The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1939-06-16
SCHOOL SURVEY BILL SIGNED
BY GOVERNOR O'CONoR
Five-nlan Commission will Review
Public Elementary and High
Schools and state Teach
ers Colleges

Annapolis, June I'm signing |
House Bill ass, known as the |
School Survey Bill, Governor Her
bert r.. O'Conor took the first step |
towards adapting the Public School
System of the State to meet the
changed conditions that now con-
front it. This bill authorizes Gov
ernor O'Conor to appoint commits |
sion of five members to make sur
vey of the Public Elementary and
High Schools, and the State Teach
ers' Colleges of the State of Mary
| land. The commission Is to be an
unpaid group of outstanding citizens
of the State interested in the prob
lens of youth and the problems of
public education.
Twenty-Five thousand dollars has
been appropriated in the supple
mentary budget to finance this sur
vey for the two fiscal years 1910
and 1941. The results of the sur
vey are to be reported TO Governor
O'Coner and the General Assembly
ait its next session in 1941. The act
ual work of the study Is to be made
by outstanding national educational
leaders who are to be selected and
appointed by the commission.
New Conditions A Problem
! The depression, chronological
changes in industry and new social
legislation raising the age limits for
entering employment, have multi
piled the problems Of youth, which
in turn have reflected their 1nfiu-
ence ON public school systems
throughout the states. Youth is no
longer able to secure jobs in many
of the occupations which were Access
sible to them ten or fifteen years
ago. Thus there is a serious gap in
the life of youth-that period be-
| tween leaving or graduating from
school and securing employment.
The school must be social as
we'll as an educational institution,
and the situation of the youth of
the State of Maryland is now SO
acute that serious and intelligent
consideration of the responsibility of
the school as social and educa-
tional agency is imperative. Many
and complex solutions have been
offered to the problem. 1t is the
purpose of the survey to study the
conditions in the State and to make
recommendations to- Go Werno r
O'Conor for changes within the fin
ancial limitations of the State.
New Cycle OF Education
"A progressive system of education
must move forward, must throw on
the cloak of dissatisfaction, and
establish new cycles. These cycles
must come in order, and it is be-
lieved by many leaders in our par
ent-teacher organizations and by
leaders of public education in the
state that the time has arrived to
enter a new cycle of further develop
ment of educational service to
youth.
Throughout. the past ten OF more
years Maryland has succeeded, &C
cording to the testimony of leading
educational experts of national re-
nown, in securing educational re-
suits comparable with those of the
best state school systems of the
country. These results have been OBJ
tanned because the emphasis has
been placed on the securing OF
high quality of teaching; through
the training, selection, and supervi-
sion of teachers; and through an
economical system of organization.
Increased Services Expected
i Now the public is requesting and
expecting increased educational SER
vices from public educational agen-
cies. The secondary schools of the
State ca nno longer be justified as
college preparatory public schools
alone. Subject matter, courses of
study, and school organization must
be adjusted to offer broader SER
vice to the youth of Maryland.
Some persons feel that this can
be done by frightening the school
term from the present organiza-
ton of seven elementary years
and four high school years to,
one of eight elementary years and
four high school years. Others main
tain that the solution is six years of
elementary grade, three years OF
senior high school grade. Another
group maintains that to lengthen
the school terms would do little to-
make the adjustment unless the SER
vice be made much broader in its
Offering, SO that subjects which will
render genuine educational SER
vice to those youths who are not
going to college and in many cases
will not even finish high school may
be included in the curriculum.
Previous Survey Resultful