The Daily Missoulian., 1914-10-25
HISTORY AND GROWTHOF MOVEMENT
INTERESTING TEACHERS AND PARENTS

, tails, rivers. mountains, formed the
chief constituents of geography; they
are no longer so. 1t is true that no
common school subject has been
dropped as whole but much in every
subject has been cut out and much
has been seen in relation to other
subjects. These processes of elimina
ton in and correlation of the old sub
jects has made way for the newer
subjects.
The Essentials.
The person who remembers the
above and similar things as the chief
diet of his school life is inclined to
cry out that the essentials are being
ignored. What is meant by an essen
tai? 1t was a member of the board
of education in Cincinnati who rose
to his feet to declaim against "fads"
and to argue for the essentials" He
cited the fact that his children
couldn't recite the names of the pres
idents of the United States in their
exact order; sure sign to him that
the schools were not doing what they
should. A fellow member said "Well,
Why? Because after he had passed
his examinations in school. he had
never had an occasion to think of the
presidents in their order. From dis
use, the once labored over list had
vanished from his mind knowledge
and skills that life makes us use' has
become the basic standard for selec-
ton of subject natter. Through 1t
the memories the judgments. the OBJ
servations. the imaginations which
we possess receive their exercise and
development quite as well if not bet
ter than they did upon knowledge and
s<ills that were not useful And use
full is interpreted by the modern edu-
ator not as merely conducive to Sc
curing a livelihood but as making that
living wholesome, clean, happy, beau
tiful and socially helpful.
Because the school has separated
itself from the home, because it has
assumed an increasing share of the
derstood by the home If it is to re-
ceive the sane criticism and the loyal
support which is it's due. The parent
teacher leagues are one avenue
through which this understanding
may and must come.
Another historically interesting and
important link between the home and
school is summed up in the meaning
Of the original word for teacher: I'm
loco parentis'-"I the place of the
parent" one who stands temporarily
in the place of the parent ought GER
tainly to know and understand the
purposes, methods and ideals of the
parents for whom they have assumed
the responsibilities of the substitutes.
Parents. on the other hand. must un
derstand the. purposes and methods
and ideals of their substitutes. This,
| from the standpoint of the teachers
| time and energy can sbe most econom-
| ically accomplished through parent
| teacher meetings, for there can be
explained as easily to so parents as
TO o1ie the why and how physical ex-
aminations, of home credits, of use of
games in arithmetic, dramatization i'll
reading and history, etc.
It is undoubtedl. true that teachers
rot sensed their mutual obligations to
each other; the one has thought IL
engaged in school work to teach chill
dren from books: the other that its
obligation ended at sending the child
| to be taught from books 1t is just as
true that teachers and parents arc
now becoming conscious that their
mutual obligations are more The. par
nt-teacher association Is both an ex-
preston of this growing consciousness
and also a promoter Of it. springing
UP in isolated communities because
mutual helpfulness and for the extern
sion of benefits into new regions. The
sc hool- patrons department of the Ma
tional Education association has in
| fIuenced the large army of school
educators to recognize the strength OF
the movement toward bringing about
a close cooperation between home
and school educators. It's annual re-
ports make good reading for one who
does not shrink from the new as just
cne more thing to be attended to: to
one who realizes that every new
| thing that survives the experimental
stage has in it the power of economic
| ing time and freeing energy. The
parent teacher association has passed
the experimental stage in this coun-
| try; it is here to stay because the
awakened parent and teacher find
they cannot accomplish what they
would and should without it,