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self-improvement and service to their fellowmen."-Report of the Advisory Council on Participation of National Organizations.

"Early in its history, the Federal Government gave public lands to the States for the support of the common schools, colleges, and universities. It shares in the research essential to the development of education. and gives advisory service on elementary, secondary, and higher education, and in parent education and other phases of adult education affecting children and youth. It provides financial assistance for educational programs such as vocational education, college education in agriculture and the mechanic arts, and extension work in agriculture and home economics, and contributes toward the professionad education of workers needed under certain State and local programs in which the Federal Government participates. It has assumed direct responsibility for the education of special groups, including the education of American Indian children, a school and college for the deaf, a university serving Negroes primarily, and training for the Armed Forces, the Coast Guard, and the merchant marine. It provides educational materials for blind children. It provides advisory service on the development of apprentice training."-Report of the Advisory Council on Federal Government Participation.

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How far have we come as a nation, in twenty years, toward meeting these objectives? The State reports imply that in some areas, we have done much; in others, we have barely scratched the surface. In only slightly varying terms, all State committees expressed a need for:

a. Many more opportunities for nursery school education and a kindergarten in every elementary school.

b. More and better trained elementary teachers; improvement of both pre-service and in-service training programs.

c. Much more emphasis on mental health needs and expansion of child study services in elementary schools.

d. More facilities, especially rooms for eleIn numerous areas, mentary classes. present accommodations should be more than doubled in number.

e. Improved curricula, less attention to traditional grade standards, ability reading groupings within the classroom, etc., so as better to serve individual pupils. f. Closer relationships between parents, teachers and school administrators, with more opportunity for joint planning of school programs.”—Children and Youth at the Midcentury Report on State and Local Action.

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"When the fact that all aspects of experience are colored by feelings toward persons is taken seriously into account, the educator's now basic principle that one 'learns by doing' taken boldly, requires modification. That one does not learn to do by reading That one does not learn to do by reading about, or memorizing about, or reciting about, still stands, and that one cannot learn to do without doing. But it would still appear that, in certain circumstances, one may do and still not learn to do, or not learn with full effectiveness, and that this may, more frequently than one might think, be due to the color of feelings for and against persons that tend to permeate all things, events, and undertakings."-Chil

dren and Youth at the Midcentury Fact Finding Report.

"Recently a question has been raised concerning the effects upon children of constant and intensive use of evaluation in relation to all phases and aspects of school experience. Whereas the intention is to evaluate what is done in the school, the outcomes appraised lie in the behavior of the pupil. According to this point of view, he is therefore likely to feel himself under constant scrutiny, which to him may seem more unrelenting and critical than enlightening and helpful. Even when, as is ever more usual, he participates in the appraisal, he asks himself how he is doing, so to say, more frequently and persistently than is perhaps healthy. In addition, his teacher may some. times come to feel himself more threatened than guided, with inevitable repercussions on him. This may all be particularly bad for the child who comes from a home where parents are preoccupied with the significance of his every move."-Children and Youth at the Midcentury Fact Finding Report.

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"In effect, the whole of school organization is involved in providing the kind of atmosphere in which good human relations flourish. Teachers subject to the indignities of authoritarian administration and the harassments of unrealistic levels of attainment to which every child must be pushed, inadequate materials and equipment, too many petty clerical details, and the like are scarcely in an appropriate frame of mind for sensitive responsiveness. In such circumstances as these, pupils inevitably suffer from mounting irritabilities. Fortunately, more and more administrators over the country are devoting their best thought and the largest part of their energies to making their schools happy places in which to live." Children and Youth at the Midcentury Fact Finding Report.

How To Order This Special Issue

Address requests for additional copies of this special issue of SCHOOL LIFE on the Midcentury White House Conference on Children and Youth to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C.

Single copies‒‒‒‒

100 copies or more to be sent to one address__.

15 cents each

25% discount

For Follow-up Programs

Whereas the President of the United States who called this Midcentury White House Conference, has stated that "ways to help our children and young people become mentally and morally stronger" and develop into the "self-reliant individuals" which are the strength of our democracy, are “essential for the progress of mankind" and the preservation of "our own liberty as a nation," and

Whereas the President has stated that "in the days ahead-we will have to make special efforts to see that children get a fair chance at the right start in life" and has asked this Conference to proceed immediately toward such goals, and

Whereas over 100,000 citizens in all States and Territories have studied ways of improving the well-being of children in their own communities, and

Whereas this White House Conference has so dramatically demonstrated the pressing need for the better application of that which we know and that which we assume to be good as well as the importance of filling by further research the wide gaps in our knowledge of human and social behavior, and Whereas the follow-up on the recommendations and implications of the findings of the Midcentury White House Conference depend upon the fullest partnership of voluntary and official effort, and

Whereas this White House Conference has demonstrated the need for more effective communication between the national, State, and local levels, and

Whereas there is need to establish a continuity of effort in follow-up, and

Whereas the National Committee of the White House Conference, its advisory councils, and delegates in attendance at the December meetings have recommended that machinery be authorized to implement follow-up,

through all the groups which have a primary concern for the well-being of the Nation's children and youth. It should be made up of individual citizens asked to serve in their own right rather than as representatives of organizations or interests and determine its own methods of financing. 5. That provision for continuity should be implemented by

(a) including on this new committee five selected members from each of the present advisory councils wishing to participate in follow-up, members from the presently organized national committee and members at large, and

(b) providing for State and local follow-up organization.

6. That ongoing activities should be effected by this national committee through an advisory council for participation of national organizations and an advisory council for State and local action and

Be it resolved, That this conference recommends approval of the following principles in effecting appropriate action in follow-up: 1. That the chief operating groups upon which the responsibility for follow-up should fall will be existing organizations through such technical committees as may national, State, and local.

2. That the chief purposes of the followup effort should be to disseminate the findings of the Conference, stimulate action on its recommendations, and promote research designed to fill the gaps in knowledge which the Conference has brought to light.

3. That the participation of youth and the interdisciplinary approach demonstrated in this Conference should be maintained and further developed.

4. That a national committee should be formed as an advisory and consultative group. Such a committee should work

be indicated and that the committee should provide for appropriate cooperation with governmental groups at all levels.

7. That the national committee here proposed should of necessity be allowed discretion, within the framework of the purposes herein set forth, to make such changes. as will assure the attainment of the objectives of the Midcentury White House Conference.

8. That authority for setting up this follow-up program should be given to the National Committee of the Midcentury White House Conference.

Consensus

Recognizing that this is a time of crisis, posing the very issue of survival, and desiring to summarize the aspirations embodied in the recommendations and to declare the spirit in which the recommendations will be interpreted and followed, the Conference adopted the following statements as representing a consensus of the group and an expression of its unity of purpose:

1. The full development of the whole child is the basic philosophy and ultimate aim of all recommendations.

2. All services, programs, and facilities for children and young people should be provided without discrimination as to race, creed, color, or national origin.

3. Continuing emphasis on research and its application
is essential.

4. Qualified personnel is needed in sufficient number to
staff services and programs for children and youth.

5. Youth should be included as full participants in all
appropriate community activities.

6. Effective partnership between voluntary and govern-
mental agencies is needed in the furtherance of this pro-

gram.

7. Effective teamwork by the professions is essential to
the development of the healthy personality.

8. Full participation of all citizens is necessary in pro-
viding and sustaining all programs and services recom-
mended by this Conference.

J. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1951

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Number 7

The following quotation is from the introduction to an Office of Education bulletin, 1949, No. 5, titled "Science Teaching in Rural and Small Town Schools" by Glenn O. Blough and Paul E. Blackwood, Office of Education specialists in elementary science: '... Obviously children cannot be expected to learn more than a small part of all there is to know about their world, and they should learn it not only from books but, whenever possible, directly from a study of the natural environment . . ." The cover photograph on this issue of SCHOOL LIFE is pertinent to this philosophy of learning presented in this best-selling bulletin. The photograph was taken by Bervin Johnson, National Press Photographers Association, and was one of the prize-winning photographs in the Grolier Society's First Annual Competition for Press Photographers.

To Strengthen and Improve Office of Education Administration

Commissioner McGrath Explains Background of the Survey

Second Commission on Life Adjustment Education Appointed.

Educational Issues "Referred to the People" in 1950
Education for the Nation's Defense-VI

Better Schools Build a Stronger America

School Life Spotlight

"In addition to its obligation for providing services to the Federal Government and to State and local schools systems, the Office of Education has certain implicit obligations for services to the American people."

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p. 97

How the people voted on educational issues is of wide general interest." . p. 103

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Published each month of the school year, October through June. To order SCHOOL LIFE send your check, money order, or a dollar bill (no stamps) with your subscription request to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. SCHOOL LIFE service comes to you at a subscription price of $1.00. Yearly fee to countries in which the frank of the U. S. Government is not recognized is $1.50. A discount of 25 percent is allowed on orders for 100 copies or more sent to one address within the United States. Printing of SCHOOL LIFE has been approved by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget.

OSCAR R. EWING.

Federal Security Administrator
EARL JAMES MCGRATH... Commissioner of Education
GEORGE KERRY SMITH....
JOHN H. LLOYD..

Chief, Information and Publications Service
Assistant Chief, Information and Publications
Service

Address all SCHOOL LIFE inquiries to the Chief, Information and
Publications Service, Office of Education, Federal Security Agency,

Washington 25, D. C.

THE Office of Education was established in 1867 "for the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the sev eral States and Territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education

throughout the

country."

To Strengthen and Improve Office

of Education Administration

Recommendations of the Public Administration Service

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III—An appraisal of Administrative Structure and Processes IV—Recommendations for Strengthening and Improving Office Administration

Because of limited space, SCHOOL LIFE focuses upon that section of the report which offers recommendations. THE OFFICE OF EDUCATION recognizes as its controlling purpose the rendering of such assistance to those concerned with education as to enable them to cope with the principal problems incident to meeting the Nation's needs for education. Underlying all of the activities and relationships of the Office of Education is the fact that in this country the legal responsibility for education rests upon the State Governments, which encourage a large amount of local control in the determination of educational programs and procedures. Yet the Office is spurred by the deepening consciousness of the American people that its security, its freedoms, and the achievement of its aspirations require education of Nation-wide excellence. To exert leadership for the improvement of education while leaving undisturbed the policy of State and local control of education, the Office relies chiefly on four types of service:

Volume 33, Number 7

1. Research, including status and trends studies, surveys, and evaluations of educational programs, procedures, and results.

of education, and State universities and colleges. Assistance to local schools and school systems given through or in cooperation with the State agencies tends to

2. Publications and other informational magnify the usefulness of the Office services, services.

3. Consultative and advisory services. 4. Administration of grants-in-aid as authorized by the Congress.

As the Federal educational agency, the Office has major responsibility for keeping the President and the Congress informed of the educational needs of the Nation, of problems involved in meeting those needs, and of the progress being made. It has obligations to assist the President in developing and putting into effect his program with respect to education. It has responsibilities for providing information and counsel required by members of Congress in considering legislation affecting education. It has also obligations for sharing with the heads of Government departments and agencies its special knowledge in educational matters and for providing assistance in the educational aspects of the programs of these departments and agencies.

Since under our system responsibility and control of education are vested in the States and their local school systems, the assistance of the Office in bringing education abreast of its problems must be given primarily through the regularly constituted State and local educational agencies. Special attention should be given to serving the State agencies through which educational policy is made and given effect. These agencies include the State legislatures, State boards and State departments

while conforming to the organizational structure of American education. The Office also recognizes the obligations for services to church and private schools and school systems.

Services in the field of international educational relations are needed increasingly by such international organizations as UNESCO, by foreign ministries, and by other organizations and agencies both in this country and in other countries. In general these services may be thought of as rendered to the Federal Government, often through the Department of State. There is another aspect pertaining to the development in this country of educational programs for international understanding and similar objectives. These matters fall under the category of services to State and local school systems in the development of their programs.

In addition to its obligation for providing services to the Federal Government and to State and local school systems, the Office of Education has certain implicit obligations for services to the American people. To a large extent, such services are rendered through national professional organizations in the field of education. It is logical and proper that the Office of Education should work with national professional organizations in efforts to promote the purposes which they have in common. The Office, however, must never become the pawn of such organization or place services to

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