self. He believes that the school of to-day can be so reshaped as not to lose any of its good qualities and yet so as to use and develop the active part of the child's mind which is now so apt to be allowed to die of inanition. "If that is to be possible, it can only come about through addressing ourselves, from the beginning of instruction, more than we have hitherto done, to the child's creative powers, as far as possible in the same sphere of activity with which it is connected before and during its school life by its personal inclinations and aptitudes and by its economic environment. Our learning-school must become a work-school connected with the play-school of earliest childhood." The fundamental principle that must guide in applying these ideas is founded on the fact that "the little scholar would rather work from out of himself than to let work from outside be put into him."

"Productive activity" he interprets as: Grasping the meaning of what is read and reproducing it in a way that shows it has been understood and with proper feeling and action; making clear to others the results of the child's own experience; the ability to follow in arithmetical calcu lations what it has seen in space and time and observed in school workshop or in the economics of every-day life. But he says this is chiefly the mental side of productive activity, and is not always closely enough connected with the result of the child's life; nor does it have the larger social significance which comes from doing things with due regard to their value to others. Therefore, "What the new work-school needs is, in addition to the field of purely mental work, a rich tract of manual work. For here lies, for the great majority of human beings, the most fruitful field of development. What it needs further are kinds of work which shall, if possible, be in some way connected with the bread-winning or home work of the parents, so that the threads spun by the school shall not be broken every day when the child takes its satchel from its shoulders. Thirdly, what the work-school needs is work done by each child for the good of its school-fellows, work which from the first day onward shall again and again preach the lesson: The meaning of life is not in ruling but in serving.""

There should also be in this new school much work done in common; for it is in this way that the feeling of subordination to common aims and methods, which is the very basis of all civic and social life, can best be cultivated. We need such schools not merely for the sake of the training they give, nor for the sake of discovering what the pupil can do best, but to cultivate love of work, fellowship with others, and gratitude to the State.

PRACTICAL TESTS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.-According to an editorial in Education for January, the school work already accomplished by the American Government in the Philippines, and other countries secured from Spain, has afforded an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the correctness of some educational theories which would not so readily yield to certain demonstrations in the midst of the more complex and varied influences of our older civilization. This, in the judgment of the editor, is particularly true in regard to industrial education. "The supreme value of industrial education," he says, "from a cultural as well as a purely practical point of view, is seen in the rapid development of the highest and best human qualities and sentiments in these hitherto crude peoples. The ability to do something well-something that is worth while, something that benefits the doer and his fellows-gives a new sense of personal worth, a new self-respect, and draws quickly into its train such virtues as industry, frugality, honesty, considerateness of others, and a whole round of moral qualities. The dignity of the school system of the United States, and of the profession of teaching, has been immeasurably exalted by the achievements of the pioneers in these new fields."

FEDERAL AID.-Senator Carroll S. Page, of Vermont, early in the year introduced a bill providing that the Federal Government shall appropriate annually the sum of $12,000,000, to be divided among the States and Territories in certain fixed proportions, for the encouragement in secondary schools and agricultural colleges of the teaching of agriculture, the trades and industries, and home economics. While the amount seems large, it is, as Senator Page points out, less than the cost of a single battleship. The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture and the

Secretary of Commerce and Labor are charged with the administration of the proposed law; and it is arranged that any school making use of such funds must make an annual accounting to the Secretary of the Interior through the Governor of the State so concerned. Many will wonder, now that the Federal Government is likely to take a paternal interest in educational affairs, why the Bureau of Education at Washington cannot be raised into the dignity of a separate department and all matters pertaining to Federal education be placed under its expert supervision.

Vocational Guidance.

A great deal of practical work was done during the past year in some of the larger cities in the way of assisting young people in the choice of an occupation. Most of this, however, was done by organizations that worked practically independent of the schools. Few schools of the country are doing the work along these lines which they should in order to be effectively helpful to the young people when they leave their doors. There is still too much blind choice in the matter. Although organizations of kindly disposed people can do a great deal, it is practically impossible for them to reach a great number of cases that really demand serious consideration. In some respects the investigations and publications of these organizations form the most important part of their work. The influence of these is rapidly spreading over the country and rendering the important service of making known actual conditions and needs. Out of this knowledge is rapidly developing a general demand for a better safeguarding of the interests of youth and the economic welfare of the country. It is not only discouraging to the individual initiative of the beginning wage-earner but is also ominous to the economic welfare of any community to permit a large percentage of its young people to drift into "blind-alley" occupations. The welfare of the nation is built upon the hopes and ambitions of its young people. And upon the school, and what the people are willing to authorize the school to do, depend the training and guidance which will enable them to realize upon these hopes and ambitions.

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The situation in regard to choosing an occupation and earning a livelihood is particularly acute for girls between 14 and 16 who have left school. The Girls Trade Education League of Boston has made a careful survey of occupations and conditions for such girls in Boston and has published a pamphlet containing the conclusions reached. The author of the pamphlet, Harriet Hazen Dodge, states that many establishments will not employ girls under 18 because they are "too immature," "thoughtless," ish," "undersized and slow to grasp details," "careless," "frivolous," and "irresponsible." One employer said he would not engage such girls because "the firm is looking for dividends and it cannot afford the economic waste." In the minds of many employers "two years' more maturity is a decided asset.' Some firms, however, will take girls under 18 because of the lower wage for which they can secure them; and others will take them whenever there is a lack of supply of experienced and mature workers. Boston the greatest number of 14 to 16 year old girls find employment in the candy factory, the department store, and the shoe factory. The last two hold opportunity for advancement to a higher wage; but opportunity is wholly lacking in many of the occupations open to such girls. Where the opportunity does exist, the girl's advancement depends largely upon perseverance and capability noticeably above the average, as well as upon the existence of a vacancy above and her tactful aggressiveness in securing it. Dropped into the monotonous, unskilled, though manually active tasks of the factory, or the more attractive but continuously low-paid tasks of the department store, the average young girl worker lacks the control, the perseverance, the far-sightedness, and patience to stick to and perform her present task with an eye to a position beyond. One of two things therefore often happens,-she shifts from one place to another looking vainly for something more satisfactory, or her sensitiveness gives way to dull resignation and her small flames of initiative and ambition easily die out."

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Not only is there a strong tendency to warp the young girl's mentality and to kill her ambition in the occupations

open to her, but frequently there is also danger of her health becoming impaired. Her work usually requires constant sitting or standing and takes her away from her customary life, with at least some out-of-door experience and some measure of play in it, and confines her in-doors for 8 or hours per day and under work-room conditions which, "in matters of ventilation, spacing, and light, are directly opposed to her physical welfare." The whole matter, therefore, presents an imperative problem for the educator and the social worker. "The wage-earning world affords the untrained fourteen to sixteen year old girl meagre opportunities, and it necessarily places a low valuation on her earning capacity. Because of the unskilled work which it gives her to perform, it has an influence upon her efficiency as a future worker and upon her future work as a human being, which is nearly always a destructive one. Added to this stands the now well-established fact that the majority of girls do not leave school early for work because of financial conditions of the home. Instead, they leave because other girls are leaving, because they are too big for their class,' because they don't get on well in their studies, or because they are ' tired of school and would rather go to work." " The urgency of the matter receives additional emphasis from the fact that practically the same situation confronts boys of similar age who leave school to go to work.

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The most profitable lines of investigation on which to base instruction and guidance in the choice of a vocation seem to be: 1. Securing information by competent and direct inquiry and investigation at industrial and business establishments. 2. Securing information concerning the various occupations, their nature and scope. 3. Determining the qualities and training necessary for success in each occupation selected. 4. Listing the various kinds of position, the pay, and the opportunities in each. 5. Inquiring into the risks attendant upon the occupation and how best to meet them. 6. Securing information from Census Reports concerning each occupation. 7. Preparing a bibliography of helpful publications bearing upon each. 8. Listing the institutions giving special training for each.