School City I am referring to. Although this system does not afford the rivalry which exists between two gangs, it does afford student leadership, which is a step in advance.

From these facts we can see that the characteristics which we admit are valuable in the schoolroom, are to be found in any gang, namely:

If the gang, with all these good qualities, is made use of in the schools, there should be less trouble with gangsters and their petty crimes. They could be redirected by the lead of their leader to seek the cleanest sort of fun; to devote their time to some mechanical work; or to some study profitable for them.

A Few Contrasts Between the School

and the Job

A. W. FORBES, WORCESTER, MASS.

T is not my intention to go into this subject exhaustively, but only to mention a few points in which the job is so superior that it should give educators occasion for serious thought. Neither do I propose to class all jobs together, for jobs vary all the way from those of the highest educational value to those that are positively injurious. I will consider only the desirable job, but one far enough down the line so that such a job is within the reach of the average boy. I will also confine my consideration to the small shop, for that is the field with which I am most familiar, though I have reason to believe that equal opportunities are available in other occupations, such as offices, stores, and farms.

First, consider the question of bluffing. It is a prevalent habit in schools to answer a question whether the answer is known or not. This is generally encouraged, not deliberately, for most teachers recognize it as a bad habit, but as a byproduct. The teacher wants to be fair and give credit to any knowledge that the boy may have, even if he is not free in expressing it. So the most profitable course for the boy is to make a bluff. If he guesses wrong he is no worse off than if he had said he did not know. If he happens to hit it right he is so much to the good. Sometimes this course works in industry, but in general the bluffer soon gets into trouble, and learns not to try it, at least not unless he thinks he can put it over.

One of the greatest points of superiority of the job over the school is in developing team work. To be sure our schools have athletic teams for this purpose, but many of the boys

miss them, and they are not the deliberate object of the school. In school everything is individual. Each person is supposed to master his own lessons. No objection is ordinarily made to joint work in preparing lessons, unless it is written work, but if such is the case, the pupils are made to understand that help is dishonest. In the final accomplishment of the school year, the examination, the pupils are strongly impressed with the dishonesty of giving or receiving help. In the shop the conditions are reversed. To hold back information that another wanted to help him to do his work right, would be looked upon in the same way as holding back information that would help the football team win. To be sure the feeling is not so strong, but the idea is the same. To get along in the shop a boy must co-operate with the others, even with those he does not like, and he does it.

How can we expect the school to develop anything but egoists. To take up such a large part of the most important educational years with activities that benefit no one but the pupil himself, and to lay the stress on this self-improvement that the schools do, is teaching the pupil that his personal welfare is the one and great object in life. After 22 years of such instruction, for this is the age at which the average leave college, how can we expect him to change his point of view as radically as we wish to have it changed. But the schools do not have as bad an effect as we should expect in this particular, although I think the effect in this direction is very real. Results show that character is such a powerful force that even an educational system cannot destroy it. Turning to the shop, the foreman is usually interested in the boys, and will do what he can to help them, but the job comes first. The boy is taught that he must get his work out, to do something of value in the world, and to develop himself in connection with his work. To be sure the boy in the shop is being paid for his work, and he could therefore be said to be working for himself just the same, but at least he is giving

something in return for what he is getting, which is not the case at school.

Are not these sufficient reasons why the job should be taken more seriously as a part of our educational system? Personally I am inclined to make a certain amount of regular work compulsory for admission to any grade in school above the sixth, with the provision that it be done in regular employment for some person or firm other than the family of the boy. But having even greater objections to extending the present mania for compulsion, I should rather see the work permitted and suitable jobs recommended by the schools. Also that the schools should recognize that the job is an educational right which no boy should be denied, at least after he is twelve years of age.

Garden Quiet

What quiet in these garden walks is found,
Where sombre shadows fleck the sunny lawn,
Where grass to bush, and bush to tree is bound
As mist to meadow stream at early dawn!
It is a place to which I often stray

When meditation has me in her power;

And I am loth to turn from it away,

Though darkness hide from me leaf, bud and flower.

God's room I call it, where each ornament,

Whate'er the season be, to me is fair.

Sweet reconciler, bringer of content.

Though harsh wind blow, and every bush be bare,
I count no day complete, however spent,

If I in spirit have not journeyed there.

D. H. VERDER.

has been a splendid development of curricula and of public opinion in regard to the financial and social standards that should be accorded to those engaged in teaching. Our President has lent his efficient aid to all those forward-looking measures and sentiments. All classes of educators lament his passing, and they will not forget what he has done for them. We believe now that his successor will continue to promote these important interests, and that he will prove fully worthy of the mantle of the great and lovable Leader who has been so suddenly called away to a higher sphere of life and service.

The unprecedented outpouring of affectionate grief on the part of practically the entire population of the United States and of the world, on the death of President Harding, is in some respects different from the manifestations of sorrow that followed the passing of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley,-the only other Presidents who have died from acts of violence while in office, during the lifetime of the people of the present generation. We have found ourselves speculating as to the cause of the more universal grief in the case of President Harding's passing. It might be more accurate to say unalloyed, rather than universal. At any rate, there is something about the temper of the American people today, in their reaction to this world-important event, that does not escape the consciousness of the close observer and the thoughtful student of the ethics of government and the fundamentals of human behavior. What is it? What do we all feel in this instance (whether we have defined it or not) that we did not feel in the cases of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley?

As we have faced this problem and have revolved it in our inner consciousness, we have come to feel that the difference arises from the fact that our grief for the passing of President Harding is unalloyed with any other feeling. It comes from our hearts absolutely free from any baser sentiment. In the other cases mentioned there was in the hearts of all true, patriotic citizens an intense hatred, co-existent with our love. We loathed the murderers, while we loved and mourned their victims. May God grant that never again the ruthless hand of a depraved fellow-man may outrage the very soul of our common humanity by a crime that makes a Nation hate in the very hour of its profoundest love and admiration.