DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL PATRONS SECRETARY'S MINUTES OFFICERS President MRS. CHARLES F. HARDING, Secretary of Vocational Supervision League.. Chicago, Ill. Alumnae. Secretary-MRS. HENRY KUH. FIRST SESSION-TUESDAY FORENOON, JULY 2 ..Ithaca, N.Y. The department met for its first session in the United Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh at ten o'clock, Mrs. Harding in the chair. The following program was given: President's Address-Mrs. Charles F. Harding. Reports of affiliated organizations: Association of Collegiate Alumnae-Gertrude S. Martin. National Council of Jewish Women and Department of School Patrons of the Pennsylvania State Educational Association-Mrs. Charles Long. General Federation of Women's Clubs-Mary E. Parker. Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations-Elizabeth Harrison. The following standing committees made reports: Committee on Outside Activities and Organizations—Mrs. O. Shepard Barnum. Paper read by Ella Adams Moore. Committee on School Health-Cooperation with Joint Committee of the National Education Association and American Medical Association-Sarah M. Hobson. Paper read by Grace P. Andress. Committee on Vocational Supervision-Ella Adams Moore. Committee on School Revenue-Margaret S. McNaught. Paper read by Grace P. Andress. The reports of Emilie W. McVea, of the Southern Association of College Women, and of Marie Turner Harvey, for the Committee on Rural Schools, were received too late to be read at this meeting. At eleven o'clock Anna Howard Shaw, chairman of the Woman's Committee, Council of National Defense, spoke on the topic, "The School a Vital Factor in War Service." SECOND SESSION-TUESDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 2 This meeting took the form of a luncheon, which began at 1:20, Ella Flagg Young presiding. Mary C. C. Bradford, Anna Howard Shaw, and Ella Flagg Young were guests of honor. The meeting took the form of a symposium on vocational supervision. The following persons spoke: W. B. Owen, Anna Howard Shaw, Mary C. C. Bradford, William M. Davidson, and Ella Adams Moore. THIRD SESSION-WEDNESDAY FORENOON, JULY 3 The department met in the United Presbyterian Church at ten o'clock, Mrs. Charles F. Harding presiding. The following program was given: "New Aspects of an Old Problem"-Elizabeth Harrison, president, National Kindergarten and Elementary College, Chicago, Ill. "The Status of the Child, State and National, as a Result of the War"-W. H. Swift, National Child Labor Committee, New York. "Health Problems in Education"-Sally Lucas Jean, Child Health Organization, New York. "The Scope of the Department of School Patrons"-Mary E. Parker, Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. 'Educating Our Soldiers' Children”—Ella Flagg Young, National Woman's Liberty Loan Committee, Washington, D.C. BUSINESS MEETING The business meeting occurred at twelve o'clock, immediately after the close of the forenoon session, Mrs. Harding presiding. The following rules and regulations were adopted: The members of the Patrons' Department shall be: 1. Teachers, others actively engaged in educational work, and educational institutions, as defined in Article I, Section 2, By-Laws of the National Education Association, may become members of this Department. 2. Any national organizations (other than professional educational ones) interested in the purposes and needs of educational work may become affiliated members of the Department whether general members of the National Education Association or not. The officers of the Department shall be a President, a Vice-President, and a Secretary. These shall be elected and vacancies shall be filled in the manner prescribed by the General By-Laws of the National Education Association (see Article VI, Section 5). There shall be an Executive Committee of the Department, consisting of the officers, who shall manage the affairs of the Department, but who shall confer from time to time with the Advisory Council. There shall be an Advisory Council of the Department, consisting of one representative appointed or elected by each national affiliated organization, and of all the ex-presidents of the Department and of other members who may be elected by the Department or appointed by the President. The chairman of this Council shall be elected at the annual business meeting of the Department. Mary E. Parker, chairman of the Committee on Nominations, reported the names of the following officers, who were unanimously elected: President Mrs. Oliver W. Stewart, Chicago, Ill. The Advisory Council for the coming year consists of the following members: Representatives of affiliated organizations: Cora Helen Coolidge, Association of Collegiate Alumnae; Mrs. Charles Long, Council of Jewish Women; Emilie W. McVea, Southern Association of College Women; Mrs. O. Shepard Barnum, General Federation of Women's Clubs; Elizabeth Harrison, Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations. The following were elected by the Department: Ella Flagg Young, Mary E. Parker, Mrs. Addison W. Moore, Mrs. Louis F. Post. The meeting passed unanimously and offered to the Committee on Resolutions of the National Education Association, for adoption by the Association, a resolution requesting Congress to pass, as soon as possible, a federal Child Labor Law which will not only meet the objections to the one recently declared unconstitutional but will extend legal protection to a greater number of the children of the United States. Following the suggestion of Mrs. O. Shepard Barnum, chairman of the Committee on Outside Activities and Organizations, the department voted to cooperate so far as possible in the work of the Children's Year as carried on under the joint auspices of the federal Children's Bureau and the Department of Child Welfare of the Woman's Committee, Council of National Defense, and also to ask other organizations which now make up the Woman's Committee, Council of National Defense, to cooperate both now and after the war in the work of the Patrons' Department for children, especially for those between six and sixteen. The meeting adjourned until 1919. ELLA ADAMS MOORE, Secretary pro tem PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS MRS. CHARLES F. HARDING, CHICAGO, ILL. The Department of School Patrons is the official connection between the great body of educators represented by the National Education Association and the public, as led by the five affiliated national organizations which make up this department. Its object is to bring to the schools, thru the professional organization (the National Education Association) the support and assistance of the affiliated national organizations and of the great public led by the members of these organizations, and, on the other hand, to bring to these volunteer organizations the professional direction and permanent policies which are essential to educational progress, and which are outlined from time to time by the National Education Association. The Department of School Patrons in the last two years has added to its affiliated membership the body of women who are, thru their children, closest to the schools, the Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations. The department is now at work, thru its Committee on Outside Activities, on the problem of increasing the membership by adding other national organizations. Thru its Vocational Supervision Committee the department has undertaken, in cooperation with the Children's Bureau of the United States, an inquiry into the question of vocational guidance and employment supervision for children of working age. This inquiry is nation-wide in its scope, and some valuable facts have already been obtained. The National Council of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae has arranged for definite and valuable service to this inquiry from its members. Thru its School Health Committee, in cooperation with the Joint Committee of the National Education Association and the American Medical Association, the department has distributed widely in the United States the health charts and other health pamphlets prepared by the leading medical experts of the country under the guidance of Dr. Thomas D. Wood, chairman of the Joint Committee. Thru its School Revenue Committee the department has issued two pamphlets entitled Guard the Schools as Well as the Trenches and The Safeguard of Democracy. These pamphlets are being used by the legislative chairman of the General Federation of Women's Clubs in the states where legislatures are in session this year, to counteract any tendency to decrease school revenue, if such tendency exists, and further to increase school revenue where it is needed. Thru addresses and conferences at the annual meetings of the five affiliated organizations and thru printed material widely distributed the department has brought before large and influential groups progressive ideas in education contributed by the educators of the National Education Association and others. Thru its program at the National Education Association and thru printed matter the department has brought to the attention of the National Education Association the actual education accomplishments of the publicspirited organizations interested in education. These persons stand ready to support and assist the National Education Association and its work both in initiating measures for the good of the schools and in supporting and interpreting to the community the plans for educational progress made by the National Education Association. The department stands committed by its point of view to this support and enlargement of public education. It is a fact that many of the most progressive features introduced into the school system in the past have existed first thru private initiative and private enterprise in the form of experiment, and only when found successful and workable have they been taken over by school boards and incorporated into school systems. It is in this class of problems that the Department of School Patrons finds its special field, and to the further development of such educational projects it plans to devote its enlarged resources and opportunities. The outgoing administration suggests that during the coming year the Department of School Patrons give its energies to supplementing and strengthening the work outlined for the Children's Year, especially as it relates to the child between six and sixteen-always keeping in mind the main function of the department, which is the furthering of the closest cooperation between the educators and the public. REPORT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGIATE ALUMNAE FOR THE YEAR 1917-18 GERTRUDE S. MARTIN, ITHACA, N.Y. Like other organizations of its kind the Association of Collegiate Alumnae has this year subordinated all other activities to the effort to assist in every way possible in the one task of paramount importance, namely, the winning of the war. At its biennial convention, which opened in Washington three days after the United States entered the war, a War Service Committee was appointed. This committee soon reacht the conclusion that one of the most vitally important tasks confronting the government is the work of patriotic education; and they proposed that a speaking campaign be at once undertaken to assist in this work of bringing home to all the people an understanding of the fundamental issues involved in the war, the necessity of our entering it, the necessity of fighting it thru to a victorious conclusion, and the menace of a premature peace. When this work was proposed as our special war work the creation of the Speaking Division of the Committee on Public Information had not yet been announst. As soon as it was made known that such a division had been created, our Washington representative on our War Service Committee informed the director of the division of the plan we already had in hand and offered the services of the Association to assist the government wherever possible. Our representative was thereupon made a member of the Advisory Committee of the Speaking Division, and we have from the beginning workt in the closest cooperation with the division. In order to launch the work, college women's rallies were held under the direction of the executive secretary and the War Service Committee in a great number of the larger cities of the country, and an appeal was made for the cooperation of college women. As a result a large number of speakers' bureaus were formed. These bureaus have registered hundreds of volunteer speakers and have made connections for them with all sorts of audiences thru schools, colleges, community centers, women's clubs, church societies, moving-picture theaters, industrial plants, granges, etc. In addition to the speaking campaign, however, many of the branches have found other methods of spreading patriotic propaganda. Collections of government and other publications have been made and have been. placed in public restrooms and in the lobbies of public libraries, with a volunteer worker in charge, who tries to interest as many persons as possible in taking the pamphlets home. "Current events" classes have been organized among foreign women and other working women who would find it difficult to get an understanding of the war without such assistance. The Association is also endeavoring to cooperate as fully as possible with the Food Administration in its effort to use the college-trained women and the college students as its interpreters to the people. We are urging all the colleges to see to it that if possible every student, particularly every woman student, is given at least the short course of lectures prepared for the colleges by the Food Administration. Similarly we are cooperating with the Children's Bureau and the Child Welfare Department of the Woman's Committee in the work of the Children's Year. The Association has adopted many French orphans. It is difficult to keep track of this rapidly growing family, but we are quite safe in placing the number of our fosterchildren at more than a hundred and twenty-five. The Association is deeply interested in the project of the Association of American Colleges for bringing to this country a hundred or more young French women to be educated in our American colleges, and one of our members, Miss Benton, dean of women at Carleton College, has been appointed to go to France to select these young women and bring them to the United States, and our standing Committee on Foreign Students will do everything in its power to provide warm hospitality and friendly assistance. |