The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-11-04
Latest Styles
Your Children
By Olive Roberts Barton

Education Week Beginning No- vember D this year has become Q national institution among educa. tors. It is calculated to bring out new ideas in schooling and inform parents everywhere on the opJec" tives of modern training. Also It acts as c clearing house, In which not only educators may be heard. put parents themselves. A cplendid tdea, because heretofore few parents have had Q way of putting themselves on record, or having their ideas ana ideals considered in large way.
 So, in your Parent Teacher meet ing, fathers and mothers, speak out. You are invited to be heard. So often parents hesitate to take up their problems in public meet. ing. Not accustomed to Oratory and feeling unequipped with phrases, they allow their little problems to go unanswered. The result is that the years pass, and they have failed to And the answers they grope for. Needed Help for Parents
 It may be that MT. Smith wants advice very much AS to Juniors preparation for Q special field. How soon should Junior be selecting the subjects that will do him the most good later on? Or 1t may be that Mrs. Brown would like to know how much schooling is required for Navy to take up certain vacation. What special fields do night schools pre-" pare for?
 These and other problems per- taining to the present and the gu- ture of a boy or girl should Dc dis. cussed freely and openly. Instead MT. Jones and the Smiths 90 to the monthly or bi.weekly meetings and never say word. As Q result, too many associations are merely mark ing time and becoming pleasant 90. cial affairs that get nowhere.
 Now comes Education Week. Naturally there will be special speakers, but also, naturally, there will be forums for parents and teachers to discuss problems of health, work and social difilculties. The wise thing is to discuss them and not allow rhetoric or shynesS to interfere.
 A man wrote me not long ago about the "going.out" question. He said he hated to bring 1t up in the ?. T. A. meetings. What Q miStakel This is probably one subject nearest to the parents of all little children. Each wished somebody else would broach 1t. Nobody did. If conditions were as he described, this needed to be gone into carefully. With this as an example of how parents feel about coming out Into the open and speaking their pieces, then the whole idea of parent.teachers forums have lost their mark. Teachers Get New Slant
 Big problems or little, 1t nnatters not, should be aired. It is not only the parents opportunity to solve the anxieties of school life, but 1t give teachers an inaight t0 many thing'l they would be glad Co correct The speaker for the evening could Do dispensed with once in every 90 ofts en and e real get-together, Speaks you. .mind council held.
 Of course, grudgeS should be lefS at home. They interfere with con. struotivo action. Exjendliness should always be the keynote Of discussion, and frankness of opinion should never be taken personally.
 Teachers also have axes to grind. Let them speak out, too. ! was . teacher and once had my eyes opened to Q special need for one child, I found 1t usually helped with ell the others. Teachers want to know. They also want to express ther own difilculties. It clears the air all around to be honest. Why not make Education Week the starting point of Q new Srankness and new lnspiration7 Suggestions are In order for Q new day.
 Copyright, 1887. NEA Service. Incl