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Electronic Magic-Use It or You Lose It

Because of space limitation SCHOOL LIFE presents only selected excerpts from the Convocation Lecture at Indiana University by Wayne Coy, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Coy's address before the Second Annual Conference on Radio in Education challenges all school administrators and teachers to consider radio's role in meeting today's many varied communication needs. Copies of the full lecture are available from the Federal Communications Commission, Washington 25, D. C.

THE

HE overcrowding of our schools, the teacher shortage, the unprecedented demand for all types of education and training. the deficiencies of our libraries, the informational requirements involved in our position of world leadership, all these problems constitute grave challenges to the educators of America. They are challenges to everyone engaged in the expression arts.

If you could spend a day at the Federal Communications Commission, I can assure you that you would quickly appreciate the extent to which industry is attempting to utilize every advance in the field of electronics. . . . But I regret to say, education, unlike industry, has failed to convert. It has failed to equip itself with the new tools needed to cope with conditions of a new day. It is clinging to the old ways of old days. . . . Radio is still the Dark Continent of American education.

Look for a moment at the great race to establish new stations in the field of broadcasting a race in which education has been left at the barrier.

Education Straggling

Railroads are converting to radio communication. Taxicabs are converting to radio.

Public utilities are converting to radio. Bus lines, truck lines, doctors' autos, delivery trucks, private autos are being equipped with radio. We are in the midst of a communication revolution. Educators are among our chief communicators. In that revolution they should be marching in their rightful place at the head of the column. Instead they are the stragglers. Educators have a threefold, duty in our society:

1. To provide a more effective, more imaginative, more zestful education for those now in our schools and colleges.

2. To reach those who cannot go to college.

3. To provide a continuing educational opportunity for those who have left college.

Every fact of our times cries for the immediate and widespread utilization of this electronic magic for education-the unprecedented enrollments. the shortage of teachers, the shortage of physical facilities, the demand for adult education, the insistent and complex nature of the problems of modern life.

Quick and Inexpensive

Radio will not only magnify the educator's effectiveness; it can mean an actual dollars and cents savings in tax money. Radio can enable our educational institutions to educate more effectively, more quickly, more cheaply.

There are many splendid examples of fruitful cooperation between schools and commercial broadcast stations. WHAS in Louisville, Kentucky, is making radio history by cooperating with the University of Louisville to broadcast the first college course for credit ever offered by any standard commercial station. . . . The plan of NBC for a nation-wide college-by-radio project is a bold approach to the adult education problem. I wish also to compliment Indiana University on its "Indiana

What Can a Superintendent

or High School Principal Do?

1. Write to the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D. C., for "FM for Education." Misc. No. 7, Revised 1948, price 20 cents.

2. Write to your State Department of Education to learn what your State is doing. 3. Write to the Federal Communications Commission, Washington 25, D. C., for full text of Mr. Coy's address.

School of the Sky" series that was broadcast over 12 commercial stations for 30 weeks to the elementary schools last school term. Educators should consult with their local radio stations and work out arrangements that will be mutually profitable. Every schoolroom in America should be equipped with its own radio set. It should be freely integrated with classroom work as a major educational tool. As soon as television becomes available in a community, every schoolroom should be equipped with a television screen-the electronic blackboard of the future. Besides the classroom use of radio, educators can help to guide the students' use of radio in the home. This wider, more intelligent use of commercial radio is a joint responsibility of the broadcaster and the educator. But because there are limits to what the commercial broadcaster can do in the field of education, a vast area of opportunity is open to the radio station operated directly by the educational institutions.

First, let us see how educators have availed themselves of the past opportunities to set up their own standard broadcast stations. Today, only 34 standard stations are operated by educational institutions. Of these, 9 sell time. That compares with 2,000 stations operated by commercial interests. There are now only 17 noncom mercial educational FM stations in operation. Ten more are under construction. There are only 4 applications pending.

What You May Lose

In view of the possibility of 800 stations and state and regional networks, we can see that we are hardly on the threshold of noncommercial educational FM radio. There are unlimited opportunities ahead. The growth of commercial FM broadcasting is resulting in an increasing distribution of FM receiving sets. Audiences are being created for educational broadcasting. I must point out here that radio channels are too valuable to be left in idleness. If educators fail to utilize them, they will have lost their second and perhaps last chance to own and operate their own radio stations. If education should lose out in FM it will also lose its chance for facsimile broadcasting. Facsimile travels over FM channels. Facsimile broadcasting makes possible the electronic newspaper, the electronic textbook. . . . Printed text would be sent into the homes to accompany oral instructions. Maps, photographs,

charts, instructional guides, musical scores all sorts of informational matter would be sent over the FM channels. But the educational institution that delays too long and wakes up some fine day to find all the educational FM channels in its area gone will also be foreclosed from using this electronic printing press. To lose these opportunities would be a sad commentary on the American educator's ability to adapt himself to changing conditions. The school system without radio must go the way of the little Red School House.

Four Thousand Teachers
Report on Their Jobs

"YES, I'M handing in my resignation," the home economics teacher in a small town told her superintendent. "The parents have been very cooperative and I've thoroughly enjoyed working with the pupils. How ever, the continual criticism in the community of everything teachers do, combined with the inadequate and inefficient equip ment in the department makes me feel I cannot do my best work here.”

This is but one of the many interesting points of view expressed by the 4,216 home economics teachers taking part in a study recently made by the Home Economics Section of the American Vocational Association in cooperation with the Office of Education and home economists in 46 States. This study dealt with job satisfactions and dissatisfactions and was made for the purpose of learning why home economics teachers leave the profession and what can be done to improve conditions in this field of instruction.

The study has produced significant results, according to Beulah I. Coon, research specialist in Home Economics Education in the Office of Education. It shows that teacher satisfaction on the job is influenced by a wide variety of factors and that many of the dissatisfactions reported by teachers are associated with conditions which can and should be corrected. Situations causing greatest dissatisfactions among teachers relate to (1) community and living conditions, (2) the professional aspects of teaching, and (3) conditions existing in the school.

The report of the study for the Nation. gives detailed information on salaries, teaching load, community conditions, and school. Findings indicate that teacher educators, school administrators, lay persons,

and State departments of education all need To Vitalize Reading Program

to help improve conditions, if teaching is to be made a more satisfying job than it now appears to be.

Order the full report “Factors Affecting the Satisfactions of Home Economics Teachers," AVA Research Bulletin No. 3, from the American Vocational Association, Washington, D. C. (75 cents)

Status of Students

Under Selective Service

HOW DO high school and college students fare under the Selective Service Act of 1948? What exemptions do they have under the new draft law?

Following are excerpts from the law. which answer these questions for teachers and students:

"Any person who, while satisfactorily pursuing a full-time course of instruction at a high school or similar institution of learning, is ordered to report for induction under this title prior to his graduation from such school or institution, shall, upon the facts being presented to the local board, have his induction under this title postponed (A) until the time of his graduation therefrom, or (B) until he attains the twentieth anniversary of his birth, or (C) until he ceases satisfactorily to pursue such course of instruction, whichever is the earliest. The induction of any such person shall not be postponed under this paragraph beyond the date so determined.

"Any person who, while satisfactorily pursuing a full-time course of instruction at a college, university, or similar institution of learning, is ordered to report for induction under this title, shall, upon the facts being presented to the local board, have his induction under this title postponed (A) until the end of such academic year or (B) until he ceases satisfactorily to pursue such course of instruction, whichever is the earlier. Nothing in this paragraph shall be deemed to preclude the President from providing, by regulations prescribed under subsection (h) of this section, for the deferment from training and service of any category or categories of students for such periods of time as he may deem appropriate."

Copies of the Selective Service Act are. available from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., as Public Law 759-80th Congress, price 25 cents each.

READING is so fundamental to the education of everyone that it is the basis of all education. So said Herold C. Hunt, general superintendent of Chicago schools, in addressing the recent eleventh annual reading conference at the University of Chicago. Dr. Hunt stated that reading is every teacher's job, and he called for vitalization of the reading program through use of visual aids, the radio, and other devices. Stressing the need for careful planning to meet the needs, abilities, and interests of pupils, Superintendent Hunt urged teachers to take time to emphasize reading lesson activities so that learning would be more meaningful and lasting. Each child should have not only the opportunity to learn to read but also the chance to read to learn, according to Dr. Hunt.

Just issued is an 8-page Office of Education bulletin titled "Sources of Materials Dealing With Reading Difficulties," prepared by Helen H. Murray, research assistant, Division of Secondary Education, Office of Education. This multilithed publication contains three bibliographies-sources of material to meet the reading needs of the retarded reader; books written for the pupil of low reading ability; and book lists for normal readers. Copies are free in limited number from the Division of Secondary Education, Office of Education, Washington 25, D. C.

Attracting New Teachers

Continued from page 2

ahead with a variety of ways-the program should have solid information as well as inspirational pulling power. The teaching profession has nothing to offer the faint of heart, the bigoted, or the unimaginative. And this should be made unmistakably clear.

In attracting the kind of young people the profession so gravely needs, the eloquence of Pearl Buck's plea for teachers cannot be overstated. "Only the brave should teach," said Mrs. Buck. "Only those who love the young should teach. Teaching is a vocation. It is as sacred as priesthood; as innate a desire, as inescapable, as the genius which compels a great artist. Indeed, a true teacher is a priest and he is an artist. If he has not the concern for humanity, the love of living creatures, the vision of the priest and the artist, he must not teach."

Acts of the Eightieth Congress Relating to Education

(Second Session)

A

CTS OF THE Congress of the United States relating to education are of national significance. Some of them affect international educational relations.

While education in the States is governed principally by State laws, numerous bills are introduced each year in Congress bearing upon different phases of education. Most of these bills do not get beyond the committees to which they are referred. Some of them, however, are enacted into law.

Below is a summary of the principal bills relating to education which were passed by the 80th Congress, 2d Session, and signed by the President:

International Education

Public Law 402 (H. R. 3342).-This is cited as the "United States Information and Exchange Act of 1948," and is designed to promote the better understanding of the United States among the peoples of the world. This Act provides for:

(1) An information service to disseminate abroad information about the United States, its people, and official policies relative to foreign affairs.

(2) An educational exchange service to cooperate with other nations in:

(a) The interchange of persons,
knowledge, and skills;
(b) The rendering of technical and
other services;

(c) The interchange of developments
in the field of education, the
arts, and sciences.

The administration of this Act is vested in the Secretary of State. The Act also provides that the President shall appoint two advisory commissions of five members each (by and with the consent of the Senate) which commissions shall formulate and recommend to the Secretary of State policies and programs for carrying out the purpose of the Act. (Approved January 27, 1948.)

Public Law 597 (H. R. 5607).-Appropriated to the State Department $3,772,775

for carrying out the purpose of the UNESCO, of which $3,637,545 shall be available for contributions. (Approved June 3, 1948.)

Public Law 647 (H. R. 6407).—This is the "International Aviation Facilities Act." This Act, among other things, authorizes the Secretary of State, the Administrator of Civil Aeronautics, and the Chief of the Weather Bureau to train foreign nationals directly or in conjunction with any United States Government agency, private agency, State or municipal educational institution, or international organization in aeronautical and related subjects essential to the orderly and safe operation of civil aircraft. (Approved June 16, 1948.)

Attention is invited to the international education aspect of Public Law 564 given below under Military Education.

Higher Education

Public Law 402, mentioned under International Education, known as the "United States Information and Exchange Act of 1948" is of outstanding interest to students and friends of higher education.

Public Law 411 and Public Law 512, particularly applicable to veterans, also affect the administration of higher education. See under Veterans' Education, below, for summaries of these laws.

Public Law 796 (H. R. 5710).-This Act provides that the Federal Works Administrator transfer to any educational institution, without monetary consideration, all property rights to temporary houses on land owned by the educational institution, with the provision that student veterans be given preference in filling vacancies in any house for which rights are transferred. (Approved June 26, 1948.)

Research

Public Law 655 (S. 2215).-This Act establishes in the Public Health Service an institute to conduct, foster, and promote research relating to the causes, prevention, and methods of diagnosis and treatment of

This summary was prepared by Ward W. Keesecker, Specialist in School Legislation, Office of Education. Copies of the laws are not available from the Office of Education. They should be ordered from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D. C.

heart diseases, makes grants in aid to public or private agencies and institutions for research projects, and establishes research fellowships and traineeships in nonprofit institutions. (Approved June 16, 1948.)

Public Law 755 (H. R. 6726).—This Act establishes in the Public Health Service the National Institute of Dental Research to promote research in the causes, prevention, and methods of diagnosis and treatment of dental diseases; provides fellowships in the Institute, and establishes traineeships. through grants to nonprofit institutions. (Approved June 24, 1948.)

Military Education

Public Law 564 (S. 1723).-This Act amended Public Law 168 of the 77th Congress, authorizing courses of instruction at the United States Naval Academy and the United States Military Academy to be given to limited number of persons in the American Republics, so as to permit such courses to be given to Canadians. (Approved June 1, 1948.)

Public Law 759 (S. 2655).—This is the Selective Service Act of 1948. It makes provision for the deferment from service of high school and college students under certain conditions and authorizes the President to provide for the deferment of other categories of students as he may deem appropriate. (Approved June 24, 1948.)

Veterans' Education

Public Law 411 (S. 1394).—This Act provides an increase in subsistence allowance to veterans pursuing certain educational courses under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944. It increased the allowance to full-time student veterans from $65 to $75 per month, if without dependents; from $90 to $105 per month, if with one dependent; $120 per month, if with more than one dependent. (Approved February 14, 1948.)

Public Law 512 (S. 1393).-This Act provided additional subsistence allowance for veterans pursuing on-the-job training courses under the GI Bill of Rights, but limited it so that allowance plus compensation may not exceed $210 per month for veteran without a dependent; or $270 per month for veteran with one dependent; or $290 per month for a veteran with two or more dependents. (Approved May 4, 1948.)

Attention is invited to the preference given in behalf of veterans' education in Continued on page 15

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RALL I. GRIGSBY, Director of the Office

of Education Division of Auxiliary Services, has been designated Acting Commissioner of Education by Oscar R. Ewing, Federal Security Administrator, to succeed John W. Studebaker, who resigned as Commissioner on July 15, 1948.

Mr. Grigsby, a member of the Office of Education staff since 1939, has had practical experience as a high school teacher and principal and as a school superintendent in both Illinois and Iowa. A native of Indiana, he was reared in Nebraska and Iowa. He is a graduate of Cornell College, Iowa, received his master of arts degree from Drake University in Iowa, and has done graduate study in education at the University of Iowa, the University of Chicago, and the University of Washington. Before coming to the Office of Education, Mr. Grigsby was assistant superintendent of schools in Des Moines, Iowa, where he was in charge of the high school and adult education program. He also had responsibility for psychological and visiting teacher services.

On the Office of Education staff, Mr. Grigsby served in the Vocational Division for 3 years. From 1942 to 1945 he was Special Assistant to the Commissioner. Since 1946 he has been Director of the

Auxiliary Services Division and Acting

Associate Commissioner of Education.

D

URING Dr. Studebaker's 14 years as Commissioner, the Office of Education made such gains as the following:

1. During the depression years the Office of Education staff was made available to emergency relief units of the Federal Government in order to direct Nation-wide educational programs in adult and vocational education, parent and Negro education, and nursery-school projects. The Office itself carried forward emergency projects in adult civic education, CCC Camp education, vocational guidance of Negroes, university research, education by radio, and local school administrative units.

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3. Following the war, Dr. Studebaker asked for funds to help schools and colleges strengthen their programs of education for democracy. A year ago funds were made available and the Office of Education launched the Zeal for American Democracy program. This program has assisted schools and colleges in high lighting the ideals and benefits of democracy.

4. The Office of Education is now function

ing under a plan of organization put into operation by Dr. Studebaker in 1946. 5. Two years ago the Citizens Federal

Committee on Education was established to serve as the Office's lay advisory arm in relation to the broad national aspects of educational problems. Its first task was to present to the Nation the facts about the crisis in education, and this it has been

doing through the intensive radio and press services of the Advertising Council of America.

6. Commissioner Studebaker served as a member of the (Osborn) Committee on Postwar Educational Opportunities for Service Personnel. The recommendations made by this committee eventuated in the passage of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly called the "GI Bill of Rights."

7. The large-scale Office pilot study dealing with the preparation of materials and personnel for the education of Negro adult illiterates is typical of the policy of the Office of Education in promoting programs that enable the American people to deal intelligently with the problems they face.

As Dr. Studebaker stated in his letter of resignation, he had continued to serve as Commissioner "through the darkest years of economic depression, the period of defense preparation, the strenuous years of war, and three very difficult years of postwar readjustment."

In the letter President Truman wrote in accepting Dr. Studebaker's resignation, the President praised his contributions to the Office of Education and said, "Not the least of these contributions was its part in the training of 14,000,000 men and women for war jobs. It was this program that broke the bottleneck caused by the lack of trained workers and made possible the vast production of planes, ships, tanks, and guns which contributed so much to our victory. You and all the others who helped make this program succeed deserve the everlasting gratitude of the American people."

Landmarks in

Vocational Guidance

THIS YEAR is generally regarded as marking the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the vocational guidance movement in the United States. It was in 1908 that Frank Parsons established the Vocational Bureau in Boston, Mass.

An article by Harry A. Jager, Chief of the Occupational Information and Guidance Service, Office of Education, Vocational Division, brings these facts to light. The article, first published in the International Labour Review, April 1948 issue, has been reprinted as a pamphlet by the International Labour Office in Geneva, Switzerland. Under the title "Vocational Guidance in the United States," Mr. Jager presents "historical landmarks" in this field of education, describes the work of principal agencies conducting guidance services, and reports on prevalent principles and practices, training of counselors, provision of equipment, and evaluation. He

concludes with a statement on influence of vocational guidance upon industry and education. Copies of the report are available from the International Labour Office, 1825 Jefferson Place NW., Washington, D. C., at a price of 10 cents.

National Work Conference on Elementary Education

teachers in our State are going to revise our curriculum in arithmetic and it is my job to help them."

Thus ran the remarks of elementary education leaders, 50 from 21 different States, who attended a summer work conference in the Office of Education. They came in response to an invitation to State directors of elementary education from the Elementary Education Division.

Bringing their problems of program

"WE CAME to the conference to get help planning or production to the Office of Eduin writing a curriculum guide."

"We want to exchange ideas with others who are engaged in the preparation of teachers so that we may set up some standards for a forward-looking program of our own."

"I want to review recent publications on arithmetic and talk with a specialist concerning standard tests. I wish to learn what other States are doing because the

cation, the State leaders in elementary education shared their experiences in consideration of these major projects:

Planning curriculum guides for science, health and physical education, and other phases of elementary education.

Planning ways of helping teachers use curriculum guides.

Organizing plans for developing State

wide curriculum programs.

Studying ways to prepare teachers to understand children and guide them in good modern living.

Formulating standards for evaluating programs in elementary education. Developing programs of instruction for home-bound children.

"Working groups" of the conferees called upon Office of Education staff members and members of other groups for counsel in special fields. Louis Raths, New York University, guided the whole group as a specialist in evaluation. Willard C. Olson, University of Michigan, discussed phases of child development.

The same type of conference will be repeated next year, from May 16 to 28. For further details on the 1948 conference, address the Elementary Education Division, Office of Education.

British-American Teacher Exchange 1948-49 British teachers. Included in the welcom

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"ALL WENT 'merry as a marriage peal,' wrote Edith A. Ford to the Office of Education Division of International Educational Relations, reporting on the sailing and arrival at Plymouth, England, of 112 American teachers.

The teachers, from 27 States, embarked for England July 24. They will exchange positions with 112 British teachers during the 1948-49 school term.

As chairman and director of the British Committee for the Interchange of Teachers Between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States, Miss Ford wrote from London: "I met the teachers on behalf of my Committee and the British Government and of the English-Speaking Union... the Lord Mayor of Plymouth in his full robes of office greeted them on behalf not only of the citizens of Plymouth but of the citizens of the United Kingdom."

Miss Ford expressed delight in welcoming the American teachers and regret in having to say good-by to the "old friends of the 1947-48 year"-the teachers who

-Jean Ellis, Portsmouth, N. H.

returned to the United States in August after an exchange year in Great Britain. Representatives of both the British and United States Governments welcomed the

ing group were Mervyn Pritchard of the British Embassy in Washington, D. C., Ellen S. Woodward, of the Federal Security Agency, Francis J. Colligan, Department of State, and Ralph C. M. Flynt, Acting Commissioner of Education.

SCHOOL LIFE presents an exclusive London Times photograph of American teachers being received by England's Queen Elizabeth. British exchange teachers for 1948-49 were entertained August 23 at the White House by Mrs. Marshall, wife of the Honorable George C. Marshall, Secretary of State.

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