THIRD DAY MORNING SESSION.—THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28 The meeting was called to order at 9:50, President Harvey in the chair. After announcements, the president introduced District Superintendent A. G. Lane, Chicago, chairman of the Committee on Physiology in Schools, appointed at the meeting of the department in 1900. Mr. Lane presented the following report: The undersigned committee of the Department of Superintendence was appointed under the following resolution : Resolved, That the chair appoint a committee of seven, whose duty it shall be to report upon the teaching of physiology in the schools, especially with regard to the condition and progress of scientific inquiry as to the action of alcohol upon the human system, and to recommend what action, if any, by this department, is justified by the results of these inquiries. Your committee recommends the adoption of the following report: The Department of Superintendence agrees cordially with the special advocates of the temperance cause in holding that everything which public instruction can do in the battle against intemperance ought to be done, and that both physiology and hygiene should be so taught as to leave in the minds of children and youth an adequate and proper knowledge of the effects of alcoholic drinks and stimulants, and of narcotics, on the human system. Since the last meeting of this department there has been considerable discussion of the question as to whether alcohol under any conditions is properly to be defined as an article of food. Medical authorities are quoted in support of both sides of this question; but no authority has been found to maintain that alcohol is a food in the ordinary sense of that term. The question of the supposed food value of alcohol is a technical one for medical experts to determine, and not one which need concern the men and women who are engaged in the work of public instruction of children and youth. For them it is enough to know that its use as a beverage is injurious, and that all authorities agree in deprecating the formation of the drinking habit and in commending all practicable efforts, thru public instruction, to promote the cause of temperance. The questions of highest importance for teachers and superintendents of schools to consider are those which relate to the methods by which temperance instruction shall be imparted, the extent to which it shall be carried, and the subject-matter to be presented. The educational side of this subject is vitally important and demands thoro and systematic study. We therefore recommend that a body of educational doctrine be formulated which may guide temperance instruction in the schools thruout the country, and we further recommend that the scope of the investigation be so enlarged as to cover, not only the topics already suggested, but also the whole field of personal hygiene, so far as this is a practicable matter for school instruction. We also recommend that this investigation be conducted under the direction of the National Council of Education, in accordance with the regulations of the National Educational Association. ALBERT G. LANE. O. T. CORSON. F. LOUIS SOLDAN. E. O. LYTE. EDWIN P. SEAVER. JAMES H. VAN SICKLE. EDWIN A. ALDERMAN. Upon motion of Mr. Lane, seconded by Henry Sabin, of Iowa, the report was adopted without debate. A paper on “Individual Instruction an Imperative Need in Our Schools was given by Superintendent John Kennedy, Batavia, N. Y. The discussion was opened by President Jesse F. Millspaugh, Winona, Minn., and was continued by Dr. G. Stanley Hall, of Clark University; Superintendent A. K. Whitcomb; State Superintendent Delos Fall, of Michigan; Superintendent T. M. Balliet; and concluded by Superintendent Kennedy. Dr. E. O. Lyte presented the report of the Committee on Nominations, as follows: The committee appointed by the president of the department to nominate officers of the department for the ensuing year begs leave to submit the following report: The officers nominated by the committee are as follows: For President-G. R. Glenn, state school commissioner, Georgia. For First Vice-President-H. P. Emerson, city superintendent, Buffalo, N. Y. For Second Vice-President-F. W. Cooley, city superintendent, Calumet, Mich., For Secretary-John W. Dietrich, city superintendent, Colorado Springs, Colo. Upon motion of Superintendent O. T. Bright, the secretary was directed to cast the ballot of the department for the nominees named in the report. The secretary reported that he had so cast the ballot, and the officers named in the report were declared elected. Superintendent William J. M. Cox, Moline, Ill., offered the following: Resolved 1. That a committee of seven be appointed by the president of the department for the careful examination of the papers, addresses, and discussions dealing directly with the work of school supervision, heretofore presented in the meetings of the National Educational Association, the Department of Superintendence, and the Council of Education, for the purpose of culling from the mass of material thus accumulated such parts thereof as the committee shall deem worthy of publication in a special report, supplementing the several papers and excerpts by such authoritative statements, notes, and suggestions as may be found necessary or desirable. 2. That we request the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association to provide for the publication of said report in such form and numbers as the committee shall recommend. Upon motion, the resolution was adopted. Mr. Ossian H. Lang moved that the department memorialize the Board of Directors of the National Educational Association to appropriate $200 to defray the expenses of the committee provided for in the foregoing resolution. Superintendent L. H. Jones, Cleveland, chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, presented the report of the Committee on Resolutions as follows: Resolved 1. That the sincere thanks of this department are due, and are hereby offered, to the president and other officers of this body for the wise selection of topics for our discussion, for the dignified and able management of the work of the department, and for the courteous treatment of members during the progress of the different sessions of the present meeting; and that our thanks be extended to those who have prepared papers or discussions to our interest and advantage. 2. That this department hereby expresses its interest in the problem of centralization of rural schools and the transportation of pupils at public expense, now being practiced so successfully in many states, and that we see in this movement possibilities of great improvement of rural schools, involving the excellences of a graded system of instruction without the attendant evils consequent upon the crowded conditions of tenement life in cities; and, further, that we look upon this movement as having important bearing upon the solution of pressing sociological as well as educational problems, and that this topic be recommended to the officers-elect of this body as worthy a place upon the general program of this department at its next meeting. 3. That this department expresses its great gratification at the progress made evident by exercises before this body at this meeting in the work of manual training in the public schools of the country, and especially at the fact that this department of education has ceased to be presented as a sensational element of a fragmentary and one-sided training for special industries, and has taken its place as an essential part of the education of a free people intent upon the complete and harmonious development of the individual, opening for him, not a single line, but the whole field of human endeavor. 4. That this department extends its thanks to the permanent Secretary of the National Educational Association for the never-failing wisdom and courtesy shown at this meeting, as at all times, in dealing with the questions which grow out of the relation of this department to the general association, and especially with details of transportation of members, and that he be commended for the system and efficiency which he has introduced and maintained in his department. L. H. JONES, Chairman. C. E. CHADSEY. C. J. BAXTER. Superintendent Aaron Gove moved that a committee of three be appointed by the chair to report a year hence a constitution and by-laws for the department under the limitations of the constitution and by-laws of the National Educational Association. Carried. Superintendent R. G. Boone, Cincinnati, being recognized by the chair, presented an invitation to the department to meet at Cincinnati in 1902. Superintendent G. R. Glenn, of Georgia, seconded for Cincinnati. Superintendent E. G. Cooley, Chicago, invited the department to meet in Chicago in 1902. State Superintendent W. W. Welch, of Montana, invited the department to meet in Helena, Mont. Superintendent Gove expressed regret at manifestations of a disposition to return to the old order of things and to adopt an itinerant policy. He favored continuing the meeting at Chicago. Superintendent Blodgett, Syracuse, spoke in favor of the itinerant plan. Superintendent O'Connor, of Nebraska, favored Chicago. Superintendent John McDonald, of Kansas, invited the department to meet in Wichita, Kan. The department then proceeded to vote for the location of the meeting for 1902. Cincinnati received 109 votes; Chicago, 126 votes; Helena, 6 votes; Wichita, 1 vote. Chicago, having received the highest number of votes, was declared to be the choice of the department for the meeting in 1902. President Harvey then introduced President Green of the National Educational Association, who addressed the department briefly regarding the meeting of the National Educational Association at Detroit in July, 1901. The department then adjourned to meet at 2 P. M. AFTERNOON SESSION The department convened at 2 P. M., President Harvey in the chair. Superintendent R. G. Boone of the Cincinnati schools read a paper upon "A Standard Course of Study for Elementary Schools in Cities." The discussion was led by President A. S. Draper of the University of Illinois, and participated in further by Superintendent F. Louis Soldan, St. Louis. Professor L. B. R. Briggs, of Harvard University, gave a paper upon “Some Aspects of Public-School Training." The paper was discussed by Dr. William T. Harris, Washington; Dr. C. A. McMurry, State Normal School, De Kalb, Ill.; Superintendent William N. Hailmann, Dayton, O.; President R. H. Halsey, State Normal School, Oshkosh, Wis.; and Superintendent R. G. Boone. The meeting then adjourned to convene again at 8:15 P. M. EVENING SESSION The department was called to order at 8:15 P. M. by President Harvey. Professor John Dewey, Chicago, gave the address of the evening, on "The Situation as Regards the Course of Study." President Harvey announced the following committees, appointed in pursuance of resolutions passed by the department during the convention; COMMITTEE ON SELECTION AND PUBLICATION OF MATERIAL RELATING TO CITY SCHOOL SUPERVISION kosh, Wis. Superintendent J. M. Greenwood, Kansas City, Mo. President R. H. Halsey, State Normal School, Osh- Professor Nicholas Murray Butler, Columbia University, New York city. State Superintendent N. C. Schaeffer, Harrisburg, Pa. COMMITTEE TO FRAME CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE Superintendent Aaron Gove, Denver, Colo. Superintendent R. G. Boone, Cincinnati, O. The convention then adjourned sine die. FRANK B. COOPER, Secretary. PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS THE GOSPEL OF WORK EDWIN G. COOLEY, SUPERINTENDENT OF CITY SCHOOLS, CHICAGO, ILL. We are living in a civilization with a penchant for action; "hustle" is the watchword of the hour. A strenuous, or at least a clamorous, life is the only one worthy of the commendation of the American that is, the American of the latitude and longitude of Chicago. Americans, individually and collectively, seem to be looking about for more worlds to conquer. Men of our day organize into numerous civic and other missionary associations, ready to undertake the redress of every public grievance, at least so far as this redress can be brought about on the platform and around the dinner table. Our ladies, thru their numerous clubs, are adding to the homely affairs of the household the task of the mental, moral, and physical regeneration of society. As a nation, we seem ready to undertake the larger responsibilities of world-regulation. In addition to the task of absorbing the thousands of aliens who are seeking our hospitable shores, we are taking up the work of a national colporteur in foreign lands and in strange climes. Expansion and optimism are our ideals, as a nation and as individuals. Along with this restless, active life has arisen a contempt for the pas sive virtues, and for people who profess, or who advocate, them. We seem to be ready to accept the doctrine that the earth and its fruits belong to those only who can use them, and who will and can use them according to modern ideas of the fitness of things. The red Indian who uses the earth as a hunting-ground cannot expect to keep the land away from him who will raise corn and hogs on it. The Filipino who uses rosewood for railroad ties ought not to be trusted with the stewardship of earth's wonderful resources. The Boer who persists in cattle-raising in a country that abounds in gold and diamond mines should not expect to be permitted to stand in the way of modern progress and civilization. We apply the parable of the talents to such cases with a vengeance, transforming it into the doctrine that "might makes right." Our lawmaking bodies show an inordinate faith in the power of authority in the form of legislative action. Every winter sees its additional mountain of legislation; and yet every reformer cries out for more, forgetting the most important factors of his problem- the officials who execute the laws, and the characteristics of the people who live under |