Evening star., 1932-09-27
URCESEXTENS|0N
Of JUNIOR HIGHS
William J. Cooper, Federal
Education Commissioner, :
Speaks on Forum.
Establishment Of free four-year junior
high schools on Nation wide scale


high schools on q Nation n-wide scale
was urged last night by William John
Cooper, United States commissioner, OF
education, in an address in the National
Radio Forum. arranged by The Star
and broadcast over a National Broad
casting Co. network.
DR.. Cooper's recommendation was
based on q survey Of European schools
which he made during the Summer. He
dealt at length with the various Eu-
ropean methods of schooling and stress
ed the value of physical education, on
which he said great emphasis is laid
abrcau.
Above the Junior high schools, Com
missioner Cooper recommended estab-
lishment of four-year collegiate schools
with small tuition fees, flexible as in
Germany. where at least fourth OF
the fees are used to help pay for tut
ton of pupils who cannot afford to go
II compelled to pay
The full text of DR.. Coopers address
follows:
The text Of Mr.. Cooper's speech fol-
lows: -
The most essential need of our edu-
cational system at the present time is
finance. There is practically no Ques-
ton about that. especially in our larger
cities. where the costs Of living are
high. What we can learn from Europe
in this respect is not directly significant.
Europe appears to be little further
advanced in coming through the de-
preston. Most European school systems
tion from the elementary at an early
date This is impossible for us. Before
the war Germany did this at the very
outset Of education by having some
pupils attend a vorschule, which was
more or less private. and the rest Of the
pupils attend a vo1kschule, which was
public This in itself made 'classi-
f1cation of pupils on the basis Of the
wealth of their parents. In some cities
these schools began at slightly different
hours so that the boys and girls would
not even meet on the streets. Tnere
has been a significant change wrought
in this system by the war. The vor-
schule is now forbidden, except where
it is held with the approval Of the
minister OF education. The volkschule
has been changed by adding a grund-
schulz of four years, which Offers the
same course of study for everybody. A
few people still send their children to
private schools. but as matter OF
course in time the grundSchule will con-
tain virtually everybody.
Inc RTuIlQSCIlulc huIlS W uCVCloP
gradually the aptitude of the child by
Transforming the instinct which urges
him to play and indulge in physical
movement into a deliberate will to
work In order to do this successfully
the school must try to penetrate the
mind of the child, and, having grasped
the ideas, then express them in the
language of childhood. Most OF the
physical work included in the curricu-
lum, such as games, walks and gymnas-
tics, form Q basis for education, which
is supplemented by exercises the chill
dren see about them.
Two New German Schools.
There have been also established IN
Germany as result Of conditions fol-
lowing the war at least two new schools:
"I) The Deutsche oberschule, which
places the emphasis upon elements In
German culture. The chief subjects are
German, history and the history OF art,
and two modern foreign languages. II
is not necessary for one to learn Latin a;a
and Greek in this school, and yet this
school will lead to the university or
other HIGHER institutions Of learning.
"(2) A fundamentally new institution
in the larger centers Of Germany is the
aufbauschule. This school Is only six
wears In length instead Of nine years,
and boys may enter it from the seventh
grade Of the volkschule: thus remain.
the entire length OF the eisht-year
course. It aims to make IL possible Tor
the brighter boys to prepare themselves
for college. In all German states, now,
girls may be admitted to schools In
tended primarily for boys when their
homes are not within reach OF girls
secondary school. Usually they consti-
tute separate classes, however Only IN
very small centers are girls educated
with boys, and in general coeducatlon
does not exist at all.
"I rather think that If there Is any
point to this for us it tends to favor the
establishment OF the four-year junior
high school, That Is, q junior high
school which takes one to the end OF
school could be maintained by a city
free of charge, and the school above
such Junior high schools, possibly
four-year collegiate school including the
other two years of high school and the
first two years of college. might have a
small tuition fee. This tuition fee should
be flexible as in Germany. where at
least q fourth Of the fees are used to
help pay for tuition Of pupils who can
not afford to go if compelled to pay the
dents. This school would be finishing
school in commercial work, in agricul-
ture in homemaking and in the trades.
It might well be school to which pupils
would be admitted on scholarships, and
to which other pupils would pay for a
certain part of their instruction. This.
may provide a method Of financing our
high schools during the depression.
Basic English Suggested.
"In France did not have the op-
portunity to visit any schools, since ]
was there in the vacation period. From
what I learned of their schools at the
ministry of education I concluded that
the war had made virtually no changes
in French education. I was impressed
by the influence of France itself on
these schools. Foreign languages are
not taken by these people so much as
in Germany. and the desire to speak
French and to have French spoken Is
very strong. This is seen clearly In
conventions. For instance, I attended
two conferences, one In London on
secondary education, and one in Nice
on the newer aspects of education At
both of these conferences French was
unquestionably leading language.
There were more papers at the Nice
conference delivered in French than
there were in English, and at the sec
ondary conference in London there were.
as many papers and more speeches
made in French than In English.
Many of the Germans who attended
these conferences spoke English and
French very we'll indeed The same
thing was true of other Europeans and
Of Orientals. Ir fact. I was impressed
with the fact that English Is rapidly
becoming the first foreign language
in a number of countries. I think
the international language problem
could be solved if basic English could
be learned as the first foreign language
in the secondary schools Of many Of
these countries. Basic English is a
Language containing only $50 words
It is, as a matter Of fact, more like
coloquial American than it is like
English because a word Il used with