AVERAGE NUMBER OF BUSHELS OF CORN GROWN DURING A FIVE-YEAR PERIOD. 263. Girls' Clubs. Similar to the boys' clubs, the girls are organized into bread-making, meal preparation, hot school lunch, clothing, handicraft, and canning clubs. For instance, in the canning clubs each girl takes one tenth of an acre and is taught how to select the seed, to plant, cultivate, and perfect the growth of the tomato plant. Inexpensive canning outfits which can be set up out of doors — in orchard or garden obtained by each girl or by a small club. Commonly the girls meet at their various homes, bringing the raw vegetables or fruit with them. The girls are instructed by a county domestic science agent or by some local teacher or well-informed person who understands practical and scientific canning. are One year a girl in Lincoln County, Mississippi, earned a net profit just under $100 on her 950 cans of tomatoes. 264. Rank of States Educationally. The following table, prepared by the Russell Sage Foundation, gives the approximate rank of each of the 48 States in ten specified educational features for the year 1918. Whose duty is it to see that your State makes a better showing during the next decade? The foregoing table can be better understood if illustrated in detail by Montana, whose general rank is first. In proportion of children in school she ranks 1st; in regularity of attendance, 1st; in length of school year, 33d; in proportion of children attending high school, 23d; in proportion of boys to girls in high schools, 40th; in amount of money expended on each pupil, 1st; in amount of money expended for each child of school age, 1st; in amount of money expended in proportion to the number of teachers, 6th; in amount of money expended for purposes other than teachers' salaries, 1st; and in average salaries, 15th. BIBLIOGRAPHY CUBBERLEY, E. P. Public School Administration, 1918. MUNROE, PAUL. A Cyclopedia of Education. 5 vols. 1911-1913. The Gary Schools, General Education Board, N.Y. 1918. A General Account (25 cts.), Organization and Administration (15 cts.), Costs (25 cts.), Industrial Work (25 cts.), Household Arts (10 cts.), Physical Training and Play (10 cts.), Science Teaching (10 cts.), Measurement of Classroom Products (30 cts.). - Annual Report of the Federal Board of Vocational Training. - Bulletins of the Federal Board of Vocational Training. Annual Report of the United States Commissioner of Education. Bulletins of the Bureau of Education, Washington. Annual Report of the State Superintendent of Education. A Summary of School Laws. (Usually distributed by the State Superintendent.) QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT 1. To what extent were the American people educated previous to the Revolutionary War? 2. Who aroused great interest in public school education throughout the North in 1838? 3. When were public free schools established in the South? 4. What is meant by elementary schools? Primary schools? Grammar schools? Secondary schools? Higher education? 5. What proportion of pupils complete the eighth grade throughout the United States? 6. How are compulsory attendance laws enforced where they exist? 7. When did public high schools develop in the United States? 8. How many colleges were established in the United States before the Revolutionary War? 9. How many colleges are there to-day in the United States? How many students are enrolled? What proportion are women? 10. Name some of the universities whose annual incomes exceed $100,000. 11. Explain how the United States has aided higher education in the States. 12. How many colleges and universities with incomes exceeding $100,000 are located in the State in which you live? 13. Name four systems for administering public schools. Describe each. 14. From what sources is public school revenue derived? 15. Is the amount of money spent on public education as much as should be spent? 16. Does the State in which you live spend as much on education per capita as other progressive States? Does it spend as much in proportion to its wealth? 17. What are the seven different bases for the distribution of school funds? 18. Why is it so important that the States furnish industrial education? 19. Explain how industrial education is taught at the Fitchburg (Mass.) High School. At the University of Cincinnati. 20. Explain how farms can be made more productive. 21. Describe the Farragut School of Concord, Tennessee, and tell how it is conducted. 22. Explain how agriculture is taught by "county demonstrators." 23. Describe Boys' Corn Clubs. 24. Describe Girls' Canning Clubs. 25. According to the Russell Sage Foundation report what is the general rank of the State in which you live? QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. What provisions does the constitution of your State make regarding education? 2. Does your State have compulsory education? Is the compulsory education law enforced in your community? If not, by what means do you think it could be enforced? 3. Twenty out of the twenty-one counties in Wyoming have women as superintendents of schools. In what respect do you think the women are especially equipped for this work? 4. The Manual Arts High School of Los Angeles, California, has a student government organization, which includes all the students and the faculty. Its officers are chosen from the student body, with the exception of the auditor and the treasurer, who are appointed by the principal; the treasurer being under $2000 bond. The government of the school is practically in the hands of the students, but the principal has a right to interfere when he deems it necessary. Courts are held, where offenders who plead "not guilty" are tried. Counsel represents both sides and a student jury gives decisions. Laws may be established by initiative and referendum, and the recall may be invoked against any elected officer. The organization transacts $50,000 worth of business a year, the profit going into the treasury of the school. The book exchange, school printing plant, and cafeteria are among the enterprises. Prepare a constitution for the government of your school. 5. In many States textbooks are furnished free, in others the pupils have to buy them, and in a few the State buys them and rents them to the pupils for a nominal sum. What do you consider the merits and demerits of each of the systems? 6. Has your school a good library of reference books, such as dictionaries, encyclopædias, and atlases? Has your Board of Trustees or your Civic League ever been requested to procure these student utensils? 7. Is there not some philanthropist in your county who would give $50,000 to build a county library as a lasting monument to himself if he were only impressed with the need of it? If a $50,000 library were offered, do you think your county would sustain it? Each school in the county could be a branch library for getting the books into the hands of pupils and patrons. 8. Does your school get circulating books from the State library? 9. Virginia schools of higher rank draw from the State treasury annually a sum of money equal to one per cent of the school annuity in addition to the regular annuity. This money is used as a loan fund for deserving scholars, who may receive sums not exceding $100 each for any one session to supplement what they can earn. Upon this loan |