Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-06-01
MISS ANNA 3. PRATT
On the Work Of the School Counselor


SAFEGUARDING IT,. education of the
~ child and seeing tnnf when II goes 10
work 1t finds employment in which II can
remain and grow are the chief functions OF
the school counselor, says Miss Anna H.
Pratt. drecto" Of the White " i'iiamS
Foundation. ,.hich is working 10 ms emu
in 90 ordination with the Philadelphia Board
Of Education.
"Our work began said Miss Pratt.
with an effort TO find the main causes of
delinquency in children and rcmov" them
rather than 10 d"nl with the manifestations
Of that delinquency in individual cases. al
though this necessarily has 10 be done 10
certain extent. We carly saw that many
young people, be il girls boys, are al
most dnilv leaving the public schools I"
enter industry. We persuade all to I'main
in the schools M long as they possibly can,
and after that Try to get hold o them and
guide them against the results OF their own
ncxpcricn"c and against exploitation.
Has Been Thoroughly Tested
This was first tried moro or less as an
experiment in 1917. Only very short time
was needed 70 show concusv"lv that some
| supervision Of the child who left school to
| 60 to work was needed after he or she had
entered the factory, and 'hat steps shoulh oc
taken TO sec that IN" kind Of wor 10 which
that particular chlC was best adapted was
given to it
"Wc also found out carly that many Of
the children who left scLy,l to work were
| by no means fitted for any place in the
Industrial world and that n great number
s,oDped school for very slight and even fool
! ish reasons. F"rty-scvcn per cent Of tho
| children who left ~ that time did so for
| some reason oh"r than industrial or hnnn.,
| rinl; that is. the money which they earned
was not needed by their .amilies, and they
,ould inst as we'll have continued with their
| school work RS not This was recognized
both hy us and by tho school authorities rs
| a serious matter. and steps wcr" devised 10
combat I.
The White Williams Foundation was
hcpun in 800 : tho Magdalrn Society
| Bishop White. then Bishop OF the Episcopal
| Diocese of Philadelphia, being the first pres
ident II eventually bought the old building
! at Twenty first and Race streets, now occu-
| pied BY the Municipal Court, and continued
| IT'S work th"r"' aIthough NJ the time when
| the court purchased the building practically
all the occupants had been sent there by the
| court and it was little more than house Of
| detention or correction. When the building
was sold il was decided by the board of
managers that this new work should be
! taken up.
How Women Got on the Board
From the organization Of the Foundation
until a few years ago, tho board was COM
| nosed entirely of men, although now It is
obout evenly divided between men and
women. This was brought about by Mrs.
Rudoluh Rlnnkcnburg, who refused to sun.
mort the work and got many Of her friends
| IA take tho same attitude unless women had
! some voice in its direction. inasmurh as il
! was then devoted exclusively TO women.
woman's auxiliary was formed then but
| later board membership was given 10 women.
| and tho Joint management has proved very
! successful.
| "The first experiment was with tho eighth
| grade children of one school We on
| dcavored TO bring the home and the school
into closer touch, 10 get the teacher to un.
| drrstand what disadvantages, if any. tho
| child laborcd under at home and the parents
| 10 see what the school was trying to do for
! work, more children sta ed for the hipb
school course, the gain being I Der cent
| while 10 per cent more stayed through rho
| high school and were graduated
| 'But We were not entirely satisfied with
| this. and we felt that we were not begin
ming far enough back, Accordingly wc
started the next year with the fifth grade.
4 Child's Influence
cone incident which occurred Mt this ,imo
! showed that even the fifth grade was nnt
early enough. \ little girl who was out or
| school great deal was one Of the subioct.
of observation. She was not feeble minJod
but showed no great inclination 10 stmLr
! The first step was 10 get her in better nhysi
cal condition, which was done and then tho
desire for schooling manifested itself. We
asked permission Of the father to keen bor
| in school, but he refused. saying that sbe
had wasted so much time already that be
would not countenance any further school