and school. The public is fast becoming roused to the supreme importance of the school and to its needs. Are those of us who represent the school equally sensible to the needs of the public? But one course lies open to us. We must realize our professional interdependence. We must get together, stick together, and work together. Kipling has expressed it for all time: "Now this is Law of the Jungle, As old and as true as the sky; And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, But the strength of the Wolf is the Pack." American Notes-Editorial Education gives us knowledge and some measurable control of ourselves and of the external world. Religion supplies the impelling force which influences us to use that knowledge aright,-for the real good of ourselves and our fellow men and for the glory of God. Education and religion are the two great forces at work for uplift and constructive development. Their ultimate aim and end is to make men (1) wise, and (2) good. Together they work toward the goal of perfection. In individuals they already have produced types that are relatively of such a high order as to merit the admiration and almost the homage of mankind. In the Anglo-Saxon race we see the most perfect fruits of the blending of education and religion, producing signal examples of statesmanship, philanthrophy, scientific attainment and heroic achievement, resulting in a high order of civilization. Knowledge is of vast importance in this process of evolution. But if unaccompanied by the influences emanating from religion,-using the word in its broadest sense, it may become a dangerous force, opening up possibilities of vast evil. The World War gives us an illustration, on a large scale, of the potentiality for evil of knowledge without the compelling power of religion to direct it into benevolent channels. Germany, applying its marvelous knowledge of chemistry and other sciences to its own selfish purposes and ends, to the undoing of the rest of the world, on the one hand; and the United States, on the other hand, using its physical, mental and spiritual resources unselfishly for the salvation and freedom of the whole world-these furnish, on a world-scale, examples of the nature, tendencies and results of these two great fundamental factors of human evolution. Both are essential and potent. Working together they blaze the way toward the millenium. The true and devoted teacher should be regarded as in the same class as the true and brave soldier and the consecrated minister or missionary. The public should think of the teacher's work and life as of the same kind and value as that of the patriot or the pastor. Our American type of education should be permeated with the spirit of religion. Denominationalism, sectarianism, is fading away. Real religion as consecration to God and service to our fellow men is more nearly universal than ever before. The ideals of the true educator and the true Christian are identical. The atmosphere of our best and most influential institutions of learning is pure, christian and wholesome. The thought and purpose of preparing for service, for a real career, for a life that should be of high value to our fellow men and to the world, is the predominant thought and motive in the schools and colleges of our land, today. Building upon this foundation education cannot fall or fail, whatever its minor imperfections or temporary problems,—such, for instance, as the teacher shortage. These matters will right themselves under the momentum of a great mission. Our Caucassian instincts and our Puritan traditions will hold us true to our ideals and we shall not be shaken or deflected from our true course in the evolution of the race by any accidents or incidents. Learning and religion will go forward hand in hand toward the goal of human perfection. Let teachers esteem to the utmost their privilege of being co-workers with the best and noblest spirits of all ages for the highest of all values,-the value of true, unselfiesh, consecrated manhood and womanhood- in service for all mankind. Teachers who are interested in the Tercentenary Celebration of the coming of the Pilgrims (and all teachers should make the most of this opportunity of impressing some of the great lessons of Americanism upon the minds and hearts of the young folks) would do well to send to the University of the State of New York (Albany) for the April 1-15 Bulletin of the State Education Department. It summarizes he aspects of this great event in our country's history and gives specific references to sources of all sorts of material for local celebrations, programs, books, display pictures and models, games, dances, story-telling schemes, plays and pageants, tableaux, recitations, music and dancing, costumes and scenery, etc. The material is classified for Colleges and High Schools, Elementary Schools and Village Celebrations. The work is painstakingly and comprehensively presented and will be a great aid to teachers, churches, lodges, etc. "The Enlarged Program of the American Library Association is a noble example of constructive library statesmanship. It fills a very real and important need. The appeal for funds ought to be successful. Money put into libraries is well spent. The whole aim and spirit of the Program seems to be to help people help themselves. Thus writes Mr. J. W. Crabtree Secretary of the National Education Association, who is leading in the movement for better conditions in the teaching profession in the United States. Mr. Crabtree was formerly a builder of normal schools in Nebraska and in Wisconsin, which in turn he used to develop in character and in power the potential teachers who came under his inspiration. The man to whom Mr. Crabtree writes is Mr. Carl H. Milam, Director of the Enlarged Program of the American Library Association, General Director of Library War Service, and recently elected to succeed Mr. George B. Utley, who after almost ten years of distinguished constructive service as Executive Secretary of the American Library Association-service comparable to that of an influential college presidency-has resigned to become librarian of the great Newberry Library, Chicago. Mr. Milam was formerly director of the Birmingham (Alabama) Public Library. His experience includes also, boyhood on a farm in the Middle West, graduation from the University of Oklahoma, special training in the New York State Library School, and a term as Secretary of the Indiana Library Commission, experience which has given him a vision of the possibilities of the library as a builder of better men, better women, and better citizens. If he were asked about it, he would probably say in his frank, characteristic way, "Yes, I have much faith in the worth of libraries to the nation, but the Enlarged Program of the American Library Association is bigger than any experience of mine. It is the vision of thousands of librarians, who are in intimate, sympathetic contact with the lives of millions of men and women; it is the vision of educational leaders throughout America who realize the compelling importance of adult education, who see clearly that it is necessary to give the people the facts and who, when that is done, have faith in the result; it is the vision of men and women who know that the stability of any country depends upon the intelligence of its people and that in the education of the people libraries are essential; it is the vision of those who feel certain that the lovers of education, of Progress and of sound citizenship will see that the American Library Association gets the $2,000,000 it needs to carry out its program of helping people help themselves."-Contributed." The Spokane (Wash.) Daily Chronicle recently "polled" 42 States on the subject of Corporal Punishment in the Public Schools. The poll shows a growing if not a full grown sentiment against it: "Samuel Butler's policy-Spare the rod and spoil the child'—says the Chronicle, has lost favor in the rapid progress of teaching and training in the educational institutions of the United States. Despite the fact that the statute books of at least 25 states of the union still permit the teacher to administer corporal punishment to the unruly pupil, the school authorities of those same states frown on the use of the rod except in very unusual instances. These laws are, in fact, dead laws of former days, and with the advance of education there is an almost unanimous disposition on the part of the teachers to control the tempers and acts of incorrigibles by intelligent reasoning rather than through physical pain. Out of the 42 states the statutes of 16 are silent on the question of corporal punishment in their schools. Although only one state carries on its books a law forbidding whipping in the schools, in the 25 states that clearly permit the use of the rod the practice is frowned on by educators. In the case of many of the 25 states that permit corporal punishment there are no laws specifying "corporal punishment" as permissible, but the teacher stands somewhat in loco parentis and is clothed with the authority of the parent or guardian to use reasonable punishment in correcting pupils. The French Government, through Mr. J. J. Champenois, has advised Dr. R. L. Kelly, Executive Secretary of the Association of American Colleges that twenty scholarships in French lycees and six scholarships in French universities are offered to highly qualified American girls for the academic year 1920-1921. These scholarships cover tuition and living expenses. The candidates for the Lycee scholarships should be of junior, senior or A. B. rank and should have made an exceptional record in French. Candidates for the university scholarships should meet the same requirements as candidates for graduate work in American universities. Further information concerning these scholarships may be secured from Dr. Kelly at 45 West 18th Street, New York City. The American Citizenship Department of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Asociation and the Board of University Extension of the State Department of Education certificated 42 women to teach civics for naturalization. Members of the group are already teaching in factory, school and kitchen classes. This is the first class to be graduated from the State in such a course. |