Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-25

parliamentary tangIe nae pecH
Strengthened out after considerable ef-
fort. Not the least interesting feature
was the smashing of u So-Called slate
by the grade teachers when they dis
, covered they were not represented on It,
The officers elected by the assovia-
tion are: J. IL. Francis, president; MISS
Sarah Dole, first vice president; MISS
Hattie Bromley, second vice president;
Mark Kcppel, recording secretary
Will Angler, financial secretary; Al
fred Higgins, transportation secretary;
T. j. Phillips, treasurer.
The first storm broke soon after the
business meeting of the association was
called to order in Polytechnic high
school yesterday morning. 1t came
! with the reading of resolution De
claring that all interscholastic contests
! should be eliminated, Before it ended
the excited educators had declared
against the adoption of the resolution
During the discussion that preceded
final action there was great excitement
A dozen men all on their feet at once
angrily demanding the floor, the CHAIR
man often unable to make himself
heard above the noise of the meeting,
and from one corner of the room to the
other the wall of the multitude, What
is the question:" "Will someone ex-
plain what we are fighting about?' or
1.-The third question before the last is
still before the house, call for the
third question before the last!
STORM BREAKS OUT
The meeting opened calmly-perhaps
because the nominating committee for
the affiliated council of the Teachers
association of California was not IN
the rOOm-and the regular business
proceeded quietly and with expedition.
Then J. IL. Francis, city superintendent
of schools, sprung the hrst torpedo
AS chairman of the committee on res
olutions Mr. Francis read nineteen res
olutions defining the associations po-
sition on important educational ques-
tions. The fifteenth was to the effect
that all interschOlastic contests should
be eliminated from the public schools
By some strange chance he was al
lowed to proceed with the last TOUT
resolutions, but before the words were
fairly out of his mouth. several men
/ were on their feet moving that the
resolution eliminating interscholastlc
contests be stricken out. Then the
fight was on. e
b. W. Reed, principal of the san
Pedro high school, made the hrst
speech championing the resolution
claiming that the physical develop
ment of the body should be cared lor
bv the schools but that it should be
managed without introducing an ele-
ment which made the f1rst motive OF
tho bov and teacher one-to get ahead
of his neighbor, to outdo him at what
ever cost.
Il talked to one of the boys on a
team sent down here from the north
| to meet one of our teams" MI Reeo
! explained. "and that boy told me
| his last instructions were to use any
methods of any nature to win the
| game-that the Los Angeles team was
| a rough neck bunch who would have
to be treated accordingly and that the
| main thing was to win. rms is a con-
dition which no body of educators has
a right to allow, and | say put II out
of the school system"
DEFENDS SCHOOL CONTESTS
A, A. Macurda of the state Normal
school was on his feet instantly. And
1 say" responded Mr.. Macurda, that
if the teachers eliminate interscholas-
tic tests from the schools they will be
saving Here is a question we are not
able to handle--it is beyond us.
Hearty applause over this speech could
be distinguished above the frantic calls
for the floor by others desirous of eX-
pressing their opinion. AT last MI
, Francis got the floor. For almost the
first time during the morning the room
was absolutely still.
In answer TO IIlo SenllelILttil VIII
say that by abolishing interscholastic
tests we do not remove athletics from
our schools. When the politics of
country get so bad we cannot stand
them we remove the motive for the
! corruption, and 1 would do the same
! by this question.
| 'Do you know, teachers, that we are
| giving five acres to agriculture and
seven to athletics? That the pupil is
! in, "a school only Inv his
athletic ability? That pupil is given
! the entire pink sheet in any paper as
| a reward for athletic achievement and
not one line for scholastic accomplish
ment?>
win, win! win!-that is our creed
! today in our schools; win is our
watchword The athletics of our
schools are professional, the individuals
are professional athletes, and you
know it and | know it. We're idiots,
we're criminals, to let this thing go
on. 1 believe in developing the body
| give it equal Importance with the
I mind and soul-but there are other
! ways of developing it than by forcing
/ the element of professional work into
the lives of our children.
FRANCIS FT.AYs SYSTEM
"It is not only in athletics that we
are grown professional. | have stood
in this very room and seen the high
schools debate when the one sentiment
was to win--to win. Regardless of how
or why, of points in logic or eXhibi-
tion of intellectual achievement, we
must win, win, win And the teachers
are worse than the pupils, just as the
coaches are worse than the athletes
and | would say here that our games
have degenerated to a contest-not of
team against team-but of coach
against coach.
where are we centering the inter-
ests of our schools? We say in phys
ical development, but [ say to you
if / should advocate building school
camps in the mountains and once u
year assemble our boys there for phys
ical development under ideal environ
ments, what would you say? You
would laugh, you would prove that it
isn't development, but the desire to
win over all people at all costs. And
we cannot help this as long as we have
the interscholastic tests, Any coach
is in the game to win. l should be If
I We're a coach, and so would you;
we would do anything to have our team
win. 1t is an element we can only do
away with by doing away with the
practice that makes it possible. Let
us have athletics by all means, but
not these tests"
MOTION is LOST
This speech drew forth more excited
debates, but finally, out of the chaos,
the question was put, several ballots
taken, and at length the resolution to