Evening star., 1926-12-10
27,39},17O PUPILS
|NPUBL|C SCHOOLS
Million Teachers Required for
Children, Tigert Re-
port Reveals.

The school system of the United
States now consists of 27,398,170 pu-
pills and approximately 100000 teach
ers, according to the annual report of
John ]. Tigert, Commissioner of Edu-
cation.
Dr. Tigert devotes special attention
in his report to the educational prob
lens afforded by the modern American
city. In cities, he points, out almost
half of the school children are located,
and they lose the natural environment
of the country.
THE city" he says, with it's pave
ments and brick and mortar. is starv-
ing rather than nourishing the child's
curiosity about the physical world"
City Builds Poor Habits.
DR.. Tigert continues: Probably
one of the most serious aspects Of city
life for children is that it tends to
build up habits of cheap amusement.
cheap and undesirable ways of using
leisure time. According to modern
psychology, the way people spend their
leisure is of vital Importance in their
whole character development and de-
pends to a large extent on the habits
formed in childhood.
Educators are now realizing that
city schools not only must teach the
three RS but must counteract the
effect of city life on children by help
ing them form tastes for worthwhile
use of their leisure.
1--WE must rewrite the courses of
study. We must inject into them the
elements of social science and the
problems Of modern life.
1.-THE elementary school curriculum
In the cities of the country has been
n cr{Nn time
to play, physical training, drawing,
music, the industrial arts and to the
content subjects so as to meet modern
CITY conditions. The relative amount
Of time given to the three RS has
diminished from 57.55 per cent of the
total weekly time allotment in 1904 to
50.5S per cent, while the content sub
jects, such as history and geography,
have increased from 14.42 to 1853 per
cent, and the special subjects have In
creased from 27.97 to 1888 per cent.
If, however, the increased school year
is taken into account the three r s.
receive practically as much time as
they ever did.
Trying Various Plans.
Various plans whose aim is to help
solve the educational problems of the
modern city have been introduced into
some of the schools Of the country.
One of these is known as the work
Study-pls3 or platoon plan Of organi-
zation, ~h:ch makes possible an en-
riched curriculum of music, art, physi-
cal education. manual training, etc,
without affecting results in the three
RS and without increased cost.
This plan is being rapidly adopted
by the cities OF the country. In 1914
there were nine cities in six States
which had schools organized on the
work -Studyplay or platoon plan. In
June, 1926. there were 40 cities in 33
States having such schools. In other
words, in the past II years there has
been q ,122 per cent increase in the
number of cities having this type OF
school organization. The 1l0 cities
have a total population of over 17,0OO.-
900. Not only has the number of cities
adopting the plan increased. but there
is a tendency to increase the number
of schools on the plan in cities where
it has been tried. For example, there
are now "a cities with a population of
8 9SS6 607 which have organized all
their schools on the plan or have
adopted a citywide policy. OF these
"a cities % already have all their
schools on the platoon plan.
'In the opinion of superintendents
who have organized schools on the
plan, it's rapid growth is due in large
measure to the fact that under the
plan 1t is possible. financially and adj
ministratively, to give to all children
in a school system the opportunities
for an enriched curriculum of work
and play and study which the devel-
opment of cities has made 1t impera
tive to provide for city children. They
contend that changed social and in
dustrial conditions have created new
educational problem-that Of making
cities tit places in which to bring up
children