Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-05-22
URGE IMPORTANCE
OF CHILD PROBLEM
Social Conference Speaker
Stress Individual Study as
'PubIic Necessity"

The national conference OF socia
work meeting in general session to
! day at Memorial Continental Hall
heard the problem of the individual
child, as regards education, empha
sized as public necessity" and thu
recommendation that nursery school
! be added to the educational system a.
| a means of training the young 70
parenthood and improving the healtl s
| of children between two and nv
years of age. The general subjec
taken up was THE School," while TIN
| topic of the session was "Futur
| Trends in the Development of Socia
Programs Through the Schools"
| Herbert s. Weet, superintendent 0
| schools, Rochester. " Y; DR.. HeleI
| T. Woolley Of the Merrill -Palne'
! School, Detroit. and DR.. Rene Sand
| secretary general, the League Of Ret
| Cross Societies, Paris, France. wer
the speakers J. Prentice Murphy
| vice chairman OF the committee OF
schools, child welfare bureau, pills
delphia. presided.
Warns Against Neglect.
| Mr.. Weet in his address declared
| that q community may neglect It'll
4 public necessities, but the RETURN
will be brought home Immediately Il
| the people in Z way that cannot h'
munity fail to educate its children
and the day Of reckoning is post.
| poned for generation,'' he stated !.
"Furthermore, q little money ana
| the damage that may have been dont
| 10 a community through neglectins
| most of the other things. but thu
| damage that results from failing tc
| educate child at the period when =
child should be educated is ir.
reparable.
| child is not simply the problem OF
| the school. but the problem Of thu
| community. the state and the nation
itself. Provisions BY the school fol
| solving these problems. therefore
| are not matters of personal privilege
but of public necessity.
! Modern Common School Cited.
THE common or elementary school
| OF today is a vastly different insti-
| tuition from that of earlier days. Tbs
| social elements are now much more
| numerous and diverse than formerly
| ard enforced compulsory education
| laws have brought all These elements
into the public school. This, togeth'
CT. with the wider range of respon.
| sibility the public school has beer
| forced to assume, has intensified this
problem of the individual child.
! The state and country wids
adoption, of the high school and the
| ever-incraasing voluntary. and com.
| pulsory attendance in this school
| has brought the public school face
| to face with diversity Of interests
/ education that demands provisions
| for type and individual differences &c
| an extent not yet. even remotely ap.
preciated by any OF us
4 ~ H. W-.S
| States is rich enough to stand any ex-
pense which is essential to insure Il
| every child in this country chance 70
| grow UP healthy, happy and well be-
the nursery schools. Celebrating on
| this plan, she continued:
| Although psychologists, psychiatrists
! and physicians assure US that the most
important mental and physical ills OF
adult live have their roots in early child.
hood, we still leave young children on.
tirely to the management of parents who
| for the most part are unframed for th4
task; The nursery school can and does
| fulfill a double function. It furnishes
! to young children from average homes.
a better opportunity for physical. mental
and social development. than the un-
aided home and II furnishes unparalleled
opportunity for the instruction of young
women in the things every parent should
know.
AS soon as We begin to regard tbs
nursery school as a possible addition IA
the educational system, 1t needs to he
Icarefuily scrutinized, not only from tire
standpoint of the young children and
the students of child care, out from that
of the mother and its reaction on tina
family. If children between two and
five years are cared for during school
hours by experts provided by The edu-
! cational system, will the result be IL
deprive the mother of too much of her
personal contact with and enjoyment
| of the child or to lessen her sense OF
responsibility and weaken home ties?'
| Regarded as Exhausting Task.
| DR.. Wo6Iley answered this question
Ivy stating "the continued and IN
relieved care of young children is in
itself an exhausting task. Women.
reed relief from it during some
hours of the day if their own morals
pendent upon it are to be maintained
at a level which insures the calm,
kindly, cheerful. human relation
| ships which are essential to the
er and child who can be separated
| for a part of each day have a better
| chance TO avoid the pitfalls, of irrfta
ton. nagging and OF eventual
habitual conflict which are the mast
common evils of family life. Fur
thermore. the mother who has some
! opportunity fer interests and con
facts outside of the home can con-
tribute more to the family life than
te Ih Sy tb aoF Foma is necessarily
| DR.. Sand paid a tribute to the
| conference, the delegates and the
Organization of the meeting here. He
defined social work as a science and.
| organization put at the. service OF
the highest ideals CT human brother
hood"
I'm this field he said, American
| social workers have gone farther
| and achieved more than those of any
| other nation. The future has in
j store fer them still more Mnndarful