is published about the tenth of each month by th EDUCATOR-JOURNAL COMPANY 403 Newton Claypool Building, Indianapolis Bell Tel., Ma n 4081; Night, Circle 1424 TO SUBSCRIBERS If you do not receive your Educator-Journal within a reasonable time after date of publication, make a request for another copy. When ordering a change in your address, do not forget to give both your old and your new address. Change in address can not be made without this information. The subscription price is $1.00 a year, payable in advance; when not paid in advance, the price is $1.25. Notice will be given to each subscriber of the time his subscription expires, but no subscription will be discontinued except upon request sent direct to the office, accompanied by the full amount due at the time such request is made. congressional districts have already organized, and all of them have decided to undertake as their special work the giving of one or more of the standardized tests, Courtis Tests in Arithmetic, Series B, being given in about one-half of the districts. Other districts are giving spelling tests, writing tests and the Thorndike reading tests." Toward the close of the first semester, Superintendent A. L. Moudy, of the Waterloo schools, sent out 235 sets of questions to patrons of the local schools. The following is taken from his open letter, published a short time ago: "All but five of the sets were filled out, signed and returned. The information received was very helpful to the teachers. The average time spent on study outside of school, in the grades below the high school, 18 minutes. Regular study hours were observed in 40 cases; not observed, 105. To the question 'Is too much time required of pupil by the school?' 104 answered no, 41 yes. To the question 'Could more time be taken for study without detriment to health?' 93 said yes, 52 said no. "In the high school, to the question, 'Is too much time required of the pupil by school?' 7 said yes, 86 said no. To the question, 'Could more time be taken for study without detriment to health?' 36 said yes, 46 said no. "Some students study very little outside of school, while others study a great deal. The average time spent by each student in each class is as follows: Freshmen, about 1 1-2 hours; Sophomores, about 21-4 hours; Juniors, about 2 1-2 hours; Seniors, about 3 1-3 hours. "From the above report we learn that generally the school is demending about what is right for the average student. "The reply of 7 saying that we were demanding too much, and 86 saying that we were not, leads us to believe that we are on the safe side. We do not want our students to overstudy, but we do want them to study enough to get the most out of their school work. Lessons are assigned with much care and thought on the part of the teachers, and no pupil can do justice to his work, in the high school especially, without considerable study outside the school room." The tobacco habit "survey" of Garfield school, Richmond, as taken by N. C. Heironimus, principal of the school, and which has been given in detail to the pupils for their consideration as well as to school patrons, shows some surprising things. The information relative to tobacco using among the boys in the school and the effect that the habit has had is compared with the school records of the nonusers. According to the statistics compiled there are seventy-five boys in the school who use tobacco; one hundred seventy-five boys are abstainers. The investigation shows that twice as large a percentage of boys fail in their studies as girls, when the tobacco users are included in the list. With the tobacco users eliminated from the count, the comparison was more favorable, the statistics showing the boys in the total abstinence class equaling the records set by the girls. Only one boy who uses tobacco has ever gotten into the special class that progresses through the work a term. faster than the others, while 34 per cent. of the non-smokers are eligible to enter the special class this term. Thirty-six per cent. of the group of smokers are older than the average boys in the same grade; only 2 per cent. were in advance of boys of their age; 27 per cent. were failing in one or more studies. In The average deportment of the smokers was graded as 855-7 per cent. as against 96 4-7 per cent. by the abstainers. The average grade in English by the tobacco users was 73 per cent., while among the abstainers the grade average was 80 per cent. mathematics the smokers stood 77 per cent. and the nonusers 81 per cent. Only 5 per cent. of the abstainers failed. in one or more subjects, and 13 per cent. of this class advanced in their studies beyond their age. cent. of the boys and girls of the State. Kosciusko county was one of the most active in the entire State in the erection of fine school buildings. A general awakening of interest in rural conditions and a movement to improve the deficiencies in rural institutional life have been widespread, as evidenced in the conferences held from time to time for that purpose. Educators have been more intent than ever before in looking outside the four walls of the school room to discover social needs and the relation of the school to social improvement. The decrease of rural and increase of urban population, with consequent diminution in the supply of farm products, and the increased demand for these products, turned attention before 1913 to the study of agriculture, and while many schools had introducted courses in this subject, it was in a quiet, indirect, somewhat theoretical way, because provision was not made in the In the report of the Department of day for this instruction. Public Instruction of Indiana for 191314, State Superintendent Chas. A. Greathouse says that interesting and unique expansions have marked education in the State. These years have seen great activity in the improvement of the physical conditions of the schools. In the two years 412 buildings were erected, not only commodious and convenient and complying with the sanitary building law, but artistic and attractive; 321 of these buildings are in the rural districts where Indiana houses and instructs more than 50 per Professor William James has said: "The human individual lives usually far within his limits. far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use. He energizes below his maximum and he behaves below his optimum. Compared with what we ought to be we are only half awake. Our fires are damped, our drafts are checked. We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources." |