constantly supervised by the faculty or principal. As a matter of fact, the administration really avoids making decisions that are properly in the sphere and jurisdiction of student government. Legally, the principal has the power of veto-he has to have. But I am confident all Midwood understands that an issue regarding that veto power is not likely to arise, because in matters concerning pupil welfare and relations, the administration and staff, particularly Dr. Ross, are willing to be outvoted. We want the Midwood students to have the practice of making cooperative decisions, of accepting personal and group responsibilities. That sounds a little high and mighty, but I believe it is so."

"You know," added Dr. Ross, "school is life, just as John Dewey said so often that it is now commonplace. To breathe vitality and vigor into the idea is anything but com.

Though we may be doing fairly well, we've got to do better."

"The pupils can talk more convincingly than we can about weaknesses of student government," Mr. Kussin said, "and since today happens to be the day of the week when the city councils meet, why not come with me to the meetings and find out at first hand how much our answers are worth?"

"That would be fine!" added Miss Kroeber. "By all means take a look at the

campaign literature, signs, slogans, Argus analyses of platforms and issues, and plans for election assemblies, which incidentally are to be held this week. You ought to hear how the assemblies quiz the candidates about their platforms. That really is something. . . .

Mr. Kussin mentioned. That's one example of education as living."

Discuss Weaknesses

The ringing of the period bell interrupted our conversation, and hastened the leave takings of Miss Kroeber and Mr. Kussin. Dr. Ross said, "This is a good time to eat. Let's go to lunch!"

As I turned from Bedford Avenue into Glenwood Road the afternoon of that bright Monday morning, I felt a pleasant elation and a gentle weariness. The clues had been traced and the excellence found.

Glancing back for a last look at Midwood's chaste colonial facade, sharp and shining in the strength of the midafternoon sun, I sensed that here was something more than brick and windows and doors. Here was spirited, benevolent cooperation between school government and student government.

“As far as weaknesses are concerned," T

Mr. Kussin broke in, “I think our students will show no hesitancy in talking about them."

"I quite agree," the principal smiled, “that's where I get my information. But, you might like to know what we think some weaknesses are. In the first place, our democracy is only as good as the leaders it elects to office. For the citizens to elect competent leaders is always a major consideration. Sometimes we have better leaders than other times, just as everywhere. At other times we have leaders that do not meet our hopes. Sometimes they fade out after a fine start, and at other times they develop splendidly after a poor start. Of this I feel fairly certain: it is difficult to predict what kind of leader a boy or girl will be. But that does not lessen our duty to emphasize the careful choice. of leaders on the part of the electorate."

"And another weakness: though boys and girls can find many opportunities open to them to serve the school, boys and girls with originality, perseverance, and a will to achieve, there still must be more opportunities made available. Much remains to be done before any of us will be satisfied. The idea of service is to some extent still restricted to a minority of our pupils. Our job is to demonstrate that we deserve to live in a democratic society by trying to solve our immediate problems in a cooperative way.

HREE hundred and fifty leading architects, contractors, and school administrators recently enrolled in a Washington State School Plant Workshop to discuss school building problems. Out of this workshop, held in Seattle, Wash., came a summary which SCHOOL LIFE offers as a guide to other States interested in develop ing school building programs and in organizing school and community for such building programs. The Washington School Plant Workshop Summary follows.

The development of a building program is one of the major educational and business undertakings of every school district. The following suggestions list certain key steps which should be developed by individual school districts in their activities in the construction field.

1. There is need for specific long-range studies of basic facts about the community, its population, its industrial changes, its student groups, and other significant factors. This information may be used to predict school needs for at least the next 10 or 15 years.

2. The school board and the superintend ent must study these facts carefully, adapt them to the needs of their district, and interpret these findings to the community.

▶ 3. There must be completed by competent trained leadership a comprehensive survey of existing school facilities from the view

point of their adaptability to accepted educational needs. The Office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction is prepared to cooperate with all districts in the conduct of such studies.

4. Specific attention must be given to the recommendations of classroom teachers concerning the exact facilities to be provided for effective instruction at all grade levels. The superintendent and the principal should devote much time to this planning work with teachers.

5. The building program will reflect in a large degree the attitude of the community toward education. In every community in Washington the school must continue to be an integral part of neighborhood life. Time must be taken, therefore, for discussion with individuals and organized groups within the district as to what the building should include. A true communityplanned school will receive the enthusiastic endorsement of all patrons of the district.

6. When all opinions are collected the school directors have the responsibility of sitting down with the superintendent and formulating a tentative plan of action. Here they will wish to review statistical aspects of their prolonged survey, with special concern given to need and finance. If construction is feasible, then an architect must be employed. No question deserves (Continued on page 10)

TH

"I

GETS paid by check. Now I don't have to make no X.

whole name myself. Been comin' since Christmas. I only wish

I had learned about this class before."

Similar comments have been made by hundreds of grown men and women who have learned to sign their names in the classes offered through the Project for Adult Education of Negroes sponsored by the Office of Education during the past 2 years, and directed by Ambrose Caliver, Specialist for Higher Education of Negroes.

Alarmed at the presence of 10 million functionally illiterate adults in the United States, the Office undertook the project in 1946 with financial assistance from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the cooperation of organizations, school systems, and individuals. In the 2 years of its existence, the Project has attracted national and international attention, and the results have been so successful that UNESCO may adopt it as one of its associated projects in its world-wide assault on illiteracy.

Clarence Beebe, Assistant Director General of UNESCO, and John Bowers, Director of Fundamental Education, visited the Office of Education during the spring to learn about the Project. It was, they believed, an approach to the type of fundamental education in which they had a special interest. And at its meeting on June 25, 1948, the Panel on Fundamental Education of the U. S. National Commission for UNESCO nominated the Project for Adult Education of Negroes to be one of its associated projects. Fundamental education is designed to help under-privileged people to live fuller and happier lives in an ever changing environment; to develop the best elements in their own culture and to participate in the economic and social progress in their areas and in the world. It attempts

to give people the fundamental tools which will enable them to function effectively, at least on the elementary level, as workers, citizens, and individuals. As a member of one of the Project classes said, "You got to have learnin' before you can do most anything."

Projects on fundamental education are in progress in many other countries. UNESCO wants to include these in its program and study them to find common problems and common solutions. It will also serve as a clearinghouse through which materials from such projects are disseminated. Number of Illiterates

The Project for Adult Education of Negroes concerned itself with the functionally illiterate Negroes, of whom there are 3 million in the United States, or 2 out of every 5 of the adult Negro population. The long-felt need for such adult education is indicated by a comment of one of the class members: "If only our foreparents had had this, I wouldn't be in this fix today. It is bad to have to meet people and don't know how to meet them."

The Project was designed as a demonstration or pilot effort to provide criteria and guides, to make educational leaders aware of the seriousness of the situation and of their responsibility, and to arouse the interest of lay leaders of community organizations concerning the problem and to indicate how they may cooperate in attacking it. The Carnegie Corporation of New York

made grants totaling $49,910 to the Project, and from this amount $17,050 was allocated to the six institutions which participated directly in conducting the Project. They were Atlanta University, Fort Valley State Teachers College, Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College, Fisk University, Hampton Institute, and Virginia State College. Many other organizations, school systems, and individuals have cooperated.

Experimental materials, such as basic readers and workbooks, were produced and tested in classes. While these materials are suitable for many types of learners in a variety of localities and situations, the difficulty of producing materials that have universal application is recognized. Therefore emphasis has been placed on the process rather than the product, and an effort made to stimulate teachers to develop materials based on the needs and interests of their pupils, particularly adults of low literacy levels. A comment of a member of one of the classes indicates that the Project materials have realized their motivational objective: "I like the story of Citizen King because it is what anyone has to do any day. And he wouldn't have got that job if he hadn't gone to night school and got some learnin'!"

And another adult student said: "I like the Language Workbook 'cause it helps me in my church work. They made me President of the literary department. Everybody's eyes is open to see how I'll act. So

Recent Supreme Court Decisions. Relating to Education

OR OCTOBER 1948 SCHOOL LIFE Ward

FW. Reesecker, Office of Education Spe

cialist in School Legislation, prepared a summary of the principal bills relating to education passed by the Eightieth Congress, second session, and signed by the President. For SCHOOL LIFE readers this month Dr. Keesecker digests recent court decisions relating to education.

IN RECENT years an increasing number of decisions by the United States Supreme. Court have affected education among the several States. Three decisions are of particular significance. Early in 1947 the Supreme Court in a New Jersey case held that the use of public tax funds by school districts for paying the transportation of children attending a parochial school was not in violation of any provision of the Constitution of the United States (Everson v. Board of Education of the Township of Ewing, 67 S. Ct. 504).

In January 1948 the Supreme Court reversed a decision of the highest court of Oklahoma and held that the State of Oklahoma, in conformity with the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment, was required to provide qualified Negro applicants with legal education equal to that afforded by the State institution for white students and also that where admission was denied solely on the ground of color, mandamus would compel admission (Seipel v. University of Oklahoma, 68 S. Ct. 299).

On March 8, 1948, the Supreme Court rendered its decision in the case of McCollum v. Board of Education arising in Champaign, Ill. The Court held that sectarian religious instruction on public school premises during school time, of the kind offered in the Champaign city schools, was not permissible under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution because it violated the principle of separation of Church and State (69 S. Ct. 461).

Army To Teach Lessons of Citizenship

G

EN. Omar N. Bradley, Army Chief of Staff, in a recent address before the Forty-ninth National Encampment, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, in St. Louis, Mo., said, "I am already convinced that the Army has too long ignored the insides of its men. During the war it was apparent that men fought best when they understood why they were fighting. To give our troops conviction and to equip

them with ample justification for the service on which they embark, the Army will add emphasis to its educational program."

Continuing, he said, "Despite the opportunities for free education that exist in these United States, too many young men come into the Army appallingly ill-informed on the issues and crises that warrant their service. American education has failed to give many young men an alert appreciation of their liberties and a consequent explanation of their obligations. We have too long concentrated on how to make good, how to get ahead. We have taught our young people how to plunder our resources, how to get jobs, and how to get rich. We have neglected to tell them that democracy is a

two-way street-that with its benefits comes the necessity for also giving service. It is because American education has so often failed to imprint this lesson of citizenship on the minds of these young men, that the United States Army has felt it necessary to stimulate their thinking while in the service."

Education by Radio in Atlanta

ATLANTA and Fulton County schools have joined a select group of 14 large city. and county systems in the Nation owning

a full-time FM educational radio station. With the dedication of Radio Station WABE-FM in September, they became the first systems in the Southeast to have such a facility to add to audio-visual education aids.

Technically, the station is property of the Atlanta Board of Education, but it was presented to the Board by the Rich Foundation of Atlanta for use of both systems. The gift from the foundation included all

station and studio equipment for broadcasting and 300 FM receiving sets for use in the schools. On the basis of one receiver for each 8 teachers, these sets were distributed through the 70 schools of the city system and the 91 units of the county. system, for use by a total of 90,000 students in elementary and high schools.

Aside from natural advantages of a fulltime radio station, the two school systems have received benefit already in two byproducts. First, there has been another step toward a complete curriculum integration by the two systems; and second, the radio permits for the first time simultaneous and identical instruction to Negro and white students under the system of segregated schools.

The use of radio in Atlanta and Fulton County schools is not new. Researchers in the field of radio education variously credit the Atlanta system with being either the first or the second system to adopt it, the first experience having come in 1926 when an Atlanta dealer presented the schools with 60 battery-type receivers (one for each school) and radio station WSB of Atlanta gave time for school broadcasts. This initial step was limited to cultural music programs, and through the years since then there has been some type of radio activity. through standard AM commercial stations.

The Department of Audio-Visual Education of the Atlanta Board had maintained a radio division since 1942 for work through commercial stations for classroom broadcasts, and through recordings and turntables to supplement the limited air time available.

From an administrative standpoint, the radio station will perform an important function. Regularly, the period from 8:50 to 9 a. m. is set aside for administrative announcements, with one faculty member in each school designated to receive and distribute official announcements. The station was used in the week before school

opening on September 9 for administrative broadcasts to faculty members meeting at their respective schools.

Although the planning of station operation, which went into the full classroom broadcasting schedule September 13, has been very extensive, the use of radio in the schools is not compulsory. Each teacher may elect to use any or all of the programs for her grade level, or she may disregard radio altogether. Teachers will