New-York tribune., 1915-03-16
SUPPLIES COMING IN
FOR NEW YORK CARGO
The st. Kentigern to Sail About
the Middle of April-Money
Added to Two Funds.
By HENRIETTA RODMAN.

thlng9 Tor cnlldren 10 nave. museums,
art galleries and Libraries are good
things for children.
"In my judgment, opportunities for
religious instruction, private teachers
of music and assisting in desirable
home work are good things for chill
dren. So. also, are cooperative classes
between the academic school and the
industrial activities of the school busi-
ness departments and between the
school and industrial activities outside
the school
Our so-called public school to-day
is in many respects the oldtime pri-
vate school, now maintained at public
expense. Each child must have his own
private desk, etc, for exclusive per-
sonal use, even though the combined
use Of all the school facilities will not
total two and half hours a day for
each of the 365 days of the year. The
use OF the auditorium will not average
more than ten minutes each day of the
year, and the Fairgrounds barely an
hour each day of the year.
"The result of such a system is that
many children are forced to attend
school in Easements and cellars. large
percentage are in overcrowded. poorly
ventilated and lighted schoolrOoms,
and many Of those who are in fine
I buildings are in greatly overcrowded
rooms.
Street Wrong Place to Learn.
"Whilc all of the child welfare agen-
cies outside the home occupy the time
of the children for barely two and one
half hours day, the street and the al
| ley have at least five hours day. The
street offers the major courses and the
school the minor courses. The street is
a most efficient school for educating
the children in the wrong direction.
THE purpose is to establish the
framework Of a school programme that
will be so elastic that any desirable
combination may be made for both pu-
pills and teachers
"Ihe now school is flexible and may
be adapted TO different types of COM
munities and 10 the several indiyid-
uals IN a single school. The children
may have n long or short dav. early
or late, academic work emphasized or
mop work emphasized, all of their time
IN school, or, if it is TO the advantage
Of the child, part of the school time
ENnOOAS
/ should be exactly alike. The stand
I ards for each school should be those
/ demanded by the needs of the children
attending that particular school.
Help for Backward Pupils.
"A large part of the following evils
may be eliminated: Keeping OF chill
dren after school hours for makeup
work, with the great waste of energy
for both pupil and teacher; excessive
home study. and funking pupils. which
usually graduates them 20 the side
walk
"A boy in the eighth grade, who is
failing In percentage because ne did
not get the common and decimal frac-
ticns in the fifth and sixth grades. may
90 on with his class in percentage in
one school But when his class goes
TO the auditorium. play or special work,
he may be transferred 20 a fifth or
sixth grade class in arithmetic in the
other school in the same building.
There is no good reason why all
children should have exactly the same
programme either in the school or out
Of schOO. activities. As far rs possible
each child should have what he per
Scrally D.. lf any boy needs one,
two. three or four hour, each dav in
arithmetic. English or physical train
ing he should be accommodated"
Mr.. Writ will speak az Cooper Union
this evening at S:lJ O'Clock under the
auspices of the Peoples Institute. On
Thursday Mt 3:i5 o'clock he will speak
AZ . Wes. S!yty-fourth Street under
the auspices of the Federation for
Child Study, and on Saturday at 4
o'clock under the auspices of the So
cialist Press Club, llS East Thirty
first Street.
II you think it might have been in
teresting to help build Rome, or IL you
would have liked to be one of the
trainers of the Constitutional you
have a spark of the pioneer spirit in
you, join the movement for a new
world for the children which is led by
Mr. Writ.
have a theory that after November
,. 1915, whether the vote is lost or
won, New York women will develop the
same kind of alert. effective interest
in the public schools that Chicago
women are manifesting.
Some of them have it now, notably
Mrs. Edith ST. Clair Mullan, one of
the new members Of the b. of f.
"Will you hazard a guess as 10 how
the committee on bylaws will treat
your resolution providing for the ap-
pointment and promotion Of married
women? ," | asked.
81 dont think that the passage Of
the resolution would change to anv
great extent the number Of married
women employed in the schools" said
Mrs Mullan.
"Of course, if q young woman wants
to teach she VIII postpone her mar
riage until she has secured an appoint
ment
81 think, TOO, that the passage Of
this resolution would tend TO simplify
the teacher-mother problem. No doubt
number of women would be glad to
remain at home for several months
when their children need them most, if
they knew that they could return TO
their work later"