The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-03-21

. certain town the school board
could not hsI persuaded to spend
any money experimenting with hot
lunches for school children. A GER
tain ofyanisation volunteered to
take the risk Of losing money. It
went ahead and served . substan-
tial hot lunch to@the children at .
low rate, and It managed to clear
enough money to pay for the help.
food and equipment Pupils Who
could not afford to pay even the few
cents charged. were allowed to help
serve and earn their meals. When
the system was we'll established.
the school board applauded the
success Of the pioneers, and took
over the responsibility of feeding
the school children at noon.
In other communities the same
organisation is working to estab-
lish better living quarters for
school teachers, shorter working
hours for minors, and better state
laws for education and child vel
fare.
The organization that is doing
these things Is the Parent Teacher
association. composed Of mothers
and teachers In practically every
state and Alaska. There is prob
ably such an association in your
neighborhood, but possibly you
never realized what IL meant-na-
tionally.
Every week, or month, you may
see mothers in fur coats or in
shawls drift into the school house.
after school hours. In the assem-
bly, room Of the school they meet
the teachers Of Jimmy and Jane
and listen to some one explain
some proposition for local improve
ment, and then they have tea and
cake and 60 home. That may be
your idea Of what the Parent
Teacher association is, but IL 80
you have only caught a glimpse Of
the routine behind which it really
works,
twenty-five years ago. two moth
ers, Mrs. Theodore Birney and Mrs.
Phoebe A. Hearst, had a strong
conviction that mothers ought to
know more definitely what was
good for a little child. The aver
age mother depended on instinct
and luck to bring up her children,
and Mrs. Birney reasoned. that at
titude accounted for q good deal Of
unhealthiness, stupidity and un-
happiness IN child life.
With this idea fixed firmly IN
mind that mothers ought to get to-
gether and take q professional in
terest in bringing up creditable
families. these two women organ
lied the first mothers congress.
People laughed. 1t was thought
amusing that mothers Of children
up to five years should organize to
study the comparative food value
Of pickles and oatmeal. or how
much fresh air q child of two
should consume.
United Home and School
But the clubs flourished and in
creased, and as the interest grew
mothers began to demand that the
welfare Of school children be con-
sidered as we'll as the needs Of
children Of pre-school age. Because
the life Of school boys and girls is
inextrfcably bound up in both
school and home, the organization
took the teachers into membership
so as to get both the home and
school point Of view in considering
child welfare matters.
There was no thought, however.
of the mothers discussing school
room management with teachers
and helping them to run their
classes. That is something which
people who are not familiar with
the Parent-Teacher association
sometimes think 1t does. And so
they say an organization Of this
sort interferes with the teachers
business. The executive secretary
of the association denies this en-
phaticaIly, and says that every To-
cal branch Is instructed not to at
tempt to influence the management
Of any school.
The organization is intended to