recommended by the Bureau of Education. The office of the superintendent is severely criticized because it is deficient in clerical assistance and because the physical conditions did not seem satisfactory to the surveyor. With regard to instruction, a series of concrete examples is given of poor work in the schools. The report after it was prepared was submitted to the board of education and was published in sections in the public press of the city. The report is an appeal to the citizens of St. Paul for very radical changes. SPECIAL INDUSTRIAL SURVEYS. The following surveys have been made, or are under way, with the purpose of discovering the relations which exist or which might be established between (a) school work, (b) the child or the youth who is about to enter into vocational life or in whom the vocational motive is clearly developing, and (c) the possible vocational opportunities which are open to such child or youth: Cincinnati.-Through the Schmidlapp Bureau and its own system of granting work and schooling certificates and of requiring attendance in continuance schools. New York. Through the vocation guidance survey, Miss Alice F. Barrows, director. Philadelphia. Through the public educational association, James S. Hiatt, secretary. See Report 1911-12, "A Year of Cooperative Service for the Schools," and a paper by James S. Hiatt, "The Child, the School, and the Job." Cleveland. The Cleveland chamber of commerce requested the Young Men's Christian Association to establish an experimental vocational bureau. A general . committee of citizens was formed and this committee determined to organize an “institute" of 100 members which should make a thorough investigation of the subject. Mr. Oscar M. Miller is secretary of the institute. At the same time a committee of the Schoolmasters' Club of Cleveland and vicinity was appointed to recommend a plan for vocational guidance. This committe reported on April 12, 1913. The report emphasizes the necessity for gathering much more detailed information regarding actual needs and conditions. Buffalo. The Buffalo chamber of commerce determined to promote some plan for vocational guidance in Buffalo, and engaged Mr. Eli W. Weaver, of Brooklyn, N. Y., to conduct a survey in that city. Minneapolis. A citizens' committee representing philanthropic, manufacturing, labor, and educational interests, assisted by the Teachers' Club, made a survey of 352 boys and girls selected as representative of the children who left school four years ago and at that time were between 14 and 16 years of age. A trained investigator made a thorough canvass of the home and work conditions of these children, and of the personal progress and status of the children themselves. A report embodies the information secured and 10 recommendations. It was printed in the daily papers. VI. THE CONSULTING PSYCHOLOGIST. More than 20 years ago, at a meeting of the National Council of Education, Prof. Royce, of Harvard University, made a prediction which at the time seemed unlikely to be verified, namely, that the time would come when no school system would be regarded as properly equipped to do its work without the employment of an officer whom he termed a "consulting psychologist." Few who heard Prof. Royce on that occasion realized the need which he so clearly portrayed, and his words were not taken overseriously by some of the superintendents present. But his prediction has come true, and one of the most significant tendencies in school management at the present time is that toward a scientific inventory of the human material with which the teacher has to deal. Prior to 1900, schoolattendance laws were either nonexistent or indifferently enforced. Children not fitted by mental constitution for school work as then organized early disappeared from the school enrollment and in that way ceased to be a problem to the school management. The school was a selective agency; it retained those who were by nature fitted to deal with abstractions, and it let the object-minded and the mentally deficient drift away to obtain their preparation for life as best they might outside the school. Doubtless the improvement in compulsory-attendance laws, and their more rigid enforcement, by which varied types of intellect demand courses of study and methods of teaching to meet their widely varying needs, is in large measure responsible for this comparatively new movement in school administration. For some years past, under varying names, this officer, termed by Prof. Royce a consulting psychologist, has been an indispensable assistant to the superintendent wherever employed. His work is sometimes organized into a department of child study, as in Chicago; a psychologic clinic, as in Salt Lake City and Los Angeles; or a psychological laboratory, as in Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, Mass. But under whatever name this department is known, its function is practically the same. The head of the department is a trained psychologist. He deals with mental deviation from the normal as the physician deals with physical deviation from the normal. He diagnoses the case and prescribes the remedy. Few school reports for the current year, issued in cities of 10,000 or more inhabitants, omit mention of provision for mentally exceptional children. Such children are often physically exceptional as well, and are in need of the services of the physician, the nurse, and the dentist. Quite generally throughout the United States children who are mentally or physically subnormal or morally delinquent are taken out of the regular classes and taught in more or less definitely classified groups under conditions that promise most for their normal development. The names that are applied to these abnormal groups are so various as to be confusing. Standardization here is of importance in order that reports dealing with special classes may be understood. In September, 1913, the following designations for special classes were formulated in Philadelphia, in terms descriptive of the aim of the work rather than in terms of the characteristics of the children themselves: CLASSIFICATION AND GRADING OF PUPILS IN SPECIAL CLASSES IN PHILADELPHIA. As a result of the conferences on special class work held during the preceding year, it was decided that the designation of the special classes as "disciplinary" and "backward," and that the grading of the pupils in terms of the eight elementary grades, is not satisfactory. Classification. In order that the special classes be designated by terms descriptive of the aim of the work, rather than in terms of the characteristics of the children themselves, the following classification has been adopted: Orthogenic (right mental development) classes (heretofore known as "Disciplinary" or "Backward"). For pupils who can not proceed with the school work at normal pace, or for whom special adaptations of the curriculum must be made. Orthopedic (right physical development) classes. For crippled children whose physical disability makes special provision for them necessary or desirable. Open-window classes (formerly designated as "Anemic" or "Fresh air"). For pupils whose physical condition is such as to require special attention and treatment. Open-air classes (heretofore designated "Tubercular"). For children who are excluded from attendance in regular schools under section 3 of Rule IV of the board of public education. Grading. It has been further recommended that all children in special classes be graded as follows: Grade A will consist of pupils of low mentality who are held in school pending appropriate institutional provision. Grade B will contain pupils of a higher mental grade than Grade A, but who probably could not, with profit to themselves, be returned to the regular grades. The interests of these pupils will be best served by endeavoring to fit them, through manual training, for industrial life. Grade C will contain-(a) Retarded pupils who are to be restored, if possible, to the regular grades. (b) Those who are able to do the work of the regular grades, but who, by reason of moral delinquency, should not be permitted to return to them. They should remain here until better provision can be made for them. It must be evident that the proper classification of exceptional children requires professional skill of a high order. The very terms used in Philadelphia to describe the aim of the work suggest the services of a trained psychologist working in cooperation with the school physician and the nurse. A sample report from the Springfield, Mass., psychological laboratory follows: Data for identification:< PSYCHOLOGICAL LABORATORY, SPRINGFIELD, MASS., (Name, Albert Riendeau. Age, 13. Quincy Street. Nationality, French. Somewhat below the average in lung capacity, strength, and resistance to Vitality: fatigue. Organic defects: Right tonsil slightly enlarged. Antero-posterior curvature of spine. JHigher nervous centers overactive; lower nervous centers underNervous defects: active. Irregular discharge of energy. Motor control: For finer movements, exact and fairly rapid; for coarser movements, inexact and irregular. Special senses: [Left eye weak in muscle control. Acuity of vision in left eye, onethird; right eye, normal. Touch and muscle sense normal and acute. Emotional constitution: [Sensitive; irritable; proud; easily discouraged, but persistent in efforts. (Mental age about 11 years. Visual imagery for words, Intellectual constitution: poor. Perceptions of space and form, good. An objectminded boy. [This boy should have as much objective work as possible. The practical arts class would suit him. Miss Studley should look up his Conclusions: home life, his diet, sleep, and play. He lacks in large, free motor control, and I suspect that he doesn't play enough. He should have the attention of an oculist. VII. THE VISITING TEACHER. Given the consulting psychologist with a laboratory properly equipped and a file of his records of cases, how shall his recommendations get carried out? There are at least three ways, and they may all be found in operation, singly or in combination; the written or printed communication is not very effective in getting things done in any home; the regular teacher has duties that preclude giving enough of her time in calls to get results; the visiting teacher is the one person who can fully meet the situation. In Rochester, N. Y., such a teacher is employed by the school board; and in Hartford, Conn., and Springfield, Mass., she works under the direction of the superintendent of schools; in Boston under the auspices of the Ellis Memorial Settlement. The public education association of New York quotes the city superintendent as saying in his last report that the board of education was so impressed with the work of the visiting teachers furnished by the association that it asked the board of estimate and apportionment to appropriate $25,000 to take over and extend the service. The appropriation was refused, but the work is continued. In Rochester the function of the visiting teacher is thus defined: The appointment of a visiting teacher is an attempt on the part of the school to meet its responsibility for the whole welfare of the child. There are few of the children in our schools who are suffering through the willful neglect and abuse of parents. Whatever suffering comes for which the home is responsible, comes largely through ignorance or necessity. It will be the function of the visiting teacher to enlighten and to aid in relieving. Her field will be restricted to the girls. Her aim will be to secure the maximum cooperation between the home and the school. Through such a teacher the school is by no means usurping, but it is rather stimulating and encouraging the home to meet to the limit of its power its full share of the responsibility for the welfare of the child. 1 Miss Studley is the visiting teacher. In New York the services of the visiting teacher are summarized thus: The visiting teacher, carefully selected for her qualities of tact, judgment, and social training, stands at the teacher's right hand with the time and the equipment to work out adjustments between home and school. She completes the school staff and is an important factor in insuring to each little child in New York the full opportunities of education. In Springfield the visiting teacher works in close cooperation with Dr. George E. Dawson, the director of the psychological laboratory. Thus far her work has been fourfold: The consideration of candidates for examination by Dr. Dawson; the following up of such candidates after examination according to recommendations made; the study of cases not properly needing Dr. Dawson's examination, yet in which the child is a problem that belongs neither to the attendance officer nor the school nurse; and the preparation of a system of record keeping. Notification of cases needing the attention of the visiting teacher is made by means of this blank: To the Visiting Teacher: about School to see Miss St. These notices to be sent to the principal's office. The history of each case is recorded on the following form: |