Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-30

the common heritage of the whole
country. Not one of the thousands OF
teachers who attend this year viii leave
Cleveland without new ideas to put In
and despite conservative school boards.
The most remarkable features of the
progress of the public school systems
of the states are the extension Of the
rural high school territory; The in
creasing attention being given to the
physical training of the children, and
the increasing emphasis or vocational
education. In the large cities the high
schools turn out boys and girls thor
oughly equipped for business or home
making, not only with good academic
education, but further fortified with a
knowledge Of business methods and
domestic science.
The city lad does not have the edu-
cational advantage over his country
cousin. which he once possessed The
ancient and classic Hoosier schoolboy
would not recognize the township high
school of prosperous Indiana COM
munity of today. Such high schools as
these teach stenography and banking
SO that the boy may go to the city
ready for the battle with business:
they teach soil chemistry and scien-
tine agriculture SO that the boy may
stay on the old farm and make twice
as much of the same land as father
did; they teach the girls the science
of cooking and the philosophy of keep
Ing the body clean and well. They are
the enemies OF sloth and dirt, the
agents OF industry and cleanliness.
one can find such rural schools in Call
fornia, in Georgia, In Oklahoma, In the
Dakotas. The day will come when
they VIII cover the face OF the country.
The Cleveland convention will de-
vote much attention to the discussion
OF the part the school must take in the
physical training and care of pupils.
New York city found that of $4,000 pub
lic school pupils one-third had defect
I've eyesight. The correction of visual
defects by adjustment of proper
glasses means the quickening of mem
tai faculties, or at least, an increase
In the power to acquire knowledge.
New York is solving the problem OF
detectives. incorrigibles and unusual
children. by providing special schools
In which the physical supervisor has
a great deal to do.
Sixteen years ago the Boston schools
blazed the way for medical inspection
or children in the schools. Early this
year the Massachusetts Legislature en-
acted a law requiring that all school
hutOH III tno flatS DC teste0 Tor Qe-
fective hearing and eyesight. Boston
has gone further and has employed
corps of twenty-one school nurses.
These trained nurses are assigned to
districts. and they go into the homes
and take care of the sick school chill
dren. Boston will tell about its ad-
vances at Cleveland; the teachers will
leave with the advantage OF Boston's
progressive experience.
There will be earnest discussions of
the relation OF the public schools to
industrial problems. to agriculture, to
the Immigrant to play. to the abnor-
NAL and defective child, to the state
and to the movement for the preven-
tion of disease. In all of these dis
cussions the leaders will occupy ground
SO advanced that the ordinary middle
aged voter would be shocked to hear
the speeches. But, for some reason or
other, the ordinary parent and voter
knows more about the workings OF the
Russian duma than he does of the
school system where his boys and girls
are being educated. It Is only when.
the school progressivists need money
that they encounter the force of tho
conservatives. For that reason their
actual progress IL limited In some Soc
tions OF the country. but they believe
1t is only for the time being.
Next to the great national spelling
bee q revival of the elder day, the
most interesting feature of the Cleve-
land convention will be the great play
festival Four thousand school chill
dren OF Cleveland will be In Rockefel-
Ter park next Friday afternoon to show
their elders and the teachers OF the
country how to play according to
science. They will be under the direc-
tion of the Cleveland public school
supervisor OF physical training. The
main feature of the play festival will
be- the folk-dances, in which these
thousands of Ohio lads and lassies will,
go through the poetic motions of the
national dances Of the peoples of the
Old World countries and incidentally
demonstrate the cosmopolitan capacity
Of the Americans to combine fun, geog-
raphy, ethnology and exercise.
Another, and most important, mat
ter will receive earnest attention. 1t Is
the question of schoolhouse construc-.
ton. Within few miles of the scene
of the awful disaster at Collinwood the
National Educational association will
take steps to abolish the inswinging
door, the unsafe furnace and chimney,
the other agencies of the fire demon.
All in all, the Cleveland convention
means quite as much to the boys and
girls of this great nation as the Chi
cago and Denver conventions mean to
the grown-ups.
copyright. 1908. by Frederic J. Haslxin).
Tomorrow--Ths Fiscal New Year Day.