purpose rightly and to execute efficiently the purposes so made is the child who is best equipt for the life he is later to lead in a democratic society. The purposeful act from, these considerations may well be made the typical unit of the school procedure which we seek.

Still more, the purposeful act exactly utilizes the laws of learning. The purpose, acting as psychological "set," makes ready the appropriate responses, defines success, and accordingly by the satisfaction ensuing fixes as habit in the nervous organism the responses that brought success. In this way the knowledge and skill necessary to accomplish the purpose is rendered available as impulse and is fixt as habit. Moreover, being directed by conscious purpose, the various steps are-in proportion to the child's development—intelligently organized to the end in view; so that the learning as a whole is pragmatically organized for further most efficient action. The agent's set or attitude is recognized by competent psychologists as exactly the element needed to push the action thru to completion and at the same time to fix the responses as relatively permanent possessions of the individual's character. The attitude needed for both these ends is exactly provided by the element of purpose upon which we are here insisting. But I can almost hear some of you protest that I am proposing to weaken the moral fiber of our children, that child purposing means following the line of least resistance. If time allowed, nothing would please me more than to enter upon the argument, in spite of its intricacies. However, I recognize the wide difference that intervenes between the worst of bad purposes and the best of good purposes, and have no notion of leaving the teacher impotent before childish inclination. Some of the child's purposes are good and wholesome and educative, others just the reverse. It is the teacher's duty, as I conceive it, on the one hand to rule out the bad purposes― peaceably if he can, forcibly if he must-and on the other to start those wholesome purposes which we altogether approve. But I am not content with this negative defense. I dare assert that no other type of school proçedure so adequately provides the conditions for good character growth as does procedure based on purposeful acts. Our ordinary school, so far as it excludes the element of purpose on the part of the child, exactly excludes the conditions under which moral character is best developt. It is little wonder that the American citizen is too often selfish and wrongly individualistic in his attitude and conduct. Our schools could hardly have been arranged more effectively to produce in him exactly this result. To expect a child to gain self-control by denying to him the opportunity to exercise responsibility is like expecting him to learn to swim out of water. That the result is no worse is probably because our pupils have been so little affected by the natural tendencies of our stupid methods. Nor am I speaking merely from my own imagination. Many skilful teachers all over this country are able to testify to the changed moral attitude that accompanies the wise use of what I am here advocating. Instead of being a weak

point in the program we propose, the moral-character aspect is one of the strong points. The purposeful act under wise guidance amid a social environment makes for the building of exactly that strong and resourceful moral character which democracy so much needs.

It may help us to see the practical workings of the proposed procedure if the various types of possible purposeful acts be considered. The committee distinguishes four types: (1) where the purpose is to embody in outward form some projected aim or end, as when a girl purposes to make a dress or to write a letter, or a group of children purpose to present a play or to organize a debating club; (2) where the purpose is to enjoy some (esthetic) experience, as when a child asks for a story or purposes to read Robinson Crusoe, or an older person arranges to go to the opera or to see a sunset; (3) where the purpose is to straighten out some intellectual difficulty, to solve some problem, to understand, for example, how an electric bell rings; (4) when the child purposes to acquire some item or topic of knowledge or skill, or to attain some degree of proficiency in some skill. In a measure each of these has its own specific procedure, an analysis or scheme of its typical process.

It is unnecessary for me to say that the proposed remaking of school procedure on the basis of the purposeful act involves far-reaching modification of current practice, and that the attendant difficulties are indeed formidable. It is of course true that the better kindergartens and graduate seminars already approximate the plan here proposed, as well as do the fruitful pre-school period of childhood, the life-work of our more successful men, and the general out-of-school life of young people. Probably most of my hearers would admit that their own most valued achievements fall also in line. What then shall we do? Shall we refuse to go forward because of the difficulties that confront us? The Committee has no mind to advocate any hasty, wholesale abandonment of what is now working. On the contrary, it feels that modifications must be made gradually. The very working procedure for utilizing the purposeful act is yet in large measure to be devised, altho some successful beginnings have been made. It is here that the Committee's work enters.

It has been arranged that the Committee, in connection with the National Society for the Scientific Study of Education, shall publish by the next meeting of this body a yearbook on the purposeful act and its practice. As at present proposed, the yearbook will consist of three parts: (1) A small body of theory stating in somewhat greater detail the ideas I have tried to sketch above; (2) a collection of actual instances of schoolroom activities which to a greater or less degree illustrate the ideas here advocated; and (3) critical comment upon the reported instances so as to disclose wherein the Committee conceives that the instances do and do not illustrate the theories advocated. It is hoped in this way to get before the American public for study and criticism the conception of the purposeful act and its workings,

at least as conceived by the Committee. The enthusiasm of those who have tried the plan, corroborating as it does the theoretical considerations involved, leads us to hope that the purposeful act may serve to utilize more fully than has our practice hitherto the almost boundless resources of the natures committed to our care.

SCHOOL PRACTICE AS AFFECTED BY THE REPORTS OF THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMY OF TIME

.C. N. KENDALL, COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, TRENTON, N.J. Why is economy of time in our educational processes not merely important, but of growing importance? Why should our efforts in these processes be, not only intelligent, but increasingly so? Here are three answers:

1. The lessons of the past three and a half years teach us that democracy must be fit, competent, and intelligent. The school is the instrument to bring this about.

2. The responsibilities of education have increast enormously in the past generation. If anyone does not believe this let him compare the number of topics on the program of this meeting with the topics discust at the midwinter meeting in 1898 in Chicago. He is blind to the signs of the times who does not see this.

3. The time is short in which to carry out this greatly enlarged school program. The school year and school day have not been lengthened in proportion to the increast activities of the schools. Children are actually in school not more than one hour out of six when they are awake, giving each child ten hours for sleep. These facts should cause us all to welcome any study or investigation which may correct our practices.

One is struck in reading the Yearbooks with the modesty of their claims. They are, not final, but indicative. To them an ambitious superintendent, or principal, or teacher may resort for guidance. The number of such superintendents, principals, and teachers is increasing.

. These investigations cover a wide range. They point the way to the right choice of material, to the most appropriate age when children should receive certain types of instruction, to right methods of teaching, to plans for measuring the efficiency of teachers, and to the relation of years of experience in teaching to efficiency in teaching.

The Yearbooks deal chiefly with practical questions. Here are some of them: The place of silent reading. Is it worth while to practice it? If so, when and how much? Or shall we go on with the old traditional method of universal oral reading? This question of silent reading has received little attention other than that of personal opinion or guessing about it. What means may be employed to find out the comparative merits of the two plans? The Yearbooks attempt to give us an answer by means of

investigation and testing. The facts indicate that the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades are the time when this sort of teaching should be strest. Much depends, of course, upon method and material. Here then is a contribution to the solution of a problem which is found in practically every schoolroom in America.

One way of teaching penmanship shows as good results in fifty minutes of time devoted to it in a week as another in a hundred minutes. Why? Results in penmanship in Grade V in one system are shown to be as good as results in Grade VII in another system. The same amount of time, however, is used in each. Why this difference in results? Here evidently is waste a waste which may be eliminated and ought to be eliminated if economy of school time is desirable.

Investigations of the words to be taught in spelling are common now thruout the country. Progress has been made here. We need, however, to give more attention to methods in teaching this subject. Testing is not teaching. Thousands of teachers have not learned this fact.

The Yearbooks are rich in suggestions as to the social and business needs regarding arithmetic. As in spelling, so in arithmetic progress has been made in modernizing the nature of instruction.

Yearbooks have helpt in improving English grammar. It appears that the time spent on infinitive construction, participial phrases, voice, and mood, is largely wasted if correct usage in speaking or writing is our aim.

Here then are contributions made by these Yearbooks to better teaching in five of the so-called fundamental subjects in elementary schools. These subjects consume by far the greater part of the time in our modern elementary programs. How to bring about economical teaching in these fundamental subjects is a question which the Yearbooks attempt to answer but they do not pretend to answer these questions in full.

All these investigations may be carried on by teachers themselves or by their aid. They promote the growth of teachers; they create interest where there was, perhaps, little interest before; they cause teachers to analyze their own work.

A body of teachers is fortunate whose superintendent plans for teacher self-investigation. The effect of this upon schools cannot be otherwise than good. Traditional methods of teaching, traditional things to be taught these must give an account of themselves under scrutiny.

I remember well the interest and enthusiasm of a group of teachers whom I happened to meet by chance in a railway station. Some of these teachers were in the early twenties. A new superintendent had come to the town who had begun work in tests and measurements, the teachers cooperating. The enthusiasm of these teachers about testing their own work was fine to see.

An observation not set down in the Yearbook is this: The more teachers are taught to measure their own work the better; the more

they can take part in these tests the greater their personal growth and interest.

One other observation. There is a danger that teachers-particularly young teachers-may work for good results in objective measurements and ignore the need of spiritual results, which are or should be a result of all teaching. One superintendent voices this caution in the Yearbooks.

Perhaps our leading psychologists who have done much to promote a scientific study of education, and some of whom have contributed to the Yearbooks, may in the future evolve methods of testing these large values in teaching.

I have attempted to speak of only a few of the large number of subjects in these Yearbooks. They are worth while. No superintendent of schools who becomes familiar with their contents can fail to be more thoughtful concerning both methods of teaching and school administration.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLICITY

The Committee on Publicity was created at the last meeting of this department as one of three committees to carry out in detail the recommendations of a report which dealt with certain problems of school administration, especially the problem of the relation of superintendents and boards of education to one another and to the communities which they serve. Publicity of a perfectly definite type, therefore, and only of one type, was intrusted to this Committee. It was our duty under the action of this department to work out a plan designed to bring together and distribute information on the administration of public schools with special regard to the performances of superintendents and boards of education.

Your Committee set up a plan and has given it some trial during the past year. It now begs leave to report the plan, to ask for its approval, and to recommend that provision be made for the vigorous prosecution of the activities which it has initiated.

The plan provides a method, first, of collecting material which is legitimate news matter, and second, of distributing this material.

In order to facilitate the collection and distribution of news material, the Committee divided the United States into ten districts, each centering roughly around the residence of one of the members of the Committee. Each member of the Committee then entered into correspondence with superintendents in his or her district. This correspondence was in the form of letters, all of which included the following general introduction:

At the meeting of the Department of Superintendence in Kansas City provision was made for a Committee on Publicity. It is the duty of this Committee to take whatever steps are possible to bring to the attention of communities the best types of organization which can be found in American schools.

The Committee is making an effort to collect, with the cooperation of school superintendents and others, rules adopted by boards of education, school charters, and state