presented daily in every school and classroom. The question of morals is largely a matter of right adjustment on the part of the individual in his social relationships. Is the child responding in a satisfactory manner, and do our children have many and varied opportunities to respond to social situations and to make right decisions, are questions that every teacher has to answer. To bring about outward respect for right conduct teachers should aim to establish right motives. The all-important question is how does the child respond to the sentiment of the group and does his attitude indicate that he wishes to co-operate in playing the game fair and in maintaining standards of right and justice for one and all. Miss Jean made a most effective plea for establishing boys and girls, while young, in proper health habits. It is not a question of giving information, the speaker claimed, but rather of getting the children to practice daily the rules of right living. These in their last analysis are few and simple, namely systematic exercise, plenty of fresh air and sleep, a diet in which plenty of milk and fresh vegetables and fruit are used, and personal cleanliness, including care of the teeth. The speaker gave some illustrations of effective methods used in interesting children in forming right health habits and in the acquiring of correct health ideals. Space limitations preclude detailed reports of the several splendid programs carried out before the other sectional meetings. Meeting of House of Delegates At the business meeting of the House of Delegates Supt. C. Edward Jones of Albany, chairman of the resolutions committee, presented several important resolutions, all of which were adopted. At this meeting John A. DeCamp was reelected president of the Association for the ensuing year. Miss Clara Soden of Mooers Forks, district superintendent schools of Clinton county, was chosen vice-president to succeed Miss Julia Markham, a grammar school principal of Schenectady. The two members of the executive committee elected were: Herbert S. Weet, superintendent of schools of Rochester, who succeeds himself, and A. R. Coulson, a grammar school principal of Albany, who succeeds William E. Pierce of East Aurora, a district superintendent. The new member of the executive committee will serve for three years and the vice-president for one. It is of general interest that the personnel of the new Retirement Fund Board favors the retention of the present secretary, E. G. Lantman, and that the executive committee of the state association likewise favors the retention of Richard A. Searing, the present efficient secretary of the Association who has served in that capacity for nearly a score of years. Percy M. Hughes, superintendent of schools of Syracuse, backed by the chamber of commerce of that city, extended a cordial invitation to the Association to hold the next meeting in Syracuse and the invitation has been accepted by the executive committee. Adoption of Resolutions The resolutions adopted by the House of Delegates are as follows: Resolved: 1. That we express to Superintendent E. C. Hartwell and his associates in the Buffalo schools our appreciation of their splendid hospitality and service in making this convention a success. 2. That we congratulate Warren G. Harding, President of the United States, and Charles Evans Hughes, Secretary of State, and their administration, that through the Disarmanent Conference they are striving to lessen the horrors of war, envy and hatred, and to promote higher ideals of service and sacrifice; that we pledge them our support in this great effort for humanity; that the secretary be instructed to wire the President and his Secretary of this action. 3. That we urge legislation whereby school boards shall have complete control of the financial resources of the schools and shall otherwise be independent of the city government. 4. That we consider the transfer of health education from the State Education Department to any other department a serious error fraught with great danger to the health and education of the children of the state, and we oppose any such transfer. 5. That we favor legislation permitting school authorities to establish a sabbatical year for study or travel for such teachers as have served continuously in any supervisory unit for eight or more years. 6. That the executive committee be directed to publish in the Journal for each supervisory district the number of teachers employed and the number belonging to the State Association. 7. That we favor for rural schools a teacher's quota proportionately larger than such present quota. 8. That a committee of seven be appointed by the executive committee to represent the several sections of the state to consider a plan for holding district meetings of this association in various parts of the state and that such committee report at the next meeting of the house of delegates. 9. That we now give notice that at the next annual meeting an amendment to the constitution shall be proposed to the effect that the president of this association hereafter shall not be eligible to succeed himself. 10. That we congratulate President John A. DeCamp and his executive committee on their year's administration and we express to Secretary R. A. Searing our appreciation of his success in increasing the membership of this association during the last year from 9,000 to 15,000, and we pledge our support in his effort to make next year's membership 25,000. C. EDWARD JONES, Chairman of Committee on Resolutions. Pennsylvania's Educational Congress The third annual Educational Congress for the state of Pennsylvania was held in Harrisburg November 10-12, under the direction of the State Department of Public Instruction. By unanimous vote of the congress last year this meeting has been made a permanent feature of the educational work of the state. In keeping with the policy of giving special attention to some of the state's educational needs, the subject of rural education was chosen for consider ation this year. The sessions were held in the hall of the House of Representatives and in the auditorium of the Technical high school. The congress opened with a luncheon for county superintendents and normal school principals in the Penn Harris Hotel. At the first general session on the afternoon of November 10 the following speakers discussed "The Rural Community School" in its relation to the home, the church, industry and citi zenship: Miss Julia Wade Abbott of the United States Bureau of Education, Washington; Rev. Robert Bagnell, D. D., pastor of the Grace Methodist Episcopal church, Harrisburg; Prof. George A. Works of Cornell University, and Dr. Richard Watson Cooper, director of the Bureau of Education, Wilmington, Delaware. In the evening an informal reception was held in the offices of the Department of Public Instruction. Representatives of the State Department were on the program for the Friday morning session, which consisted of brief addresses on the following phases of "The Rural Community School:" General Organization, The Six Year Elementary Course, The High School, and Special Features, including Agriculture, Art, Health, Homemaking and Music. At the afternoon session the subject of "General Equipment" was taken up. Under this heading Hubert C. Eicher, director of the school buildings bureau, Harry B. Hostetter, landscape architect, Miss Adeline B. Zachert, director of school libraries, Miss Hannah Kieffer, director of the rural department of the Shippensburg State Normal School, and Dr. Henry C. Morrison, professor of school administration at the University of Chicago, spoke on buildings, grounds, libraries, apparatus and supplies, and the teacher. A general discussion followed, led by Superintendents D. A. Kline of Perry county, Samuel H. Replogle of Allegheny county, and Fred W. · Diehl of Montour county. Edward E. Lieutenant-Governor Biedleman presided at the closing session, which was addressed by Scnator Frederick M. Davenport of New York, whose subject was "Civilization in the Balance." In his address Senator Davenport discussed chiefly the issues at stake at the armament conference in Washington. The Harrisburg conference can not fail to give a decided impetus to the cause of rural education in Pennsylvania. The importance of the rural school problem was emphasized in a statement by State Superintendent Thomas E.. Finegan, in which he said: "A great state, in developing a system of education adequate to the needs of all its interests and people, must provide equal educational opportunity so far as may be possible for every child within its borders. The principle that all the property of the state shall educate all the children of the state is so sound and fundamental that it has been recognized and adopted by every state in the Union. "The modern high school is exerting a greater influence than is any other agency in democratizing America. I wish to express the hope that high schools may be made accessible to all the children of the rural sections of the commonwealth as well as to those of the populous centers. Good roads and the consolidated school make this accomplishment possible." DR. THOMAS E. FINEGAN Dr. Thomas E. Finegan, superintendent of public instruction of Pennsylvania, has built up one of the best educational systems in the country, according to Governor Sproul. Dr. Finegan was recently criticized by some residents of Pennsylvania who claimed that his idea of education was costing the state too much money. "Since Dr. Finegan assumed office our educational "The fine system of improved highways department has become one of the best which Pennsylvania is constructing is a great asset to rural education. Improved roads make it possiblbe to maintain rural schools in Pennsylvania which will afford nearly every boy and girl in the state the opportunity to obtain a high school education and at the same time to be at home nights under the influence of the associations of home life and under the parental advice and protection which is vital to children of the adolescent period. in the country," Governor Sproul said. "It is acknowledged as such by some of the best educators in the country. I am sure the people of Pennsylvania want a good educational department, one ranking with New York and other states leading in education. I am glad to say the department here is one of the best.' Educational News and Comment GENERAL NEWS -Frank V. Thompson, superintendent of the Boston public schools since 1918, died on October 23 from peritonitis, resulting from ptomaine poisoning. He was born at Batesville, Ark., a descendent of an old Massachusetts family, in 1874 and obtained his early education in the public schools of Portland, Me. He received his degree of Master of Arts at Harvard Graduate School. In 1901 he went to Boston to accept a junior mastership in the South Boston high school and was promoted to be headmaster of the High School of Commerce, where he served until 1910, when he was elected assistant superintendent of schools. Payson Smith, Massachusetts state commissioner of education, pays the following tribute to Mr. Thompson: "In the death of Superintendent Frank V. Thompson, the state of Massachusetts, as well as the city of Boston, has met with a severe loss. In his leadership of the public schools of Boston Mr. Thompson has consistently stood for the development of sound and progressive ideals both in school administration and in teaching. He has been a leader in the very best sense of the word." -John Enright, for many years superintendent of schools of Monmouth. county and for the past six years assistant state commissioner of education of New Jersey, has been elected state commissioner as successor to the late Calvin N. Kendall. His record of distinguished service in New Jersey and personal acquaintance with conditions throughout the state bespeak a successful and progressive administration of New Jersey's educational system. -Thomas W. Boyce, principal of one of the public elementary schools of Milwaukee, is the president of the Wiscon sin Teachers' Association for the coming year. He was elected at the recent annual meeting and is one of the progressive and wide-awake school men of the state. -The pupils of the McKinley Junior high school in Los Angeles are conducting a well organized campaign to awaken popular interest and bring about the ultimate success of the disarmament conference at Washington. They are working to get to President Harding and Mr. Hughes at least 100,000 personal letters from Los Angeles, written by men, women and children, asking for open conference sessions and urging the necessity for the conference to succeed. in its imperative objects. -Jeremiah E. Burke, assistant superintendent of the Boston schools, has been promoted to the superintendency by the Boston board of education, succeeding the late Frank V. Thompson. W. B. Snow, headmaster of the English high school, has been appointed his suc cessor. -Dr. A. O. Thomas, state superintendent of schools for Maine, in an address November 25 in New York city at the Illiteracy Conference of the Eastern States, declared that the problem of illiteracy is a national one involving governmental responsibility. Mrs. Cora Wilson Stewart, chairman of the illiteracy commission of the N. E. A., has estimated illiterates in the eastern states at 1,230,024. -That the higher salaries which are so vitally necessary to the improvement of the teaching profession will come when the primary importance of education is made clear to the people is evident from the action of the Paterson, N. J., board of education in adopting the salary schedule for which local educational leaders have worked for several years. This schedule, which was unanimously adopted on October 13, provides a minimum of $1,200 and a maximum of $2,500. The schedule goes into effect at once. There are to be annual increases of $100 for seven years and $200 for the next three years. Salaries of executive officers were correspondingly increased. The salary of Superintendent John R. Wilson is to be advanced from $6,000 in $500 steps. -The first person to be awarded the new Zona Gale scholarship-the unique scholarship which was founded at the University of Wisconsin this fall by the New York city branch of the alumni association-is F. R. Weber of Brooklyn, N. Y. The scholarship is unique in that the person to whom it is awarded is selected because of his exceptional talent in a particular field and because he is to be permitted to pursue studies of his own choice, to develop his talent, without following the customary university requirements. Mr. Weber was selected because of distinguished ability in literary and musical fields. -L. N. Hines, state superintendent of schools of Indiana, has been elected president of the State Normal University at Terre Haute. -Dr. Joseph Swain, former president of the National Educational Association, has been named by Governor William C. Sproul of Pennsylvania as a member of the Pennsylvania State Council of Education, to succeed Edward W. Bok. -Myron T. Herrick, American ambassador to France, received the honorary title of doctor from the University of Nancy on November 17. Former President Poincare was present at the ceremony. -The trustees of the American University Union in Europe, at their annual meeting held recently at the Faculty Club, Columbia University, elected the following officers for the en suing year: Chairman, President H. P. Judson (Chicago); vice-chairman, President J. G. Hibben (Princeton); secretary, Professor J. W. Cunliffe (Columbia); treasurer, Henry B. Thompson (Princeton). The above, with Presi-dent A. L. Lowell (Harvard), President W. A. Shanklin (Wesleyan), and Dr. A. P. Stokes (Yale), constitute the administrative board. The annual report of the director of the London office showed an increase in registration from 638 in 1920 to 1,153 in 1920-21. The number of applications from teachers and students for posts or exchanges was 228 (132 men, 96 women) as against 129 for the previous year. The registration in the Paris office for the year 1920-21 has been almost double that of the preceding year, having reached a total well over five hundred in French universities, coming from 103 American institutions of learning. -The fifteenth annual convention of the National Society for Vocational Education is to be held in Kansas City, January 5-7. This meeting promises to be one of the largest and most helpful in the history of the organization. During the past four years the number of vocational schools or departments has increased from 300 to over 4,000. Under the stimulus of war-time conditions a large number of manufacturing plants and industrial concerns developed various types of vocational training to meet war-time needs. Many of these training courses proved so effective that industry has continued the work. The program for the Kansas City meeting will undoubtedly attract many hundreds of people representing industries, department stores, and commercial concerns. Two full days will be devoted to section meetings to discuss in detail the various types of work now being developed throughout the United States and Canada. The list of section meetings |
