FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COÖPERATION Federal coöperation has been given the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations from the beginning, for the relation of its work to the youth of the nation was fully appreciated. Three international child welfare conferences have been held in Washington, the invitations for all nations to participate being sent by the Department of State. At the first of these the President of the United States delivered the main address. Federal coöperation with several divisions of the Department of Agriculture has been mutually advantageous during many years. HOME EDUCATION DIVISION ESTABLISHED The National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations most earnestly desired that the United States Bureau of Education should recognize that parents are educators, and in as great need of suggestion as teachers in schools, or as farmers in agriculture. When recognition was given by the Commissioner of Education to the fact that the larger part of children's education is conducted by parents and that possibilities for preparation and study must be provided for them, an important step for child welfare was taken, and an unlimited field of service to parents was opened. The Home Education Division of the Bureau of Education was established in September, 1913, in coöperation with the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations. The official announcement is here given: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR The Home Education Division, which has just been established, will do whatever it can to help parents: 1. To further their own education by recommending to them interesting and valuable reading matter. 2. In regard to the care and home education of their children, with reference to: (a) physical care and health, sleep, food, etc.; (b) games and plays; (c) their early mental development; (d) the formation of moral habits. We hope to interest the boys and girls who have left school and are still at home, and by directing their home reading and study we may be able to further their education. It is our intention to issue bulletins and literature, practical in their character, which will be available to every home. The National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations has agreed to assist the Bureau of Education in this work and can supply much literature not available through this office. If the parents of your school district could be brought together at the school house or any other good place, perhaps once a month, to discuss their common problems, it would be mutually helpful. Will you let us know if you are willing to take up this matter in your school district and make a beginning by inviting some of the parents who are interested in such matters, and by enlisting, if possible, the cooperation of the teacher or teachers. The Bureau will send a brief form for simple organization of a Parents' Association, if you desire it. We expect to have a great deal of valuable matter for use of parents and teachers and for older boys and girls. Rightly used, the home is the most important factor in the education of children. Through its Home Education Division, the Bureau of Education is trying to help the home to do its best work. Your coöperation will be invaluable. Kindly let me know if we may expect it. Yours sincerely, P. P. CLAXTON, Commissioner. WORK OF THE HOME EDUCATION DIVISION The extension of Parent-Teacher Associations, the coöperation of 40,000 women recommended by superintendents of schools, the distribution of educational bulletins to mothers, the preparation of reading courses for parents, for boys and girls who have left school, for men and women wishing to pursue home study, the provision of certificates for all who complete the courses, the replies to many questions from individual mothers, have brought much appreciation and have given a keen perception of the great need for the work of home education. Thirteen million children under school age in the United States are under the exclusive care of parents. Education in physical care means life to thousands. Education in the development of moral habits will prevent the blighting of many lives at their beginning. The greatest educational work is done. in the first six years, and no after care can make up for neglect then. Eighteen million children of school age spend one tenth of their time in school, while nine tenths of their time is under parental direction and guidance, showing the relative educational responsibility of parents and teachers. Twenty million boys and girls who have left school need encouragement in the continuance of education during the most critical years of youth, when insight and sympathy can lead upward, but when lack of it has driven many away from home influence. The federal government now considers the education of children from infancy instead of from the age of six, and it considers their education for twenty-four hours a day, instead of five hours, and for twelve months of the year instead of ten months, as heretofore. During 1915, 95,000 reading courses were sent out by request, and over 25,000 letters were sent. Thousands of bulletins on The Care of the Baby have been sent to mothers, while two editions of 1,000 Good Books for Children have been published. This was prepared by the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations. Two joint tours of representatives of the Bureau of Education, and officers of the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations, and National Kindergarten Association, have been arranged during 1915-16, covering the western and southern states in the promotion of home education. FOREIGN INTEREST Extension of national organizations similar to the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations is assured. The Chinese government requested the Congress to send its president to China to aid the government in forming a National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations. Japan through private sources has also asked this help. The Marchioness of Aberdeen has accepted the duty of organizer for Great Britain. Cuba has already organized. Argentina has taken steps toward national organization. The ideals of a nation are created and inspired by the homes. To help all homes to give true high ideals of life, of citizenship and of duty to God and man is to lay sure and strong the foundations for a great nation. The work of the Congress is civic work in its highest sense, and it welcomes the coöperation and membership of all who would give a happy childhood to every child. AN URBAN HOME AND SCHOOL LEAGUE BY WALTER L. PHILIPS, A.M., Supervising Principal of Public Schools, Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. The home and school league is an organization of those persons interested in the education of the children, and in a larger sense of the community. Although their history is brief, they have already become a mighty force in bringing about the right kind of progress in a community. They supply the means whereby the community may express itself concerning its life and activities and they are a powerful coöperating force in making effective ideas that stand for progress. The demands for a practical education have caused remarkable changes in school curricula, especially those of the secondary and higher schools. The home and school league aids parents, teachers, and school officials in keeping informed of the changes occurring. The politician, the grafter, and the unfit are no longer tolerated in modern school circles. The home and school league has become an effective agent in the elimination of such persons from control. In the districts in which these associations are frowned upon or prohibited, a free expression of public opinion is unwelcome. When managed aright they coöperate with the legally chosen school officials when school affairs are managed . with care and discretion. ADVERTISING AND CREATING INTEREST As an incentive to the formation of a home and school league interest in the schools must be created. The school must be kept before the people. Its needs, aims and policy must be advertised in a legitimate manner in order to secure the coöperation a home and school league can give. Exhibitions of school work, musicales, art displays and contests never fail to arouse interest. The interest of the community having been secured, the desire for a home and school league should originate with the school administration who, it is presumed, welcomes the coöperation of the parents. When parents and friends realize that the school is merely a factor cooperating with the home, there is little or no difficulty in forming an organization for mutual support. Interest in educational matters should be interpreted by the governing committee of the league, and this can rightly form a basis for the work of the organization. NUMBER AND CHARACTER OF MEETINGS The number of meetings for the school year depends upon the needs of the community. Two meetings before December 25 and three after that date seem to meet the needs of the league of this district. Regular meetings are not planned for the mere entertainment of members. As indicated in the foregoing statements meetings are planned for the discussion of some community problem, for the presentation to teachers and parents of some problem which will better help them in the training of the children of the district. It is a form of university extension brought into the school house. Questions bearing upon the moral training of children; on activities for the extra-school hours; the needs of the school district, etc., are discussed. A brief list of subjects follows: The Problem of Home Preparation of School Work; The Moral Training of Children; The Self Realization of Pupils and Parents; The Need of a Playground; Better School Facilities; Vocational Guidance; Some Higher Thoughts for Teachers and Parents; The Reading Matter of Children; The Health of the Child; Eye Strain; The Meaning of a Flower (Parenthood). Among the most profitable meetings are those in which the discussion of problems is carried on by the teachers and parents themselves. There is an exchange of ideas, a presentation of the two points of view in the education of the child, and a mutual understanding of the best methods to adopt in this training. It is well occasionally to invite those not connected with the schools to address meetings of parents and teachers, giving them the advantage of their more complete study and experience, along their special lines of work. The breadth of the educational processes can often be made more evident by such formal addresses. Local problems, however, can usually be solved best by the people most directly affected, provided that there are men and women with sufficient wisdom to direct the discussion toward the right end. The purely entertainment features should not be omitted entirely. These, however, are of secondary importance and should not divert the time and interest from consideration of the more vital problems |