STATE COUNCIL OF EDUCATION At the meeting of the State Council of Education held on December 4 the following business was transacted: (1) Report was made showing condition of the State School Fund. Accumulated surplus was directed to be invested. (2) Final action on the petition of citizens and taxpayers of West Mayfield Borough, Beaver County, for the creation of West Mayfield Borough as a separate school district of the fourth class was deferred until further investigation of the merits of the petition could be made. (3) A joint committee was authorized and appointed by the State Council of Education to consider the regulations of the Council relative to standards for superior class teachers. This joint committee consists of three members of the Council, the Superintendent of Schools of Philadelphia, the Superintendent of Schools of Pittsburgh, one member of the Board of Public Education of Philadelphia and one member of the Board of Public Education of Pittsburgh. (4) Twenty one-room schools that have been schools at Loyalsock Township, Lycoming (6) Applications of the following school districts were approved for re-classification for appropriation purposes, subject to budgetary limitations: Sayre Borough; Catawissa Township, Columbia County; Spruce Creek Township, Huntingdon County. (7) A petition of the taxpayers and citizens of the School District of West Bethlehem Township, Washington County, for permission to divide the Township into two separate school districts of the fourth class, to be known as the School Districts of West Bethlehem and North Bethlehem, respectively, was heard. Final action was postponed pending further investigation. (8) Negotiations for the purchase of additional property for Slippery Rock State Normal School were authorized, subject to budgetary limitations. (9) The Council authorized the placing on the Accredited List of Higher Institutions Outside of Pennsylvania those that have been fully accredited by one or more of the following standardizing agencies: Association of American Universities Association of the Middle States and North Central Association BOARD OF NORMAL SCHOOL PRINCIPALS MEETS AT LOCK HAVEN The regular November meeting of the Board of Normal School Principals was held at Lock Haven, November 23, 1925. The following items of general interest were discussed at this meeting: The Curricular Revision Committee reported that questionnaires had been sent out to more than five hundred recent graduates requesting certain information with reference to the curriculum offered during the past five years. It was the judgment of the committee that the point of view of the teacher in the field should be secured as additional light on the matter of revising the present curriculum. The Board expressed its appreciation for the general items of interest with reference to normal school activities that appear from time to time in the SCHOOL JOURNAL. Dr. John A. H. Keith briefly described the First Annual Teacher Training Regional Conference held at his school. There had been invited county and assistant county superintendents, district superintendents, supervising principals and high school principals so that the membership of the conference was entirely made up of those engaged in the work of supervision. About sixty individuals responded to the invitation and they were about evenly distributed among the different groups. A general afternoon meeting was followed by three sectional meetings, viz., county superintendents, district superintendents and high school principals. A general evening meeting and a general session on Saturday morning were held at the new Indiana High School. At the general sessions there were an address on Educational Cooperation, an address on the Amendments to the Present Retirement Act by Dr. Baish, and an address on Adult Education by Mr. Castle. The members of the conference decided to meet again at the call of the chairman, County Superintendent W. H. Dugan, Greensburg. The members of the conference expressed themselves as well pleased with the initial meeting. Dr. J. Linwood Eisenberg presented a report on the First Annual Regional Conference held at the Slippery Rock State Normal School Friday and Saturday, November 13 and 14, 1925. Although the weather was unfavorable, more than one hundred guests were registered for the conference. This conference was designed especially to appeal to superintendents and classroom teachers. The subjects under discussion were arithmetic, health education and nature study. One of the outstanding features of this regional conference was the visit made to the classes in the three departments indicated above. Subsequent to the visits conferences in the three fields were held. Dr. Charles W. Hunt, Cleveland School of Education, spoke to the entire group at the close of the conference. We should not do unto others as we would have others do unto us because their tastes may be different.-Bernard Shaw. JANUARY BROADCASTING PROGRAM The following is the first of a series of broadcasting programs arranged by the Department of Public Instruction for the purpose of making this service available to the schools and other educational agencies of the State for the dissemination of educational information: Thursday, January 7-9:15 A. M. "Democracy's High School"-J. N. Rule Wednesday, January 13-8:00 P. M. "Stephen Collins Foster Centenary"-C. F. Hoban Thursday, January 21-9:15 A. M. "The Past Century's Contribution to Science"-J. A. Foberg Friday, January 29-8:00 P. M. "Safeguarding Our Children from Fire Hazards"-Major Wilhelm AN ACCREDITED COLLEGE An accredited college in Pennsylvania is an institution of higher learning, publicly or privately supported, chartered under the laws of the Commonwealth and empowered by the State Council of Education to grant degrees. Before the degree-conferring power is given, each college must meet certain requirements. These include: 1-An entrance requirement of four 2-For a baccalaureate degree in art, 4-A minimum productive endowment of $500,000 beyond all indebted ness. 5-Adequate buildings with suitable laboratory and library equipment. "All institutions chartered shall be subject to visitation and inspection by representatives of the Council, and if any one of them shall fail to keep up the required standard, the court shall, upon the recommendation of the Council, revoke the power to confer degrees." -Section 6009, School Laws of Pennsylvania. Graduates of chartered colleges authorized to confer degrees are eligible for the College Provisional Teacher Certificate provided they can satisfy the pedagogical requirement. Graduates of the colleges approved by the State Council of Education are generally admitted to graduate study in arts and sciences in universities and to professional courses in schools of medicine and dentistry. However, acceptance or rejection of candidates to graduate study in professional schools is determined by the standards established by the graduate schools. The great secret of success in life is to be ready when the opportunity comes.-Disraeli. A high school is given the highest type of classification for which it qualifies. A school may offer four years of work, but if it is deficient in some of the requirements, e. g., teachers, program of studies, organization, building, equipment, etc., it can be classified for only three years of work and thus will be listed as a three-year high school. Six-year schools, which meet the requirements for grades 9-12, but do not meet junior high school standards, are classified as four-year high schools. Over 160 schools in the State operate partially or wholly on the 6-3-3, 6-6, 6-3, or 6-4 basis. Many of these schools do not as yet have their junior high school classified and are, therefore, classified as four-year, threeyear, two-year high schools, or are not given classification. Including junior high schools which are part of six-year high schools, there were 92 classified junior high schools in the State in 19241925. Seventy-five schools are operating on some form of the 6-3-3 or 6-6 basis, but are not classified as junior high schools. Main Topic-Daily Problems in School Nursing Round Tables-9 A. M. An Analysis of the Home Visit; PurposeContent-Results Leader: Miss Beatrice Short, Secretary of School Nursing, American Child Health Value of the Parent Consultation at School Under What Conditions We Would Serve Leader: Mrs. Theresea Holmes, School Round Tables-1:30 P. M. Signs of Health Instruction; in Pupil-in Leader: Miss Mabel Bucks, School Nurse, Teamwork of Nurse and Teacher Leader: Miss Ida Kerns, School Nurse, Your Responsibility and Mine Note:-At 12 M. conference members will visit Open Air School under the direction of Dr. H. Bucher, School Physician, Reading Regional Conference for School Nurses, High School Building, Lewistown, January 21 and 22, 1926 Presiding Officer, Anna L. Stanley, State Leader: Miss Vera Baltus, School Nurse, Value of the Parent Consultation at School Leader: Miss Julia Gerrity, School Nurse, Round Tables-1:30 P. M. Signs of Health Instruction; in Pupil-in Leader: Miss Alice M. Lynott, School Teamwork of Nurse and Teacher Leader: Miss Margaret Schaffer, School Your Responsibility and Mine the new High School building under the direction of Dr. Nathaniel Ross, Chief Medical Inspector, Public Schools, Wilkes-Barre AIDS IN GEOGRAPHY TEACHING Teachers are finding the following material very useful: Geographic News Bulletin, published weekly, valuable especially for Grades Three to Eight and Senior High School Library. Thirty issues will be mailed to a teacher for one year by the National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C., upon receipt of twenty-five cents which pays a part of the mailing costs. The National Geographic Society continues to pay for the preparation and printing of the bulletins. Pictorial Geography-Six sets of forty-eight sheets each (picture and verbal matter in each sheet) price, $1.50 per set to cover cost of publication; Set one-Eskimo Life (twentyfour sheets) and Sahara Life (twenty-four sheets), very useful in Primary Grades (1, 2, 3), Sixth and Eighth Grades, Senior High Advanced Geography Course. Set two (a) The Indian in America (twenty-four sheets) useful in Primary Grades (1, 2, 3), Sixth and Eighth grades, also History classes; (b) The Negro in Africa (twenty-four sheets) useful in Third, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth grades. Set three (a) Life in China (twenty-four sheets) useful in Sixth and Eighth grades; (b) Hill Tribes of the Philippines (twenty-four sheets) useful in Fourth and Seventh grades, Senior High Advanced Geography Course. Set fourLand, Water, Air (forty-eight sheets) for general use. Set five-United States (fortyeight sheets) useful in Fourth, Seventh, Eighth grades and Senior High Course on Economic Geography. Set six-Italy (forty-eight sheets) useful in Fifth and Eighth grades. Bulletins published at cost by the PanAmerican Union, Washington, D. C., on countries, municipalities, products, ports and harbors of South America, and a general bulletin on "Seeing South America." These publications deal with life in Mexico, Central America and South America and contain numerous pictures as well as reading material. A list of these publications can be obtained on request from the Pan American Union, Washington, D. C. Blackboard Chart graphic, tabular, statement, etc. Dramatization; exhibit; globe; graph. Map (a) Those published for geography, history, language, science, etc. (b)-Those made for visualizing information-color, dot, pin, crosshatch, line, etc. Model; motion picture; museum collection; object; pageant Picture-photograph, post card, poster, print, sketch, cuttings from magazines, and newspapers, etc. Projector and projector equipment Sand table; school journey; slide; specimen; stereograph. These types contribute, in one way or another, to the more effective teaching of art, English, geography, health, humane treatment of birds and animals, mathematics, music, nature study and science, safety-first, social studies and vocational education. The most important and valuable of the visual aids for any given class can be determined by the teacher only through a careful, thoughtful evaluation of each after actual tests in the classroom. Some of the above types may be classed under equipment. If so, two questions arise: (a) Standard minimum equipment. (b) The when and how to use. For example, the blackboard is a necessary adjunct to every classroom. Its contribution as a visual aid will depend upon knowing when and how to use it. The same is true of other laboratory equipment. The following criticisms, made frequently against American schools, will help one in understanding the value of visual materials: 1-That present day instruction is superficial and impractical. 2-That, to too great an extent, it is verbal and "smacking of the text-book." 3-That it fails to develop industry and initiative in pupils. 4-That teachers do not know visual aids or how to use them. While these criticisms, for the most part, are exaggerated and unjustified, it might be profitable to make a self-survey with reference to them. In appraising the value of visual materials, we should keep in mind the psychological fact that our world of experience is built up through the senses and most largely through the visual sense. Scientific tests have demonstrated the truth of this statement. That visual aids enrich and vitalize instruction is supported by the following claims: 1-They possess the concrete element and vivify the impression. 2-They present the environments, relationships and contacts that build our world of experience. 3—They stimulate observation, arouse interest and hold attention. 4-They develop initiative and create a desire to do. 5-They supply challenging situations and develop independent thinking. 6-They deal with concrete material for training in the organization of ideas. 7-They offer worth-while opportunities to develop the principle of self-activity—a prime necessity in teaching. Visual aids are not intended to supply a royal road to learning. They involve work, preparation and ingenuity on the part of the teacher. Their wider use should result in a spirit of industry, a desire to know and an ambition to master on the part of pupils. WHY SHOULD CURRENT EVENTS BE TAUGHT IN OUR SCHOOLS? To reveal to our junior citizens how Man is today leading the group life-is securing for himself the elements of civic welfare through the various organizations which he has set up; to help make the Past more real as search is made for explanations of the Present; to bring these young citizens into vital touch with the world in which they live-to tie them into their social environment; to make them tolerant, broad-minded, really intelligent; to train them to take their rightful place as good-forsomething citizens in this complicated world of ours, realizing that the world moves and they must move with it. ATTENDANCE REPORT HONOR ROLL October, 1925 Teachers in the following counties and districts made it possible for their superintendents to forward all their October attendance reports to the Department of Public Instruction promptly: Adams Bedford Blair Butler Cameron Centre Greene Jefferson Allentown Beaver Falls Canonsburg Cecil Township Coal Township Conshohocken Du Bois Dunbar Township East Conemaugh Fell Township Counties Lancaster Lebanon Montour Northumberland Perry Potter Wyoming York Districts German Township Greensburg Greenville Hanover Tamaqua Harrisburg Taylor Haverford Township Titusville Hazelton City Hazle Township Huntingdon Johnstown Juniata Kane Kittanning Borough Lancaster Lansford Latrobe Lebanon Warren West Mahanoy Twp. In each of the following counties only one teacher's October attendance report failed to |