CALENDAR August-December, County Institutes. See June JOURNAL, p. 604 September 12, National Defense Day 14-20, Constitution Week 26 and 27, Conference of Superintendents and High School Principals, Lock Haven October 24, Arbor Day and Bird Day 25, Education Association of Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh 31 and November 1, Association of American Universities, University of Minnesota November 5-7, Superintendents' Conference, Department of Public Instruction, Harrisburg 7 and 8, Pennsylvania Association of Deans and Advisers of Women, Penn Harris Hotel, Harrisburg. Dean Laura H. Carnell, President, Temple University, Philadelphia When Tired or Depressed the efficiency necessary in your work It is easily and quickly assimilated; Its tonic action increases your resistance, energy and endurance. Horsford's is not a habit-forming medicine. It is just SCHOOL OF NURSING 3 year course. Registered by the State of Illinois. Theoretical and practical classwork throughout all departments. High school diploma or its equivalent required for admission. New, modern, well-equipped nurses' home. Maintenance provided as well as monthly allowance. Write for free Book of Facts. Superintendent, School of Nursing, WASHINGTON BOULEVARD HOSPITAL, Dept. P.T., 2449 Washington Blvd., Chicago, III. 9-15, Children's Book Week 17-23, American Education Week December 7, International Golden Rule Sunday 11 and 12, National Society for Vocational Education, Indianapolis 29-31, Seventy-fifth Meeting of the P. S. E. A., Erie February 22-26, 1925, Department of Superintendence, N. E. A., Cincinnati 24, Pennsylvania Dinner, Hotel Sinton, Cincinnati March 26-28, Twelfth Annual Schoolmen's Week Sessions, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia April 3 and 24, Arbor Day and Bird Day Supt. J. C. Taylor has found it necessary to change the institute of Lackawanna Co. from the week of Oct. 6th to that of Sept. 29th. Ede SCHOOL Vol. LXXIII No. 2 PENNSYLVANIA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Publication Office, 10th and Scull Streets, LEBANON, PA. Editorial and Business Offices, 10 S. Market Square, HARRISBURG, PA. SUPERINTENDENTS' CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 5-7 Two New Books That Will Fully Meet Your Language and THE LANGUAGE GARDEN BY INEZ HOWARD, ALICE HAWTHORNE, MAE HOWARD An entertaining language book for second or third grades that teaches correct FIRST LESSONS IN GEOGRAPHY BY PHILIP A. KNOWLTON : A basal textbook in geography, for upper primary and lower intermediate In your fall orders for supplementary readers you will La Rue: THE F-U-N BOOK La Rue: UNDER THE STORY TREE La Rue: IN ANIMAL LAND THE MACMILLAN 64-66 Fifth Avenue Ross: READING TO FIND OUT COMPANY NEW YORK CITY The of teaching and of learning is the self- As SELF-HELP ENGLISH LESSONS, by Julia H. Wohlfarth and John J. Mahoney, indicate by their title, their aim is to teach the right kind of learning. The self-help method is emphasized and utilized from beginning to end. Pupils are given a definite purpose, they are taught how to study, trained to estimate their own work, and consciously to apply selfhelp methods in strengthening the weak places. There are no other texts that can claim Three books for grades 3-8 World Book Company Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York Don't forget to mention the Pennsylvania School Journal when writing to advertisers. It will be appreciated. PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL JOURNAL VOL. LXXIII Ο OCTOBER, 1924 Why the Junior High School?* JAMES M. GLASS Director of Junior High Schools, Department of Public Instruction, Harrisburg, Pa. UR topic for discussion is propounded as a question-"Why the Junior High School?" The answer must be sought in experience if it is to be convincing. Thirty-five years of discussion, research and study in the problems of secondary education have culminated in the junior high school movement. There have been fifteen years of actual experimentation in the development of the 6-3-3 organization. Within this brief decade and a half the intermediate school unit of the 6-3-3 plan, which is generally designated as the junior high school, has been incorporated into the public school systems of approximately one hundred communities of our own Commonwealth and into many hundred systems of other states. The junior high school movement has literally swept the country. It is not a theory or a fad it is an established fact. The junior high school, however, has not passed the experimental stage and will not for another generation. It will undergo many changes in its present organization. I have seen it, in nine years of close concentration upon junior high school problems, pass through many modifications. Every change has improved its effectiveness and strengthened its claim to a permanent place in our public school system. In the next decade I expect to see it as successfully meet other new problems, solve them and add strength to its present hold upon our faith in its worth. I do not want to predict the future, but from the experience of the past fifteen years I want to draw reasons in reply to our question of "Why the Junior High School?" Among the many reasons which can be advanced I shall place before you TEN REASONS which are each founded in fact and experience. 1. Because cities have experimented with and accepted the Junior High School. As with *Address before the Pennsylvania State School Directors Association, Harrisburg, Pa., February 7, 1924. No. 2 every educational movement the stage of experimentation should be restricted to large municipal centers. First, such an experiment in a city system if unsuccessful can be quickly converted to other purposes. Only one comparatively small section of a city need be affected by the experimental school. Secondly, the administrative and supervisory staffs of a city system are large enough to carry on effectively two distinct types of school administration, e. g., both the 8-4 and 6-3-3 organizations. Either may be adopted at option because both are carried on simultaneously. Thirdly, the opportunities to train teachers for the operation of new projects are close at hand in large systems or can be found in their own staffs. In fact all the facilities which promote the experimental phases of educational reorganization are accessible to city systems and almost as invariably lacking to smaller school systems. There are 20 first and second class cities in Pennsylvania. The junior high school is today in operation in 11 of these cities; within the next few months junior high school buildings will be opened in 5 others. In other words 16 of the 20 cities are either operating or building junior high schools. Three of the remaining four cities are awaiting developments of building surveys, bond issues, etc., prior to constructing junior high school buildings. Altogether there are 42 junior high schools in cities of the first and second class either now operating or under construction. Furthermore, present building programs in our cities are now planned to readjust whole city systems upon the 6-3-3 basis. The facts of this development are two, first, that the experiment has been conducted and secondly, that conviction which alone comes from experience has led to the acceptance of the 6-3-3 plan as the basis of city-wide organization. Not only is this extension of the junior high school movement in city systems true in our own State, it is equally true of the whole country. Practically the same procedure has been followed everywhere the stage of an isolated experiment in a small city community, the stage of testing followed by acceptance of the 6-3-3 plan for city-wide adoption and the third stage which characterizes our own present development, i. e., a junior high school building program ultimately to include two, three, five, ten, to thirty junior high school buildings according to the needs and means of each city system. Millions of public funds are today invested in junior high schools and many other large appropriations and bond issues are set aside for further construction. Eighty other communities of our State outside the first and second class cities have been confronted with serious situations of school congestion and have accepted the junior high school as the solution of their building problem. This condition brings us to our second reason, 2. Because the Junior High School is the solution of the problem of school congestion and provides a building program adequate to care for all the school population. Most frequently the determining factor in the adoption of the junior high school is this insistent problem of school congestion. The building of a junior high school relieves the congestion of the elementary schools by removing their 7th and 8th grades or approximately 20 per cent of the elementary school's total enrollment. Similarly relief is afforded to high school congestion by removing its 9th year or approximately 40 per cent of its enrollment. When, therefore, a board of school directors faces the problem of crowded elementary and high school buildings, it is inevitable that the question of the junior high school will arise. When, in addition to this condition of congestion, the further condition of old and nonflexible types of buildings or restricted sites prohibit additions to present buildings, the inevitable decision of new construction is practically forced upon the board of education. Frequently, therefore, the determining factor in the adoption of the junior high school is the distribution of relief to congested conditions which it affords to both elementary and high school buildings. Accordingly, when in addition to building needs a board of school directors, their administrative officers, superintendent and principal are convinced of the educational gains to be secured to the school system by the adoption of the junior high school plan, two objectives concurrently are realized; first, the solution of a building problem which permits of no delay and secondly, the inauguration of a constructive and far-reaching educational program. The answer to our question of "Why the Junior High School?" is at this point reduced to its educational advantages over the present eight-year elementary and four-year high school administration. Our remaining eight reasons will, therefore, pertain to the educational reconstruction involved in the junior high school movement. 3. Because educational reorganization of the past thirty-five years has resulted in the development of the 6-3-3 and 6-6 plans. The reorganization of secondary education has been under discussion since 1890. Many research studies under various national committees were carried on for the two decades between 1890 to 1910. Since 1910 both the 6-3-3 and 6-6 plans have been tested and developed under careful direction and supervision in many widely distributed sections of the country. The discussion, research studies and experimentation were crystallized in 1918 by the following recommendation of the present Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education. "We recommend a reorganization of the public school system whereby the first six years shall be devoted to elementary education designed to meet the needs of pupils of approximately 6 to 12 years of age; and the second six years to secondary education designed to meet the needs of pupils of approximately 12 to 18 years of age."† This recommendation became the cornerstone of the junior high school movement. It plainly divides the public school system into the two major fields of elementary and secondary education of six years each. It was the culmination of a national movement to transfer the 7th and 8th years from the field of elementary to secondary education. It was preceded by many experiments with six year high schools. Moreover, the Commission added to its recommendation of an equal division of the public school system into six years each of elementary and secondary education a second recommendation which sub-divided the secondary school as follows: "The six years to be devoted to secondary † Bulletin 35 "Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education," Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. |