Effective Use of Communication Media-One Key to Improved Education by Nora Beust, Specialist in School and Children's Libraries; Franklin Dunham, Chief, Educational Uses of Radio; Floyde E. Brooker, Chief, Visual Aids to Education T HE MODERN SCHOOL has the potentiality of a greatly enriched educational program. A significant contribution to this program can be made through the effective use of the various media of communication now available for use in the curric ulum of the school. Teachers can make a valuable contribution to the pupils of the school by being aware of the need for relating various learning resources in the development of the curriculum. Books Meet Individual Needs The school of today almost takes for granted up-to-date, scientifically constructed textbooks and supplementary textbooks as fundamental resources in the learning of children. It is recognized that no one set of books is considered essential for all children. Instructional materials are selected to meet the interests, needs, and abilities of the individual child. There is a trend to purchase more than one textbook in a given subject area for a group rather than the same book for each pupil. It is believed that teachers should be encouraged to use their skill in determining which of several acceptable books should be used by the group in their charge. Instructional materials are then in many instances being selected for the individual and group rather than on a grade basis. Teachers should be given an opportunity to examine many textbooks in active participation with children. They should also have the privilege of discussing the books with other teachers, supervisors, and principals so that they may be assisted in the evaluation of the books in terms of possible contributions to the development of individual children. The textbook and supplementary textbook, however, are only two sources of printed instructional materials that should be available for the use of children and teachers in the school program. The so called library books further enrich the cur- Library books are of many types and Grimalkin, and These United States and How They Came To Be. To keep them up to date there are such magazines as Model Airplane News and Junior Natural History Magazine. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference books constructed for their maturity level serve to give the accurate information they seek. Books for fun are another important type. They may include, depending upon the preference of the reader, Jungle Book, Let's Make Something, Electronics for Boys and Girls, or Homer Price. Publishers have produced suitable materials for all school-age groups that can be used in supplementing and enriching the curriculum. Easy reading stories that are attractively Recordings Enrich the Curriculum illustrated and published as individual group. For the next age group there are readable books of science, history, biography, and folklore in which pupils can find more about a special area than is usually included in a textbook, for example, First Electrical Book for Boys, Benjamin West and His Cat Mr. Milton Gold, Supervisor of Cur- ANOTHER RICH SOURCE of material is to be found in the catalogs of records and radio recordings now available to all schools and usually to be found in school libraries and in collections in various curriculum divisions of central school systems. Many of these records are recorded at standard 78 r. p. m. phonograph speed and are usually published by the leading record companies, especially for the use of children. They consist of stories, stories in music, great dramatic works in excerpt form performed by great actors, poetry frequently given by the poets from their own collected verse, and collections of recorded radio broadcasts from current history. Lessons in English, in music, in the social studies, in speech and dramatics, in foreign languages, are enhanced by the use of living sound, with all its power of creating reality and its even greater power of appeal to the imagination. In the years since World War II, great integrity has been shown by record companies in presenting authentic settings for these materials, classics in the life of children everywhere. Rumpelstiltskin, for example, a universally loved story, is told with characteristic sound effects now so valuable to radio production and so familiar to the young radio listener outside of school. Stories in music, like the saga of Peer Gynt, the mischievous hero of Norway, are told in tone with program notes, prepared by competent teaching staffs, provided to go along with such records. The voice of Raymond Massey recreates notable scenes from the first play Abraham Lincoln, making the beloved President actually speak from the American legend now surrounding his memory. The works of Shakespeare performed by Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre are no less valuable for upper grades and high school. The transition is easily made from English to speech and dramatics when records are used for further analysis in these arts. The limpid verse of Edna St. Vincent Millay and the homespun quality of Robert Frost are. quite different things when actually heard as the creators wished their verse to be read. To recreate Franklin D. Roosevelt, we must hear him speak. To understand his genius for gathering millions in his Fireside Talks, we can analyze through recordings not merely his style but his emphasis and his heart-warming reassurance so necessary to a people who, when war stricken and with sons valiantly defending their country overseas, counted on these words from the great War President as fraught with the somber meaning of the times. These records are available in the collections of radio recordings made at 3313 r. p. m. speed on large 16-inch records, and playable for 15 minutes without interruption. An extension library is provided (for loan or purchase) by the Federal Radio Education Committee of the U. S. Office of Education in Washington. Every subject matter field, except music, is touched upon by these extraordinary recordings of successful teaching programs. Science, social studies, English, languages, vocational arts, health, welfare and safety, and many other fields are covered by this free loan service. Americans All-Immigrants All, a series on Americanization, gives the principal contributions brought to our country by people of other lands. Let Freedom Ring, another series available in script form for amateur performance, tells of the struggle surrounding the adoption of our bill of rights, essential body of law represented in the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. This Land We Defend, a U. S. Department of Agriculture series, gives the story of our land, our forests, gives the story of our land, our forests, floods, dust storms, snow, rain, hail, and what they mean to the welfare of all our people. No less valuable are the programs on science, health, welfare, safety. English literature not only speaks but portrays the graphic appreciation of words which make up the language. To these records and recordings must be added the recent invention of the magnetic tape recorders, which make it possible for us to record the voices of the children themselves on inexpensive tape, erase, edit, and otherwise arrange for filing our best lessons, our individual performances for illustration in talks to parents, to teacher groups, and for records of speech and composition improvement through the school development of the individual or class. All this material becomes a new addition to library service and function. It creates a new kind of school, in fact, when it has not been previously used. Radio stations will make transcribed copies of programs heard at more inconvenient hours so that they may be made available for pupils at proper towns and proper times in the lesson. School public address systems may carry them to audiences assembled at scheduled hours. Individual play-back machines at cost now no greater than $50 will play both types of disk recordings at either speed. Radio programs now being made by school radio workshops are just as readily recorded for use by individual schools and whole school systems. As a famous radio and motion picture program says, "Time Marches On"! Audio-Visual Aids Provide A THIRD AREA of instructional materials includes those commonly called the "audiovisual aids." These refer to materials that depend primarily on pictures to get a mes(Continued on page 141) W War Surplus Property Program Converted to Peacetime Basis for Schools, Colleges, and Universities by Arthur L. Harris, Chief, Surplus Property Utilization Program HEN "surplus property" is mentioned in many circles today, it usually elicits the comment, "I thought all of the war surplus had been disposed of by this time." In general that comment is true with regard to equipment, supplies, and materials. A considerable number of real properties, including structures, improvements, and installed equipment, which were ac quired for the war effort, are now or soon will be in the process of disposal. However, the experiences of educational institutions throughout the country during the last few years brought about the realization that benefits to the public through educa tional use of Federal Government property no longer needed by any Federal agency need not cease with the disposal of war surplus. This resulted in the inclusion of sections 203 (j) and 203 (k) in Public Law 152, the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, Eighty-First Congress, authorizing the donation of surplus personal property and the sale or lease of surplus real property with public benefit allowance for educational use. Under the new law, obsolete or excess personal property of all Federal executive agencies which is surplus to the needs of the Federal Government may be donated by the Administrator of General Services to schools, colleges, and universities upon a determination by the Federal Security Administrator that such property is usable and necessary for educational purposes and upon allocations by the Federal Security Administrator on the basis of need and utilization. The Federal Security Adminis trator has delegated the operating functions and responsibilities of the Federal Security Agency in relation to such donations to the United States Commissioner of Education. The law further provides that donated property may be transferred to State Departments of Education or to such other agency as may be designated by State law for the purpose of distributing donated property to both public tax-supported and nonprofit tax-exempt schools, school systems, colleges, and universities. Since it is the policy of the U. S. Office of Education to observe a Federal-State relationship in its operations, and since the staff provided for the Federal Property Disposal and Utilization Program in the Office of Education is inadequate to perform even the minimum functions of screening and allocating all of the potentially donable property becoming available, all allocations are made among States to the respective State educational agencies for surplus property. Therefore, any educational institution wanting to acquire such property must make its needs known to its own State educational agency for surplus property. Any inadequacies in the resources or operations of the State educational agency for surplus property cannot be compensated for by an extension of the services of the U. S. Office of Education to the individual school system, college, or university within the State. Only active participation in and unified support of the program by all of the educational institutions within a State can assure a maximum volume of donable property and optimum benefits to those institutions. The new law also authorizes the Administrator of General Services, upon recommendation by the Federal Security Administrator, to assign to the Federal Security Agency for disposal for school, classroom, or other educational purposes, or for public health purposes, surplus real property including structures, improvements, installed equipment, and related personalty located thereon. The Federal Security Administrator has delegated most of the disposal functions under this section to the Commissioner of Education and the Surgeon General of the U. S. Public Health Service for educational and for public health purposes, respectively. Such property is to be sold or leased at a price which takes into consideration the benefits which have accrued or may accrue to the public through the educational or public health use. Available surplus real property may vary from single buildings or small parcels of land with or without improvements to large installations complete with buildings and all utilities installed. Occasionally, in addition to buildings, a sewage disposal plant, electrical or water distribution system, fencing, bleachers, heating plant, and other improvements may be purchased with public benefit allowance for educational use after removal from the site. The public benefit allowance granted to the transferee is, in effect, amortized over a period of years ranging from 5 years where no land is transferred to a maximum of 25 years where a complete large installation is transferred. The transferee earns equal increments of the public benefit allowance each year of the period during which an approved edu cational use is made of the property. The U. S. Office of Education is also responsible for the periodic approval of the program of utilization of transferred property, for the retransfer of property to other educational claimants, for authorizing other disposals by a transferee, and for changing the terms, conditions, and limitations in a transfer instrument when conditions warrant. Surplus real property cannot be distributed on an equitable basis geographically, of course. However, any educational institutions (including research institutions. and libraries) interested in the availability of surplus real property or of buildings and improvements, should make inquiry of the State educational agency for surplus property since Office of Education field repre. sentatives report all of such property to (Continued on page 139) A Education for Homemaking in Today's High School by Mary Laxson, Assistant in Research in Home Economics Education, and MILLION AND A HALF teen-agers and approximately 800,000 adults and outof-school youth are taking home economics as part of the public-school program in their communities this year. This number is increasing rapidly as, under the influence of interest in the program of "Life Adjustment Education For All Youth," more emphasis is being placed upon practical training for home and family living in the high-school curriculum. As always, the home economics program has a twofold purpose-that of providing intensive training for girls whose immediate or ultimate career is likely to be homemaking, and that of contributing effectively to education for home membership. The latter aim is accomplished by giving help to all students in the area of home and family living. How can States and cities improve their programs of home economics education? Many of them are pointing the way through programs of home economics curriculum revision which are under way. Helpful too are guides developed cooperatively by home economics teachers, school administrators, parents, and pupils which were published in 1949. These curriculum guides represent group thinking about the contributions of home economics programs to the school, the home, and the community. They include outlines for the intensive preparation of girls for homemaking responsibilities and suggestions for effective contributions to general education for home and family living for junior and senior highschool boys and girls. Philosophy and course content for teachers working with adult homemaking programs also are dealt with in these curriculum patterns. That many schools are accepting the challenge of improving the quality of home life through education for homemaking is indicated in reports reaching the U. S. Office of Education from the respective States and from cities throughout the Nation. An increasing number of schools are providing intensive training for better family membership and a broad homemaking education program. The girl who expects to be primarily a home manager secures training in manipulative and managerial skills. She learns how to prepare food and serve it attractively within time and budget limits; to select home equipment for preparing food and for keeping the house clean, safe, and attractive; and to select, make, alter, and renovate the family's clothing and certain household furnishings. Her homemaking training helps her in making day-to-day purchases for the family, based on adequate information, in arranging storage space, and in planning her time so that she can be efficient in the many activities which are part of her job. Helping girls develop the skills involved in managing household tasks and finances. is only part of the job of homemaking education, however. Success in the job of homemaking can be judged only by such intangible outcomes as the quality of family life, the happiness, health, and sense of security of family members, or the ability of the family to adjust to emergency demands or unexpected catastrophe. Homemaking education should furnish a background for the prospective homemaker's assuming the major responsibility in caring for children and achieving satisfactory relations in the family and between the family and the community. Helping All Students A few schools are recognizing their responsibility for helping boys assume their roles as sons and fathers in families. Courses for boys have been part of the regular homemaking program for many years in some schools, and an increasing number of courses for boys and girls together are now being organized at the junior and senior level in high schools. The aspects of family living which are the job of all home members, whether their major responsibility is management of the home or not, are taught to these groups. These courses aim to develop abilities to: 1. Achieve and maintain good family relations. 2. Make family decisions on a democratic basis with all family members participating according to their abilities. 3. Guide the development of children. 4. Plan the use of the family's income in terms of the family's values. 5. Plan and enjoy recreation which includes the whole family. 6. Select suitable clothing and maintain a pleasing personal appearance. 7. Choose food for good nutrition. 8. Select and care for suitable housing. 9. Select, use, and repair household furnishings and equipment. 10. Find and use community resources which contribute to better family living. 11. Take some responsibility for providing resources in the community which contribute to better family living. Different Today The concept of home economics has changed over the years. When home economics was struggling in the early days for a place in the high-school curriculum, the technical and scientific aspects of the work were emphasized. "Domestic science" consisted largely of a study of the chemistry of food and textiles and work on the skills of cooking and clothing construction. More and more has been included in the areas of management and human relationships, until today home economics has come to be a course based upon real problems of boys and girls, problems they face now in their own families and those they expect to meet as they begin to establish their own homes. In many schools classes meet in rooms as much like homes as is practical in a school situation. Some departments maintain a "homemaking apartment" which students furnish and care for, and where they work and plan. Others have a "living center" in the homemaking classroom which serves as the laboratory for home furnishings work, as an informal atmosphere for discussions of home and family problems, and often as one of the social centers of the school. Home and Community Experiences The effective home economics program, whether it is primarily a course for intensive homemaking training or one designed to give a broad background for better home and family living, only begins within the four walls of the classroom. Boys and girls are encouraged to use their new knowledge about homemaking techniques and family relationships in real situations. Obviously, a 55-minute class period cannot provide much opportunity for experience in any area of homemaking. Few and simple are the meals which can be prepared and served within this time limit. Even when children are brought into the classroom or play school for observation, contacts with children are necessarily limited in a school situation. The living center's couch may present one real problem in selection or construction of a slip cover, but it cannot serve as a learning experience for many individual pupils who may be inter ested in home furnishings. Principles from the field of personal relationships must be tested in actual living with family and friends if they are to have real meaning. Therefore, the home economics teacher encourages pupils to plan and carry out proj ects in their homes which will give them real experience in applying the principles class work emphasizes. Home experiences are planned with the cooperation of the parents whenever possible. In every case, whether parents actually sit in on project-planning sessions or not, the teacher helps the student think through the effects the projects he wants to undertake will have upon the family purse and family relationships. In the vocational home economics teacher's schedule, time is set apart for conferring with students about extending and applying their home economics learning through home experience, and in most communities it also includes time to visit the students at home and advise with them and their parents as the occasion demands. Good homemaking courses use the home and community to the maximum extent in providing realistic training for the career of homemaking for both boys and girls. Resources of the community are drawn upon to make the topics under consideration live. Planned field trips to a furniture store, electrical equipment center, locker plant, or wholesale food company, or to see a house under construction, bring to life for the students the subjects discussed in class. A talk by an insurance man, a banker, or a building and loan agent not only keeps the subject of finance from being dull and farremoved, but affords an excellent way of furthering acquaintance of boys and girls with the communities in which they live. Future Homemakers and New Closely connected with home economics work and helping to supplement class discussions and laboratory work are the Future Homemakers of America and the New Homemakers of America. These groups are made up of pupils who have taken or are taking homemaking. FHA is a Nation-wide organization with chapters in 46 States and the District of Columbia. NHA is an organization of Negro homemaking students in the 17 States where, by law, there are separate schools for Negroes. The activities of Future and New Homemakers supplement the work of the homemaking classroom by giving students a chance to develop leadership ability through presiding over or working on committees in the local organization, taking part in State and national meetings, and promoting Homemaking Publications. Frontiers in Homemaking Education Programs for Adults. Federal Security Agency, Office of Education, Home Economics Series No. 25, 1949. 60 p. 20 cents. Space and Equipment for Homemaking Programs. Federal Security Agency. Division of Vocational Education, Misc. No. 9, 1950. 72 p. 35 cents. Order from Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. wholesome recreation in school and with their families. Future Homemakers of America now has over 260,000 members and New Homemakers number more than 33,000. Both organizations carry on many worth-while projects in the field of international understanding along with their local programs which are largely centered around the family. Some of these international projects are participation in the World Christmas Festival, adoption of home economics classes in foreign countries, and correspondence with members of these classes. Future and New Homemaker chapters have sent sewing equipment, fabrics, books, paper, pencils, and other supplies for homemaking instructions to adopted classes. In the Total High School Program The program of Life Adjustment Education for all youth has brought more forcefully to the attention of administrators, teachers, and parents, the second half of the twofold purpose of the homemaking education program. Life Adjustment Education is the term which is used to describe an edu cational program designed to meet the imperative needs of all youth. It is directed toward achieving a secondary school curriculum which will provide an education equipping all American youth to live democratically with satisfaction to themselves. and profit to society as home members, workers, and citizens. Among the unmet needs referred to in discussion of Life Ad justment Education none is more urgent than the need for sound, practical education for home and family living. The home economics program has an important contribution to make toward this end. Many of the purposes set forth in the Life Adjustment Education program have long been goals of homemaking education. As the school's total program of educa tion for home and family living is de veloped, techniques for better cooperation among teachers, administrators, parents, and students need to be worked out. All of these groups should be represented when goals are set up, general programs outlined, and plans for evaluation made. Home economics' contribution in developing in all students the abilities previously listed, should give homemaking education a vital. place in the program of every high school. More pupils are already getting the benefit (Continued on page 138) |