ary schools. Many of them inhere in our ethical and humanitarian heritage as embodied in the classics of English and American literature. Others are found in our Declaration of Independence and in our Constitution. Against the ideals and moral principles of these and other documents we must critically judge proposals to fasten upon this country certain so-called "democratic" doctrines which have made slaves of millions in other countries; or other proposals that would sell our heritage of civil and political liberties for a mess of economic pottage. Against these criteria we must evaluate all slogans, catchwords, and stereotyped phrases. Facility in Foreign Languages Among the communication skills needed for a new world, mention is often made of the need of facility in foreign languages. How otherwise shall we understand other nations and peoples speaking strange tongues? But facility in the use of which foreign languages? Chinese? Russian? Spanish? French? And by whom are these foreign language skills needed? Shall all high school students become adept in at least one foreign language? And is the investment of the time of all students that is necessary to achieve real communication skill in a foreign language justified? If so, on what grounds? I raise the questions. The answers are by no means clear at this time. Mathematics I need say little concerning the basic disciplines of mathematics. Not everyone needs to pursue the higher mathematics. But everyone does have need for certain abilities in arithmetic and some understanding of the principles and a mastery of the simpler techniques of general mathematics. A major weakness in the work of the schools, according to military authorities, was our failure to require older youth to carry their mathematics to the point of reasonable mastery. Mathematical skills, acquired in elementary schools, were permitted by the high schools to vanish through disuse. The high schools must remedy this weakness. Natural Sciences Similarly, the emphasis on the natural sciences, which during the war came to occupy a larger place in the general education of American youth, must be continued. No adequate understanding of the postwar world will be possible without a knowledge of the natural sciences; and many careers in technical, professional, and scientific pursuits, whether of industry, business, or agriculture are handicapped without it. What will be some of the characteristics of high-school science instruction for the new world? I shall note three in passing. 1. Greater attention than now prevails will be given in the laboratory work for high-school students to the science applications in agriculture, home economics, industry, etc. 2. The attempt will be made to interest all high-school students in the study and use of science; but special encouragement will be given students with unique scientific aptitudes to continue the pursuit of scientific studies beyond the high school. 3. There will be a larger use by high schools of films, excursions, and other means to provide greater reality to the science experiences of students. Highschool science courses will become less bookish, less dependent on a single textbook. Practical and Fine Arts Along with the larger place of the natural sciences in the general education of all American youth will go more attention to the practical arts. They will be depended upon to provide those elementary experiences in the use of tools, the processing of materials, and the shaping of means to ends which were once present in the daily life of youth living in rural communities but are now so largely absent from the environment of urban youth. Under the category of the practical arts I am including education for productive work or vocational education. Skilled workers will be required by the new postwar world, workers with a scientific understanding of their environment and with broad technical training; workers who in their role as citizens are broadly educated. The days of narrow vocationalism in which a man learned a few operations of machinetending are gone. Today, workers need both general education to give them an adequate understanding of the world which they live and special training t prepare them for their occupations. Ir creasingly the latter will be started i high school and continued by in-servi training on the job or in post-high school special training courses. Nor should we forget that in the postwar world there will probably be in creased leisure, as the advances of tec nology make possible a shorter work ing day. Jobs will frequently fail t provide opportunity to use the creati talents. Men and women will need sources by which some of their leisur time may be used in such recreative w as craft work in wood, metal and plas tics, painting, gardening, games, musi as well as reading and study. Carry forward the experiences of elementary education, the high school must provi the groundwork for such leisure ti and recreational interests and activitie Both the practical and the fine arts wi have an increasingly important role play in the personal cultural enrichmen of youth and adults alike. Social Sciences And lastly, I come to those basic u derstandings, attitudes and skills which fall within the field of the social studies. The social studies will assume incre ing importance in the high-school cur riculum for a new world. For it is upo the social studies that we shall contin to lean most heavily for the training youth for their civic responsibilitie Chief among the social studies doubtless remain the study of the h tory of our country and its institutions Upon it we shall continue to depe largely for a grounding of our you in the American tradition of econom political, and civil liberty and for understanding of our republican for of government. But the study of U. S. history hardly constitute the beginning and t end of civic education for a new wor Young people must be taught to reg nize and to think constructively ab the major social, economic, and polit problems which confront them as ei zens of "one world"-problems racial, religious, and other differen among men in their bearing on domes and international peace and security problems of government in relation labor and management, agriculture. ustry, the consumer; problems of forgn policy, world organization, peace, nd many others. We have heard a great deal in recent onths about the postwar responsibility the schools to provide a firm basis r international cooperation by an emnasis upon the study of international lations. Not only will it be necessary add to the subject matter of the soal studies in our high schools material ealing with the mechanics of the nited Nations, but it will be necessary go beyond a study of such mechanics a development of those underlying titudes and solid understandings hich are necessary to make any social achinery work effectively. The subject matter of international lations will involve at least four major eas: First, history with its account of e experiences of the race in its long ruggle for freedom and self-governent; second, contemporary problems, quiring an understanding of the ▪rces (economic and political, social, ientific, and ideological) which help mould the pattern of events; third, olitical economy requiring an underanding of the instruments which men ave devised, their political forms and eir social and economic systems, for rotecting the rights of the individual d increasing his freedom through lf-government; and finally much nowledge concerning the different reurces, customs, peculiarities, and culres of other peoples, the possession of hich will help to temper judgments d broaden sympathies toward all ces and peoples engaged in the comon enterprise of living together on a runken planet. eachers and Teaching Methods So much for some of the qualitative anges in secondary education as repsented by the high-school curriculum. ast, but not least, among the needed alitative changes in postwar secondy education to which I shall allude are anges in teaching method. Here it ems to me the need is for a greater ilization of methods that lead to a evelopment of self-reliance and sharping of the student's desire to learn. One frequent criticism of our high hools is the observation that so many outh left high school without zest for ntinued learning. Perhaps one rea son for this lack of zest for life-long learning has been the continued prevalence, among many teachers and laymen alike, of the cold-storage concept of education; the idea that education is the embalming in memory of a miscellaneous assortment of information supposedly valuable to the adult at some future time and place; as contrasted with the idea that education should be something related directly to problems and purposes which have meaning for youth here and now. to If interest is the key to learning and if interest inheres in purposeful activity, then the great task of teachers is to help youth to form and clarify their purposes, to guide them in their efforts to effectuate those purposes that are socially acceptable, whether the purpose is to publish a school newspaper, to operate a school-community cannery, win a football game, or to make a new and better world; and in so doing promote the growth of the individual in intelligent self-direction and self-reliance in an increasing variety of real life situations. Incidentally, it is not unlikely that the student will acquire more genuine knowledge, better attitudes, greater and more useful skills by such means than by much study of lessons for the purpose of reciting them to the teacher. It must be obvious, of course, that if we are to have teachers qualified to act as inspiring educational guides for young people as they grow in wisdom and self-direction, we must make the profession of teaching more attractive. In the minds of some citizens, teaching is neither an art nor a science. They think of teachers as being merely "hearers of lessons." But teaching is both a great art and to a considerable extent a science. It calls for unusual skill and a personality whose interest and enthusiasm are radiated to the students in the teacher's charge. One major item of change in making the profession of teaching more attractive must be the greater social recognition which the public concedes to teachers. That social recognition will take a variety of forms. One form will be a greater willingness to regard teachers as human beings, subject to the same impulses and entitled to the same personal freedom and respect as are other professional workers. Another form it must certainly take is that of a greater financial security for the teacher. The public can hardly expect talented young men and women to spend years in expensive preparation for the teaching profession if salaries of teachers are not to be substantially higher than at present. In Conclusion In conclusion and by way of summary, the challenge of the new world to secondary education as to many other institutionalized aspects of our life, is the old challenge of a sense of proportion in all things; the challenge of holding fast to that which is good, while adding innovating practices of promise. The challenge of the new world with respect to the high-school curriculum is for a program of studies and activities which does not ignore the claims either of a common citizenship and culture or of the individual student's hopes, abilities and interests; the challenge of a teaching staff that can kindle the zeal of students and guide it into channels both of self-improvement and of social betterment; the challenge of an administrative and fiscal structure that makes available to every youth his American heritage of educational opportunity. These are the challenges of Secondary Education for a New World-a world characterized by complexity and change, by technology and specialization, by mass communication and swift transportation, by the impulse to greater unity and, above all, by the sheer necessity of that unity if we are to escape the catastrophe of atomic warfare with its certainty of destruction for ourselves and for civilization. These challenges may not be met in a day or a month or a year. Making a new and better world will probably always be a slow and dearly won process of adaptation and accretion; evolutionary rather than revolutionary in character. Secondary education for the new world will be no exception. It will scarcely be transformed overnight. Yet, if during the next decade we achieve these goals: (1) if we provide full and equal access to educational opportunities; (2) if we achieve a revised and strengthened curriculum; and (3) if we can count on better methods of teaching by a better educated, better selected, and a better paid teach ing profession, we shall have made real and substantial progress in adapting Secondary Education for a New World. Thus we shall have made a contribution of no little magnitude to the building of a better world-a world of peace and plenty. THIS MONTH Statisticians say that more than 28 million students and more than 1 million teachers are starting to school for another year. They have one great goal in common-to grow in understanding and in service. SCHOOL LIFE, too, is starting to school for another year its twenty-sixth year of endeavoring to render services to the schools. Beginning with 16 newsprint pages in August 1918—in the midst of World War I-SCHOOL LIFE was issued without break for 24 years. Then came World War II. Emergency needs temporarily suspended this periodical and early in 1942 a wartime biweekly-EDUCATION FOR VICTORY—took its place in order to carry messages swiftly to the schools, with the single purpose of all-to help win the war. When victory came, EDUCATION FOR VICTORY made its exit and SCHOOL LIFE returned to renew and to expand its services to the Nation's schools. SCHOOL LIFE wishes to join with teachers and students in the endeavor to grow in understanding and in service, for a peaceful, intelligent, a nd happy world. For those who wish to receive SCHOOL LIFE regularly throughout the school year, subscriptions ($1 for 10 issues) should be sent directly to the Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. Rural School Charter Day Established RURAL SCHOOL CHARTER DAY, says an announcement from the National Education Association, has been established as a time each year when rural communities throughout the Nation may take inventory of their educational needs and achievements and plan further steps to improve educational opportunities in their local communities and States and in the Nation. It is also a day when the people of the Nation generally are asked to examine the importance and the problems of rural education and to take steps to help solve them. This year Rural School Charter Day was October 4, throughout the Nation's schools. In October 1944, a 2-day Conference on Rural Education, planned and directed by the Division of Field Service, Rural Service, and Legislation and Federal Relations of the National Education Association, was held at the White House upon invitation of President and Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Thus for the first time under the auspices of the highest office in the Nation a conference devoted exclusively to the educational needs of rural children was held. The responsibility of citizens everywhere, in both city and country, to work for better educational opportunities for rural children and youth was stressed by the Conference. The great part rural education plays in American life is suggested by these facts: 43 percent of our people live in rural areas (57,245,573). Of those in rural areas 30,216,188 live on farms; 26,029,385 live in towns More than half (15,041,289) of the 86 percent of the Nation's school These statements also are in a release from the NEA's Division of Rural Service and Field Service: 312 million children of school rural communities are not enr in school. On the basis of the average leng the school term, the average i school graduate in rural schools had 1 school year less of schu in his 12 years than the ave urban graduate (rural: 167 d annual average; Urban: 181 day $84.41 annually is spent per pu average daily attendance in r. schools; $131.83 in urban schoo $200 is the value of school prop per pupil enrolled in rural sch as compared with $429 per pu urban schools. Of the 100,000 emergency teacher: tificates in 1945-46 at least 7 are in use in rural schools. Of the 35,000,000 citizens wit library services 32,000,000 small villages or in the country. Temporary Educational Facilities for Veterans THE PRESIDENT signed Mead bill (S. 2085) and the Cong has appropriated $75,000,000 to in ment its provisions. The act author the Federal Works Agency to prev temporary educational facilities, d than housing, to public and nonpr institutions in which the U. S. Co missioner of Education certifies that acute shortage exists or impends such facilities needed for the educati of veterans. Responsibility for developing a administering a plan for discharg the duties required of the Com sioner of Education has been deleg to Dr. Ernest V. Hollis, specialist State-wide programs. He will have s sociated with him in the Washing office Henry H. Armsby, specialist engineering education. There will a field staff in each of the nine regi offices of the Federal Works Agency receive and study applications, visi stitutions, and make final decisions the nature and extent of needs that be certified to FWA. It is believed th decentralized administration will sure prompt decisions made after is to-face contacts. TO RIGHT: William Benton, Assistant Secretary of State; William G. Carr, Associate Secretary, National Education Association; Monsignor Frederick Hochwalt, Director, Department of Education, National Catholic Welfare Conference; Mark Starr, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union; John W. Studebaker, U. S. Commissioner of Education; Charles A. Thomson, Consultant, Department of State; Congressman Chester E. Merrow, of New Hampshire; Luther Evans, Librarian of Congress; Senator James E. Murray, of Montana; George F. Zook, President, American Council on Education; Mrs. Lucille Simmons, teacher, District of Columbia public schools; and Waldo A. Leland, Director, Council of Learned Societies. he United States formally accepted abership in the United Nations Icational, Scientific and Cultural ganization on July 30, 1946, when sident Truman signed the Joint olution authorizing this action. The sident expressed clearly the purpose he organization and the determina of the United States to help carry that purpose when he said: UNESCO will summon to service in cause of peace the forces of educa, science, learning and the creative , and the agencies of the film, the io and the printed word . . ." and ; "the United States will work with through UNESCO to the end that minds of all people may be freed n ignorance, prejudice, suspicion fear, and that men may be edu cated for justice, liberty and peace. If peace is to endure, education must establish the moral unity of mankind." By the time this issue of SCHOOL LIFE leaves the press, the United States National Commission for UNESCO will probably have been announced. This commission of 100 members is being commission of 100 members is being selected to be widely representative of organizations and individuals of outstanding importance in educational, scientific, and cultural matters. Its functions will include serving as an advisory body to the Department of State on all UNESCO activities, acting as a link between the people of the United States and UNESCO on all international projects in education, science, and culture, and in general aiding UNESCO to carry out its program. The Commissioner of Education, John W. Studebaker, described the work of the new commission in picturesque terms by saying, "UNESCO is going to engage in a great campaign, the campaign against war. In this campaign UNESCO will use all those instruments of instruction and enlightenment which can be wielded by schools, universities, scientific associations, cultural bodies, and citizens' groups in all the United Nations. But UNESCO will be only a reconnaissance unit operating along the battle line. Behind UNESCO and supporting it must be the task forces of all the agencies in every crossroads hamlet, in every State and Province, in every Commonwealth and Nation that are willing to carry on this fight. The National Commission in the United States must be the staff and planning group to guide and inspire us in this country's effort to do its necessarily great share in achieving this mission." Report from London Floyde Brooker, Chief, Visual Aids to Education Section, U. S. Office of Education, Adviser for Mass Media for the United States Representative on the Preparatory Commission of UNESCO and Consultant to the Secretariat of the Preparatory Commission of UNESCO, presents a report on the Preparatory Commission's meeting in London. The fifth session of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was held in London, July 5-12, 1946. This session of the Preparatory Commission was a direct outgrowth of the International Conference in London in November 1945, when the Constitution. was adopted; a temporary secretariat authorized; a permanent site in Paris selected; and a Preparatory Commission created to make plans for the first general conference which will be held in Paris in November this year. Thirty-six nations sent representa tives. The meeting had a threefold task as follows: Preparing a tentative program for UNESCO's future work to be submitted at the first general conference; Formulating recommendations concerning its future organization and budget; Assisting educational relief and reconstruction in the countries invaded and devastated by the war. Recommendations for Action Decisions taken at the Preparatory Commission's meeting were in the nature of recommendations for action by the permanent organization. UNESCO cannot formally come into being until the Constitution has been ratified by 20 nations. At the time of the July meeting some 15 nations had formally accepted the Constitution. The Secretariat, therefore, acted as an interim organization, and the Preparatory Commission as a provisional body charged with the duty of preparing the agenda for the first meeting of UNESCO. The temporary Secretariat during the months of May and June held a series of conferences. Experts in various areas discussed problems and proposed action for the the permanent UNESCO. The Secretariat then took the notes of these meetings and drew up definite projects for action in the fields of education, mass media, natural sciences, social sciences, fine arts, letters, philosophy and humanities, and libraries and museums. In the submission of all these proposals for action it was assumed that (1) UNESCO would concern itself with international programs only, and (2) UNESCO would make the fullest possible use of existing agencies and facilities to achieve the purpose set forth in its Constitution. Proposals Presented and Discussed In Education, the temporary secretariat presented, and the July meeting of the Preparatory Commission discussed, the following proposals: Surveys of national systems of education and the formulation of recommendations to the end that educational systems inculcate the knowledge, attitude, and skills which contribute to the peace and security of nations and to the support of the Charter of the United Nations. Assistance by UNESCO in fundamental education; i. e., development of primary education and the combating of mass illiteracy. Studies of the problems of constructive revision of textbooks. Encouragement of international understanding through youth clubs, correspondence, and the like. Encouragement of International Youth Service Projects. Establishment of a Committee on Educational Statistics. Conferences on such subjects as Adult Education, Teacher Training in International Relations, the Equivalence of Degrees. Promotion of the development and freer exchange of authoritative articles and information on the international aspects of education. Promotion of the greater exchange of international students and teachers. Other Proposals Listed Other proposals of equal interest to education are listed in part as follows: Mass Media.-Educational visual aids: Preparation of draft agreement to facilitate the international exchange of educational, scientific, and cultural films; stimulation of the educational use of films; promotion of and undertaking research in the use of films; and stimulation of the production of films on educational, scientific, and cultural subjects. Natural Sciences.-Conferences on publications looking toward improvement in the exchange of knowledge; preparation of materials suitable for use in textbooks for college and adult INDIVIDUAL "Behind UNESCO and supporting it must be the task forces of all the agencies in every crossroads hamlet, in every State and Province, in every Commonwealth and Nation, that are willing to carry on this fight. The National Commission in the United States must be the staff and planning group to guide and inspire us in this country's effort to do its necessarily great share in achieving this mission." John W. Studebaker U. S. Commissioner of Education. education; establishment of a Scientific Apparatus Information Bureau, concerned with the standardization of scientific equipment and dissemination of technical information; facilitation of travel by scientists, through issuance of cartes d'identite. Social Sciences.-Establishment of an international clearing house on home and community planning; establishment of a Study Center in International Relations; studies and reports on such problems as: Nationalism and internationalism; effectives of mechanization upon civilization; the use and misuse of modern psychology as a political technique; public opinion surveys; the cultural purposes of economic planning; population problems; and the methods of promoting international understanding. Fine Arts.-Study of the role of the arts in general education; facilitation of broadcasting of programs present ing the arts of different peoples: motion of traveling exhibits, fest etc. Letters, Philosophy, and H ties.-Development of plans for systematic translation of literary and of books for children; consi tion of anthologies of world liter.: of various types; establishment International Theater Institute. Libraries and Museums.-Prot of popular and public library ser investigation of obstacles to the lation of books; promotion of mus collections, lending and exchange:s and advancement of museums as cational forces. National Commission To Prese Views The temporary Secretariat wil ther develop these proposals in the of the discussion of the July meeti the Preparatory Commission, st ting them for final approval to the ecutive Committee of the Preper Commission. It is anticipated that the film : will be made available toward t of September for detailed study National Commission and interes persons in this country. At th vember 1946 meeting in Paris, the tional Commission will present its on the desirability of these prop for action to be undertaken by the manent United Nations Educati Scientific and Cultural Organizati U.S. Representatives The United States was repres at the meeting of the Preparatory mission by Dr. Esther C. Brunat Delegate, Harvard Arnason as nate, and nine advisers acquainted particular fields of proposed UNES activity. The advisers were: John M. Begg: Acting Chief. I sion of International Motion tures, Department of State. Floyde E. Brooker: Chief, ' Aids to Education Section, [ Office of Education. Verner Clapp: Director, Acquis Department, Library of Cong Ferdinand Kuhn Jr.: Consulter the Department of State. Charles R. Morey: Cultural Atte American Embassy, Rome, Ital Donald C. Stone: Assistant Din of Bureau of the Budget. (Concluded on page 31) |