Public schools and the war

Front matter

Class ~/J^ 3 7 Book > u^»» &s £—1 o

BY

PING LING

Preface

The following pages represent an endeavor to study the effects of the war upon schools in other countries and especially in the United States. The first four chapters deal with some specific problems of the public schools in connection with the war and were written when the great world conflict was still going on. They show the revolutionary changes which the public schools have made in adjusting themselves to the needs of the war, and suggest the unmistakable tendencies of our educational reconstruction which is yet to come. The last two chapters were written when the great war had just come to an end. In them the author has tried to show, in the light of the experience of many school systems in this country, how American public education can be reorganized in order to meet the needs of the coming new world order. It is the author's hope that they may be of some value to the general discussion of educational reform.

In the course of investigation the author has sent out questionnaires to hundreds of state educational officers, city and county school superintendents, and teachers of the elementary and high schools throughout the country for authentic information. It would be impossible for him to record his indebtedness to all those who have made contributions to this study. But the author wishes to express especially his earnest appreciation of the valuable aid so frequently, willingly, and gladly offered by his leader and guide, President G. Stanley Hall, in the course of this study. Without his suggestion this work would not have been undertaken, and without his constant encouragement this work would not have been completed. The author wishes also to express his deep gratitude to his beloved teacher, Prof. William H. Burnham, for his very helpful suggestions and kind criticism, and to Miss Clara E. Schieber for her invaluable assistance in carefully reading over the manuscript and the proof and in making suggestions with regard to literary defects.

P. LING.

Contents

PAGE

Chapter 2. School Children and Food Production 26

Chapter 3. Military Training in the Public Schools. ... 46 Chapter 4. The War and the Teaching of School Subjects 69

Chapter 5. Reorgnaization of the Public School System

after the War 89

Chapter 6. Reorganization of Public School Programs

after the War 127

Summary 151

Bibliography 154

CHAPTER I

John Ruskin said in his Crown of Wild Olive:

" When I tell you that war is the foundation of all the arts, I mean also that it is the foundation of all the high virtues and faculties of men. It is very strange to me to discover this, and very dreadful — but I saw it to be quite an undeniable fact. The common notion that peace and the virtues of civil life flourished together, I found to be wholly untenable. Peace and vices of civil life, only, flourish together. . . .

" I found, in brief, that all great nations learned their truth of word and strength of thought in war, that they were nourished in war and wasted by peace, taught by war and deceived by peace, trained by war and betrayed by peace, — in a word, that they were born in war and expired in peace."

In these times of unprecedented world struggle when the traditions of centuries are crumbling and all the ideals of civilization are being tested in the infernal fire of war, these words of a philosopher and a great lover of art are most challenging. They are challenging, because they compel us to turn our thought from the present horrors of war to the possible future social order which may rise from the indescribable chaos of to-day. Looking from the dark side of the war, the world is in a period of great conflagration. Every human effort is being directed to the scientific inventions of frightfulness and destruction. Every advance in science and engineering makes war more hideous and every advance in organization and efficiency makes it more terrible. The shrieking of the drowning women and children on the high seas and the shelling of quiet homes seventy or eighty miles away are only a few of the examples of the terrors of modern warfare. For the time being at least it seems that the whole world is going to come to an end. But looking from the bright side of the war we find that war has served as a great agency for the re-evaluation of life, for the advancement of civil virtues and for the enhancement of high moral ideals, despite all its destructive effects. Never before have we seen so many evidences of love and sympathy, of devotion to duty and consecration for service. Never before have we heard so much of the deeds of heroism and self-denial, of bravery and discipline. Never before have we found so many examples of loyalty, co-operation, and the willingness of paying the last measure of devotion for a great cause. We have every reason to hope that this war will prove to be a great atonement for the world, that the heroic blood shall not have been shed in vain, and that a new social order shall be established which will for ever hold the brute in man in leash. It is upon this inspiration that I propose to discuss in this chapter the ethical values of war from an educational point of view, and particularly those object lessons which are exerting a profound influence on the character and inner life of children upon whose education and training the future of the world depends.

The teachers of to J day are largely responsible for the world of to-morrow. They are training a generation not only for the wise maintenance of the coming peace but also for the just and faithful applications of the moral lessons we have learned from this war. Nations as well as individuals will soon forget the truth and the ethics which have been brought so vividly and lucidly to light by the immediate conflagration, and let the lower passions of vain glory, petty jealousies, and selfishness again loom large in our national and individual life. But, lest we forget, we must never go back to the old order of things ; we must never let the war lessons so dearly and painfully learned be relegated to the place of oblivion, and, the most important of all, we must teach children these lessons so that the truths and the ethical virtues brought out by war may be incorporated in their moral fibre and may thus become a moulding force for the future. This is a great task, a task which requires vision and pedagogical insight to perform. Woe be unto the pedagogues if they fail to comprehend their duty and responsibility to discharge it with faith, fidelity, sagacity and professional ability !

In discussing the problem of moral training of school children in war time the writer is fully aware of its immensity and complexity. In times of peace the ethical training in the public schools always proved to be a difficult thing, because there was a lack of paramount motives to hold the interest of the children. But in times of war the condition is different. We can construct our entire method of moral training around the main theme of patriotism. In patriotism the children will find motives in doing things and can learn many fundamental virtues through their actual participation in the war activities of the school. For this reason I shall present this subject in the following two sections; namely,

(1) the teaching of patriotism and (2) the training of patriotism.

I. Teaching of Patriotism

The first task the teachers must perform is the teaching of patriotism. It is not a new task imposed by the war, but the war has made it more important and necessary. To fail in stimulating the patriotic feelings in children would mean a failure in one of the main functions of the school. But how to teach patriotism in connection with the war is the question which we have constantly asked and to which we yet have no answer. To my mind, the fundamental solution of this problem presupposes a clear conception of what true patriotism is. To conceive it in its highest and best sense, the teaching of it will be beneficial both to the individual and to the nation. To conceive it in a wrong perspective, the teaching of it, no matter how patriotic the teacher may feel, would be poisoning the minds of the children and doing a nation more harm than good.

Now what is patriotism? To say that patriotism is love of country is begging the question, for the phrase " love of country " needs further explanation. Is the hatred for the enemy to be identified as true patriotism ? Is the exaltation of the nation's greatness to be interpreted as real love of country? With all emphasis we must say " no." To conceive patriotism in such terms would be nothing short of a horrible perversion. In an autocracy the conception of patriotism can not be anything other than the exaggerated national egoism and the contempt of other peoples, because the autocratic rulers must deliberately educate their people into such a frame of mind in order to further their imperialistic design. But in a democracy, we must conceive patriotism as an unqualified devotion to the ideals and institutions of the country which guarantees liberty and justice to all. It is upon this higher and nobler conception that we must formulate our principle of instruction.

Avoid the teaching of hatred — Hatred for the enemy has no place in the teaching of the war. We have heard so much about the teachings in the public schools of Germany concerning her enemies, but we should not follow her example. Indeed, we should constantly guard ourselves against the temptation of introducing into the public schools any teachings which are not in harmony with the democratic ideals for the defence of which we are making the supreme sacrifice. America entered the war with no selfish purposes, so we must carry on the war without passion. The righteous indignation against the Germans which we feel at present must never be degraded into simple racial hatred. We should not let our feelings blind us to our pedagogicar duty which is to educate, to train, and to prepare the children of to-day for the world-citizenship of to-morrow.

Furthermore, to teach hatred would be to increase the demoralizing effects of war upon the inner life of children. Evidences are not lacking that numerous psychoses have developed among the children who, on account of their residence near the fighting front, have been receiving the frightful impressions of death and destruction. Their emotional life has been profoundly affected by the great shell-shock of the war. They are developing cruel instincts and harmful habits which are definitely detrimental to the normal growth of their moral character. In view of this fact the true warpedagogy is to find out the ways and means to counteract the evil effects of war and to obviate the dangers which may rise from the daily events of the struggle. On discussing the new educational duties of our time, Prof. F. W. Foerster has made the following statement : " A girl in her teens comes from a street-corner where the German naval victory off Chile is posted and says jubilantly to her friends, 'Have you read? Magnificent ! Fifteen hundred Englishmen drowned off Chile !' I do not consider such things harmless. For the stay-at-homes war can become a school of heartlessness and thoughtlessness if a very earnest counter-effect is not given at the right time. As a teacher, I would, on such an occasion — or even beforehand as a precautionary measure — say with great emphasis, ' Listen, whoever is not yet so fortunate in these war times as to be permitted to bind up wounds and nurse the wounded, shall at least think of the wounds which war inflicts and of the broken hearts and happiness of the thousands who thereby lose what is dearest to them — therefore, even in our joy over victory, there should always sound a minor note. Do you know what " Minor" means and how it can be expressed ? What a loss for us if the others should lose their ships, but you should lose your hearts !' m Such an admirable statement from a far-sighted German educator should serve as a grave note of warning to the teachers in this country who are encouraging their pupils to maintain a malicious, scornful and brutal attitude towards the enemy. To be sure, the grim realities of war have not come to the daily experience of the average American children. But the time is coming, if the war lasts, when the American heroes will lay down their

1 Prof. F. W. Foerster. New Educational Duties of Our Time; translated by Helen M. Downey. Pedagogical Seminary, March, 1918, p. 80.

lives on the fields of honor by hundreds or thousands a day, then their dear little ones at home will not fail to have some emotional experience which are appalling to their growing childhood. Is it pedagogically or psychologically sound that we should teach them to indulge in hatred and malice, which are not beneficial to the nation and decidedly harmful to themselves ?

Avoid the Teaching of National Egoism — The undue exaggeration of the nation's greatness should be carefully avoided in the teaching of patriotism. The fundamental reason for which Germany started this world war is just because of her belief that she is the only nation in the world that is fit for existence. For many decades the German government has been using the public schools as the chief instrument for educating the people to belive in the doctrine of " Deutschland ueber Alles." In no country has the government more direct control over education than in Germany. In no other country has education been made so subservient to political aim which is to put the world under German domination. Everywhere in Germany the children have been taught to think that the Germans are the " Chosen People of God" to rule the rest of the world. Had the Germans been trained to respect the rights of others, this great catastrophe would have, been impossible.

To teach children that their country is the best in the world in everything is not teaching the truth. No nation -is all good nor all bad. Every country has its shortcomings as well as its achievements. The great world civilization is just like a beautiful mosaic picture, each nation has made its contributions. Every nation has its own ideals, traditions, customs, morals and virtues, which may by utterly different from those of others ; yet it is upon these very differences that the advance and the enrichment of the world civilization depends. Teachers should lead children to recognize these differences between nations and help them to realize the deep underlying unity that binds all nations together. The great fundamental principle of a democracy is to allow the individuals to differ ; so the great democratic world must allow the individual nations to differ. America is devoting everything, man, money and resources, to making the world safe for democracy ; so the school teachers should assume the responsibility of developing a sort of corporate conscience in the younger generation in order to maintain the great world democracy which is bound to come. Their accomplishment may not be so spectacular as that of the heroes in the field, but it is in no sense less important.

Furthermore, true patriotism does not consist of a romantic view of country. It must be sane and modest. It is of the same nature as the love which we have for our parents, as one writer puts it. We know that our parents are not perfect human beings ; so one must recognize the fact that his nation is not a perfect nation in everything. Nevertheless, one can love his country just the same, even though it is not perfect. As we must and we will defend our parents from violence, so one must defend his country from any foreign encroachment. Why should one insist upon the idea that his country must be the finest in the world in order to fight for its right and honor?

The sentiment which expresses itself in the phrase, " My country, right or wrong," is not the kind of patriotism we should teach in the public school. It has the same meaning as " Deutschland ueber Alles." It is nothing but a projection of the selfish ego on a larger horizon. To carry the analogy a few steps further, we can say, " My country, right or wrong ; my state, right or wrong ; my county, right or wrong ; my city, right or wrong; my family, right or wrong; and finally, myself, right or wrong." It literally means that selflove recognizes no law, and patriotism knows no principle of justice nor international obligations whatsoever. How absurd !

Teaching the National Ideals — The great democratic ideals, the ideals upon which the American Republic was founded, should never be lost sight of in any scheme of teaching patriotism. Since the declaration of war practically every city school system heard from has instituted some means in arousing the patriotic feelings in children, such as flag cult, pageantry, national songs, etc. Take, for example, the flag. In some cities, the pledge to the flag has been insisted upon for all children. With elaborate ceremony the children are made to take the following oath : " I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands : One nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." In other cities, children are made to salute the flag and repeat the pledge every morning when the school is in session with the deep solemnity appropriate to the occasion. The measures are excellent in themselves, but the meaning of the flag and the national ideals, traditions, and inspirations that the flag symbolizes, should never be over shadowed by the excitement of showy exhibition. Patriotism is an abstract term. The spiritual significance of national principles can not be intelligently appreciated without maturity of mind and openness of heart. Children of school age can not be expected to grasp the abstract principles without any tangible and visible form.

Consequently flag salute is one of the means of teaching children what the country stands for. But it must always be a means, not an end. When it is conducted as an end in itself, then the flag becomes an object of fetish worship. This is quite obvious to every thinking person, yet this is the very thing which we are likely to overlook.

Again, in connection with the teaching of national ideals the duty of citizenship should also be emphasized. The ideals which the American flag symbolizes are most comprehensively stated in the first clause of the Declaration of Independence : " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." But every one of these rights has its correlative duty. The right to life imposes the duty to protect the life of others; the right to liberty requires obedience to law ; and the right to happiness presupposes the obligation that the same right of others be not unlawfully interfered with. In other words, the right to citizenship enjoins the duty of serving the nation whenever the service is needed at whatever cost. In America the individualistic tendency has always been in ascendency. The rights of the individuals have been over-emphasized while the duty to the nation often suffers neglect. Sometimes even the laws of the country have been flagrantly violated by the unbridled passion of the mob. Take for example, the mob laws, the lynching of the negroes, etc. America is fighting for the cause of democracy, so it is the duty of the American people to see to it that democracy is safe within their own national boundary. In this time of national crisis we need a new spirit of patriotism. Strike when the iron is hot. Now is the high time for the teachers to bring home clearly and forcibly to children the duties of citizenship.' They would perform a task of a very high order, if on the occasions of flag days, patriotic pageantries, etc., they would tell the children what they ought to do for the country instead of pronouncing eloquent eulogies on the nation's glory and success. In a recent publication the State Council of Defense of Connecticut has stated this principle very admirably in the following words : " This war is bound to have a deep influence on American life and thought, and we should be watchful to direct this into right channels. The country is shot through and through with the one-sided philosophy that the State is an institution to be leaned upon and filched from, but not to be served. The schools should train the children in the fundamental contact between citizen and State. The idea of mutuality should be developed. The

State owes duties to the citizen, but the citizen owes reciprocal duties to the State."

Teaching the Ethical Values of Bravery and Self-sacrifice — Closely connected with the teaching of patriotism and war is the teaching of the ethical values of bravery and self-sacrifice. In this connection Prof. F. W. Foerster has quoted the following letter from the front describing the scene in a hospital :

"During the operation, which took place in a church arranged as a hospital, a bomb crashed through the church window above. Some of those assisting at the operation instinctively jumped aside, others disappeared under the operating table and others tried to save themselves by hasty flight into the sacristy or behind the altar. The shell-splinters and stones clattered through the church windows, and pieces of stained glass and of roof ornamentation rattled down on the reddish floor stones. 'Here we are operating!' said the surgeon unconcernedly; an energetic, 'Each one remains at his post' from the assistant quickly caused the people under the table and behind the altar to hurry forth. Calmly, as if we were in the operating room of a hospital, we worked ahead, looked for ducts, nerves, applied ligatures and sewed muscle after muscle to a useful stump. After the ligature the patient opened his eyes again soon, and murmured softly and contentedly, 'Ah, how well have I slept!' He would scarcely believe that he had already been operated on and that, in the meanwhile, almost the whole church had been destroyed. Astonished and amazed he looked at the ruined church windows. We laid him carefully on soft straw and while the hostile missiles thundering outside completed their work of destruction, He was already sleeping along toward recovery with deep, calm breathing." (42).

Another story told about the heroism of a British officer in the Western front is equally inspiring. During one fierce engagement a British officer saw a German officer impaled on the barbed wire, writhing in anguish. The fire was dreadful, yet he still hung there unscathed. At length the British officer could no longer stand the pathetic sight. He said quietly, "I can't bear to look at that poor chap any longer." So he went out under the hail of shell, released him, took him on his shoulders and carried him to the German trench. The firing ceased. Both sides watched the act with wonder. Then the commander in the German trench came forward, took from his own bosom the Iron Cross and pinned it on the breast of the British officer.

These are two of the many hundreds or thousands of stories of heroism and sacrifice which teachers can utilize for moral instruction. The heroic defiance of death in the fulfillment of duty and in the rescue of even an enemy who was in distress, as illustrated by these stories, will sink deep into the minds of children in their most impressionable years. The sterile, cut and dried verbal method of moral instruction can be much vitalized, if the teacher can only have the vision, ability, and interest to do so. ,

II. Training in Patriotism

So much for the teachings of patriotism. Valuable as they are, the war activities in the schools will have a greater effect upon the thoughts, feelings and emotions of children than mere verbal instruction. They give children a sense of reality in actually doing something for their country. They develop in children a feeling of pride and responsibility by the visible and tangible services rendered to a much larger object than the selfish ego. They tend to react upon the life of children in a quickened consciousness of personal and national ties, and a keener sense of common sacrifice and common duty. In other words, they furnish a kind of moral training based on the conception of patriotism which is dynamic, real and concrete.

In Germany, as far as information is available, we find many war activities of the school chillren deserving our unqualified commendation. One of the most interesting of all these activities which have been described is the collection of metals and cast away materials. In some places the school boys turned out in great numbers with bags, toy or larger wagons, botanical cases, and all conceivable receptacles in a house-to-house visitation on the street; sometimes the interest of the children was so intense and the enthusiasm so great that they would cry if refused. The parents had always been asked to consent in advance and they never failed to do so. Very often the men and women visited have allowed them to search cellars, attics, sheds, outbuildings and even dump heaps, for every kind of tin can, iron hoops, scraps of copper or brass, and many other cast-out things of every description. Occasionally they formed themselves into teams and had one or two teachers with them on the expedition. Those visited were always glad to be relieved of refuse and often entered into the spirit of the children with great enthusiasm, going through the house from attic to cellar and giving up discarded things of considerable value. The boys entered into this work with intense fervor of competition, vieing with each other in the amount of things thus collected. When these were shown, the other children were usually stimulated to bring from their homes, or wherever obtainable, tiny things like buttons, penholders, etc., to enrich the school collection. What is the most important of all is that the children were always told with great detail by the teachers with regard to the uses of the things thus gathered and the stages of their transformation into war materials.

In England, although activities of the kind just mentioned have not been reported, yet the record of collections in money and of articles made in the schools for the troops at the front and in the training camps, for the hospitals, and for the prisoners of war in enemy countries is equally remarkable. From the report of the British Board of Education of 1915, we find a small village school in the north with 30 children on the roll collected in a short period 2,542 eggs for the wounded and made socks, mufflers, etc., in addition. In another east coast area the schools specialized for - particular purposes, one sending parcels to prisoners of war, another knitting sailors' gloves, another providing clothing for refugees in France and Holland, another collecting and sending candles to a battalion in the trenches. A school in the same area showed its war fund, with a total of over 85 pounds raised by concerts, bazaars, and collections, and expended for a great variety of purposes. The enumeration of similar instances can be continued indefinitely.

Besides this collection of money and articles, work of a directly useful as well as of an educative kind has also been organized by the schools in connection with the manufacture of munitions or of hospital equipment. In a single secondary school in Breadford, more than 1,200 articles, including splints, crutches, bed-boards and rests, screens, rollers, trays, etc., have been made in the manual department during the school year of 1915. In another school in Midland county, hundreds of sand bags have been made by the children as well as a great variety of hospital requisites.

Works of this kind can be found everywhere. They are largely spontaneous in character, springing from the initiative of individual teachers or pupils themselves. They elude classification and cut across the formal divisions of curriculum. Yet who will doubt their educational value in the light of modern pedagogy?

In France, we find the same activities as we find in England. For instance, liberal subcriptions from pupils to the national funds, participation in the collection of gold, the dispatch of packets to soldiers, the donation of books to the children of reconquered Alsace, the help given to the orphans whom a school or class has taken under its charge, — these and many other activities represent the war work in the French public schools of to-day. As The London Times says in this connection. " The most detailed enumeration would hardly exhaust the activities of education in the common cause."

In Australia, we have the same story. Soon after the outbreak of the war, the " Young Worker's Patriotic Guild " was organized. The members of the guild pledged to do personal labor for the War Relief Fund. Any one who earns one pound by personal productive effort is rewarded with a certificate in colors signed by the Minister and the Director of Education. It was reported that thousands of these certificates had already been issued.