Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-04
Growing Interest in Work.


of work in which the Congress of Moth
ers is interested is cited by Mrs. Rafter.
president of tho congress. as being
largely responsible for the wide scope
Of endeavors of the congress in the
District.
Speaking of the convention of the
National Congress of Mothers to be
held here from April "a to May 2. Mrs:
Rafter outlined some of the aims of
the various departments of congress
work. dwelling especially upon the de-
velopment of parent-teacher associa-
tions.
Nothing less than the organization of
such associations in every school in
the District is contemplated by Mrs.
Rafter and Mrs. Fulton Lewis, who is
in charge of the parent-teacher depart
ment of the local congress.
Advanced Educated Parenthood."
Yes, of course our plan Is ambi-
tious," Mrs. Rafter declared. I've are
not merely to promote better under
standing between the homes and the
schools, but also toward an advanced,
educated parenthood, that the parents
of Washington may be better able to
cope with the problems that come to
them through their children and that
the children growing up in our schools
today may become more advanced In
the understanding of the privileges, op-
portunities and obligations of parent
hood when they shall stand in that re-
lation that We stand who are parents
today
'-Oh. don't think ] am discriminating
and holding up just the parents of
Washington as being in need of educa-
ton. for it is the parenthood of the
age that needs education. You have
only to look at the population of the
penitentiaries, jails, reform schools,
idiot and founding asylums to realize
that for the Wanted progress in civil
ization of the twentieth century our
collective parenthood is not of grade to
inspire any particular degree of pride.
Don't make the mistake of thinking
that this Congress places the burden OF
the child's education upon the schools,
said Mrs. Rafter. emphatically- THE best
teachers for a child are his parents, and
the best school is the home. There his
life begins, continues outside OF school
sessions and through the larger part of
his life. No school in the world can ever
make up to child the lack of a real
home and its training. No matter how
expensive and exclusive, the school is nor
how poverty stricken the home may be,
the impressions of the home life are the
strongest.
Comparatively Few Hours in School.
Have you ever thought" she queried.
how few hours children spend in school
to what they spend at home-the real ed
Vocational agency? Well, school, which is.
after all, only a supplementary agency
supplying what the complex life Of the
home cannot do, takes about 800 hours a
year, If the children attend regularly,
here in Washington, and when you re-
member that there are 1850 hours in a
year. You will see how small por-
ton Of their is given to the schoolroom.
most of which is spent at home on in the
streets. The children of the United
States spend on an average Of 5000 hours
between birth and twenty-one in school.
including time given to high school and
college. The sum OF waking hours on the
plan of allotting ten hours per day for
sleep is 100, 900; subtracting the school
period there is left 104, 900 hours to be
accounted for.
AT home in the family life the manner
in which the parents deal with the child
has more to do with the shaping of his
life than his schooling ever does. The
Wisest and best of teachers have long
known this fact and welcomed any means
relation between home and school. School
used to be merely an auxiliary to the
home. but the tendency of late years
seems 10 have been to reduced the home
10 u mere patch upon the school life
plans are well under way toward the
next spring" concluded Mrs. Rafter
This is the first time in the history of
the District organization that it is to
participate in one of these triennial con-
Tcrtions as a state body. This brings
women from all over the United States
and Canada, and the District members
are going TO live up to their response
btlities.