOL HYGIENE.

It is said that in times of war Japanese soldiers are not permitted to pitch their camps until the spot selected therefor has been approved by the medical officers of the army. The Japanese act on the principle that from the standpoint of a man's efficiency it is of supreme importance to protect his health. How many school trustees in the state of Wisconsin feel profoundly that, considering efficiency alone, it is worth while to make a school building thoroughly hygienic in respect to site, to equipment, to heating, to lighting, to ventilation? Is it of greater economic importance to safeguard the vitality of a soldier, than of a child in the public schools? This is looking at it from the rather brutal standpoint of dollars and cents. Suppose we view it from the standpoint of the happiness of individuals in maturity. What proportion of the adults among us are, through disabilities acquired while getting an education, heavily handicapped, with the result that they are of but little service to others, and of slight use to themselves? Don't you think, gentle reader, that one is justified in raising a big row all the time if necessary over this problem of the hygiene of school life in all its aspects?

DYNAMIC TEACHING ALONE EFFECTIVE. "There is only one cure for public distress-and that is public education, directed to make men thoughtful and just."

We must all applaud this sentiment which one hears repeated at every educational meeting he attends. It runs through a great deal of present-day educational writing. However, we ought to interpret the sentiment in a different way from what many people do. There are those who think they can teach a child while he is sitting in a seat to be thought, merciful, and just. But happily we are coming to realize that the attitudes of thoughtfulness, mercifulness, and justice can be learned effectively only when the individual is placed in situations where he must actually conduct himself in thoughtful, merciful, and just ways. To sit still and learn by heart will never develop these or any other attitudes so that they will be of service in life. Put a child up against a real problem and help him to solve it; repeat the process day after

day and year after year, and then he will become thoughtful. But you will make no headway if you simply put a book in his hands, and have him deal with formal, mechanical problems according to a formula which he has learned verbatim. So it will matter little for him to learn maxims about mercy or justice; he must acquire these while he is actually adjusting himself to his fellows, in the give-andtake of recitations, playground activities, and the like. These attitudes must be learned in a dynamic way, that is to say, if they are to prove effective in an individual's life.

SOME MORE SHATTERED IDOLS.

The liveliest Italian who has visited America in many a day, so far as the writer is aware, is Signor Ferrero of Rome. He has impressed himself upon the American public principally through his general unsettlement of our ideas regarding the character and the deeds of ancient men and women. Some of us will be compelled now to memorize a new lot of facts (?) relating to the life and miracles of antique celebrities. The pseudo-facts, of which most of us have a more or less liberal allowance, were drilled into us with infinite toil on the part of teachers, and much expenditure of cerebral energy on our own part. All of which tends to strengthen the conviction developing among us today that it would be a great gain all round if less attention were given in historical study to minutiae pertaining to the remote past.

MILLIONAIRES AND EDUCATION. While we have Signor Ferrero in mind we might refer to his comments on our higher educational institutions. Among other views attributed to him, he expressed grave doubt regarding the wisdom of colleges accepting endowments from millionaires, since it seemed to him inevitable under such conditions that professors would teach only such matters as were acceptable to their benefactors. It is extraordinary how men catch at a thing of this kind and give it publicity at every opportunity, simply because it sounds reasonable. It may be opportune to remark that we have taken some pains to ask men in endowed colleges whether in their teaching they are influenced by the views of their patrons, and we have never been able to gain an item of positive evidence of the sort of thing that Signor Ferrero and many Americans claim exists. For ourselves we think the best use

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