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little left for brain work. If the body is well protected and can exercise freely, exposure for a short time to cold air usually acts as a stimulant. Winter is more favorable than summer for mental work because there is less difficulty in securing the proper temperature indoors and because of the stimulating effect of the out-door cold.

As we have seen, the irritating effect of high temperatures causes the passions to be easily aroused and at the same time weakens the control of the mind over the body. Albert Leffingwell in his work on the "Influence of Seasons on Conduct" shows by statistics gathered from the records of the principal countries of Europe that crime is more prevalent during the summer months than during the winter months. People inhabiting hot countries have less strength of character than those inhabitating temperate countries. Resolution and firmness of purpose are largely lost in countries of intense heat.

Extreme cold is also unfavorable

to the development of character. The struggle for the maintenance of life in cold. countries is so intense that man in such

countries does not rise much above the animals in ethical conceptions. Cruelty and harshness are characteristic of the inhabitants of such regions. Temperate countries are most favorable for moral as well as physical and mental development.

In the child the disposition is much affected by the temperature of its environment. If it is kept in rooms that are too warm it will be restless, cross and peevish; if in rooms that are too cold, it will become harsh and cruel. In either case disease is likely to ensue. Living rooms and study rooms should be kept at a temperature as near 70° F. as possible and sleeping rooms at a temperature not higher than 65° F. High temperatures in sleeping rooms are extremely demoralizing to both body and mind. The migration from city to country and the liberal use of ice, and electric fans are doing much to counteract the distressing effects of the hot summer months. If the homes of the poor as well as those of the rich could be thus rendered comfortable in summer there would be a decided gain in physical and moral health.

(To be continued.)

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Supervision of High Schools

M. G. BENEDICT, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, UTICA, N. Y.

THE

HE noun supervision is derived from the verb to supervise. To supervise is "to oversee for direction," "inspect with authority." Therefore supervision is the act of overseeing by one who has authority and, if need be, exercises that authority.

The subject seems to imply that High Schools need supervision but leaves us in doubt as to the source and kind. The source and kind of supervision is, therefore, our subject.

Is the overseeing with direction to be. performed by the board of education, by the superintendent of the system or by the principal of the high school? All authority emanates from and ultimately rests in the board of education but, except in rare cases, the power to supervise should be delegated to one or more persons to carry to a final and successful issue, pre-determined and settled policies. These policies may be determined by the board of education or still more remotely by the people themselves in accordance with the well known functions of a high school. Before asking what the supervision of a high school shall be or by whom exercised it is necessary to properly locate the high school in the scheme of education and to determine its proper functions.

It has been wisely said that education. should be continuous from the cradle to the grave; so far as education is provided by some constituted authority it should be harmonious throughout. It should advance by easy stages, and its various parts so closely connected that the learner can pass from one stage to another without wrench or loss of time. This scheme of education begins with the kindergarten

and extends through the university. A close connection therefore should be maintained between the kindergartens and the elementary schools, between the elementary schools and the high school, between the high schools and the colleges, between the colleges and the universities. The high school is the connecting link between the elementary school and the college for those who wish and are able to take a college course or a connecting link between the elementary schools and a life vocation. We are concerned to-day with the high school link only. In this discussion we shall have in mind only those communities where there is likely to be a sufficient number of high school pupils which will be fairly representative of all the varying desires of ambitious persons. A city large or small, and probably many of the villages, will fulfill the conditions.

Since the high school is one link in the chain of education one of its functions must be to prepare boys and girls, who desire it, for admission to college. Otherwise, the chain is broken, the continuity destroyed and the progress of many pupils injured. We may be dissatisfied with the requirements as laid down by the higher institutions for admission but if the high school forms a part of a continuous chain the community has a right to demand that there shall be no break at the end of a high school course. If the requirements are too strenuous, the system should be readjusted by those having the matter in charge. Surely one high school or one community working alone can not effect such a change. While conditions remain as they are it certainly is one of the func

tions of a high school to do college preparatory work.

It is a function of a high school to give boys and girls who do not desire to enter college an education in every respect equivalent to that given to those who do so. desire. Otherwise, the link will be doing a partial work and will bestow favors upon a special class to the detriment of many who are as deserving and as capable. Courses of study should be as broad, as comprehensive, yea, even more so, for pupils who expect to finish their education in the secondary schools as for those who expect to continue in advanced schools. The quality of teaching should be just as good and just as masterly teachers should be assigned to such classes. No sympathy should be given, no toleration should be extended to those schools which put all the stress upon those pupils or classes which are to be tried by some authority in advance and let those who are not to be tried "catch as catch they can."

It is the function of a high school to work out and apply a course of study which will fulfill the above conditions and give every pupil who may enter equal opportunities for equal degrees of advancement. These equal degrees may not be along the same lines, one line may be college preparatory, other lines may be in science, in history, in English, in commercial branches, in manual training, or in technical science or it may be a combination of two or more as will best fit the needs or choice of individual pupils.

In these days of free electives, it is the function of the high school to guard pupils against the danger of dissipating their powers in mere acquisition of information. The following of many subjects which is liable to happen under a free elective system, may give information, but power results from an accurate, comprehensive knowledge of a few great subjects rather than from a division of atten

tion among several topics. Pupils, therefore, should be guarded against half year subjects and directed rather to subjects extending over two, three or even four years of study.

It is a function of the high school to take all pupils who have satisfactorily completed a properly constructed elementary course and who are capable of entering upon the work of secondary school studies. and adjust them to the point of view required to successfully prosecute the new work. Great skill is here required; nevertheless, this is one of the functions and should be accepted and performed.

It is the function of a high school to admit all who are prepared, find the work they can do and carry them just as far as their capabilities will warrant, within its prescribed limits so that no boy or girl may be deprived of the benefits arising from the associations to be found in a well ordered high school.

It is the function of the high school to give every child who may come within its influence an education which shall fit him or her to fulfill intelligently the duties of life, whether in pursuing a college course of study or in preparing to follow some activity of the business world.

It is a function of the high school to encourage, stimulate and direct, proper and systematic physical training with a due regard for games, sports and proper social relations. A high school which is alive to its true mission will make its pupils realize that their chief business at school is not athletic contests with other school organizations or societies, that it is not to found and maintain secret societies and fraternities which keep club rooms, have smokers, give banquets and hold social dances. Sports and games within the body of students are excellent and desirable but out-of-town games are, to say the least, undesirable, and are to be discouraged. A social life which includes the whole student body is commendable but a social

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own sphere or out of it. High schools should co-operate, not antagonize; should uplift, not put down, and on all occasions should blaze the way for better things yet to come.

Such are some of the functions which we think belong to every high school. There may be and undoubtedly are others. Surely these functions are diversified, they are onerous. The whole school system and all the people are interested in making the high school as efficient as possible and in furnishing it with the right supervision. We have already stated that the supervision and final authority resides in the Board of Education, but a wise Board will delegate that authority to others. First and foremost the power will be delegated to the superintendent for he it is who must bear the responsibility for unifying the entire system, of equalizing the expense of harmonizing and co-ordinating the various departments.

But a wise superintendent will delegate his authority to a wide extent to the principal of the school. This authority will be a delegated one only, and the principal who receives his authority from the Board of Education through the superintendent will transact his business with the Board through the superintendent as other teachers and principals are accustomed to do. When the high school principal has this authority he should be charged with the responsibility of so conducting that school that its functions will be performed and that the purposes for

which it is established and maintained are accomplished. If the functions of a school are all fulfilled, who cares about the supervision. I, for one, do not. But, for one, I am reasonably confident that no high school can rise to the highest degree of efficiency which does not have a principal broad enough, skilful enough, resourceful enough and with power enough to comprehend the functions, to formulate and execute all necessary decrees within its prescribed sphere and to be in the real sense of the word master of the situation.

An ideal high school principal is one who has the power of a Czar, the wisdom of a Solomon and the heart qualities of the Man of Nazareth. The best supervision in the world for a high school is the supervision which will provide such a man for its principal, a man who knows the needs of the young, who can see the relative relationship which exists between education and life, who has scholarship and extended culture, who can easily lead and direct a faculty of high minded men and women, a man who sympathizes with pupils, rejoices with them in their success, feels for them in their misfortune, can be unyielding when firmness is necessary and all sympathy, all encouragement to the vast number of individual students who constantly need the outstretched hand of assistance. When the principal has these qualities of mind and heart, then make his power commensurate with his duties and hold him responsible for results. This, in my mind, is the ideal supervision.

The Secret of Success

GEORGE C. ROWELL

Don't go mopin round all day

Cause the world won't use you well;

Jest brace up and sing a lay

And find where joy and gladness dwell.

When you're sure you've found the place,

Keep knockin till they let you in,

Greet them with a cheertul face;

With these for friends, success you'll win.

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