Evening star., 1936-04-26
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

"The Spirit OF
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
TTACKED from every direction,
n the American school teacher
II stands in new and dlfhcult
4 \ situation.
1t is not long since the public school
was universally recognized as the cor
ner stone Of the Nation and the
teacher idealized as the keeper OF the
ideals of Americanism. With sud-
denness characteristic of these para
doxical times, all this has changed.
The teacher. trying to follow the WELL
marked paths, finds them running
into a swamp. She has become an
object of suspicion. Every word spo-
ken. within or without the class room,
must be carefully weighed not alone
for its truth but for the possibility
that it may be made the occasion
for fresh attack.
The teacher is not conscious OF
any, deep, dark plot to poison the
minds of pupils and undermine Amer
ican institutions. If she has been sent
any checks from Moscow they certain
ly have gone astray in the mails.
She has attended no secret meetings
of men with long boards in gloomy
cellars. Yet she finds herself sus-
pected of all these things.
The individual teacher has followed,
by and large, the traditional American
formula of few years ago-the very
same formula which once brought
her canoniZation. She has-if she
happens to have been serious-minded
and ambitious for the future-gone
without the good times and good
clothes of her sisters working in Of
fees. She has saved her money and
instead of spending her Summer va
cations at the beach has attended
graduate school If possible, she has
selected the graduate school with the
foremost reputation in educational
methods and the foremost authorities
in the science of pedagogy.
Worked for Advancement.
It has been slow self-sacriflcing
process. The teacher, of course, was
not doing all this purely from spirit
of idealism. She was working for a
higher degree. With higher degree
she expected better job and better
pay. That was the American way
Of doing things.
Now she finds that 1t all may have
worked to her disadvantage. The very
fact that she gave up her Summer va
cations to attend graduate school act
ually is held against her. She would
have been better off IL she had danced
all Summer.
In the quandary she turns to the
superintendent for advice. He Is in
just as bad quandary. He has fol-
lowed, it is likely, the very same
formula the teacher is following. The
same condition obtains all over the
United States.
Last Winter the great body OF school
superintendents affiliated with the Ma.
tional Education Association got to-
gether to try to orient themselves and
the teachers in the topsy-turvy world
in which they found themselves. The
time had come, they decided. for the
schools and the educational profess
sion in general to formulate its posi-
ton, to determine the cause OF the
attacks and to maintain well fortified
ground.
Social Studies Troublesome.
The great trouble of course. lies In
the field of social studies. The letters
dog spell dog" both to the Socialis'
| and the capitalist. There is no grea,
dispute between them over the funda'
mental postulates of physics, mathe'
matics or chemistry. Even In 'sucf
touchy subjects as biology and geology
the teacher need have no cause tc
worry if she uses reasonable caution.
- But once she gets into the fields oi
history or political science provided fol
in the school curiculums, she IS IN
trouble. There are few universally
accepted facts. Yet, if these subjects
are to be taught at all, there must o'
some subject matter. The superin'
tendents decided the schools must stoT
being foot balls for every shade Of
political and philosophical opinion
With all sorts of factions buhetint
them, the educators must hold fas'
to certain independence OF their owr
while striving to make the presentation
of their subjects clash as little a.
possible with the prevailing public
opinion.
They found at the outset. as SCI
forth in the annual year book OF the
Department of Superintendance Jus'
issued and which contains the results
of their deliberations, that in the f1na
analysis the responsibility was theil
own. There was no boss" on whon
the burden could be shifted.
who controls the school,? tns
superinteAdents ask.
people" in Control.
"The obvious answer" they say II
reply to their own question" is thu
American people. For do not ths
American people, or at least those
among them who vote, select directly
or indirectly the members of the boare
Of education. who in turn formulate
educational policies and appoint TN
profession persounsla This woue