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Educational News and Comment

GENERAL NEWS -At the Chicago meeting of the N. E. A. Department of Superintendence, Dr. A. O. Thomas, state superintendent of schools of Maine, announced that a Detroit banker has offered a prize of $25,000 to the man or woman who submits by July 1, 1924, some feasible plan for world peace-a plan based on educational and not political agencies.

Dr. Thomas, in describing the plan, stated that it differs from all other plans in that it is entirely educational. He said: "We are firmly convinced that the peace of the world cannot be achieved through any merely political means. Neither can it be effected by influence of the adult consciousness of the present generation. But-when we turn to children-there is hope. Our idea is to get some plan which will instill into the children, the rising generation, some conception of the necessity of world concord and a community of nations in friendship. Our aim is not to break national ideals-not to pull down any flags. We merely see the need for world. peace and think that children should also see that need. Therefore we have decided to offer this $25,000 prize to any individual or organization in the world who devises in writing a practical plan for the furtherance of this ambitionsome plan by which children may be brought to see that the world at heart is just as much of a community as their neighborhoods."

-Enrollment in schools and classes for feebleminded and subnormal children in this country shows an extraordinary increase in the past twenty-two years, according to a report recently made public by the Department of the Interior through the Bureau of Education.

This increase does not show that

a greater percentage of children are becoming mentally defective from year to year, but it indicates a growing interest on the part of cities, states, and private organizations in making provisions for this unfortunate class.

In 1900 the 29 schools reported had 10,217 inmates. Although city schools. were not reported separately, it appears that there were then very few city classes for defectives. In 1918, 206 schools reported 55,084 pupils. The 214 schools in 1922 reported a total of 63,399 pupils. The enrollment has increased 15 per cent during four years. This is more than twice as much as the increase in enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools during the same time.

-At the recent Conference on Illiteracy, held in Washington under the joint auspices of the American Legion, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the National Education Association, and the Bureau of Education, a resolution was passed asking the Commissioner of Education to appoint a national committee, representative of all sections of the country, for the purpose of reviewing the materials submitted by Group C (Courses of Study and Method of Instruction) of the conference and forwarding the results of their work to those engaged in illiteracy work.

Commissioner John J. Tigert appointed the following committee, which met for the first time in Chicago during the meeting of the Department of Superintendence, and will meet again in Washington during the summer meeting of the National Education Association: Charles M. Herlihy, state supervisor of alien education, Boston, Mass.; A. B. Meredith, state commissioner of education, Hartford, Conn.; R. S. Ross, Americanization secretary, General

Electric Co., Schenectady, N. Y.; H. J. Steel, superintendent of schools, Buhl, Minn.; Mrs. Cora Wilson Stewart, chairman, Illiteracy Commission, National Education Association, Frankfort, Ky.; Wil Lou Gray, supervisor adult schools, State Department of Education, Columbia, S. C.; Captain Garland W. Powell, national director, Americanism Commission, American Legion, Indianapolis, Ind.; Mrs. John D. Sherman, General Federation of Women's Clubs, Chicago, Ill.; and Florence C. Fox, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. At the Chicago meeting Mr. Herlihy was unanimously elected chairman.

-The following is a list of the activities of the thirty-seven county nurses in Wisconsin: Inspected 105,092 school children, 66,389 of whom were found to have physical defects calling for correction. In social service work the county nurses assisted superintendents of poor and investigated 427 cases. In counties.

not employing a probation officer they investigated and reported to county judges upon 1,320 cases of delinquency, dependency, and neglect. They investigated 1,213 cases of crippled children left helpless by infantile paralysis.

-Philadelphia has 38,000 children on part time. The platoon system is to be tried in a few schools to assist in relieving the situation. The plan is only an expedient until new school buildings are available.

-Gertrude A. Golden, recently appointed district superintendent in Philadelphia, is the first woman to occupy such a position in the system. She was the principal of the Morton School.

-Dr. Andrew W. Edson, for several years district associate superintendent of New York schools, Massachusetts board of education member ten years, and an educator nearly half a century,

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died in Shrewsbury, Mass., in February.

-John G. Graham, superintendent of public schools, Huntington, West Virginia, is directing an extensive building program. In addition to a fine modern senior high school building already constructed, the Board of Education has recently let contracts for the construction of the Lincoln Junior high school building at a cost of $225,000 when completed, the Monroe elementary school costing complete $145,000, and the Emmons elementary school at $80,000. Plans are also under way for the construction of the Douglas Senior and Junior high school (colored). Huntington is growing rapidly. During the past year the school enrollment increased more than 800.

-The Institute of International Education will repeat in 1924 the series of applied arts which it inaugurated last European travel courses in the fine and summer, according to an announcement recently issued by the institute. The undertaking is substantially a European summer school of art and architecture, taught in a classroom big enough to include the great galleries, cathedrals, and palaces of Europe, and is based upon the value of direct visual impressions in the appreciation and historical study of painting, sculpture, architecture, etc. Travel courses in history, economics, and international relations were established by the Institute of International Education three years ago, in association with the Federation de l'Alliance Française, the Italy American Society, the English-Speaking Union, and the American Scandinavian Foundation, and under the direction of a board of advisors composed of officers of those and other organizations. Information regarding sailing dates, etc., may be secured from Irwin Smith, Times Building, New York.

-Owen D. Evans, who has been assistant director of vocational education in charge of continuation schools in the Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction, has resigned his position to go with the National Transportation Institute with headquarters at Washington, D. C.

-Edward A. Filene of Boston has offered $50,000 for a peace award similar to that of Mr. Bok. Mr. Filene's peace award contest, however, will be held in England, Italy and France. Among those coöperating with Mr. Filene are Leon Bourgeois, former president of the Council of the League of Nations; Senator de Jouvenel, editor of Le Matin; Tomaso Tittoni, president of the Italian Senate, and Gilbert Murray.

-The Fifth Quinquenial Convention of the International Council of Women will be held in Washington in May, 1925. The organization represents 30,000,000 women. Lady Aberdeen of Scotland is president. Some of the questions to be discussed are: Permanent peace and international arbitration; arbitration; equal moral standard for men and women; immigration; the industrial position of women and child welfare.

-Henry Ford has bought the little red schoolhouse where half a century ago young "Hank" Ford received his limited "book" learning. It is a typical little country school of fifty years ago. It is situated a short distance from Detroit and two miles from the farm which was Mr. Ford's boyhood home.

-A wide range of teachers' courses will be given at the summer session this year by the Carnegie Institute of Tech nology, in Pittsburgh. According to an announcement, the variety of the work offered is apparently wide enough to interest nearly every teacher who feels a need for more technical training. The exceptional shops, laboratories, and studios of this institution will again be

available for instruction in the courses related to engineering, industry, home economics, and the arts.

-John G. D. Mack, state engineer of Wisconsin and former professor of mechanical engineering in the Wisconsin University College of Engineering, died the last week in February. Mr. Mack in 1893 joined the staff of the Wisconsin College of Engineering as an instructor. Two years later he was promoted to assistant professor, and from 1903 to 1915 he was professor. In 1915 he left the engineering faculty to become state engineer.

-The United States Civil Service Commission announces the following open competitive examination for the positions of teacher of home economics and principal of home economics: The examinations will be held throughout the country on May 7 and 8, respectively. They are to fill vacancies in the Indian Service and in positions requir ing similar qualifications. The entrance salaries for teacher of home economics range from $760 to $840 a year; the entrance salaries for principal of home economics range from $1,000 to $1,200 a year. In addition to the basic salaries appointees are allowed the increase of $20 a month granted by Congress, and they are also allowed furnished quarters, heat, light, and subsistence free of cost. Full information and application blanks may be obtained from the United States Civil Service Commission, Washington, D. C., or the secretary of the board of U. S. civil service examiners at the post office or customhouse in any city.

-The school levy election at Cincinnati, Ohio, calling for $400,000 additional to the regular income, was carried by a majority of 13,000 votes. "The additional $400,000 will enable the city to carry forward its entire program of education," said Superintendent Ran

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-Otis W. Caldwell, director of the Lincoln Experimental School, Teachers College, Columbia University, spent the week of February 11 in Denver. As a scientist and a school administrator Dr. Caldwell has a nation-wide reputation. As a college professor, as dean of University College of the University of Chicago, and as director of the Lincoln Experimental School, he has had occa sion to come in active contact with most of the major problems of education.

"Washington Will Be Ready!" This was the slogan which Superintendent Frank W. Ballou, chairman of the local committee on arrangements for the summer convention of the National Education Association in Washington, D. C., announced at a dinner given by the teachers of Washington, February 9, in honor of President Olive M. Jones. The slogan came as a fitting answer to the one adopted by the educators of the country, "On to Washington!" The reception and dinner was held at the Hotel Roosevelt and was attended by over two hundred guests, including the N. E. A. executive staff.

-In our February issue appeared a list of the five law schools in the United States having the largest enrollment. The Suffolk law school of Boston should have been included in the list and given second place, as its present enrollment is 1,731 students, only 21 less than the

Brooklyn law school, which was prop erly given the first place. The revised list indicates the following order: Brooklyn, 1,752; Suffolk, 1,731; New York University, 1,671; Fordham Uni versity, 1,433; and Harvard University, 1,110.

-William A. Greeson, who has, with the exception of a period of ten years, been connected with the schools of Grand Rapids since 1881, has announced to the board of education that he is not a candidate for reëlection as superintendent. Mr. Greeson at first was an instructor in Latin and Greek in the Central high school, later became principal of the school, and finally superintendent of the schools. Under him the school for exceptional children was started, also the work in speech correction and sight conservation. Junior high schools and a junior college have been established during his regime. A school for crippled children is one of his latest undertakings.

-The total resources of the Carnegie Foundation now amount to $27,329,000, of which $15,192,000 belong to the permanent general endowment, $9,658,000 tirement, during the next sixty years, to a reserve fund to be spent in the re

of teachers now in associated institu

tions, $1,292,000 to the endowment of the Division of Educational Enquiry, and $758,000 to a reserve fund to be expended in aiding universities and collèges to adopt the new plan of contractual annuities. The investments are all in bonds.

COLLEGE NOTES

-The fifteen largest institutions listed for regular students devoting full time to their courses are as follows: University of California (including the Southern branch), 13,276; Columbia, 11,530; Illinois, 9,353; Michigan, 8,906;

Minnesota, 8,331; Ohio State, 8,225; Wisconsin, 7,531; Pennsylvania, 7,168; Harvard, 6,584; New York University, 5,843; Nebraska, 5,462; University of Washington, 5,221; State University of Iowa, 5,202; Cornell, 5,153; Boston University, 4,834.

-The 26th annual summer session of the University of Wisconsin will open on June 30.

-About $850,000 has been raised so far for the million-dollar Memorial Union building at the University of Wisconsin.

-J. E. Spurr, editor of Engineering and Mining Journal-Press and author of many reports on ore deposits, gave three addresses on ore deposits for students in the department of geology of the University of Wisconsin on March 5-7.

-Dr. Charles W. Eliot, presidentemeritus of Harvard University, celebrated his ninetieth birthday anniversary March 20. Still vigorous in mind and body, he has a splendid record for leadership and achievement behind him and is still going strong. During the last 50 years he has been an outstanding educational leader, advocating many reforms, always vigorous and constructive in his writings and addresses, and giving expression to his ideas and ideals in clear and forceful language. For mastery of thought, style and diction few writers or speakers compare with him. His long and useful life affords a worthy example for every teacher and educator to commend and bring to the attention of the youth of the land. We do well in honoring this grand old man, the dean of educators.

-An anonymous gift of $100,000 to Harvard has recently been announced. Of this sum, $50,000 is for the permanent fund of the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain, the income to be used for current expenses, and $50,000 is to es

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tablish a George Lincoln Goodale fund of which the income is to be used in meeting current expenses of the botanical museum.

George Lincoln Goodale, professor of natural history at the university and director of the botanical garders, died last April. He was author of works on plant physiology and economic botany.

-Dr. Murray P. Horwood, assistant professor of biology and public health at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has a three months' leave of absence this spring to assist the research division of the American Child Health Association, which is investigating conditions of child health in eighty-six typical American cities in thirty-one states. Dr. Horwood is making surveys in fifteen New England cities.

-Miss Lucy Salmon of the faculty of Vassar College, who reaches the point of retirement this year, has been asked by the trustees to continue teaching for another year as chairman of the history department. The trustees, it was indi

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