Chapter II: War and Community Uses of Our Schools

An evaluating test for each of our school subjects has at last been found. _The test is the capacity of the subject to respond to a national need or a national ideal._ In many instances of the countries concerned in this great war the schools as a whole have amply justified their existence, and many of the subjects taught have stood through this world emergency the acid test of meeting national needs. The scientific and efficiency spirit of Germany is reflected in the posters spread over Berlin: "Send your cherry, peach, and plum seeds to the schoolhouse with your children," seeds being used for making fat and oil. The spirit of France has been reflected, as will be seen in the following pages, in the work of the teachers and the children for the preservation of that wonderful nationalism of France. The schools of England are reshaping themselves--in fact, are being remade--as a result of the shortcomings set forth by the war.

The schools of America are to go forward. Patriotism now has a new meaning. The principal from his school platform has opportunity for announcements and talks other than those dealing with routine matters. The cooking teacher has opportunity to develop new recipes adapted to present needs. The teacher of history may redraw almost every day the map of Europe. The teacher of manual training may substitute problems in concrete for those requiring high-priced wood materials. The school buildings near soldiers' camps may, like the Washington (D. C.) buildings, be opened for educational purposes for soldiers, that they may take up general or special educational work. Teachers of English may have their pupils study President Wilson's messages of state as models of English composition and expressions of American democracy.

The opportunity is before the schools and the children. There are in our school system three elements which may be of use in war: the building itself with its equipment, the school population of boy and girl power, and the teaching force.

In England, during the first year of the war, all three were called into requisition. Within a few months over 1000 school buildings were in temporary military use, and even on August 1, 1916, 180 elementary- and 20 secondary-school buildings were still occupied for war work,--for hospitals, billeting of troops, housing of munition workers, etc.,--the number of children displaced being 129,855. In many cases the use was expected to be temporary, but many buildings have been retained permanently. The children whose schooling was thus interrupted, when too young for employment, generally drifted aimlessly into juvenile delinquency, while those older, although below the established employment age, went to farms and munition factories. That is, the taking away of the school building was concomitant with the suspension of restrictions on age of employment and hours of labor. The children of the prosperous class were likewise affected by the departure of over 50 per cent of the teachers for military service.

These many interruptions in the carrying on of educational work were the result of the short-war fallacy; they were emergency measures adopted to meet a condition which it was generally supposed would last but a few months. When, however, it was realized by statesmen and the public that the interference with education and the suspension of laws regulating employment were resulting in irreparable injury to health and morals of an employed child population under 13 years of age of 150,000, and an idle younger population variously estimated at from 200,000 to 300,000, corrective measures were adopted. American schools must learn from English experience what to avoid. There are many legitimate uses of schools which England is now employing; and the warnings of interested English educators should keep our legislatures and municipalities from breaking down the compulsory-education laws or converting our schools into industrial plants. Our aim, as previously stated, should be to bring the war to the school curriculum for educational purposes, not to take the schools into the war, losing sight of their definite function.

In France, at the outbreak of the war, many of the school buildings were requisitioned, and 30,000 teachers were called to the colors. The hardship to the young resulting from this patriotic sacrifice was met as far as possible by the generosity of private citizens who gave rooms or buildings for classes, and by professional men, too old for service, who volunteered to carry on the work of teaching. France was swift to realize that education must be carried on at all costs. In districts near the fighting line schools were of necessity transformed into hospitals, often with a staff of women teachers temporarily acting as nurses and attendants; but it has been the policy of the department of public instruction to regard this service as temporary, and the teachers as conscripted for education.

The trying circumstances under which the schools have been carried on, serving nobly during the term after hours and during vacations, make their achievements a record of honor. In the country districts where all the local officials were mobilized, the teacher became the sole agent of government, making out passports, requisitions, relief lists, etc., procuring food, operating a public kitchen, acting as postmaster, doing guard duty, and rendering numberless other services to the community. One of the first tasks of the primary schools was to undertake entire care of children left without adequate protection. In country districts the teachers were, in default of newspapers, the dispensers of official information, explaining government loans and giving talks on the progress of the war. Thus the entire village was brought into the schoolhouse, which became the real center of the community.

In the United States and Canada the schools may well copy some of the measures initiated in Europe. That we are 3000 miles from the actual battleground ought, for the present, to keep us from considering any lowering of educational bars or from converting our buildings into purposes other than educational. Europe advises us that such transformation is of an emergency nature and only to be made under stress of an invasion.

It is the purpose of this chapter to consider some general uses of our buildings, our equipment (including the teaching force), and the activities of our pupils, which have been made in the past two or three years, excluding and reserving for the most part for later discussion the introduction of war work in manual-training, domestic-arts, and domestic-science courses, and the part-time agricultural labor.

An important use of our schools, and one which should be made more general throughout the country, is that of a distributing center for government pamphlets, information cards, etc. In New York City the various welfare committees appointed by Mayor Mitchel designated the public schools as mediums through which to circulate papers on "safety first," fire prevention, uses of various food products, etc., and thus reach the families of the vast foreign population through their children. The city's pledges of national loyalty to be signed by adults were circulated by the pupils shortly after the declaration of war. Wider publicity can be given to federal regulations, tax measures, employment modifications, etc., by the distribution of notices to pupils of upper grades, following the explanation by the teacher. While our people as a whole read, though hastily, the newspapers morning and evening, and may find in them all governmental measures, it is nevertheless true that we shall be assured of a wider distribution of information by using the pupil as the carrier of it to the home. In England the schools, as well as the Boy Scouts organization, have served as national distributing agencies for war-office notices, Parliamentary information, and agricultural propaganda.

A portion of a letter from Sir Robert Blair, chairman of the Education Committee of the London County Council, to Superintendent Maxwell of New York City, in May, 1917, calls attention to the service of the schools in this connection.

War has come upon us so unexpectedly that our people not only
did not understand the true position but on the whole knew very
little about the causes which had led to the outbreak. The public
press, bookstalls, and the public libraries were considerably
augmented by books and pamphlets on the subject, and it was a
natural prompting that gave rise to the issue to the schools of a
considerable number of documents, memoranda, and pamphlets. These
circulars and pamphlets were mostly all issued within the first
year of the war. The first phase of the pamphlets is historical,
while the second became economical. The economical phase in its
first stages was concentrated on war savings for the purpose of war
loans and in anticipation, by the provision of "nest eggs," of the
dislocation that might occur at the end of the war. In its later
stages--within the last six months--the economical phase has been
directed chiefly to economy in food, owing to the menace of the
submarine campaign.

A further use of the school population in hours outside the daily session is that of giving help in taking a census. In England school teachers and pupils did most of the work of compiling the National Register, a card census of inhabitants. To some extent similar work has been done in the United States, such as the taking of the agricultural census in fifty-six counties (no census was taken for the counties of Hamilton, Kings, Queens, Richmond, and New York) in the state of New York in April, 1917. Under the joint auspices of the State Food Supply Commission and the State Education Department a survey was ordered of the agricultural resources of the state and of the requirements for increased production, the details of which were worked out at Ithaca at the State College of Agriculture. Through the appointed county enumerators, instructions were transmitted to the various school districts.

The actual work of this census was begun in most counties on April 23, the records being practically all obtained by April 25, the teachers and pupils in each district, assisted when necessary by other persons, procuring the original facts from farmers and making the summaries for their school districts. From these records the state was within ten days furnished with the complete amount of seed and live stock wanted by farmers and for sale by farmers; with the statements of the transportation difficulties; with the itemized needs of labor, fertilizer, and spray materials; and with the complete enumeration of the state,--people, land, and live stock.

Such work by pupils might well become an established yearly activity. The practice of gathering and tabulating information has an obvious arithmetical value; and the interest developed in investigating the resources of the community has an educational significance which should keep us from limiting it to emergency periods.

The comparative table on page 26 (one of thirteen developed out of the census) not only illustrates facts which the children obtained, but also shows the magnitude of the work they undertook.

One of the best community uses of the school is as a center for instruction in conserving food products. With the absolute shortage of the world's food supply, Americans must anticipate this shortage in coming seasons and revert to the preserving methods of their grandparents,--measures fallen into disuse in crowded cities because of lack of storage room and the ease with which the fresh products have been obtained, whatever the season.

ACRES OF CROPS IN 56 COUNTIES IN NEW YORK WITH COMPARISONS FOR THE SAME COUNTIES IN 1909

======================+=============+===========+==============
| | |ACRES EXPECTED
CROP | ACRES (U.S. |ACRES GROWN|TO BE GROWN IN
|CENSUS, 1909)| IN 1916 | 1917
----------------------+-------------+-----------+--------------
Corn for grain | 511,339 | 336,543 | 495,469
Corn for silo | 259,082 | 362,413 | 422,867
Oats | 1,302,041 | 1,102,004 | 1,250,346
Barley | 79,955 | 92,422 | 111,634
Buckwheat | 286,128 | 257,911 | 300,090
Winter wheat | 289,126 | 344,278 | 387,813
Spring wheat | 289,126 | 12,373 | 32,425
Rye | 130,449 | 114,691 | 120,239
Field beans | 115,695 | 194,053 | 275,790
Alfalfa | 35,343 | 160,985 | 181,912
Other hay | 4,737,326 | 4,073,333 | 3,963,678
Cabbage | 33,770 | 38,898 | 68,890
Potatoes | 390,552 | 305,649 | 382,840
Canning-factory crops}| | 44,098 | 60,155
Other vegetables and }| 131,686 | |
garden }| | 58,340 | 71,833
Miscellaneous crops | 21,843 | 35,056 | 40,895
Apples | 281,061 | | 346,633
Cherries | 4,211 | | 12,414
Peaches | 15,340 | | 50,149
Pears | 13,378 | | 36,802
Plums | 5,742 | | 8,569
Vineyards | 52,999 | | 52,350
Small fruit | 22,388 | | 28,171
----------------------+-------------+-----------+--------------
Total | 8,719,454 | | 8,701,964
======================+=============+===========+==============

Even villages which have no gas supply may follow the example of cities and towns in using the school kitchen, already installed as part of a domestic-science equipment or newly supplied by popular subscription, as a community canning center. Certainly schools are as well adapted for the purpose as department stores and Young Women's Christian Associations, which have been leaders in the movement.

The teaching of methods of preserving is primarily the function of a school, and every suitable school building should be employed for it. The old-fashioned preserving meant time, drudgery, expense, quantities of sugar, and doubtful results. A demonstration of the newer methods and the opportunity for community canning should be given by the school to the neighborhood. Community canning induces a far more effective conservation of food than is possible for the individual kitchen. Few households can afford to buy and store the vast kettles, the perfected drying and dehydrating ovens, which can be included in the equipment of a school teaching the scientific preserving of food and vegetables. As this is done almost wholly in the summer, it would not interfere with the term's work of the pupils and, in fact, offers the high-school girls an excellent opportunity to assist in civic service of a most practical nature. In the summer of 1917 Seattle maintained 20 centers for home-economics teaching for adult women, the government bulletin "How to Select Food" being used as a textbook.

There have been wholesome experiments in community canning in Lakewood, and in Bernards Township, New Jersey. In the latter in each school was an experienced teacher to supervise the work of preserving performed by high-school girls of the neighborhood, the fruits and vegetables being sold by the townspeople to the school or brought by them to be conserved by coöperative canning for their own use in the future. This service of the girls was on an equality with that of the boys who belonged to the agricultural army. In Kansas City the surplus garden products canned by schoolgirls were used for the school lunches.

England's schools now have "open days" on which parents may be admitted to receive the instruction given to the children in the economical cooking of the food which the food controller's instructions show is likely to be available for general consumption; also (quoting from a letter from Sir Robert Blair of the London County Council, May 30, 1917) the responsible mistresses of the evening schools and the domestic-economy staff employed in these schools are organizing traveling kitchens in 29 boroughs within the county. These traveling kitchens form practically a demonstration set of apparatus by which the simplest forms of cookery can be shown to 100 or 200 people. The demonstrations are well attended, and the people in small villages thus have the opportunity of those in larger settlements to learn from experts methods of making palatable the food products less well understood.

It may be urged that community canning has its place outside cities of the first class. New York City certainly cannot be held to be the center of an agricultural district, and yet valuable experiments in food conservation are being made there. One is concerned primarily with the prevention of waste. Of the thousands of pounds of perishable vegetables and fruit which are brought each day to the produce piers, much is prohibited from being sold to retailers because of injuries received in transportation. When more than 20 per cent has been injured, it has not paid wholesalers to salvage the uninjured portion. As a result, a ruinous quantity of produce has gone to waste, often being dumped in the harbor for want of better disposal. The loss as estimated by the board of health has been 225,000 pounds a week.

To save this food by making quick use of it, in July, 1917, Mayor Mitchel's Committee of Women on National Defense opened a conservation kitchen in a disused school building in the Williamsburg Bridge section. Here the uncertain quantity of vegetables salvaged from the produce piers was brought to the school, picked over, and sterilized, partly by paid labor, partly by the volunteer labor of members of the Women's University Club and other organizations, or city women who were willing to contribute their labor in the cause of food saving. This work was aided by the State Food Supply Commission and New York's board of health, one of whose inspectors passed judgment on the food used in the canning and drying experiments. The salvaged food was brought from the piers to the kitchens by Boy Scouts, ubiquitously useful in any public undertaking. If it had not been that the kitchen was opened in vacation, the school population would have had its share of work to do. To this kitchen any woman might go to be taught processes or actually to can produce.

While it was not possible to use all the produce brought in, even by keeping the kitchen as full of workers as space would allow and cooking as much as 480 gallons of food at a time, the work in this old school building is illustrative of what can be done in community centers to eliminate waste, and is a vital example of the efficient use of a school building in vacation. The cost in this case was met by special contributions of organizations and individuals. But in smaller places this work might be maintained by the town itself on a less elaborate scale. Such work should not be limited to the war period. It is a practical and efficient plan for all time.

The continued war will undoubtedly increase not only the price but the scarcity of cotton and woolen goods. Where it has hitherto not paid to make over clothing repeatedly because of the cheapness and ease with which new garments and children's wear have been procured, it is now important to understand thrifty saving of all kinds of fabrics and apparel.

Home-economics women of Berkeley, California, aided in collecting and making over old clothing. In Portland, Oregon, a cleaner and dyer took as his bit of service the cleaning and disinfecting of all the clothing which was remade by the school children.

In England's county schools there have been held exhibitions of thrift, to show children when and how economies can be practiced. Some of the examples shown under the heading of "Utilization of Waste Material" were as follows: old linen collars and cuffs made into baggage labels, window cleaners made from pieces of old gloves, house slippers made from old felt hats, mops made of bits of rags fastened to a nail. Ways were shown of making use of scraps of wool left over from knitting, the wasting of an inch of wool being regarded as treasonable in the country's shortage; methods of refooting stockings were also displayed, as well as many uses for pieces of worn table and bed linen and old carpets.

In times of normal plenty such exhibitions would not attract attention, but no greater evidence of the reduced state of a nation at war can be had than the seriousness with which these exhibitions of household thrift have been viewed by the population. A clipping from a newspaper of rural England requests that children go into the pastures and pick from the bushes the bits of wool which the sheep have rubbed off.

For several years, at least, there will be high prices and scarcity of materials. Our children must be taught the necessity of preventing waste of fabrics as well as of food. Millions of dollars worth of cotton and wool have been destroyed in military and munition use. But it is not only because war conditions have made material scarce and high that thrift in their use must be insisted upon in every household; we must remember that billions of dollars will be required to pay for this war and each household will be required to make its contribution. Expenditures in every direction must be curbed and the wise disposition of every dollar must be made. A year or so ago the Bankers Association of America launched a campaign for thrift teaching. We were then told that, as individuals, we must save for the future. The present high cost of living shows that we are obliged to save in the present in order to live in the present, but the future will tell us to save in order that we, as a nation, may pay for the war.

Many community services may be rendered during the war by the principal of a school. He may, as has been done, organize patriotic meetings, enlisting the aid of the churches and arousing the interest of chambers of commerce, civic clubs, and women's clubs in the Red Cross, the Liberty Loan, and school war gardens. His assembly exercises may be made vital through talks to the pupils on opportunities for war service; through platform recognition of boys and girls rendering special farm, garden, Red Cross, and food-conservation help; by placing on a conspicuous bulletin a roll of honor of graduates and students engaged in such work; by keeping the school in touch with graduates who are enlisted in the army and navy by reading their letters to the school and sending school packets to them. He may advise economy in the use of foods and clothing, the elimination of expenditures in soda water, ice cream, and gum, and the sacrifice of pleasure for national ends. He may urge the use of savings in the purchase of government bonds and war-savings certificates. Where the school has been raising money for pictures or a phonograph, he may suggest that the funds raised be used for the purchase of one or more government bonds, to be held by the school as an asset until the close of the war, when the bond may be sold and the money used for its original purpose of buying the phonograph or pictures. In the case of some private secondary schools, and large public schools like the Washington Irving and DeWitt Clinton high schools, New York, the pupils and teachers have subscribed money and given entertainments for the purchase of an ambulance, the gift of the school to the American Expeditionary Force. In one New York City school, through the efforts of a student organization, Liberty Loan bonds to the amount of $479,800 were sold.

The principal in country districts should make himself fully informed of the details of the federal farm-loan plan, the sources of available seed supply, the posters and bulletins of nation and state regarding the mobilization of schools and colleges, and, of course, he should be especially active in encouraging the home-garden projects.

A correspondent in the London _Times_, June 14, 1917, writing of that indispensable teaching of thrift in household affairs, of making the present generation of young girls intelligently self-sufficient in domestic and industrial life, cries, "This brings us to the crux of the whole situation: Who shall teach the teachers?" The government and state bulletins on food production and conservation, the literature sent out by state councils of defense and public safety on improved methods of preserving, the pronouncements by banking houses on thrift measures and means of attaining them, the Boy Scouts, Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A. leaflets on war gardens and food economies are, in America, beginning to answer this question.

Assuredly the war places an additional burden on the teachers and gives them a new opportunity for educating the pupils. A teacher does not have to belong to the department of domestic arts and science to organize Red Cross circles nor to instruct girls in food conservation. A ten-minute talk each morning by teacher or pupils, before the opening of school, with discussion on such topics as "Why a man with a hundred dollars to invest should buy a Liberty Bond," "New occupations open to women because of the war," "The reason for the scarcity of certain products," "Home substitutes for various manufactured necessities," and many others suggested by new conditions should be very helpful.

An unusually significant experiment known as the "War Savings" movement has been made in English schools. On May 5, 1916, the Board of Education issued a circular asking for the assistance of local education authorities in making known through public elementary schools the facilities afforded by the issue of War Savings certificates. Then, with the coöperation of these authorities and teachers, special lessons were given on the subject, and copies of a leaflet explaining the purpose of the War Savings Association were widely distributed to the parents through their children. As a result a large number of War Savings associations were formed in direct connection with the schools. The success of the movement is evident from the records given in the report of the Board of Education for 1915-1916. In one populous midland county the great majority of the schools have established associations; in another, a northern county, some 70 per cent of the schools have taken part and record nearly 10,000 subscribers. In one midland town a school of about 1400 children purchased certificates to the value of £585 in three months. But it is not only in large schools that the pupils have contributed generously; a remote little school in a northern county, with only 10 children on its register, has 10 subscribers to its credit and has saved £35, buying 43 certificates.

In view of the fact that successive issues of bonds must be made by the United States and other governments of the world, this method of making subscription to the war loan popular is worthy of attention. The public schools have, as never before, the opportunity of showing the practical value of investing, in peace as well as in war time, in government and other bonds. Pupils should realize the difference between money invested in a way to be beneficial not only to the investor but to his state and country, and money invested in ordinary channels.

New York State teachers had an opportunity similar to those of England. The Regents of the University of the state of New York gave formal approval of a plan by which teachers throughout the public schools of the state could aid the Liberty Loan committee of the Federal Reserve Bank in giving instruction and information about the second Liberty Loan. A special committee was appointed by the Board of Regents to act in a supervisory capacity to keep the State Education Department in touch with the large financial interests conducting the loan. The secretary to Commissioner Finley, as the representative of the Regents and the State Education Department, was assigned for temporary services in the office of the Loan committee.

The program in brief was to have the teachers act as agents for subscriptions for the Liberty Loan. They distributed blanks to pupils in the school, who in turn took them to their parents. They were encouraged to subscribe themselves. They did not handle any money or checks, but turned the subscription blanks over to the local bank, which was, of course, in direct touch with the Loan committee in New York City.

A primer of instruction for teachers was prepared in the simplest possible terms. As published by the Publicity Bureau of the United States Treasury Department it was called "A Source Book of the Second Liberty Loan." This primer explained in detail the nature of the bonds, their security, and the terms and prices; it described the nature of bond markets in general, the sources from which interest is paid, the previous records of United States bonds, and all other matter which was of value in elementary financial instruction. It was all set forth in a way which was very helpful not only in assisting in the sale of bonds but in the larger sense of furthering instruction in bonds, interest, discounts, etc., in connection with work in arithmetic. And in what better way could arithmetical instruction be furthered?

It is highly probable that this plan of informing the public relative to government issues of bonds and certificates, initiated in New York, will extend to all parts of the country in connection with the next Loan campaign.

How the responsibility of the teacher has been met in France is in part suggestive. The teachers have collected large funds to finance the enterprise of caring for thousands of families of Belgian and French refugees. They also collected from the civilian population several millions of francs, the teachers taxing themselves according to a fixed schedule. They have been especially successful in bringing to light for investment stores of hidden gold in the homes of provincial savers. Surprising results have been attained through their persistent, methodical propaganda. In one large provincial town, after a talk to the older pupils by the mistress of the school, in four days an amount equal to 7200 francs was brought in. In the same school the following composition was given out to the pupils as part of an admission examination in penmanship.

THE GOLD OF FRANCE[1]

France has need of its gold to defend its invaded territory. It is a sacred duty for every French man and woman, rich or poor, to send to the coffers of the State the hundreds of louis from their strong boxes, the few louis hidden in the linen chest at home, even the single louis in the children's toy bank. To keep in one's own possession, selfishly, the money which could serve our dear France is a crime against patriotism. So, little girls, do not hesitate to break open your banks, even if they have only a half louis inside, and gladly take in exchange the note which the Bank of France will give you. More than that, in your vacation in the country, set yourselves to get grandmother to empty her stocking,--she is sometimes rather stingy with her money. But you know well enough how to coax those who love you when you want a toy, or ornament, or bonbons. Use your influence with your grandparents now, so that they will bring into the public treasury the gold of France. In this way you will have contributed to the coming victory that we are all hoping for, you will have helped our brave soldiers to clear away the German whose presence defiles our land. Go, then, all of you! Hunt out all the money that is lying idle. It is for France!

[1] Edouard Petit, De l'école à la guerre, p. 175. Paris, 1916.

Thus the schools have worked to bring to light the hoarded gold of thrifty peasants for investment in the national loan.

Tangible as this service of the teachers has been to France, of greater importance has been their work of making clear to the villages the cause of France. In November, 1914, the Department of Public Instruction sent out an appeal to the professional and volunteer teachers in the secondary schools, saying that the schools must adapt their program to the duties and needs created by the hostilities.

The teachers will do their best to make the schools serve in
the national defense. In the evenings the old men, the youths, and
the women will gather together, and the teachers will tell them the
news, explain things that happen, speak to them of patriotism, and
read to them from our writers whose pages are inspired with the
glorious deeds of our history past and present.

It is reported that in the girls' schools in France war has changed the whole aspect of education. History, geography, lectures on literature, subjects for literary composition or moral instruction,--in fact everything,--is treated from the point of view of country and of patriotic duty. In music practically nothing is sung but the "Marseillaise," the "Chant du Depart," and the national songs of the Allies. Reading is confined often to official military orders and reports, while drawings are usually of war material or characters.

It is no less the duty of our teachers to make clear to their pupils the "cause" of America. Soon after the opening of the European war a United States senator traveled through the belligerent countries. His articles on Europe at war commented caustically on the ignorance of the English working people of the cause of the war, and of the purpose for which the Allies were fighting. An article on America at war could truthfully contain like criticism of a considerable portion of our population.

Shortly after the United States entered the war a teacher in one of our largest city high schools, where a large proportion of the pupils are of either foreign birth or foreign parentage, asked 200 pupils of from 14 to 18 years to write a brief statement of what they considered to be the cause of America's entrance into the war. While these answers covered an incredible range of inaccuracy, not one showed an understanding of the events which led to the declaration of April, 1917. "Congress has declared war so that the rich folks can get richer," "We are at war because this is a rich man's country," predominated as replies. When asked what a citizen owed his country in return for political and religious freedom, students replied in as vague and cynical a way as to the first question.

To combat this ignorance of national motives the teacher distributed copies of President Wilson's address of April 2, with the ostensible purpose of analyzing it as an exercise in argument and exposition,--a study which finally resulted in enabling these students to make intelligent, if occasionally unsympathetic, answers to questions regarding the nation's action and policy.

Now to residents of favored parts of the country where the population is English speaking and largely American born, inheriting American ideals and traditions, the ignorance of these high-school pupils seems exceptional, but educators know from experiments made in colleges and secondary institutions that the majority of students are not intelligent on modern events of national significance, any more than is the average worker. Nearly all high schools have in their curriculum the study of current events, whether in history or oral English courses. It is the duty of the teacher to use the study in such a manner as to obtain a patriotic reaction to the topics presented and discussed, and in this manner to make clear why we are fighting and what we are fighting for.

Out of this war we must obtain a new spirit of patriotism. Now is the time to strike. Events depicted in the daily press show how great is the need. In this connection the Council of Defense of Connecticut, in an effective campaign working through the schools, states in a recent publication:

The war is bound to have a deep influence on American life
and thought, and we should be watchful to direct this into right
channels. The country is shot through and through with the
one-sided philosophy that the State is an institution to be leaned
upon and filched from, but not to be served. The schools should
train the children in the fundamental contract between citizen and
State. The idea of mutuality should be developed. The State owes
duties to the citizen, but the citizen owes reciprocal duties to
the State.

In September, 1914, as soon after the declaration of war as military and agricultural conditions would permit the schools to open, the French Minister of Public Instruction sent an official circular to all of the schools. He stated that the first lesson in every school should be devoted to France: to its present danger and its heroic resistance; to the ideals of humanity and justice for which she fought; to the memory of the valor of her soldiers; to the justice of her cause. He desired to make certain at the earliest possible moment that every school child in France take his part spiritually and intellectually in the epic conflict which France was waging for right and justice.

His decree outlining the first lesson for every child of France expresses so clearly the French attitude and feeling that the following free rendering of the circular letter is well worth reading.

The _lycées_, colleges, and public schools are about to open
everywhere except where the superior need of improvised hospitals
in school buildings caring for our glorious wounded renders this
impossible.

I decree that on the opening day in every city and in every
class the first words of the teacher to the pupils shall be
designed to bring the hearts of the pupils into accord with the
sacred struggle in which our armies are engaged.

Throughout the entire country at the same hour the sons of
France shall pay respect to the spirit of their nation and shall
pay tribute to the heroism of those who are pouring out their blood
for liberty, justice, and human right.

The words of the teachers on this occasion should be simple and
to the point. They should be adapted to the age of their hearers,
some of whom are children, some youths. Each of our schools has
sent its quota of combatants to the firing line,--professors,
teachers, or pupils; the words of the teacher to the class should
call forth the noble remembrance of the dead, in order to exalt
their example and engrave it forever in the memory of the children.
Moreover, in its broad lines, calmly, clearly, they should tell
the causes of the war,--the aggression without excuse,--and how
before the civilized world, France, eternal champion of progress
and right, has been compelled to prepare herself, with her valiant
allies, to repel the assault of the modern barbarians.

The furious conflict which we are carrying insistently to
victory adds each day to the glory of our soldiers a thousand deeds
of heroism from which the teacher may take the best part of this
lesson. He should prefer these supreme models of action to the vain
repetition of phrases, in order to make a fit impression on the
minds of the children.

A vivid recollection of this first school hour ought to remain
imprinted forever in the spirit of the pupil, who is the citizen of
to-morrow. The teacher who has known how to make this impression
will remain worthy of the confidence of the republic.

America too will have its lesson sheets, and a most timely one on "Lessons of the Great War in the Classroom" has been prepared for teachers of history by the National Board for Historical Service (Washington, D.C.) with the distinct purpose of suggesting certain aspects of history, ancient and modern, which have gained a new interest in the light of the great war. The following excerpts are extremely suggestive of special opportunities and obligations for teachers in school service:

There is the duty of keeping, for teacher and for pupil, the
habit of at least trying to see things as they really were and
are.... Every great war is fought not merely by armies and navies,
but by the governments at home which direct the fighting forces....
No one can take an intelligent part in a great conflict for the
safety of democracy under an orderly system of international law
unless he is really interested in and knows something about other
nations than his own.... There is some connection between the
conditions which made the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates one
of the great seats of ancient civilization and those which are
making Mesopotamia to-day one of the chief theaters of the great
war.... This terrible catastrophe, with its wholesale destruction
of the finest products of human civilization, its life and death
struggle between opposing nations and opposing ideals, has seemed
a reason for thinking not less but more of the great mysterious
forces which brought about the rise and decline of the ancient
empire.... Great campaigns are again carried on where Xenophon
marched with his famous Ten Thousand, where Alexander the Great led
his armies to the conquest of the East.... The opportunity must now
be seized to study the whole of Europe and its influence on and
connections with the rest of the world.... Some account should be
given of the way in which the ruling class in Prussia has been able
to use science, modern business methods, and social legislation
in the service of the military state.... War is the business not
only of governments but of the nation as a whole, and there are
few kinds of human activity which do not have some relation to its
success or failure.... We are fighting partly, indeed, to defend
international law on the high seas, but partly also to make _the
world_, not merely America, "safe for democracy."

Teachers are recognized as the instructing force of America. If they are not, who is? If the country sorely needs clear, definite, authentic information on the situation of the world and our own position as a belligerent power, who is to give it if not the teachers? It is they who must inform and arouse. It is they who ought to participate in a speaking campaign which should be as deep as the danger, as wide as the country, and as high as the patriotic spirit of the people. They should be distributing agents for printed material which analyzes the subject, and should be able to refer to the best and most available authorities and to put before pupils and the public the texts of the most important speeches, diplomatic notes, and other approved material to back up statements of fact.

Strange as it may seem, it is the children's convictions which take effect not only when as children they carry word to their parents but also when they come out of childhood into adult life.

Was the boy in the New York high school right when he said, "It is a Wall Street war"? Are our enemies justified in charging us with the same motives of self-interest and the abasement of other nations which animated themselves? Are we really at war for conquest or seizure, or for the benefit of commerce, or for defense against aggressions that have not yet been made? And is it a dollar war for bankers and ammunition makers?

It is to answer these and other questions that a systematic effort to inform and arouse the American people should be taken up and carried into effect by public-school teachers, having in mind that the most effective and most important work may be done in the classroom in connection with lessons in civics and history. To wait for textbooks on the present European war is to wait until it is over. To wait to put the study of the present war into a course of study in its chronological sequence is to wait until the next generation of children come upon the stage. No, now is the time for our schools to include the teaching of the war and to discuss officially proposed peace plans, when the street is alive with soldiers, when the newspapers display huge headlines and the bill-boards are covered with recruiting posters, when magazines furnish helpful material for teachers, and when the whole world is charged with feeling.

The National Security League (New York City) has outlined a plan for public addresses and lectures, and it has printed a little book entitled "Wake Up, America." The following topics have been selected from an outline furnished by this league:

Foreign military systems and international relations.

Spirit of the American people as shown in our history of
liberty and democracy.

Causes of the war between the United States and Central Powers.

First two and one-half years of the war in relation to the
principles of the foreign policy of the United States.

Universal military training and service as now provided by
Congress.

Organization and work of the army and navy: selection;
supplying needs.

General military preparations in the country at large:
materials, transportation, and public finance.

Duty of the citizen in relation to obligations of all citizens
as an offset to benefits of citizenship.

Service outside of military and naval; as, for example, the
munition work, transportation, building of ships and machinery,
farming, etc.

Faithfulness of foreign-born citizens.

Need of efficiency and economy in local, municipal, and state
governments.

Description of modern warfare as defining the immediate task
of the American people in regard to organization and action of the
various services; as, for example, men in the trenches, health
protection, Red Cross, etc.

Accessories; for instance, patriotic music and recitations,
flag marches, and parades.

Illustrative material, such as maps and charts illustrating
the problems of recruiting; slides and movies; posters in public
places; exhibitions of foreign posters.

These topics as outlined here are not sufficiently related to the actual conflict. They are excellent from the formal point of view, but they fail to get at the center of living interest in the vital present moment of history. Often when it has been asked of the children in France: "What are you studying?" "What are they teaching you?" the answer has been: "The war, madam." "The war, monsieur." And if the question was taken up with the teacher, the answer has been:

By means of our war map on which is marked the present position
of the French and German troops, the particular spot in the line in
which the parents of our boys and girls are fighting, we teach not
only current history, but in the most vital way geography and many
related subjects.

By means of our use of great contemporary political documents,
by the speeches of Viviani, Deschanel, Ribot, and the other
statesmen, by the famous orders of Joffre, Pétain, and our
military leaders, by the interpretation of the war by our great
philosophers,--we teach in the most vital way the need of the
country, the ideals of France, and much of the history of France.
By reason of the war work instituted in every school as part of the
regular curriculum, we teach commercial geography, economics, and
many branches of science as they are actually related to human life
and experience, and not in the abstract manner in which they are
treated in the textbooks.

Mr. Albert Sarraut, Minister of Public Instruction in France in 1914-1915, said in a public address:

If there remains in the schools of France a single teacher who
has not been profoundly touched by the war and who goes about his
usual occupation of teaching in the same way that he did prior to
August 2, 1914, teaching the same subjects in the same way, doing
only the ordinary, familiar school tasks, whose work has not been
entirely transformed and inspired by the war, we have yet to hear
of him or her, and we do not believe that such exists.

It is inevitable that many of our school subjects will change their emphasis after the war. To some teachers the awakening will be cruel, to others a blessing in the form of new opportunity.