Pueblo chieftain., 1921-03-14
Organized Parents

thought amusing that mothers of
F., children up to five years should organ
| lze to study the comparative food value
or pickles and oatmeal or how much
fresh air child of two should con-
sumo.
United Home md school
But the clubs flourishcd and In
creased. and as the interest grew
| mothers began to demand that tho
welfare OF school children be consid-
cred as well as the needs of children
| of school age. Because tho lifc
| of school boys and girls s inextricahly
bound up in both school and home the
organization took the teachers into
| membership so as. to get both the home
and school point or view in consider
| ing child welfare matters
There was no thought. however Of
the mothers discussing school room
| mana cement with teachers and help
| ing them to run their classes. That is
| something which people who arc not
| familiar with the Parent-Teacher AS
| sociation sometimes think 1t does. And
so they say an organization Of this
| sort interferes with the teachers bust
ness. The executive secretary OF the
| association denies this emphatically,
and says that every local branch is in
structed not to attempt to influence
the management OF any school
| The organization is intended to work
| for the broad interests of the chill
dren of the ncighborhood. town. or
state. This means promoting Ameri-
canization. better films fresh air
schools, home and school gardens, child
| hygiene. or whatever else the epecial
need OF the community may be,
| Thus in Washington state tho at
tcntion OF the Parent Teacher Associa-
| tions has been centercd on food and
dress reform for school children. Al
exhibit was held at which good and
bad meals for children of different
ages were graphically displayed and
to be condemned or approved. \
clothes exhibit showed contrasts ot
| health and good taste. as the unob-
trusive serge dress followed gcorgettc
shirt waists and satin pumps.
| In Texas the Parent-Teachcr Asso-
Citations engaged in a project to pro
vide school teachers with comfortable
| living quarters. Az result one town
| has built a home costing .35. .o6l for its
| school teachers. Another Texas town
has taken farm for its teachers.
The school principal manages tho
place and it is said to be a successful
venture.
To Give Mothers Legal statc.
| The Texas legislature is now consid-
er1ng bill to put the Parent Teacher
Associations under state direction and
| make them part OF the state cducA-
erget!cally pushed and is said to stand
| a good chance OF approval The enact
| Went would mean an Official status tn
| Texas for the associations. and u
would also probably mean financial
backing. At present. the association
raise their funds chiefly by musicals.
bazaars, fstes, and plays.
In Texas and several other states
legislative councils of the Parent
Teacher Association have recently been
F.h Oh
tho passage OF state measures such as
teachers pay increases. shorter hours
and better working conditions for child
labor In factories, minimum wage bills,
or mothers pension provisions. With
/ mothers and teachers standing Of
| ficially back OF a welfare measure. tho
| state legislator cannot fall back on
\ the old excuse that he doesn't believe
| that the people want IT. This feeling
of doubt on the part of legislators has
| blocked many "A humanitarian mca,s-
urc in the past But now mothers and
teachers have begun to use somc OF
the methods OF business men in deal
Ing with the law makers to make per
fectly clear what they want and hU.
they feel about II.
The force OF the opinions OF the
mothers and teachers can be roughly
estimated from their strong organiza-
ton and their numbers. There were
2,ep branches of the Parent Teacher
Association with 925.co0 members last
year and IL Is reported that tho mem
bership has been practically doubled
this year. Thirty-four states are thoro-
ly organized with state officers and 10
states are partly organized. The others
have local associations, but cannot
create n state organization until they
have 30 associations with 500 member
and not all tho associations in one
town.
This ia n welfare organization that
Is growing rapidly and spreading to
other countries. Canada has a similar
chain Of neutrality-suspicious. and school
clubs they call them. And tho national
| headquarters Of tho Pnront.Tcachcr
Associations here gets letters from all
over tho world asking for information
about the system, as this country has
worked out the organization more com
pletely than any other. Tho wife Of the
president of Mexico wrote recently To-
Know how "A link between home and
school could he established in Mexico.
and in the past few months similar re-
quests have come from Japan, India,
| and Porto Rico.