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TOPIC: CHILDREN DIFFER IN MENTAL ALERTNESS

I. What Constitutes Retardation, etc.-Ayres

II. Provision for Gifted Children in Public Schools-Van Sickle

III. What Consideration Should Be Given Subnormal Pupils-Groszmann
Discussion-Dyer.

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II. Charles P. Cary.

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ROUND TABLES

A. ROUND TABLES OF STATE AND COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS

Topic: The Country Child

I. The Necessary One-Room School-Gass

II. The Consolidation of Schools-Aley

III. Industrial Work: In the One-Room School-Byrd

IV. Teachers for the Country School: Kind Wanted: How to Secure
Them-Alleman

Discussion-Pattengill; Park; Black; Picken

137 138

139

142

144

B. ROUND TABLE OF SUPERINTENDENTS OF LARGER CITIES

I. Art as a Necessary Factor in Industrial Education-Sargent

146

C. ROUND TABLE OF SUPERINTENDENTS OF SMALLER CITIES

I. The Purpose and Content of the Elementary Curriculum-Chamber-
lain

148

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DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE INDIANAPOLIS MEETING, MARCH 1-3, 1910

SECRETARY'S MINUTES

FIRST DAY

MORNING SESSION-TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 1910

The Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association met in the Assembly Room of the Claypool Hotel, Indianapolis, Ind., at 9:30 A.M., President Stratton D. Brooks, superintendent of schools, Boston, Mass., presiding.

After a few introductory remarks President Brooks declared the meeting ready to proceed with the following program:

Topic: Children Differ in Mental Alertness

1. Retardation: What Constitutes Retardation? How Significant Are Retardation Statistics? When Is Retardation Justifiable? How May It Be Corrected?-Leonard P. Ayres, secretary of Russell Sage Foundation, New York City.

2. What Consideration Should Be Given to Gifted Pupils ?-James H. Van Sickle, superintendent of schools, Baltimore, Md.

3. What Consideration Should Be Given to Subnormal Pupils ?-Maximilian P. E. Groszmann, Plainfield, N.J.

General Discussion-Leaders: Lightner Witmer, director of the Psychological Laboratory and Clinic, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.; F. B. Dyer, superintendent of schools, Cincinnati, Ohio.

COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS

At the close of the morning session President Brooks appointed a committee on resolutions consisting of the following named persons:

Ben Blewett, superintendent of schools, St. Louis, Mo.

Charles E. Chadsey, superintendent of schools, Denver, Colo.

Charles H. Keyes, supervisor of schools, South District, Hartford, Conn.

E. H. Mark, superintendent of schools, Louisville, Ky.

COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS

A committee on nominations was also appointed consisting of:

Z. X. Snyder, president of State Normal School, Greeley, Colo.

S. L. Heeter, superintendent of schools, St. Paul, Minn.

J. Stanley Brown, superintendent of schools, Joliet, Ill.

Charles J. Baxter, state superintendent of public instruction, Trenton, N.J.

F. B. Dyer, superintendent of schools, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Mr. Milton Fairchild, of Baltimore, Md., special instructor of the Moral Education Board, was introduced and allowed ten minutes to explain plans which have been formulated for moral instruction by means of stereopticon lessons. He spoke as follows:

During the past thirteen years serious efforts have been made to devise a satisfactory method of teaching morals in American public schools. Something like $50,000 worth of work has been done with results that are satisfactory to a large circle of prominent educators. I have devoted my entire time since 1897 to the problem with a definite purpose of inventing, if possible, a method of instruction that would hold the interest of boys and girls and influence them in their daily lives, and yet be suitable for American public-school conditions. In this effort I have had the assistance of a large circle of educational leaders and now appear before you under the sanction of the Moral Education Board, which has a membership of 150 distributed over the entire United States.

Our plan of moral instruction is as follows:

1. Photographs of things that actually happen in real life are taken especially for moral instruction.

2. Lantern slides from these, 50 to 100 for each lesson, are projected on a screen and thus enlarged to life size before large audiences of pupils in the school assembly halls.

3. Carefully prepared instruction as to what is right and fine in conduct is given as an explanation of the photographs while the pupils are studying them upon the screen.

It has been generally recognized both in the home and in the school that what is called "incidental instruction" carries real influence. The trouble has always been that there has been no possibility of controlling such instruction. The "incident" will often happen when instruction is inappropriate, or will not happen at all, and nothing like thoro instruction has ever been possible along these lines. It seemed to us if these episodes in real life, which ought to be the basis for moral instruction, could be photographed and lantern slides made from them, so that when the pictures were thrown on the screen life-size the boys and girls would be willing, and perhaps anxious, to discuss them from the standpoint of morals; and that “Illustrated Lessons in Morals" could thus be prepared, which would be under the control of the teacher, and which it would be possible to utilize for thoro instruction in morals-the most important topic in education.

Along these lines extended experiments have been made. A special camera taking thirty pictures a minute was invented, and fully six years have been spent in gathering an extensive collection of photographs especially for moral instruction. Several illustrated lessons have been made up, and delivered over a territory including twenty different states to aggregate audiences numbering over 100,000 boys and girls in public and private schools. The interest is real, and often intense. The presentation of the real things of life which involve morals makes it seem natural to the pupils that the morals involved in the pictures should be discussed. Large audiences of 600, and sometimes 2,000, have listened to these illustrated lessons with intense interest for an hour. The discussion among the pupils themselves following the delivery of the lesson on "The True Sportsman," for example, has been prolonged for days, and sometimes weeks, in a perfectly natural way and with permanent results on the moral convictions of the school.

The lessons which are at present available for general use thruout the entire United States have the following titles;

1. High School Lessons: "The Gentleman"; "Personal and National Thrift"; "The True Sportsman."

2. Upper Grammar School: "What I Am Going to Do When I Am Grown Up." 3. Lower Grammar School: "What Men Think about Boys' Fights."

The preparation of an "Illustrated Lesson in Morals" involves about $10,000 in advance expense. The photographs are difficult to get, because the photographer must happen to be on hand when the incident worth while for moral instruction happens to come off. A psychological chart is first made covering the topic. Then the photographs illustrating the ideas to be taught are selected and the text very carefully written, to insure the argument taking firm hold of the minds of the grade of boys and girls before whom the lesson is intended to be used. The pictures and texts are then printed and sent to members of the Moral Education Board for criticism and suggestion. After thoro revision the lesson is printed in its final form and, together with its accompanying lantern slides, is sent out by express as there may be demand for it. The natural interest of the pictures, and the direct, simple character of the text, make it possible for a local teacher with some ability as a lecturer to make an effective delivery of the lesson.

This interesting formal instruction in morals is given in assembly halls to large audiences, and is then supplemented by personal discussion and instruction by the various teachers to their own classes. The plan is to take such a lesson as "What I'm Going to Do When I'm Grown Up" and give it in rapid succession in all grammar schools of a city, provoking interest in the entire body of grammar-school pupils and affording general opportunity for discussion by the teachers simultaneously. It is possible in this way to exert powerful influence over the moral convictions of boys and girls themselves.

Mr. Bernard N. Baker, of Baltimore, is furnishing a fund of $10,000 on which this system of moral instruction can be fully tried out in America. He is giving his personal attention to the business organization, and planning for the incorporation of the Moral Education Board as an educational institution. The schools are to pay a small rental fee to sustain headquarters, but part of the expense is to be borne from the endowment fund. The address is, Moral Education Board, 903 Calvert Bld., Baltimore, Md.

Mr. Fairchild then invited the superintendents interested to visit his exhibit, and called attention to a historical sketch written by Walter H. Page, which appeared in March, 1910, issue of World's Work.

AFTERNOON SESSION

At 2 P.M., President Brooks called the meeting to order and the following program was presented:

Topic: Children Differ in Moral Responsibility

1. The Variable Factors in Moral Responsibility.-P. W. Horn, superintendent of schools, Houston, Tex.

2. Discipline as Affected by Differences in Moral Responsibility.-Walter F. Lewis, superintendent of schools, Port Huron, Mich.

3. Methods of Reducing Moral Truths to Practice.-Horace H. Cummings, general superintendent L.D.S. Schools, Salt Lake City, Utah.

4. A Richer Moral Ideal.-P. P. Claxton, professor of education, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.

In Memoriam, William Torrey Harris.-George P. Brown, editor, School and Home Education, Bloomington, Ill. (Read by John W. Cook, with introduction by Mr. Cook.) C. P. Cary, state superintendent of public instruction, Madison, Wis. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, United States Commissioner of Education, Washington, D.C.

EVENING SESSION

The evening session was called to order at 7:45 o'clock, President Brooks presiding. Hon. Albert J. Beveridge, United States Senator for Indiana, delivered an address on 'The School and the Nation." Following the address of Senator Beveridge a reception was tendered to the visiting members by the Board of School Commissioners, and the superintendent and teachers of the public schools of Indianapolis at the John Herron Art Institute.

SECOND DAY

MORNING SESSION-WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2

The meeting was called to order by President Brooks at 9:30 A.M. program was presented:

The following

Topic: Children Differ in Mental Attitudes, Tastes, and Tendencies

1. Dangers and Advantages of Specialization Prior to the High School Age.— W. E. Striplin, superintendent of schools, Gadsden, Ala.

2. The Effects of Electives upon the Future Welfare of Secondary Education.— J. Stanley Brown, principal of Township High School, Joliet, Ill.

3. Do Present College-Entrance Requirements Sufficiently Recognize the Different Tastes and Tendencies of Pupils ?-A. Ross Hill, president of the University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.

General Discussion-Leaders: A. H. Yoder, superintendent of schools, Tacoma, Wash.; J. George Becht, principal of State Normal School, Clarion, Pa.; W. A. Godward, superintendent of schools, Devil's Lake, N.Dak.

The annual business meeting followed the program.

Invitations to hold the meeting of the Department for the year 1911 were received from Chattanooga, Tenn., Dallas, Tex., Richmond, Va., St. Louis, Mo., Mobile, Ala., and Chicago, Ill.

The following resolution was offered by President John W. Cook of DeKalb, Illinois: Resolved, (1) That the action of this Department with respect to its location for 1911 shall be advisory only, and subject to the approval of the officers of the Department, including the General Secretary of the National Education Association; (2) That no action respecting the location of this Department for the year 1911 shall be regarded as even advisory by the officers of the Department unless supported by a majority of those voting, and if three or more cities shall be voted for in any ballot the city receiving the smallest vote shall be dropped on the succeeding ballot.

The motion was duly seconded and adopted.

After two ballots were taken, Mobile received 371 votes, a majority of the votes cast. Superintendent Ella Flagg Young, of Chicago, moved to make the vote for Mobile unanimous. This motion prevailed.

President Brooks called for the report of the Committee on Nominations and President

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