The educational value of school supervised gardening in cities is now coming to be fully recognized. That the city child has little occupation during out-of-school hours and inadequate facilities for play has been proven by many surveys of city school systems. "The idle boy is father to the man without a job; the restless, unsatisfied boy grows up to be the unsatisfied man." It has been found on investigation that more children are arrested and brought before the juvenile court at about the twelfth year than at any other age. It also happens that this age is the height of the interest period in gardening. While there are other occupations that furnish productive employment for city children, none of them are as easily accessible or well adapted to the children as school directed home gardening. Shortly before her death Dr. Anna Howard Shaw made the following statement in regard to the education value of gardening to the individual and to the life of a nation: The question before the public to-day of vital interest to the Nation is the kind of education the children should have in order to make them intelligent citizens. It is an undisputed fact that the power of the German people for destruction and desire for military power came through years of education and discipline of the children in militarism. The future of our country depends on just what educational methods are pursued here. The question that now confronts America is what kind of education our children should have. The experiences of war taught us that the only form of education adequate to the needs of civilized life is that which demands that the child shall be developed in every phase of his nature not only the head and hand, but the heart must take its place. Nothing has brought the children of the country into contact with the needs of the world more than the fact that their aid was asked in the production of food-and that food is of vital importance. The more we can stimulate this thought in the minds of children, the better it will be, not alone for the material prosperity of the country, by the added value of food production, but also through developing in the child an intimate regard for the soil of his country and his country's prosperity as well as a spirit of thrift and industry. The terms "mother earth" and "the motherland" will have a new and deeper significance. There will be developed in the child a reverence for country and for the power of service and make him feel that he is a part-and no small part of the country's being and develop in the Nation itself a knowledge it has failed to grasp that the child is the greatest asset to the country and that his proper education should include a knowledge of how to produce food from the soil. XIV. TEACHER TRAINING. The outstanding need of the schools during this year was that of trained teachers. The unusual demand for workers in govern142539°-19-8 mental, economic, and industrial activities resulting from the war caused many teachers to give up their work in the schools. This was due to patriotic and financial causes. No class of workers so intelligent, so well-trained, and of such capacity for new work received such low salaries as public-school teachers. The result was that at the opening of schools in September, 1918, there was a shortage of 25,000 teachers in the schools of the country. Of the 365,000 rural teachers employed in the entire country, at least 122,000 were without teaching experience or professional training. Eighty-seven counties reported a loss of 365 men teachers, and Connecticut reported no men in the rural schools of the State. The total output of teacher-training institutions in the United States is approximately 24,000 per year. Of these, 1,000 are graduates of colleges and normal schools, 11,000 have had limited professional training in these institutions, and 12,000 have been trained in the high-school normal courses. This supply is inadequate, and various means have been undertaken to meet the emergency. Many States issued temporary certificates to candidates unable to meet the requirements for regular certificates; a general appeal from the Commissioner of Education was issued in which former teachers were urged to return to school service as a patriotic duty. As a result of this, many teachers of experience, particularly married women, were secured for school service; special incentives were provided in the form of bonus or subsidy for those who would continue teaching as well as for those who would undertake training courses for teaching. As a clearing house for teachers and school boards, the school board service section of the Bureau of Education was created as a war emergency agency, and received support until July, 1919. The States of Iowa and South Carolina during the year established teachers' employment directories, which acted as a clearing house in the respective States. One of the important movements for better training of teachers was the introduction of the Smith-Towner bill providing for $15,000,000 annually for the improvement of schools through training of teachers. While this bill did not pass in the form presented, it is still before Congress and is receiving widespread consideration. The training of agricultural and vocational teachers has been greatly stimulated by the operation of the Smith-Hughes bill, which provides for the cooperation of the National Government with the States in establishing training school departments for vocational teachers. Such relations have been established in each of the 48 States. AGENCIES FOR TRAINING TEACHERS. 1. Normal schools. In the 308 normal schools reporting to the Bureau of Education 138,178 students were enrolled, of whom 21,287 were men and 116,887 were women. Of the 24,500 graduates from these institutions, 2,170 were men and 22,331 were women. These 308 schools comprise 172 State normal schools, 34 city normal schools, 45 county normal schools, and 57 private normal schools. A very important factor in teacher training is that of county normal training schools and normal training departments in the high schools of 21 States. The departments and classes number 1,493, with an attendance of approximately 27,000 students and 17,000 graduates. 2. Training of teachers in service.-(a) Summer schools. The greatest single agency for training teachers in service is the summer school. Its growth has been one of the most significant movements in recent years. The enrollment in summer schools of 1918 compared with 1917 shows a decrease in the number of men in attendance from 6,314 in 1917 to 5,064 in 1918. There was a slight increase in the number of women students, from 48,310 in 1917 to 50,639 in 1918. This shows a total of approximately 1,000 more teachers in attendance in 1918. (b) Better supervision. The problem of supervision of rural schools has been attacked in various ways. Densely populated districts are able to provide a reasonable degree of supervision, but the great majority of rural teachers have little of it. Experiments to overcome the lack have been tried in various sections of the country. In the State of Kentucky 32 white supervisors are employed for work in 24 counties of the State, acting as assistant county superintendents; there are 18 colored supervisors, who assist teachers who are in the service. Another experiment is the supervision of 13 rural schools of Brown County, S. Dak., under a member of the faculty of the Northern Normal and Industrial School of South Dakota. He will visit each of the schools once a month and hold a monthly meeting of all the teachers. Special attention is given to reading, language, spelling, penmanship, and arithmetic. Statistics will be compiled to show to what extent benefit is derived by the schools from that kind of supervision. (c) Reading circles. Thirty-seven States maintain reading circles for the improvement and training of teachers. Professional books form an essential part of all these courses. The National Rural School Teachers Circle provides the courses available to the teachers of all the States, and the Commissioner of Education grants a certificate for the completion of satisfactory work. PRACTICE TEACHING. One of the most difficult problems in the training of teachers, and rural teachers in particular, is the opportunity for observation and practice in typical schools. Various plans for rural practice schools in the immediate vicinity of normal schools have been successful to a limited degree. It has become increasingly apparent that more typical schools should be reached. In order to improve this condition several plans have been devised. Nevada, Mo., reports that in their normal training classes for seniors the entire class is sent to country schools for a week of observation and practice teaching. The plan is for the county superintendent to designate a number of schools worthy of study, and furnish the addresses of presidents of school boards and the teachers. After consent is obtained the students are sent to live a week in the community. They observe school work on each Monday, and at some time during the remaining days teach each class at least once. Observation of the student teachers was based on an outline provided in advance. The teachers visited and the country superintendents make reports on the work of the practice teachers. The reports from the student teachers were made in class and formed the basis of discussion of school problems. In other places, teachers are sent from schools by automobiles to the rural schools. One normal school has recently purchased an one-ton truck, which will carry 16 to 20 teachers in training from the normal school to demonstration rural schools for observation and practice. SUBSIDIZING TEACHER TRAINING. Various plans have been suggested and put into operation for inducing teachers to take the training necessary for successful work in the profession. New Mexico has provided paid scholarships at three State normal schools. All teachers who have taught one year on a third-grade certificate are eligible. The law provides for payment of railroad fare for all teachers attending at least 60 days at the State normal school. The State of Maine has established a plan by which 100 rural teachers were given additional training at a summer training school located at the Eastern State Normal School. These 100 teachers were selected on a basis of physical and mental ability, and had academic training. They were required to be 21 years of age and to have demonstrated fitness for and sympathy with the rural school work. These 100 teachers were given a course of six weeks' normal training and all their expenses were paid, including railroad fare, board, and laundry, from the time they left home until their return. One major unit of work was pursued intensively for each of the six weeks. In addition, parallel courses in music, drawing, and physical education were had throughout the six weeks. The work of the units was presented three hours in the morning, and physical education, music, and art occupied the afternoon; two hours were given to industrial work in the evening. The last week was devoted to conferences. Educators of recognized standing were selected as instructors and the courses given included the following: Unit 1_____ Medical pedagogy. Unit 2- Unit 3. Unit 4. Unit 5. Unit 6. Knowing the community. Practical measurements and elementary surveys. These teachers, so trained, will receive for this year a bonus from the State equal to one-fourth of their annual salary. They will act as teachers of model schools and assist the county superintendents in improving school conditions. New normal schools established included the Second State Normal School, in Indiana, and the Centralia Normal School, in the State of Washington. XV. TEACHERS' ORGANIZATION. INTRODUCTORY. The teachers of the United States are organizing, and the only question is as to what form the organization will take. Events of the past year have presented this problem with unusual clearness. As the National Education Association says in its "Program of service": This is a day of organization. The trades are organized. So are the farmers and the business men. Those engaged in the other professions have found it necessary to organize and work collectively in order to accomplish their purposes. Teachers must do likewise if they are to promote their own welfare and advance the interests of their profession. Hitherto the teachers have kept more or less in isolated groups. They have the gregarious instinct, but their coming together has been rather in numerous sections of the teaching body than in any large, all-inclusive national organization. There were 535 educational associations listed in the Educational Directory of the Bureau of Education for 1918. Of these, 200 were classed as national and sectional, 243 as State associations, 39 as city bodies, and 53 as learned and civic organizations. The membership of practically all of these is made up of teachers, and necessarily overlaps to a considerable degree. The few associations with claims to national scope have never enrolled more than an exceedingly small percentage of the total |