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Continue the Fight for Better Schools

EMBERS OF THE National Citizens
Commission for the Public Schools

36 prominent citizens-recently called upon Americans to continue their fight for better schools during the period of mobilization now facing our Nation.

The National Citizens Commission for the Public Schools, a nonprofit organiza. tion that encourages citizen participation in public school improvement, received statements in support of the Commission's crusade from many citizens.

SCHOOL LIFE presents the messages addressed to Roy E. Larsen, President of Time, Inc., and chairman of the Commission, by four outstanding Americans-Warren E. Austin, Bernard M. Baruch, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Commission's statement

on "Citizens and Schools in the National Crisis" was published in the November issue of SCHOOL LIFE.

Statement by Warren R. Austin

Korea is a foundry where patterns for years ahead are being molded. It is the hot center of conflict between those who would fabricate iron weapons of tyranny and those who would create tools for constructing freedom and well-being. This conflict, however, now dramatically spotlighted in Korea, is world-wide in scope. It will continue long after the fires in the Korean furnace die down. The conflict among the patternmakers may be fought out in economic, social, political, and military terms for years to come. There need not be

world war, but the strength of the free world must increase-spiritually and physically.

American education carries a heavy rethis sponsibility for contributing to strength. Its tasks are great. Students must learn how to unmask the "Big Lie." They must have activities which teach them the values of a free society. Because we cannot afford to waste our manpower, schools must be able to look to the physical and mental well-being of youth. Many young people must be given vocational skills and basic knowledge which will equip them either to take on productive jobs in industry or to assume places in the armed services. All students, to the extent of their abilities, must be trained to assume useful places in democratic life. Finally, they

must have opportunity to learn about world. affairs and about the United Nations as an instrument in world affairs through which the purposes of peace can be realized.

As I see it, this means that the Nation must give high priority to its educational system. The needs of the country today cannot be met by schools adequate only for the demands of yesterday. The quality of teachers and buildings must be commensurate with education's heightened responsibility.

Building a stronger educational system calls for widespread citizen support. By focusing attention on the country's need for better schools, the National Citizens Commission for the Public Schools is contributing to the Nation's strength.

Statement of Bernard M. Baruch

I owe one of my greatest debts to the teachers of my boyhood and feel that our teachers do most for our society and are recognized least. They have molded the character and conscience of the Nation and have implanted our people with ethics, decency, character, and will to do the very best.

We certainly must continue to strengthen the role played by our teachers and our

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OOD SCHOOLS don't just happen! Pupils, parents, and teachers must realize as never before that what our schools do or fail to do today determines the kind of citizens, homemakers, and workers we will have tomorrow."

These words form the central theme of the Report which the Commission on Life Adjustment Education for Youth presented for consideration at the fourth National Conference on Life Adjustment Education held at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago, Ill., October 16-18.

In May 1947, the first National Conference on Life Adjustment Education recommended the formation of a Commission "for the purpose of promoting, in every manner possible, ways, means, and devices for improving the life adjustment education of all youth of secondary school age." The 1947 Conference also recommended that the new Commission should report in writing, at the end of 3 years, to a national

schools. Education will help our citizens
to distinguish between truth and falsehood,
and thus better our chances for freedom.

Statement of Dwight D. Eisenhower

The American public school is the principal training ground for informed American citizenship; what is taught in the classroom today shapes the sort of country we shall have decades hence. To neglect our school system would be a crime against the future. Such neglect could well be more disastrous to all our freedoms than the most formidable armed assault on our physical defenses.

The lowering totalitarian menace on the international horizon must not blur our perspective. America will arm itself and survive. But the gravity of our problems and the resolution required to end them. emphasize again that our chief resource is the American citizen's intelligence and understanding, readiness and capacity to do his full duty.

When real peace is achieved—as it surely
will be, however distant it may now seem—
this will be a nation of better citizens, more
conscious of their blessings, more resolute
in their responsibilities, more dedicated to
their freedoms, if even in these crisis-days

Three-Year Report on
Life Adjustment Education

conference of educators from American
secondary schools.

The 1950 Chicago Conference considered
the Commission's Report, formulated rec-
ommendations for the continuance of the
Commission, and submitted suggestions for
modifying and expanding the original Re-
port. As drafted by the Commission on
Life Adjustment Education for Youth, after
completing its 3-year study, the Report re-
vealed that "one of the real challenges to
schools in the days ahead is that of pro-
viding boys and girls opportunities to
achieve economic, social, and political
maturity."

As of July 1950, 20 States had appointed

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we are vigilant that our school system continues to improve in physical facilities, in the calibre of its teaching staff, in education for citizenship.

The National Citizens Commission for the Public Schools is committed to that purpose and has rallied a great host of fathers and mothers behind it. Even as the men and women in our armed forces, these men and women merit our loyalty and support. Where our schools are concerned, no external threat can excuse negligence; no menace can justify a halt to progress.

Statement of

Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt

I am very glad to add my voice to those of the members of the National Citizens Commission for the Public Schools. In spite of the necessity to increase our expenditures for national defense we must not curtail expenditures for constructive work and our progress in providing educational opportunities for our children. The success of democracy depends upon an enlightened citizenry and as the world grows more complex, it is even more important to continue our efforts in the field of public education.

been carrying on secondary school curriculum revisions along lines recommended by the Commission.

"The aim of life adjustment education," according to the Report, "is to develop an individual who achieves reasonable compromises between his own aspiration, attainment, and happiness, and the welfare of society as a whole. The realization of this goal involves separate planning with regard to each pupil . . . for years some leaders have been at work in secondary schools helping to bring about school reorganization in the direction of life adjustment education. Under such leadership, many high schools have progressed a long way toward the development of educational services useful to each pupil and to the enrichment of his daily living."

The Commission's Report goes on to point up the importance of "fact-finding," (Continued on page 38)

T

Education and Human Rights

by Helen Dwight Reid, Chief, European Section, Division of International Educational Relations

HE UNITED NATIONS Educational,

Scientific, and Cultural Organization, at its General Conference in Florence last May, adopted a resolution enjoining "an intensive campaign with a view to providing a better understanding of Human Rights and of the part played by them in society and in the relations between peoples."

Jaime Torres Bodet, Director General of UNESCO, wrote in mid-September to the governments of the Member States, asking their cooperation in "the patient, planned and sustained work of collective education that we are called upon to carry out," and offering a program for observance in the schools of Human Rights Day-or preferably Week, since December 10 falls on Sunday this year. Dr. Bodet suggests, "teachers might be asked, in teaching their various subjects, to lose no opportunity of explaining the history of Human Rights and the meaning of the Universal Declaration. While certain subjects lend themselves more readily to this, the process can be applied to nearly all of them.

"In History classes, the teacher can tell his pupils to what extent human rights were or were not respected at such and such a place; if he is dealing with a fairly remote past, he can describe the progress accomplished since, and so outline the history of the slow conquest, by man, of the rights that are now recognized as being his. The same applies to curricula in Social Studies, which provide many opportunities of commenting on certain Articles of the Declaration (the right to work, the right to education, etc.) In Geography classes, it is... possible to bring out... the similarity between forms of human activity under like or identical geographic conditions . . . and to present these series of facts as one of the universal bases of the Declaration. In Civics, one could, say, devote one session to a study of the points of connection between the national Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"In many of the pieces of Literature, ancient or modern, that are read or studied in primary or secondary schools there is no difficulty in pointing to human rights, as

invoked, defended or violated by the protagonists in conflicts of ideas or passions. The teacher imparting elementary notions of Philosophy can outline to his class, briefly, the philosophic history of human rights and examine, with his pupils, the notions of 'right' and 'duty.'

"Teachers of Science (Biology, Physics, and Chemistry) can in a few sentences emphasize the unity of the 'human state,' which is everywhere subject to the same laws, and remind their pupils that scientific progress can only be a benefit if it is accompanied by respect for human rights.

"IN THE FIRST PLACE, therefore, the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should become a feature of the classroom. The child must be shown how, from the outset, his life at home and at school is influenced by its principles; it is even well to convince him that the instruction he receives flows likewise from those same principles; and above all, he must be taught to realize that the rights conferred upon him imply that he for his part will, now and in the future, fulfill corresponding duties, so that all of his fellows may enjoy the advantages that he himself enjoys."

-JAIME TORRES BODET
Director General UNESCO

Finally, the Art teacher can suggest to his pupils that they draw or paint scenes, described by him or imagined by them, illustrating the application of human rights; and the work thus produced by a class or by a school can then be used to form an exhibition.

"The object is, of course, not to introduce human rights into the curricula artificially, but to make use of the fact that all science and all studies presuppose the existence of universal rights and the accepting of the duties they imply. . . . Even in the brief space of a week, a child can discover the reality underlying the abstract terms of the Declaration, if his creative imagination is given free rein and his desire for action is satisfied. . . . Here, for example, are a few activities that might

be assigned to pupils of between 10 and 15 years of age, in teams or individually: "Composition and production of short plays.

"Organization of several teams within a given class, each team being instructed to draft comments on a group of Articles in the Declaration.

"Election of 'observers' having the task of finding, in the daily life of the class, examples of the application of human rights.

"Drafting of a message addressed, on the occasion of Human Rights Day, to the pupils of other schools either within the country itself or abroad."

Educators everywhere have an especial interest in article 26 of the Declaration, which states categorically certain principles not yet fully realized even in the most advanced countries. It reads:

"1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

"2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace . . .

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The United States National Commission for UNESCO suggests that any project about Human Rights, from a single discussion to a long-term program involving the whole community, "can move forward through seeking answers to the following questions:

"1. What is the historical background of the rights which the Declaration enumerates?

"2. What is the significance of the Declaration in the world today?

"3. How can we use the Declaration as a yardstick to be applied to our own country, our community, ourselves?

"In the long history of mankind's strug gle toward maximum fulfilment and selfrealization it is possible to trace the story of human rights through three channels:

"1. as a philosophic concept: Intimations of the dignity and worth of the individual have been an emergent but disconnected theme since earliest times.

These teachings are the common characteristics of the world's leading philosophers, the hallmark of its great religions, and for brief and infrequent periods a few enlightened rulers have attempted to put some of them into practice.

2. "as stated in declarations and legal instruments or accepted as customs by individual nations: The protection or guarantee of many of these rights has been recognized by many nations for their citi

zens. ...

"3. as a recognizable set of principles which can be applied to all people any where-not because they are citizens of any one particular country but because they are born into the world... human beings."

What makes the Declaration such an historical landmark and of such significance in the world today-is that its rights apply to a person not because he belongs to a particular race, or nation, or religious group, but because he is a member of the human family. In this generation the renewed emphasis upon human rights has been in large degree a reaction against abuses, for as the world saw many basic rights and liberties nullified under dictatorships preceding and during World War II, people everywhere looked for renewed affirmation of the dignity and worth of the human spirit. Are such rights inalienable, by nature belonging to a person regardless of the society in which he finds himself, as is the contention of western civilization? Or are they held on sufferance of the state, a point of view continually reiterated by the Soviet nations? Happily, the former concept became the accepted one. When the Declaration was put to a vote before the General Assembly of the United Nations in December of 1948. it won the wholehearted approval of 48 member nations; two representatives were absent, eight abstained, but none voted against it. The point has been emphasized by Dr. Philip C. Jessup, United States Ambassador at Large:

"It is not a new thing in American history that we care and care deeply what happens to human beings throughout the world. What is new is our acceptance, along with that of the great majority of other members of the family of nations, of the principles which give us a legal as well as a moral interest in human happiness."

The UNESCO Story, a resource and action booklet prepared by the United States

38

National Commission for UNESCO, has a chapter on Human Rights that should be helpful in planning school activities. The UNESCO Relations Staff, Department of State, Washington 25, D. C., will supply single copies free to schools requesting them, together with some new posters and other materials on Human Rights, so long as their limited supply lasts. Here are a few additional materials that would be useful:

America's Stake in Human Rights: A resource pamphlet suggesting teaching activities, prepared by the National Council for the Social Studies, 1201 Sixteenth Street NW., Washington 6, D. C., September 1949; 25

cents.

Freedom's Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by O. Frederick Nolde, with introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt: Illustrated account of the effort to guarantee basic rights; F. P. A. Headline Series, No. 76, 1949; 35 cents from Foreign Policy Association, 22 East Thirty-eighth Street, New York 16, N. Y.

Human Rights Comments and Interpretations: a symposium edited by UNESCO, with an introduction by Jaques Maritain, presenting the views of 32 thinkers of many nationalities; could be used by advanced senior high school or college students as source material for programs on the philosophy of the Declaration; Columbia University Press, 2960 Broadway, New York 27, N. Y., 1949, $3.75. Human Rights: Unfolding of the American Tradition: A selection of documents and statements compiled by the Division of Historical Research, Department of State, 1949; available on request, so long as supply lasts, from UNESCO Relations Staff, Department of State, Washington 25, D. C.

Improving Human Relations Through Classroom, School and Community Activities: A compilation of materials published in recent years dealing with educational principles for better human relations, human relations in the curriculum (content and method) and human relations in the total school program; National Council for the Social Studies, November 1949, 50 cents.

Our Rights as Human Beings: A discussion guide on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights prepared by the UN Department of Public Information for teachers and group leaders, 1949; Columbia University Press, 15

cents.

The World at Work: A pamphlet presenting the economic and social work of the United Nations, including the structure and activities of each of the specialized agencies (UNESCO, FAO, WHO, etc.), and of the commissions under the Economic and Social Council (Human Rights, Status of Women, etc.); comments, questions, and illustrative charts; Rotary International, 35 E. Wacker Drive, Chiago 1, Ill., 1949; 50 cents.

THREE-YEAR REPORT

(Continued from page 34)

"follow-up studies," and "drop-out studies”

in school administration. "The reasons given by drop-outs for leaving school are frequently symptoms of causes rather than causes themselves," the Commission states. "If a school's holding power is low, an analysis should be made of the factors causing pupils to drop out of school. On the basis of the study, steps should be taken to improve holding power."

The Commission also states that the "greatest achievements in the direction of life adjustment education have been made in those communities which have begun where the people . . . used the resources of the community for educational purposes. The best way to cause lay citizens to want better school programs and insist upon them is to involve them directly in the fact finding, interpretation, planning, and evaluation that are essentials in education as a cooperative community enterprise."

With reference to its ideas on the content and method of high school instruction, the Commission set forth "certain underlying principles which school faculties take into consideration in developing an effective curriculum in citizenship." A summary of these principles follows:

The program is planned to include all pupils; the emphasis is on acquiring “civic competence"; the class operates as a social unit which includes participation of all its members; each pupil is helped to “relate his own aspirations and activities to the life and work of the school"; each pupil is helped to understand his community and is encouraged to participate in the life of that community; courses of study designed to meet the needs of the pupil are the foremost concern of the school; and evaluations are made in terms of growth in understanding and changes in behavior.

"The ultimate goal for the program of citizenship," the report finds, "is to help every pupil function as an active citizen in all the communities in which he lives, from his local community to the United Nations."

Recommendations of the several working groups at the National Conference on Life Adjustment Education for Youth will be followed in revising the 3-year report to the Commissioner of Education. After revision, the report will be printed and made available to all high schools throughout the United States.

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