The Washington herald., 1921-12-15
XIV. Washington's Schools.

that Congress can do it all as to their schools,
and hand to them complete and model school
system; that Congress provide for this city,
7 or give to it, the model schools OF this country.
!. In the language of the street, 1t can't be did.
Congress can only make it possible for Washington
TO have such schools. 1t open the way, pro-
vide the agencies and put in operation the right
instrumentates.
\ Congress can and we confident will, pro-
vide building program that will give Washington
an adequate school plant in record time. The
years of waiting for buildings seem past. The
District Committee is convinced of the emergency,
and buildings must come first of all. But buildings
do not make school system, any more than the
Capitol makes a government They are but the
housing plant. Neither does or can any law
make system Of good schools-it can but provide
for establishing such system.
Congress cannot lay down rules as to how
this shall be done 1t cannot legisate educational
methods, organization management. 1t can pro-
vide for the schools but the making of schools
it must leave to someone else, and with that some
one else there must be constant, helpful, con-
structive cooperation by the parents OF Wash
ington. The simpler the law, the more complete
the transfer of authority, the rigidly this
authority is held to entire responsibility, the
greater the assurance of good results.
Anvone who has had the privilege of seeing
the present bylaws and rules of the Board OF
Education has had an excellent example OF how
good schools cannot be made. Primarily, Board
of Education is or should be, business organiza-
tion; yet the first principle OF business organiza-
ton is to trust the various agencies and not bind
them around with red tape To do their best,
men and women must be free to accomplish, in
their own way, and not in carefully mapped out
routine which is the composite way of several
minds The first act of the new Board OF Educa-
ton should be to burn the rules and bylaws OF
the old board. 1t should then give the superin-
tendent full authority to go ahead and make here
modetn school system in every detail, pro-
ducive of the countrys model public schools, demand
ing but to know his plans, his program and to have
periodical reports to be verified by themselves
personally, for he is the who must do the
making.
Nor need Washington expect miracle from
the superintendent even after he is clothed with
ample authority, assured OF an adequate housing
plant moderny equipped and provided with every
needed agency for his work Neither he Con-
gress can do the impossible, and neither can
pass out full-hedged silver salver, the splendid
schools this city has come to almost expect
Under the best OF conditions, good schools are a
growth. Under present Washington conditions,
thew will be somewhat of revolution, possible
wears of the hardest kind of reorganizng, spced
with tact, with determination with hard fighting
and endless courage and all demanding the high
est ability before superintendent say to the
board: There are the schools you wanted and
that | promised"
Every city school system is based upon the
elementary grades. These must first be built up
with a unified course OF study and with super
visory force nterlocked the various services
of an army The correlation and interdependence
of the work OF the various departments repre-
sented by supervising specialists is the proof
of the pudding" OF a modern school system. 1t
is not enough that each one unihes his own depart
ment; they must all join to unity the system as
a whole Each supervisor too, should be working
educational assistant to the superintendent, and
from kindergarten through junior high there can
not be break in the chain.
The Herald is candidly sorry for the man
Who given full power, undertakes to make for
Washington the schools promised. 1t will
be the greatest educational opportunity in the
United States, but Hercules himself never tackled
a more vexing or harder job. What these schools
must have added to make them modern is more
numerous that what they now have. In many factors
they are an easy twenty years behind those of
most cities of today Nor these such things
as can be plastered on-they must be in,
and much must be pulled down to make them
ht A modern educational system does not con-
sist OF old-fashioned schools adorned by warts,
nor ornamented with plaster poses. That way
has often been tried in recent years, bringing
disrepute and rebellion at "fads"
Manual training, art, music, domestic science,
physical training, Fairgrounds were for years in
most cities merely stuck onto the schools until
they all being rejected as "fads" Junior
highs were inserted to make meaningless sand
wich. Now these are woven into the system, and
point the moral of learning by doing" They
are demonstrations of what is in textbooks. They
put understanding into the work of the class
rooms They are as essential as the a-b-c,s. and