Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-06


door in his face because he cannot pass
a regents test. We study him to dis
cover, If possible, what he can do and
we work on his source of power and
help him to become Somebody
Each Has Opportunity.
That means that the school must
offer various sorts of opportunity to its
children We have twenty-odd shops
or laboratories and studios to which
children are sent daily. every one of
them. The book minded child is offered
an opportunity to enrich his experiences
and stimulate his intelligence through
flrst-hand experiment. We model and
paint and sew and weave and sing and
play and garden and bind books and
cook and play with radio and tele-
phones and doorbells and paint signs
and give exhibitions and plays and live
as fully and as merrily as we can.
almost forgot the swimming pool and
the playground. They are tremendously
important in school work. We have
them all We have them in order that
no child who knocks at the school door
need ever be sent away without an
effort on our part to give him what he
needs for healthy growth
A story about one OF the children
may help to explain the working of
the school and its reason for existence
One day a boy handed me a little
package and a note. He could smile
like the sun, but he could not say one
sentence in English. The letter read
like this:
This boy cannot master the English
tongue. have done my best Yester-
day l told him that he must bring me
at least five lines of composition. He
must write a story about what he did
in the old country. This morning he
handed me this. You can understand
that think him very worth while but
I have nothing here that will help him
Maybe your school can give him the lift
he needs" Signed by the teacher.
In the package was a block of wood
and the boy had carved on it, in lovely
lines. a picture of himself driving an
OK to water little switch in his hand
and sharp-nosed little dog at his
heels. My home" he said in his ma
tive tongue.
We sent him to the sculptor and we
assigned him to special teacher for
English. He never acquired sufficient
English to pass an examination. but he
did master his art and today his work
makes a great church in New York
City cathedral of beauty.
nave Deem ENCluUeU.
Any examination that excluded chill
dren who failed would have excluded
him. He got his education through his
art Today he reads the prose and
verse of the masters. He knows the
history of art rs few people know it.
He is a happy and successful artist.
And the public school system that pro-
vided for the child who could not pass
examinations helped to save him.
We had little girl who could not do
arithmetic. That meant no high school
education for her. But the teacher in
one of the studios reported that the
child had done a fine piece of work,
that she had great talent for mural
painting. She is in training for that
work now and this public school Sip
ported by the city, showed ner the way.
II the hook <:e..Saafu had been applied
to he4 she could not have made the
required rating, as result OF her ar1th-
metic. but because Of the varied cur
riculum she has found a pleasant place
in the world.
It is not more laws that we need, nor
more stringent examinations. We need
vision and understanding. and the Will
to follow through. We need to study
children more and to place their needs
before our comfort. our whims. our
prejudices. We need to spread abroad
the truth that it is the child for whom
the school is built. never the groWn-up
person, be he taxpayer, parent or
teacher. The needs of the child must
point the curriculum and guide the ad-
ministration.
We will never succeed in educating
our children until we free the schools
from the dominance OF set examinations
and a fixed curriculum. Tests are
part of the class room technique. They
answer questions that need to be
answered. The results should modify
the teachers procedure and point her
work. They are not used to cefeat
child, to show him up. to drive him
out of school. to prove a pet theory or
crafty a desire to impose ones sell
upon a situation that in its very ma
ture forbids such -glorification.
Easy to Discourage.
It is very easy to bully child out OF
school He is approaching adolescence,
perhaps is already we'll along in that
stage, and he is emotional easily touch
ed. easily confused and overpowered.
The Junior high school and the hlgh
school are strange words to him. He
timidly feels his way about. He masks
this timidity in various ways. all known
to the trained teacher who can read
the SIGNALS and interpret them.
Many of his demonstrations are an
noying. They irritate. even alarm us
at times. 1t is human to try to avoid
discomfort and pain. When a teacher
and 40 such children are put in one
room and forced to stay there through
sternly routined days it is only natural
that trouble starts. The unenlightened
teacher falls back on the childs aca-
demic achievements. Does he know
when the War of the Roses was fought
and who discovered radium? Can he
solve an algebraic equation? No? Then
why is he in school?
A slip of a boy appeared in the Of
flee Of the head of a department.
IT want my working papers, please"
Working papers? You want to work
this vacation?"
Yes. Sir"
That's all right. Hand your name
to the record teacher and she will send
it in with the rest and we'll see you
get vacation papers"
The child's face did not light up with
satisfaction as the teacher had eX-
pected. Instead it expressed deeper
detection. "a.