RELATION OF PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT BY IUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO SOCIAL CONTROL AND LEADERSHIP Thesis for the Degree of M. A. Earl H. Younglove I936 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 10382 2619 MSU LIBRARIES RETURNING MATERIALS: Place in book drop to remove this checkout from your record. FINES will be charged if book is returned after the date stamped below. RELATION OF PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT BY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO SOCIAL CONTROL AND LEADERSHIP by Earl H. Younglove A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of I: “STER or ‘ £15.?st Department of Sociology Approved: 15%;” ”Wflx/ Head offiflbjor’Departmgfit ‘fiean of Graduate Schoo1 Michigan State College 1936 The writer desires to express his appreciation of suggestions and help given him by Dr. Eben mumrord, and Dr. C. R. Hoffer, in the preparation of this thesis. 105408 Chapter I. II. III. IV. VI. VII. TABLE OF CONIENTS Page INTRODUCTION ............... 1 Definition of Terms --------- 1 Sources of Data and Method of Treatment 7 Other Similar Studies -------- 9 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF STUDENT GOVERNMEN 12 Introduction of Student Participation in School Government in America 15 Student Government in the Public Schools ------------- 18 Extent of Available Information - - - 21 OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF EDUCATORS REGARDING STUDENT GOVERNMENT ----- 29 Theories and Principles of Student Government ----------- 41 Difficulties, Problems, and Objections to Student Government ------ 43 THE ORGANIZATION AT WALTER H. FRENCH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ---------- 55 Athletics -------------- 6O Clubs ---------------- 62 Ushers ---------------- 64 Safety Patrol ------------ 67 Noon Traffic ------------- 68 Class Traffic ------------ 69 School Store ------------- 70 Home Room Organization -------- 71 Student Council ----------- 73 THE ATTITUDES OF THE FACULTY OF WALTER H. FRENCH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TOWARD STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNMENT - 80 REACTIONS OF THE STUDENTS OF WALTER H. FRENCH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TO THE PLAN FOR PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT -------------- 94 CONCLUSIONS ---------------- 115 BIBLIOGRAPHY --------------- 119 TABLE II III IV VII VIII IX XI XII NUMBER OF MAGAZINE ARTICLES RELATING TO STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN GOVERN- {TERI T STUDIES MADE OF STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL GOVERNHENT IN THE UNITED STATES OBJECTIVES OF STUDENT PKRTICIPATION IN SCHOOL GOVERNMENT RANKED ACCORD- ING TO THE NUMBER OF TIMES STATED IN MAGAZINE ARTICLES EXPERIENCE OF XEMBERS OF FACULTY OF WALTER FRENCH OBJECTIVES OF STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL GOVERNNENT AT FRENCH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL DIFFICULTIES MANIFESTING THEMSELVES IN THE OPERATION OF STUDENT GOVERNKENT IN WALTER H. FRENCH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ' SCHOLARSHIP OF HOME ROOM OFFICERS BOY OFFICEHOLDERS AND THEIR SCHOLAR- SHIP GIRL OFFICEHOLDERS AND THEIR SCHOLAI- SHIP STUDENT OFFICEHOLDERS AND THEIR SCHOLARSHIP PARTICIPATION OF STUDENTS IN SCHOOL- SPONSORED ORGANIZATIONS MEMBERSHIP IN EXTRA SCHOOL ORGANI- ZATION 25 39 81 85 85 99 100 101 110 112. Appendix I II III IV .< gPPENDICES Title STUDENT REGULATIONS ELIGIBILITY RULES FOR HOME ROOM ATHLETIC CONTESTS QUESIIONNAIRE SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF FRENCH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL QUESTIONNAIRE SUBMITTED TO THE STUDENTS OF FRENCH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL POINTS FOR AWARD SYSTEM CONSTITUTION OF THE WALTER H. FRENCH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL COKKUNITY Page 129 131 132 136 138 141 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION School and educational magazines have printed, lit- erally, hundreds of articles during the last few years on "student government," "self-government," "pupil self- government," and other similar terms, in an effort to throw some light on a better method of teaching citizen- ship in our American schools. When a movement of any sort steps out of a more or less obscure position into the "lime light" and when even a nucleus of the recognised leaders in that field insist on its possessing merits in spite of failures which have marked its path as has the above mentioned movement and when its growth bids fair to continue, it is time for the rank and file in the pro- fession to weigh its possibilities with an Open mind. Furthermore, for one who is laboring in a locality where a serious effort is being attempted to capitalize on the merits of the plan, it would be only fair, not merely to be well acquainted with the theoretical values and prac- tices now current, but also the check carefully the means and methods used in his own institution and their results with a view of possible improvement. Statement g£_the Problem and Purpose of the Investigation Specifically, then, the problem is to determine (1) the general practices of sharing the government of the schools with the students in the school; the educational values of such practices; the most practical means of obtaining those values; the difficulties and objections to plans of this nature; the measure of success that may be reasonably expected and (2) to state in detail the plan of student participation in government as practiced in the walter H. French Junior High School of Lansing, . Michigan; its effect on faculty and students and to eval- uate this plan by a comparison with the general practices existent in the country.{ Some of the data gathered under the second part of this investigation may be used in a later study to determine the "carry-over" of the qualities of citizenship and leadership into the senior high school and later life. Definition g£_Terms Despite the fact that the current educational lit- erature of the last three decades is generously sprinkled with a variety of terms in referring to this movement, a close examination will ShOW’that these authors usually mean something entirely different from the idea conveyed by a literal definition of the terms used. "Student Government," "Student Self-Government" and the like are used to describe what is really "Student Participation in School Government." To date the author of this study has found no case of pure pupil-government of of self- government in our schools, and is further convinced that, did any exist at the present time, it would soon destroy itself. The responsibility of maintaining a good school rests on the principal. He is paid for that service and when he can no longer furnish that kind of a school, his contract will not be renewed. If he sees fit, he may assign certain duties to other members of the faculty or to the students, but it is also true that the right to assign them implies the right to withdraw and to re- assign them to other hands when he so desires. It will be participation by students in their school government and not student government that will be discussed in this treatise. The word "government" does not seem to convey the same meaning to these various authors either. They seem to be as generous with the meanings assigned to this one word as they were in assigning terms to the one meaning in the preceding case. Many times the meaning is one single phase of police or disciplinary power. Government is more than this. In its fullest meaning it must be taken to include stimulating, guiding, and limiting the intellectual, physical, social and industrial pursuits of all of its members. It is in this broad sense that the word is used in the following pages. Dr. W. R. Smith defines social control as embodying: all forces society brings to bear upon indi- viduals, and groups to stimulate and restrain, or to regulate and direct their thoughts and actions. It will be noticed that this definition is practi- cally indentical with that chosen for the word "govern- ment." Since the latter is only a means of obtaining social control, it would necessarily have to be included within the definition of the former. Leadership probably needs no definition other than that given in the dictionary, i.e., the ability to lead, guide or inspire a following. However, there are two kinds of leadership, commonly referred to as good and bad. The adjectives in this case refer not to the leadership, but to the elements, forces or influences being guided. It is only the so-called "good" leadership, the kind that needs to be developed if our democracy is to live and thrive, that will be considered directly. By a Junior high school is meant a school unit that is: designed to furnish to all pupils, between the ages of twelve and fifteen approximately, (1) continued common education on high elementary levels, and (2) the beginnings of a differen- tiated or secondary education adapted to each pupil's individual needs.2 Actually this may include any two, three, or four con- secutive grades between the sixth and ninth grades 1. Walter Robinson Smith, Principles 2; Educational Sociology, pp.52-33. 2. C. 0. Davis, Junior High School Education, p. 18. inclusive. Seventy-eight percent of the Junior high schools of Michigan include grades 7-9. Walter French Junior High School is one of this group. ”Class" will be used to denote a group of students meeting for recitation purposes only. Whenever it is“ necessary to speak of groups which have had a certain amount of education as is usually expressed in years, the term "grade" will be used. Thus, it will always be the ninth grade instead of the freshman class. In a study of this kind the three terms, "citizen-p ship," ”democracy,” and "education" must be used repeat- edly. No one of them can be used without involving, by inference at least, some of the attributes or concepts of one or both of the other two.p Webster defines a citizen as one who owes allegiance to a government and who receives protection from it. Citizenship here will be taken as meaning citizenship in a democratic state or under a democratic form of govern- ment unless specific mention is made to the contrary. A democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is retained by the peOple but exercised by their representatives. Abraham Lincoln defined it as a "government of the people, by the people, for the "people.” A democracy is more than a state with powers apportioned as described in the dictionary or the pOpular political meaning ascribed to the words of the immortal Lincoln. In the words of John Dewey: wt A democracy is more than government; it is primarily a mode of associated liging, of conjoint communicated experience. and again: A society which makes provision for partici- pation of all its members on equal terms and which secures flexible readjustment of its institutions through interaction of the dif- ferent forms of associated life is in so far democratic.4$ Philip Cox has expressed the same thought when he says:} Democracy is a process-~a way of life. As such it is about us. It is not a far-off objective . . . . a static civilization to be sought through the generations, but . . . . a way of associated living here and now, a means for attaining general welfare, Justice, tranquility which depends on toler- ance, interested participation, and sugordi- nation of self to the general welfare. 1 It is this broad, extensive meaning of democracy which will be held in mind while dealing with the prob- lems of this investigation. We have quite a few good definitions of education, but for the purpose of this work, it will not be neces- sary to seek farther than the dictionary for a suitable definition: the training of the mental and moral powers 3. John Dewey, Democracy and Education, p. 101. 4. Ibid., p. 115. 5. Philip Cox, Creative School Control, pp. 12-13. either by a system of study and discipline, or by the ex- periences of life. The latter part of this definition is recOgnized in the saying, "Experience is the best teacher, but the most expensive." Education through experience, partially controlled so as to eliminate some of the ex- pense, will be the subject of any further discussion of the topic. Sources 9}: 13333 _z_a_I_1_d_ Method _c_>_f_'_ Treatment The data for the first part of this investigation was obtained by a careful reading of accounts of individ- ual schemes for the sharing of government with the students as presented in 50-odd educational-magazine articles, an equal number of books on teaching methods and school ad- ministration and a few studies and surveys made by other students of the subject in various parts of the country. It is recognized that most of the material available under the above plan of research would be accounts of the successes and very little of the failures. Few people care to tell about their own failures even though they might believe the cause of education to be advanced thereby. Even the broader studies and surveys are subject to much the same limitation as much of their material was obtained by means of questionnaires, likely to be fully answered and returned by proponents of successful ventures, but only partially answered or entirely neglected by those who had failures of their own. Such being the case, it can only be surmized that the difficulties encountered and overcome by the schools that were successful in in- stituting a plan of student participation were the same difficulties that caused the failures where such plans did fail. Nor could this phase of the study be neglected, for, lacking any comprehensive history of education by means of sharing the control of the school environment with the students, only in this way could a historical background be secured. An accurate knowledge of the past life of an institution or movement is a valuable aid in making comparisons, contrasts and predictions as to the future of present tendencies. The data for the study of French Junior High School I was obtained by means of two questionnaires and numerous ' interviews.i The first questionnaire was submitted to the students of the entire school. There was a usable return of 770 or 84.3 per cent of these. Those not returned represent pupils who were absent on that particular day. Those from one entire home room while returned could not be used since it was not given with the correct instruc- tions. This questionnaire was intended to find the degree of participation of each student in his school life, other than study and recitation; his activities outside of ac- tual school hours that might afford similar Opportunities for self-expression; his grade; home room; and number of semesters in attendance at this school. There were also three questions designed to bring to light any restrictions which might limit participation in any way. Space was also provided for any personal comments that any student might feel like making. The scholarship record of each student was obtained from the office and attached to his returned questionnaire. The other questionnaire was submitted to the teachers of the school. In this case, 100 per cent were returned. This had questions intended to discover the teachers' ideas as to prOper objectives and procedures to be pursued and the principles underlying, and obstacles to partici- pation on the part of the Students in their government as actually practiced in their school. These form the basis of the statistical reports in Chapters V and VI. chgg Similar Studies There was no other available study which treated this problem in any manner comparable to the present one in its entirety. Yet there are several comparable in parts which should be mentioned here inasmuch as they furnished valuable guides in the present work. One of these is the work of Dr. Raymond Drewry.‘5 He made a survey of 400 senior high schools which he completed 6. Raymond G. Drewry, Pupil Participation i5 High School Control, pp. 1-220. 10 in 1924 in an attempt to evaluate schemes of this nature. Included in this was the intensive study fo four small, four medium-sized, and four large high schools. One of his main contentions was that some sort of a point system should be used to limit participation on the part of the individual student in extra-curricular activities. The schools he selected for an intensive study had such plans in order that their effect might be noted. Another is the study of Dr. Earle Ruggv of the Colo- rado State Teachers College. He made an analysis of fifty magazine articles and from this analysis formulated a questionnaire which he sent to 300 representative schools of the United States. The results of both the analysis and the questionnaire are given in an article which he wrote for the National Society for the Study of Education. A third study is that of Edgar c. Johnston8 as pre- sented in his Ph. D. thesis. Working on the premise that a point system to limit, stimulate and prOperly distribute participation, is not only advisible, but is an absolute necessity, for the prOper functioning of any plan for participation in school control and in extra-curricular 7. Earle Rugg, "Special Types of Activities: Student Participation in School Government," National Society_fgr the Study 3: Education, 25th Yearbook (lQZdTEPart II, pp. 127-140. 8. Edgar G. Johnston, Point Systems for Guiding, Stimulating, and Limiting Pupil Participation lg Extra- Curricular Activities, pp. 1-160. 11 activities, he has made a careful analysis of various systems in use at that time. He warns of the dangers of "borrowing” another school's system and includes an ac- count of how a point system can be constructed and ad- ministered scientifically. Two others of more recent date are Ralph W. Hogan's9 survey of student participation in school control in the junior high schools of Kansas and Minnie E. Young's10 of the junior high schools of Michigan. These were finished in 1931 and 1932 respectively. Since they are not only two fo the more recent studies, but are the only available ones in the junior high school field, they were used as a check for the work in the latter half of this study. 9. Ralph W. Hogan, Student Government 13 the Junior High Schools 2: Kansas, pp. 1-87. 10. Minnie Ethel Young, A Stud 2; Student Partici- pation i2 School Control ip_HIchIgan JunIOr High SchodIs, pp. 1-95 0 CHAPTER II HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF STUDENT GOVERNMENT Discussions of this subject sometimes fairly bristle with the word "new." To call this movement a new fad is to stray from the truth by a period of time that is meas- ured in centuries. Dr. Joseph Van Denburg1 of Columbia has said that student government is as old as ancient Greece where youth through membership in the Epheboi were to prepare for their citizenship. However that may be, we must go to EurOpe to find accounts of the early experi- ments of permitting students to share in their school government that are in any way comparable to conditions of today. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as the universities were formed, some sort of organization was necessary for the self-protection of the students in their transactions with the peOple of the city where they were located. This may seem strange to the men and women of our day at first thought, but a university of that time was merely a group of men, mostly "foreigners,” who were studying under several teachers who happened to be located in a particular city. They could and sometimes did move 1. Joseph K. Van Denburg, The Junior High School Idea, p. 327. 13 to another city the next day. National and racial pre- Judices existed then as now and unless the students could take care of themselves by organizing, they, the "foreign- ers," were apt to pay dearly for the privilege of study- ing. In the smaller universities there was but one body while in the larger there were more. The University of Paris was organized into four ”Nations." In each of these, the ”Nation" controlled its members and the mem- bers controlled the policies of the "Nation." These student organizations sometimes even decided on the tenure of the teachers. However, it must be remembered that these students were adults. Privileges of such sc0pe were never extended to children and lesser ones of a similar nature not until a later date. In 1383 older students at Winchester College super- vised the study and morals of the others and reported those things to the school authorities that they thought needed correcting. Vitorino da Feltre, 1398-1430, became an early pioneer of this movement when he permitted the boys of his famous school at Mantua, privileges not then customary. His school was called LE.QE§2 Giocosa meaning the Pleasant Heuse. Control in this "House" was a mixture of pater- nalism and democracy. In the next century, Goldberg, Germany, was the scene of an experiment, by Valentine Trotzendorf, in a form of 14 student government similar to that of our institutions of higher learning. Trotzendorf had in his school a senate, council and other similar officers characteristic of a democracy. In 1832, Hazelwood School near Birmingham, England, used a type which included laws enforced by a student court. A student council was in charge of all extra- curricular activities. In the latter part of the nineteenth century we find the first of our great educators advocating and practic- ing the use of self-government as a teaching method. The methods of this kind, loving teacher, Pestalozzi, were productive of industry, harmony and obedience in his Institute at Burgdort. Following right behind Pestalozzi was Frederick Froebel. His methods completely revolutionized teach- ing everywhere. The child has an active brain and is not a mere receptacle of facts. He learns best by doing. Give his natural activities only such direction as is necessary to keep them focused on educational, social and moral ends was his doctrine. It was on the fore- going premise that Froebel based his teaching methods and it is on similar premises that educators today argue that our students should share in the governing of the school they attend. It is true that the German govern- ment abolished the Kindergarten of Froebel and forbade 15 the use of similar methods of teaching, but Germany was educating for an autocratic, militaristic government and not for a democracy. In England, Eton and Rugby have long had student regulations made and enforced by students. They have be- come an integral part of these two schools with the pass- ing years. Part of their success is no doubt due to the fact that they grew to meet their own needs and were not patterned after some other system. It should be remem- bered, too, that this system was not made to be cOpied by some one else but to be used by themselves. Other English experiments were conducted by Thomas Hill in the seven- teenth, and Andrew Bell and Joseph Lancaster in the eighteenth centuries. The conditions in these English schools can best be described as liberal types of mon- archies rather than democracies. Introduction 2: Student Participation ip School Government i§_America In America, William and Mary College in Virginia proudly claims the honor of being the first college to introduce the honor system. This was done in 1889 and has never been discontinued. The University of Virginia, although forced to take second place in point of time really went much farther in this direction. The plan adopted under Thomas Jefferson 16 was designed to provide training for making good citizens all days of the week and not Just on examination days. Accounts also show that the Penn Charter School of Philadelphia had a form of student government to prevent ”the ill effects of internal broils." This was a pre- paratory school for boys. Just how long this school con- tinued under control of this nature seems uncertain, but as a rule attempts to share school government with the students below college levels had but short lives prior to 1900. However, there were two notable exceptions to this rule. One of these exceptions was the McDonogh School endowed in the early 1800's for boys from ages ten to seventeen. This was a boys' boarding school located just outside of Baltimore. The pupil government was unofficial but very effective in taking care of the individuals' property rights and in eliminating cheating. The faculty very wisely refrained from trying to force additions to, or subtractions from the students' privileges, rights and obligations now long existent. The other exception was the George Junior Republic located at Freeville, New York. In 1890 Hr. William.R. George established a summer camp for a group of children from New York City's poorer classes. His efforts to maintain a semblance of order were almost futile until one day he decided to put the matter in the hands of the 17 boys themselves. The result was the establishment of trial by Jury for all offenses and a new and better ordered era was introduced. The next summer, Mr. George increased the number of boys and girls to 144, incorporated the associa- tion and took over the 48-acre farm, and, in 1894, changed the venture into a year-round institution. The farm now has 350 acres and the boys and girls live in a little vil- lage on the farm which they run themselves. Mr. George relinquished his authority, little by little, until now he need not exercise any. Those who first went to this Junior Republic were pretty generally bad--boys paroled from Juvenile courts, incorrigibles from public and pri- vate schools, etc. Many of them still are of that type though a considerable percentage of them are volunteers who are desirous of obtaining an education of the type offered there. It is not a utopia. The youngsters make many mistakes; when they are tired of suffering under them, they do what they can to undo the wrong. Mr. George concludes his own story of his work in the following words: I know that it will succeed because underneath the idea rests the principles that have caused our country to become a great nation and I believe in our country and its ideals. If our Republican form of government is wrong, then the Junior Republic is wrong. If our Republican form of government is right, the Junior Republic is right, for they are identi— cal. Granting this fact, the only Opportunity for difference of opinion is that some may say young people are not capable of assuming and fulfilling such responsibility as devolves upon them in a Junior Republic. I reply that 18 a long eXperience has taught me that they are absolutelypcapable. No one who would make a study of means and methods of sharing school government with students can afford not to read at least a brief account of this republic, not because it exists under typical conditions, because it doesn't; not because its methods are adaptable to other schools, for, in most part, they aren't; not because it is the result of a well thought-out plan of a great educator, since it was the fruit of a non-school man's hobby; but because it was the spark that started a great wave of enthusiasm and experimentation in teaching de- mocracy by practicing democracy itself. Student Government ip_the Public Schools To Mr. Wilson L. Gill falls the honor of introducing in the public schools a plan which spread the fire of enthusiasm for student participation in school government throughout our secondary educational system during the first part of the present century. It was in 1897 that he organized New York City's Norfolk Street Vacation School in the form of a school city. So successful was this summer school that Dr. Bernard Cronson, Principal of Public School No. 69 of New York City copied Mr. Gill's plan for his own school. 2. William R. George, The Junior Republic: Its History and Ideals, pp. 325-326. 19 I His success was, likewise, immediate and the plans for the students of this school to share the responsibil— ity of controlling themselves and their environment soon became a permanent part of the institution. This school, No. 69, in turn became the pattern for schools in and out of New YOrk City. Many were failures, but the method of formulating and installing such school-city plans were, perhaps, as logical as ordering a suit of clothes by mail without specifying either size or color, yet expecting to be well satisfied. Disappointments in these plans for school cities were not so sudden as might be expected in the illustration Just cited, yet Just as certain in the long run. As Cronson himself put it: What they introduced into their own schools was not self-government but government by children; and these manifested a temporary interest . . . . because its novelty supported by the enthusiasm of the teacher attracted them for the time being . . . .3 after which death followed, slow but certain through a lack of interest or, perhaps, suddenly and unexpectedly, through internal trouble because the faculty thought themselves relieved of all responsibility. In the meantime Mr. Gill received and accepted an invitation from General Leonard Wood, who had Just been appointed as military governor of Cuba, to act as general 3. Bernard Cronson, Pupil Self-Government, pp. 7-8. 2O supervisor of moral and civic training in the island. During his term he organized 3600 school rooms on the republican model. General Wood reported on his success in the following words: The results were most satisfactory; indeed they were so satisfactory that I un- hesitatingly commend the idea as worth of most serious consideration. . . . . This system would, I believe, be especially valua- ble in all schools, and would result in our children being much better equiped for the discharge of their civic responsibilities.4 N . Gill also introduced his plan in some of the Indian schools upon his appointment as a Special govern- ment agent in 1911. During all this time he wrote and lectured on the advantages of his plan. He even tried to force it on the schools through lesgislative means. It may be fortunate for both schools and Mr. Gill that his efforts failed. It has been said by Dr. Welling5 that the greatest progress was first made in the elementary schools rather than in the secondary schools and colleges where it might well be expected. One of the early pioneers of using pupil aid in government in our American elementary schools was J. T. Ray, Principal of the John Crerar School of Chicago. This system is patterned on the Roman government of ancient 4. Walter Robinson Smith, Constructive School Discipline, pp. 229-230. 5. Richard Welling, ”Self-government in Secondary Schools," National Education Association.g£ the United States, Journal 2: Proceedings and Addresses, 1915, p. 110. 21 times. As in the time of the Roman Empire, not all are citizens. Only those are citizens who meet such require- ments in scholarship and conduct as are set by the teachers. This has proven very satisfactory especially in schools where only c00peration is wanted in police duties. Another was Miss Jane Brownlee, Principal of LaGrange School, Toledo, Ohio, who sponsored a different type of government. Her school was organized as a city, each room being.a ward. Only grades 5-8 had voting privileges. Her aim was not to give pupils any self-governing powers, but only to have them go through the forms of government, i.e., dramatization for the educational benefits in the performance of the parts thereof and to secure better cooperation between pupil and teacher. It means a con- siderable extra teacher load as worked in her school, but probably is worth it. Extent 2£.Availab1e Information Mention has already been made of the great debt the public schools owe William R. George and his colleagues for their pioneering work. An equally important though entirely different type of agency in the diffusion of this form of school government is "The Self-Government Committee, Inc.” of New York City. This committee has been at work continuously since 1904 in a publicity cam- paign. Their work is avowedly of a prepagandistic nature, but it is distinctly unselfish. Bowden and Clarke in 22 their Tomorrow's Americans give a brief but good account of the work of this committee. They say in part: . . . Here an interested parent or teacher can get complete and reliable informa- tion on the subJect. Associated in the work of this committee are men and women who are prominent in their respective professions. They include Dr. John Dewey, Dr. John H. Fin- ley, Mrs. Minnie Maddern Fiske, President Glenn Frank, President John Grier Hibben, President Hamilton Holt, Lillian D. Wald and others of equal prominence in various fields. The directors include Richard Welling, Lyman Beecher Stowe, William McAndrew, R. E. Simon, Harold T. Pulsifer, and Frank Rexford. These are busy people--there is not an idle one among them. But they are convinced that this is a subJect that needs to be studied and presented to the teaching profession and to all who are interested in the future welfare of the nation. This committee has worked quitly and persistently for many years. It has no en- dowment, makes no money, and "carries on" mainly by means of the motive power furnished by the dynamic men and women who believe it is worth while. Some of the more powerful and well advertised organizations might do well to sit at the feet of tgis committee, for it has done its work well. It seems that a group of men and women of this calibre should be called in by educators to present their case at every Opportunity. But sad to relate, such is not the case. It seems to be another case of "A.pr0phet is not without honor save in his own country." Speaking before the National Education Association in 1915, the Chairman, Richard Welling said: If there is any plan for training the young for citizenship in a democracy that does 6. A. C. Bowden and Ida Clyde Clarke, Tomorrow's Americans, pp. 51-53. not utilize some form of pupil c00peration in the government of the school we have not heard of it, and yet only four times during thirteen years has our subJect found a place on your programme and then only at our urgent request. Bowden and Clarke express the same thought concern- ing the indifference of our educators in much stronger language when they say: To an "unofficial observer" it is sur- prising to find that the National Education Association has never made a serious study of this subJect, nor can the interested seeker for information get from this organization any thing like accurate data or a resume of what has been done and what is being done in this field. Reports in the files of this organi- zation are occasional and desultory. Over a period of more than twenty years we find that the programmes of the annual meetings of this organization have included this important sub- Ject of self-government but a few times. The Research Bulletin of the National Education Association for March 1929, the general sub- Ject of which is The Principal and Pro ressive Movements in Education, contains a Iis% of more than tWofihundredflbooks, suggested as sources of information: yet not one of these books contains a clear and concise statement of the principle of teaching civics through student participation in school government, accompanied by historic data and records of experiments. The Child Centered School, by Rugg and ShumaEEF'Is the only volume suggested that treats the subJect in detail and this, valuable and comprehensive as it is--as a reference book and as good reading for the expert educator--is too broad in its scOpe and too general in its treatment to be of practi- cal service to the average teacher and the average parent. 7. Op. Cit., p. 109. 8. Op. Cite, P. 490 24 Conditions are not much better even yet. While working on this problem it was found that the book from which the above quotation was taken, together with Con- structive School Discipline by Dr. Walter Robinson Smith and Point Systems and Awards by Edgar G. Johnston taken together comprise about the clearest, most concise state- ment of the problem and some of its possible solutions that is available. The first two are not based upon formal studies and the authors have a tendency to theo- rize. However, since the formal studies of others tend to support rather than destroy their line of reasoning and since their style of writing is much preferred by many readers, these could well serve in the place of a text at the present time. The best single-volume treat- ment available is probably Supervising‘ggggg-Curricula Activities ip_the American Secondary Schools by Paul W. Terry, Professor of Education of the University of Alabama. One of the best features of his work is his large, well-rounded, carefully classified and annotated bibliography. Mention has already been made of the increasing amount of magazine Space devoted to this t0pic. An attempt was made to measure this factor, not in column inches but in the number of articles, which is a better indication of how many times the average reader has had his attention called to the question. This is shown by 25 decades beginning with 1876 in Table I. TABLE I NUMBER OF MAGAZINE ARTICLES RELATING TO STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN GOVERNMECT BY DECADES Decades Number of Articles 1876-1885 ---------- 2 1886-1895 ---------- 2 1896-1905 ---------- 14 1906-1915 ---------- 34 1916-1925 ---------- 49 1926-1935 ---------- 89 These figures were obtained by a count of the ref- erences in Poole's Index 33 Periodical Literature, the Readers' Guide §9_Periodical Literature, and the Educa- tional Index. Of course much of the increase may be due to the increase of reading material as a whole. A more important factor which does not show in a mere count from a bibliography is whether the material is favorable or unfavorable, or perhaps, of a controversial nature. Very little of unfavorable or controversial matter appeared in those articles selected for reading, except during the earlier decades. The formal studies examined are tabulated in Table II. The figures give a slight idea of the extent to which some form of the plan has been adopted in various parts of the country at various times, but of course the true meaning of the figures can only be determined by an actual study of the individual survey in each case. Although they are 26 DJ TABL II STUDIES N““E OF STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL GOVLRTKENT IN THE UN TED STATES Investi- Region Year Question-”Question- Number Percent gator naires naires having having sent out answered student student govern- govern- ment ment* Jackson Entire U. S. 1921 101 85 25 29.0 Satchell Pennsylvania 1922 200 150 42 28.0 Archer Iowa 1922 100 62 22 35.5 Rohrbach 1925 227 82 35.6 Dustin** Entire U. S. 1926 81 57 70.3 Rugg Entire U. S. 1926 300 191 90 90.0 Voelker Nich., I11., Ind., Ohio 1926 200 152 130 85.5 Drewry Entire U. S. 1926 400 256 197 77.0 Ringdahl Entire U. S. 1927 250 179 123 68.7 Curry Kentucky 1929 196 53.0 Russell Northwest 1930 318 168 52.8 Bowden and Clarke Entire U. S. 1930 727 508 346 68.1 Hogan Kansas (Jr. high schools)1931 64 40 33 82.5 Young Mich. (Jr. high schools)1932 110 104 92 88.4 Sheldon Iowa (Class A schools) 1933 93 53 56.8 Sheldon Iowa (Class B schools) 1933 88 28 31.8 Sheldon Iowa (All schools) 1933 214 181 81 44.7 Bryan*** Twenty rep- resentative states 1935 200 159 127 79.8 *Based on number of questionnaires returned. **A special grdup--exc1uded schools that had never ex- perimented at all with student participation in government. ***Dea1t with the single phase--police duty. fi— W ——_:I__—“—-’ L L“— ._—- Hf 27 arranged according to the date at which compiled, the table can hardly be said to indicate much one way or the other in respect to growth. One reason for this is the fact that they seldom cover the same territory geographically. Archer's and Sheldon's do and would indicate an increase of 9.2 per cent in adOptions for the state of Iowa. Of the others, Voelker and Young come the closest to covering the same territory and if comparable would indicate a very slight difference for the state of Michigan over a six- year period. Another factor which does not show and which is not always made clear in the original study is the size of the schools studied. This is quite important as would be indicated by one of Drewry's quotations: 4 In February, 1926, Miss Laura E. Wiley sent a questionnaire to 298 schools throughout the country to obtain data on secondary schools. The questionnaire was sent to towns of 2500 or more population. The number sent each state was determined by the size of population, one questionnaire being sent to approximately each 350,000 of pOpulation. Her report . . . . presents data from 209 schools replying. Thirty-six and four tenths per cent of the schools in towns between 2500 and 10, 000 pOp- ulation have student government, 50 per cent of those in towns between 10,000 and 20 ,000, 63. 9 per cent of those in cities between 20,000 and 50,000, and 71 per cent of those in cities of more than 50,000.9 9. Raymond G. Drewry, Pupil Participation lg High School Control, pp. 7-8. 28 This factor would partly explain the large percentage shown to have adOpted student participation in government in the surveys of Hogan and Young. Both included only the Junior high schools and Junior high schools are seldom organized in the smaller systems. Sheldon's division of the schools of Iowa into Classes A and B show the same tendency. His Class A schools (the larger ones) showed 56.8 per cent adoption as opposed to 31.8 per cent for the Class B schools (the smaller ones). Following this sketch of the development and spread of plans for student participation in school government, the next step will be to attempt an analysis, from the standpoint of the persons most vitally concerned, i.e., teachers and educational leaders, of some of the litera- ture available. CHAPTER III OPINIONS AND BELIEFS OF EDUCATORS REGARDING STUDENT GOVERNMENT Why do we go to so much expense and trouble to edu- cate our boys and girls? What is education and what does it include? Let us go back to the early days of our coun- try and note what its founders had to say about education. We must educate "for public service," said Franklin; to obtain "an enlightened opinion of self-government,” said Washington; ”for civic and moral duties," claimed John Adams; "for government," maintained Madison and Monroe alike; to enable citizens " to know what is goin on, and to make each, his part go on right,” said Jefferson. To sum it up, then education is according to our country's fathers, the training of good citizens--good citizens in a democracy since they devoted their lives so largely to forming and maintaining our democracy. Regardless of how education may be defined, training for citizenship has been increasingly emphasized through the years as one of the maJor aims of both the elementary and secondary schools or the United States. And why not? Man is born into this world and placed under despotic rule. It is true, of course, that some babies' cries are more effective than others in obtaining 50 their wants, but after all is said and done babies must yield to the authority of some adult. There is no court of appeals. Approximately twenty years afterward these babies may find themselves under democratic rule. It would be rather absurd to think that a person could slip from the first condition over into the second with no intermediate steps. Some of our most dismal failures in civil government have occurred when an attempt was made to change from some kind of a monarchy to a democracy at one full step. What is true of a nation is more or less true of the individuals in a nation. While several institutions share in the efforts to bring about this transition successfully, it is the school that must assume the greatest responsibility. The school has either the presence or the attention of the child for the greater part of his waking hours for five days each week, nine months of the year and is in an admirable po- sition to help him. And if our early schools seem to have fallen short in their training, prOper allowance should be made for conditions as they existed at that time. Our first schools were patterned to a great extent after those in Europe. They were concerned only with the four R's--Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic, and Religion. They were maintained for the upper classes, but it was the upper classes that did the ruling--suffrage was not universal even among the men. Life in the early days of our country was simple and while their schools would not 51 provide an adequate training for our complex civilization, it sufficed fairly well for that time. When the nineteenth century dawned, developments were taking place in America that were destined to effect education. New states were carved out of our vast West where land was virtually free. Pronerty qualifications for voting were abolished. As universal male suffrage spread throughout the country there developed a new sense of democracy. The Test and then the East demanded tax supported schools. They got what they wanted, but found that the curriculum would not function in the new order. The four R's did not provide the proper training of youth in the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. After the Civil War, feelings in regard to, and desires for the training of better citizens in our schools intensified. The teaching of American History did not seem to suffice, so Civics was added to the curriculum. Still the schools were not democratic. A typical school might be described as one where his majesty, the teacher, sat on his rostrum or strode about the room looking for trouble; always looking for trouble. Not that there were so many trouble-makers, but that he and he alone must apprehend them. In case some one wanted to make trouble, no matter what the reason, whether it was little Jimmie who stuck a pin in Mary for fun or John who sneaked the apple from Fred's dinner pail, the culprit 52 had no fear of exposure from any one unless it was the victim in the first moment of surprise. In the eyes of the student body and often in the eyes of the teacher as well, the giving of evidence was "tattling," an offense as serious as the original one. Looking for trouble? Certainly, since the teacher's personal prowess was the one factor that determined whether school "kept" or not. After these boys and girls leave school, will fun- loving Jimmie who imbibes too much alcohol and destroys a little prOperty or mistreats his family expect his former schoolmates, his neighbors now, to still retain their attitude of silence. Will John who puts a stolen tire on his car expect the same treatment from acquain- tances as when he took the apple? And will those who re- fused to tattle in their younger days now keep still when they see these things? When they see graft and corruption in politics? When they see the law mocked? Are the so- cial habits formed in school going to operate in adult life? If so; if man learns to do by doing; if education comes from within; and if the nature of man is so funda- mentally social that his highest development can only be attained through 000perative activities, as maintained by Dewey and other prominent educators, then we should not eZpect to teach boys and girls how to be good citizens by the lecture or text book methods. If we are to turn out 53 good democratic-minded citizens, our schools must become laboratories of democracy. Furthermore, it goes without saying that to "turn out" a boy or a girl as a good citizen is vastly more important than to turn him or her out with ability to add rapidly, name the officers of the presi- dent's cabinet, play the cornet well, or any other such skills, valuable as they may be. Many times when corrup- tion enters government there is a cry to get the citizens on the Job to clean house, but what of the citizen' fit- ness to clean house after they get there! It was after such fashion that Cronson, Gill and Welling reasoned in their early efforts to obtain support- ers to their plans for making civics laboratories out of our schools. While the advocates of such plans still argue and reason thus, there is now a plentiful supply of data on which to base arguments both for and against it. Some of this data is briefly summarized in the following para- graphs. Mr. Welling made a collection of the objections as they were offered to him early in his work--the objections that were thought to be strong enough to doom any exten- sive attempts in this direction. He combined and organ- ized them under twelve heads and then submitted them to the principal of a large school organized as a school state to be answered. The objections and the answers are as follows: 34 Objection Number 1. Pupil c00peration calls for a mental development that children do not possess. Neither is it desirable that children should become legislative, judicial, and executive. We want to keep them young as long as we can. Answer. We have found the pupils of the sixth, seventh, and eighth years all normally develOped, able to conduct their own affairs --under judicious supervision. As for the contention that cooneration induces precocity, it is unfounded. The children, both officers and citizens, are thoroughly normal, healthy, and sport-loving young Americans, and, I may add, leaders in general athletics. Objection Number 2. Children, when vest- ed with power, tend to become arrogant. Answer. Five years of pupil c00peration have failed to bring forth a domineering state official. ‘ Objection Number 3. In the last analysis the supervision necessary makes mere puppets of the children. Answer. Not a fact. Judicious supervi- sion exercised along the lines of friendly control has quite the contrary effect. Pupils, teachers, and principal become co-workers and there is a mutual exchange of suggestions that is helpful to all. Initiative is fostered in the pupils and they experience the miracle of cooperative action. Objection Number 4. The machinery is so elaborate that the purpose is destroyed. Answer. Yes, if the machinery is so elab- orate, this is true; but it need not be, and in successful systems it is not. Elaborate systems fall to the ground of their own weight. The best results are obtained along the sim- plest lines. This objection is founded on the erroneous idea that pupil cOOperation is a fixed plan that cannot be modified. Every principal must work out her or his own plan --any other will be liable to failure. 35 Objection Number 5. The energy expended is not worth while. Answer. If a wealth of school spirit and an attitude of cooperation on the part of pu- pils and teachers for the welfare of the school is not worth while, is anything in this world worth while? Objection Number 6. Pupil cOOperation is simply for show; it cannot take care of those serious cases, e.g., thievery, etc., which come up in every school. Answer. This objection supposes that the entire government of the school is in the hands of the pupils. Rather is pupil government an auxiliary of the regularly con- stituted school regime and makes the handling of untoward events a simpler procedure than usual. Objection Number 7. The children of our day are more in need of respect for authority than the exercise of it. Answer. Why? The children of our day have been quickened by the inquiring spirit of our times and are quick to detect the shal- lowness of the autocratic system. But where they are trained to a rational respect for authority through a realization of the neces- sity of it, their respect and loyalty become unshakable. Objection Number 8. Pupil cooperation destroys one of the greatest influences of the school-~the principal's and teachers' personal influence. Answer. Through five years the principal and teachers and pupils have been brought con- stantly into closer and more efficient c00pe- ration. Objection Number 9. The activities of self-government are mere play. The children realize that the principal and teachers con stitute the real governing power of the school. Answer. In a well organized system the jurisdiction of the pupils is clearly defined, and realized, and lived up to; that an appeal can always be taken to the principal is a suf- ficient safeguard against undue punishments. The children, of course, enjoy elections and legislating, but what objection is there to that? Their characters are being molded for democratic living; and are being molded effec— tively and joyfully. ‘What more can one ask of an educational method? Objection Number 10. We have self-govern— ment without an organization. Our children are orderly, polite and considerate. We do not need a formal system. Answer. And when the children leave the school they will continue to be orderly, polite, and considerate. Each will go his way and work out his own salvation, thinking that the govern- ment of his city and state and nation is to be left to the politicians. And when he awakes to the fact that the politicians are in the govern- ing business for what they can get out of it and he undertakes to better conditions by enlisting the interest of his neighbors and friends he will find them preoccupied and apathetic. Pupil cooperation aims to make apathetic citizenship militant, and in order to function there must be some system~~all the better if the pupils evolve it themselves (always with the cOOperation of their teachers). Objection Number ll. There are so many new and desirable suggestions offered for improving the schools that we hesitate to adOpt this be- fore we estimate its relative importance. Answer. Pupil self-government does not compete with vocational training, school gardens, and other suggested additions to the curricula. Rather it supplements all school work by putting the pupils on a sounder basis for effective work in every branch of study. Under the conventional school regime, regulations and improvements come from the principal's office. With pupil c00pe- ration each child feels a responsibility for the common welfare and feels free to "speak up," to correct a defect, or to suggest an improvement. Objection Number 12. It takes up too much time. 57 Answer. It takes five minutes of school time for voting at the beginning of the term. The time given to it by the teacher in charge of the principal (about two hours a week after school) is a voluntary offering such as is given to athletics, clubs, school orchestras, and other class activities. Objection Number 15. If men cannot suc- cessfully govern themselves, how can children? Answer. No amount of riori reasoning can argue away the fact that children do govern themselves relatively well. May it not be one of the contributory causes of the shortcomings of our democracy that as children our people were not effectively trained for participation in civic life? . . . . The science of numbers is taught by the use of numbers; physical train- ing is carried out by a scientifically develOped course of physical exercises; drawing is draw— ing; and nature study is pursued largely by a first-hand study of objects, but civics takes its place with astronomy in that it deals with things remote. The vitalization of civics calls for some mode of pupil self-government. Objection Number 14. In the economic con- ditions under which we live, our children need all of the knowledge that they can get, to pre- pare for the struggle for existence. Answer. The economic conditions under which we live are extremely trying, because we have let slip from our grasp the povJ'er that rightfully belongs to us. The fundamental rem- edy is to teach our children the value of work- ing together, reclaiming that power and re- establishing the conditions of true democracy.1 After quoting most of the above matter, Irving King in his comments stresses the fact that the teacher does 1. From a free bulletin, Taking the Blinders offDe- mocracy, of the National Self Government Committee, Inc., 80 Broadway, New York City and also "Pupil Self-Government as a Training for Citizenship," Proceedings of the National Education Association, July, 1911, pp. 1007- 1008. 38 not abdicate in favor of the pupil, that instead of full responsibility being pushed off onto the children, only the cooperation of the children was utilized and that above all, this is a dynamic and not a static agent of the teacher. His final quotation from J. T. Ray lays additional emphasis on this: The teacher must ever remember that student government is still a school for teaching government as well as any other subject. He should, therefore, no more abandon the careful attention of teaching students to govern than he should abandon the teaching of history or mathematics. Let the teacher abandon the teach- ing of history and there will be no history class; equally, let him wholly abandon giving attention to teaching participation in govern- ment, and sgon there will be no student government. As a contrast to the answer to the twelfth objection given by Mr. Welling, take that of lillian K. Wyman of the ‘William Penn High School, Philadelphia after an analysis of conditions in her own school, which she made about twenty years later. She says: The faculty advisor or Sponsor, chosen by the principal, should give all of his time to the work in any school of over a thousand students.3 In his analysis of magazine articles published prior to 1926, the objectives of student participation in school 2. Irving King, Social Aspects of Education, pp. 297-298. 3. Lillian K. wyman, "Student Development Through Responsibility," National Education Journal, Volume XIX, Pp. 303-304. 39 government listed in Table III were found, definitely stated, by Dr. Earle Rugg? A similar tabulation of ob- jectives was made by the author of this study. Of those TABLE III OBJLCTIVES OF STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL GOVERNKENT RANKED ACCORDING TO THE NUKBER OF TIMES STATED IN MAGAZINE ARTICLES Rank Rank prior after to 1926 Objectives 1926 (author) (Rugs) 1 1 To train for worthy citizenship through development of cooperation, self-control, self-reliance, initiative and responsi- bility. 2 3 To establish better understanding and a spirit of c00peration between students and faculty. 3 5 To develop interest in school work, school spirit and school pride. 4 2 To develOp leadership. 5 5 To provide for pupil expression. articles written before 1926, it merely confirmed Dr. Rugg's findings. Of those articles written since that 4. Earle Rugg, "Special Types of Activities: Student Participation in School Government," 25th Yearbook, Part ll, of National Society for the Study 2: Education, pp. E74140. 40 time, only one exception occurs in the respective ranking of the objectives that is worthy of note. In the study made by the author the "leadership" objective occupies fourth place instead of second. This is likely due to the growth of the movement itself. When first introduced into any school Rugg's second and third objectives would naturally be emphasized more than to develop leadership. After whatever plan is adopted has become well established and these other objectives at least partially achieved, efforts to deve10p leadership gradually assume a more prominent place, both because such efforts are worthy in themselves and because they react to make the attainment of the others that much easier. In both cases the first objective is far in the lead, being mentioned almost as many times as all the others put together. While a concise comparison of the theories and prin- ciples underlying the student government movement or the difficulties and problems incidental to its Operation at different times might also be very interesting, such an attempt did not prove feasible. Those changes that were apparent could be rationalized in much the same way as in the case of the objectives. These will, therefore, be merely enumerated as fully as possible and while some of them.may seem minor and others are contradictory, it must be remembered that each was Operative in at least one school and could be again in another, given the proper 41 environment. As such, the least important may be of use to any one making an analytical study of an individual school. Theories and Principles of Student Government 1. 2. 10. 11. 12. 15. 16. It should be introduced gradually. Both the students and the faculty should realize the need for such an organization. It should have simple machinery. It makes school administration easier. Students and faculty must be familiar with the plan from the start. It should have a definite place on the The organization must be adapted to the needs of the particular school. It must come from Within the school--not be imposed by faculty or principal. There must be a fair representation of both students and faculty. It helps to break down class barriers. Faculty members must have faith in the plan. The organization must have definite powers and duties. There must always be constant supervi- sion (teaching). The plan must have at least the passive approval of the community--no active opposition. It is a good way to utilize adolescent activities. It is the most logical way to teach civics. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 30. 51. 32. 33. 42 Pupils should have a voice in most dis- ciplinary problems. Pupils should have pg voice in problems of a disciplinary nature. It is the best way to teach respect for law. It helps to hold students in school for a greater number of years. It helps to improve scholarship. Terms of office should be short. It helps in the social develonment of the students. There should be an equitable representation of all students in the central organization. Older pupils and not the teachers should pass the ideals to new students. It gives practice in administering our social machinery. Where students operate a school court, there should be a definite method of keeping records. Teachers must never have a suspicious attitude. Teachers must obey the same regulations as do the students. Honors and publicity should be given to student officers and special groups when- ever it is possible. Principal officers should be formally in— stalled so as to unite intellectual and emotional appeal. As far as possible, only concrete activities should be dealt with. High school students are individuals who prefer to do their own thinking. ter, 43 34. Ideas of students must be given fair and respectful consideration and accepted when possible and sometimes when the suc- cess of the plan offered is impossible and certain to be discarded by the pupils themselves when they see it in Operation. 35. A written constitution is desirzble. 56. It is a means of teacher economy. 37. The principal should have veto powers. Difficulties, Problems, and Objections 32 Student Government Unlike those offered at the beginning of this chap- these difficulties were not submitted as reasons against adOpting some plan of student participation in school government, but rather as conditions that should be minimized as far as possible and in some cases elimi- nated entirely. The fact that some of the statements under ”Theories and Principles of Student Government" just given are direct contradictions of these statements would indicate that this is possible. They are: 7‘ 1. Scholarship of officers and proctors will suffer. 2. Teachers, especially the weak ones, are apt to "go on vacation." 3. Improperly supervised, it furnishes a good- training ground for lawlessness and anarchy. 4. Pupil officers when given enough power to handle the problems they meet are apt to develop an exaggerated ego. 5. It is a liability, not an asset; it makes more work for the faculty, not less. 6. It is difficult to keep all members active. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 24. 44 Pupils do not like to assume responsibility required. It is difficult to administer. Pupils exercise poor judgment in selecting their leaders. Competent pupils are given too much to do. Pupils are too immature. Students mistake liberty for license. Pupils attempt tasks that are too big. It wastes time for both the teacher and pupil due to a lack of definiteness in its administration. The plan is often disrupted by a freouent change Of principals. It is usually dependent on the personality of some one faculty leader and dies with his passing. There is a lack of good student leaders. Students will not report or testify against each other. Power is often conferred upon students with- out adequate preparation. It leads to personal spite, ill feeling or dictatorial methods on the part of the student leaders. Faculty sponsors exercise too much repres- sion and coercion. Pupils resist being dictated to by other pupils. TOO many teachers are still in the schools who were educated under the Old autocratic system and who are not yet qualified to teach under any other system. Cliques and clans arise. 45 25. There is Often a lack of some single faculty member who has administrative and execu- tive ability and sympathetic understanding of young peOple, who is responsible for its success and who thoroughly believes in it. A few instances Of definite accomplishments by pupils who have been given the chance to participate in the con- trol of their affairs will help to illustrate the place that this movement is filling in some of our schools at the present time.)(The librarian5 of the washington High School, Portland, Oregon, reports that the student orga- nization there reduced the loss of books by ninety per cent in four years time; that books were better cared for and that the general order in the library was much im- proved during that time./V The principal6 of an Evansville, Indiana, high school reports that their school court names the penalties that are imposed on the students including expulsion from the school within the limits set by the state law. Both the students and the community at large accept these deci- Sions of the students with greater favor than they did those of the teachers previously. 5. Hilda M. Lancefield, "Student Council and the Library," The Library Journal, Volume LV, p. 729. 6. Carl Shrode, "Student Responsibility in Evans- ville," Journal 92 Education, Volume CXIII, pp. 274-275. 46 Mr. Jones? of the Walla Walla, Washington, High School states that in 1914, those graduating from his school represented twenty-six per cent of the group that entered as freshmen four years before; in 1920, they graduated fifty-eight per cent of those who had started in 1916. This "holding power" of the school was twelve per cent under the average of the country in 1914 and twenty per cent above the average in 1920. While many factors may have influenced this change, Mr. Jones believed that the most important one was the fact that the students started to participate in their government in 1914. Mr. Gregory8 of Andover, Kassachusetts, described two small high schools (names not given) of his acquaint— ance where conditions were very dissimilar. The first school had a domineering principal with no interest out- side of conventional subject matter, was located in a poor community and had many foreign-born students. The second school had an active, progressive principal in most ways, an excellent faculty and coaches and was located in a fine residential district. In one respect both princi- pals were alike: they considered themselves an autocrat in their respective schools. The noticeable difference was that athletics,a subject too insignificant to deserve the notice of the first, J88 important enough to be fully —-¥ 7. H. W. Jones, "Student Participation in School Government," School and Society, Volume XIII, p. 256. 8. Charles A. Gregory, ”Two Athletic Associations-~ A Contrast," Education, Volume LII, pp. 175-179. 47 controlled by the second man. The students in the first school managed both their inter-school and intra-mural sports (they had to or go without them under the leader- ship of their principal); the students in the other school had nothing to say about the matter. In the matter of athletic supremacy, as shown by the "school" teams, the odds were slightly in favor of the second school, but as a place in which to live and work, the first school was far superior, mostly because the school belonged to the students as well as to the principal and teachers, though home conditions may have had a considerable influence, the students in the second school often being pampered at home. 7‘ In Cleveland, Mr. Abele9 states that the initiation of student governed study halls made it possible to re- lease six of the usual seven teachers engaged in study hall supervision for other duties. After one year's trial he declared it to be out of the experimental stage. That may seem like a very strong statement to those educators who still consider that they are experimenting after ten or eleven years work along these lines. } In the DeWitt Clinton High School10 of New York City, Aaron I. Dotey had developed the work to such a 9. Luther Abele, "The Organization of Student- Governed Study Halls," School Review, Volume XXXIV, PP. 777-7810 10. Alfred Grunberg, "Saves Thoughtless Youngsters from Disgrace, " American Magazine, Volume LXXXIV, pp. 53-540 48 degree by the year 1917 that he was recognized as an authority on juvenile matters by the courts. No boy of the DeWitt Clinton High School was ever sent to jail un- til this Latin teacher had first been consulted on the matter. Quite often he was able through his organization of boys to head these would be criminals back in the other direction where they became worthwhile citizens. Emphasis has been repeatedly been placed on the neces- sity of having each school adopt a plan that would fit the individual needs of their own students and that the plan should grow as the needs grow. Theoretically this would mean as many plans as there are schools sharing their gov- ernment with the students. Practically, there are proba- bly many schools so nearly alike that only a close exam- ination would show differences worthy of note. However, there are so many forms of organizations in use that those who have tried to classify them in some sort of orderly system have found it very difficult. Perhaps the best of these attempts is that of Terry.111 His first class is the Informal Type. This is really paternalism rather than a true form of student participation in government. In it he includes all schools where pupils are asked to aid in some special way. The individual student is considered 11. Paul N. Terry, Sppervising,Extra-Curricular Activ- ities $3 the American Secondary School, viii + 417.pages. 49 in relation to the individual job. A very simple illus- tration is embodied in the question, "John, will you see that the plants are watered this week?" The value of this type of management according to its prOponents lies in the training given to the few students asked to help and the ease with which such a type can be converted into the next class. This next class is called the Specific Service type. Here the group is considered in relation to the job. For instance, the basketball team might be asked to help solve a locker-room problem in discipline or a class in home economics might be asked to serve as guides to vistors who come to the school. While there may be many such groups in the school, they have no relation to each other, each being responsible to the one who appointed them only. In addition to the value that may be claimed for this as for the first type, there is the necessity for some degree of cooperation between the members of each of these service groups. Some sort of formal organization in the group might in some cases be instituted in order to facilitate the work. Terry calls his third type the Specific Council. In this group belong all plans which provide for some sort of central student organization through which these special service groups of the type previously described are linked together and more or less controlled. He uses the word 50 "Council" in his classification because this organization is known as a student council more often than by any other name. However, there are a great many schools that call this organization of students by names other than council. A plan of this sort not only knits the students closer together in the carrying out of any given activity, but it also provides for a greater degree of continuity in all their activities. The organization is present to take care of new needs as they arise and to discard or modify existing plans of action with changing conditions; in short, to give the students a chance to act in a con- structive manner and to put their own ideas into practice in place of or in addition to those of the principal and faculty. The Complete Council Type is the term he applies to those schools employing a council of more than one house. This is merely a modification of the Specific Council Type to meet the needs of the large high schools. To provide adequate representation for all the units of the school gives such a large number of council delegates that the organization becomes somewhat unwieldy. Most of the Specific and executive powers are entrusted to a smaller body or a sort of upper house corresponding to our United States cabinet officers. These are often chosen from or by the large council and sometimes from and by the large council. The machinery of government in these schools can hardly be called simple. 51 The next type is that patterned after some unit of political government, usually the city in which the school is located though it is sometimes the state in which it is located. Of course the boundary lines between these classes are rather vague, one type merging into the other. And even with this rather elastic boundary, there are some schools that would seem to belong to more than one of the types named because they have features common to each of several types. . Another point of vital consideration is the regula- tion of any system adopted. It cannot run itself and satisfy the ends for which it should have been established and yet for a member of the faculty to step in spasmodi- cally with some regulation as situations arise would be likely to arouse antagonism and wrong attitudes. Con- sequently it is usual to find some regulation providing for the restriction of participation of some and the encouragement to participate on the part of others. Some of these restrictions are very simple consisting only of a rule that permits a student to hold only a certain num- ber of offices or engage in a certain number of activities. The amount of time consumed in the different activities or in performing the duties of the different offices is given no consideration though it may vary greatly. An office is an office and that is all there is to it. 52 A somewhat finer distinction is drawn by those schools that list all offices and activities in two or three groups according to the amount of time and skill required and adopt a regulation that limits the number of offices from each group or combination of groups that may be held. Only a little more clerical work is needed for such a device and usually allows for a more equitable distribution of offices. Other schools go a step farther and evaluate each office in points and limit each student to a certain num- ber of points which may be earned from just a few major offices or many minor ones. This involves still more clerical work than the preceding plan and is not consid- ered enough better by some to pay for the trouble. The great defect in the last plan and to a lesser extent in the one which lists activities and offices in major and minor groups is the haphazard way in which the classifications are made in the first place. A group, faculty, or students, or both meet and in a very short space of time have all these offices placed in some one of these classes. Often there are disagreements as to the relative time consumed by different offices and much compromising is done. But seldom is there any evidence of actually computing the time consumed for each office and each activity. If the boy on the football team is allowed twice as many points as the boy on the debating 53 team, is it because his practice time plus the game time is twice the library, practice and debating time of the other; because there are more out to cheer for football; or because more points are necessary to encourage boys to try out for football? If the president of any organization is allowed twice the number of points that the treasurer, is it because his duties require twice the time; require twice as much skill; or because more points are necessary to entice students to serve as presidents when elected? The above questions may sound sane or insane, but if a certain number of points additional is advocated for one activity above another without being able to prove its need by asking and answering such questions in regard to it by using actual figures or citing instances in its support, it may defeat its very purpose. A reason that may seem out of place in one school may operate very well in another. As already inferred in the last paragraph, either of these last two methods may be used as a means of stimulat- ing as well as limiting activity. Limiting can be done by establishing a maximum number of points and stimulating by providing some reward for those who earn a minimum number of points. Other means of stimulation are the granting of special favors, write-ups in school or city newspapers, mention of service through auditorium programs, and by giving academic credit. 54 Such, briefly, is the view presented by current lit- erature. Most of the experimenting seems to have been done by the larger schools probably in part because a more stable tenure of faculty members makes this possible. Progress may be said to come about as much through re- placement of retiring "autocratically-minded" teachers by those who are leaving college with new concepts of discipline as any other one thing. Total failures are being replaced by partial failures; the "mushroom" period of growth is past; and the period of good, solid construction is evidently being started. The next step will be to see how‘Walter H. French Junior High School fits into this picture. CHAPTER IV THE ORGANIZATION AT WALTER H. FRENCH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL The Walter E. French Junior High School was opened to the public in the fall of 1925. mr. J. W. Slaughter who had been principal of the Lansing Free Public Evening School was appointed as the principal of the new school. In preparation for his new work which was of such a dif- ferent nature than his old, he spent two terms at Teachers' College, Columbia. Here he imbibed certain ideas concern- ing democracy in the school which he determined to put into practice. His democractic ideas concerned both principal-teacher and teacher-student relations. The former need not be mentioned except as it may incidentally effect the latter. Of the teachers, one was transferred from a grade school of the city and one from one of the other junior high schools; the others were gathered from.wide1y sep- arated points. Most of these teachers were entirely un- acquainted with any form of student participation in school government and some of them.were not only unsympathetic, but actually antagonistic according to the statement of Mr. Slaughter when interviewed on the subject. 56 This was the third junior high school to be organized in the city and about half of the students came from.each of the other two schools as transfers. The students did not enter this school with any preconceived ideas of tak- ing part in the government of themselves. As the one teacher who was transferred from one of the other junior high schools put it, "Pupil participation did not exist for them at that time. The school was run after the tra- ditional style where everything was done by rule of thumb and it was the teacher's 'thumb' that held them down." Conditions were, then, fairly typical of a new school in any of our larger cities. The greater part of the students came from old districts within the city which had been split to make the new one, with just a few stu- dents from more distant points. While there was thus some unity of feeling from the fact that they were of the same city, there was not that same unity of thought that exists among the students of an older school. There were no traditions to be broken down whatever the course that the principal might inaugurate--only new ones to be built. In the matter of the faculty, perhaps a larger per cent of the teachers were new to the system than is usual. If the faculty had held the same views as the principal, this condition of being unacquainted with each other would have been more or less of a disadvantage as he would not be immediately aware of the full cooperation of his teachers. 57 Where there is opposition, however, as there was here, this works to the advantage of the principal as there would not be the united opposition that there would be where the teachers knew each other before the movement was initiated in their school. Mr. Slaughter said that he had no set ideas as to the form or fashion in which democracy should function in his school when his first year started. He merely wanted to let faculty and students share in the duties and responsibilities of making an efficient school to the extent that they were willing and able. The machinery and organization incidental to such work he left to be worked out as the needs arose with but one exception. He sensed that there should be some means of coordinating the work, no matter how else things worked out, and early pushed the organization of a student council with repre- sentation by home rooms. This made necessary the organi- zation of home rooms, to some extent at least, in order to elect a representative to the council. The council met and wrote up a constitution which was submitted to the student body for their approval and also formulated a set of rules and regulations for the government of the students. The constitution has been amended several times, but hardly a change has taken place in the rules and regulations that were first adopted. The most impressive thing about the proceedings at that time 58 was not the fact that their rules were logical and wise, but the pleasure and satisfaction that the boys and girls in the council received in making such a rule as "students will keep to the right when passing to and from classes." The teachers assigned to work with the council were named by grade-~the 9-A--and so without appearing to do so, the principal included one who had taught under him before in the evening school and on whom he could depend for full cooperation. Rules and regulations naturally call for some one to enforce them, for, as sure as there is a rule, there will be an infraction of that rule. This resulted in the or- ganization of a force of traffic officers who supervised the students while passing in the halls. These were elected or appointed from the home rooms as suited the individual teachers. The school published a paper--The Southern Star-- from the first month. Printing was a regular elective subject then as now. The other junior high schools pub- lished papers and this was naturally one thing that the students expected. They were allowed to elect their own editor and staff and with but minor alterations, the pub- lication has functioned regularly as a student enterprise under careful faculty guidance since that time. Two other things were initiated during the last months of the opening year though not much progress was made. 59 One of these was intra-mural athletics. The other was the organization of a Safety Patrol in cooperation with a general community campaign of that year. The second year of school witnessed several changes. The student council which had been meeting weekly now met once each month. An extra class period was provided for extra-curricular activities. Clubs were organized to meet once each week. One day each week was to be used for home room.meetings and home rooms were more formally organized. Auditorium programs which had been more or less irregular were now to be held each week. The other two days were left open for meetings of such organizations as grades, traffic officers, etc. The Hi-Y which had been "talked up" the preceding spring was organized as a regular club but not meeting during the school day with the other clubs. A troop of girl scouts was organized and met with enthusiastic response. A school store was opened and run by students of the Opportunity Room. In 1929-30 the force of permanent ushers was organ- ized and a chapter of the National Junior Honor Society was installed. Beginning with the third year, practically all growth in student participation has taken place in the form of added duties to existing organizations rather than by adding new branches. The develOpment of some of the more important branches will now be given in greater detail. The organization of the school as a whole is pictured in the diagram on the next page. a A _ _ é _ A H onsoo use new A aronsoo an» new V “one on a so mopmwo 0c 039w hon» on nose ovum Hoe onov maoom maoom maoom maoom waoom maoom 030m maom 080m 050m oaom 080m mum mum Awb Mus , v . , i S 1.. 7 Seneca L1 . 1% pumcdpm e .m m r c e l r l h o h t _ F o A filj r j c l v. V . n t m 1 hpadowh h s b s a c b ,III. m] e 8 S u e a - n r . 1 S a e r C s r n h e G O S t . Ilfill o _ no _ _ n Aoomom mUHm mOHZDb mobammm Ed azaflzmm:oo 2H ZOHEdMHoHBm five for such a recuirement. The third item concerned tile advisability of allowing those students with marks 8&3 low as one "3" with the rest "D's" to hold office. Tfliose with eXperience voted eleven to ten to allow such 90 students to hold office while those without voted ten to four against such a practice. Another item which would eliminate all scholarship requirements lost by a ratio of three to one on the part of those with experience and a vote of twelve to one on the part of those without ex- perience. It is evident that those with experience are inclined to give citizenship a relatively larger place and scholarship a smaller place in their teaching than the ones without such experience. At this point it might be well to make a comparison 0 4'3" a 'v 3' 'f with the findings of Hogan in Kansas and Young in Michi- gan. The objectives, while worded differently, are essentially the same in both surveys and agree with those expressed by the faculty of this school. The leading difficulties reported by Hogan as ex- isting in Kansas are: 1. Plan is too difficult to administer. (Faculty indifference or Opposition. 2. (Lack of student cooperation. 4. Students try to do too much. The leading difficulties reported by Young as existing in Michigan are: 1. Getting pupils to assume responsibility. 2. Keeping each member active. 5. Lack of time. 4. Poor choice or inability to secure student leaders. _\ 91 4‘ The leading difficulties reported by the faculty of French Junior High School are: . 1. Difficult to get all students to participate. 2. Students slight work for extra-curricular work. 8. Pupils resist being dictated to by other pupils. (Pupils unwilling to report violations of regulations. 4. (Too much repression and coercion by faculty Sponsors. The only feature thrt is strictly common is the lack of COOperation with the emphasis on the faculty group. CI. This chapter can very well be closed with a few quotations from the faculty: Does it prove practicable to permit the students to participate in their school govern- ment? I think that it does. Because plans for a certain program had miscarried, it was nec- essary for me to be absent from my classes for three days in order that things might go for- ward as advertised to the public. During this time assignments were placed on the blackboard and class discussion and discipline were en- tirely in the hands of the class officers. No disturbance was reported by either class officers or teachers who had occasion to pass the room. When I returned I gave a written lesson on the material supposed to have been studied. The work was evidently done as well or better than usual 0 I could not be absent for even one day without arranging for other members of the faculty coming into my room during their off period in order to maintain discipline. I always make definite assignments so that the teachers who help in thatzway need not give too much time to my work. I was out of school unexpectedly for three weeks one semester. Mr. Slaughter not being able to find a suitable substitute for my work 2. These two reports were submitted by the same teacher, but of course they refer to differ- ent semesters. 92 decided not to have any. The Janitor unlocked the room early in the morning and locked it when the last student had left after school. Mr. Slaughter made a practice of drOpping in once or twice each day to see how things were going. Only two lesson assignments were involved, a beginning and advanced course of the same subject. The president of one of the advanced classes made the lesson assignments on the desk calendar and the other class presidents merely relayed the information. When I came back I heard no complaints about discipline; the beginning class had made practically the usual progress in that length of time and the advanced class about half or two-thirds the usual progress. . . . . participation is essential to learning. I think a great many of our problems could profitably be discussed in the student council and recommendations be made to the teachers. I do not favor using the student council as a method of coercing the student group. Neither do I favor any one sponsor for that or any other group serving continuously nor the domination of the group by faculty members. There should be more student social activity in our school, which could come through the stu- dent council. I believe firmly that which we do. Active participation in a poor student government is more valuable than no student participation in a teacher Utopia. After all a school is a lab- oratory to give students a chance to experiment in citizenship. As Edison once said, "An ex- periment is never a failure. It proves that that one thing won't work." Freouently many of our very good citizens and "law-abiders" are not good students, scholas- tically. I feel that more recognition of splen- did citizenship and cooperation should be given these people. I feel that there is a feeling of competi- tion which exists between home-room teachers-- 2. This report and the preceding one were Esubmitted by the same teacher, but of course they refer to different semesters . 93 a feeling of personal gain or credit--or personal loss or effrontry--in whatever occasion arises where all home rooms are concerned. It goes into the realm of departments also, it seems to me, where one elective department has privileges over another department. This cannot help but be reflected detrimentally in the lives and con- duct of the students who come under those teachers. V Student participation in school government is largely in an eXperimental stage. Probably no standardized technique can ever be worked out which will be best for all schools. I be- lieve one of the most fundamental needs in connection with the problem is to have a body of teachers deeply in sympathy with the idea and who are willing to give it their best in time and effort 0 --J. W. Slaughter. CHAPTER VI REACTIONS OF TRE STUDENTS OF WALTER R. i-3NCH JUNIOR n1: HIGH SCHOOL TO THE PLAN FOR PARTICIPLTION IN SonOOL GOVERVYENT AND RELATED ACTIVITIES le Of all the possible effects of any attempts at shar- ing school government with the students, perhaps the first to be thought of by the parents and other interest- ed adults in the school community is that of scholarship. Many still think of education as a matter of "book learn- ing" or merely storing up of facts and, while the re- lative importance of this phase of education is changing, it is not to be neglected and may well be considered first in this chapter. Under the present plan of administration, it would be practically impossible to determine whether participation in student government had any effect on scholarship of the French Junior students. Any sort of control group for such a test could not be had without depriving that group of a ggreat many privileges that they consider as rightfully theirs annd their value as a means of measurement would at once IDecome doubtful when laboring under such a distinctly Ihsstile attitude as would likely ensue. Moreover, it Mneuld be impossible to remove them from the environment 95 where time would be taken for the benefit of those who are participating. Another difficulty in any such experiment is the teaching factor. It is quite obvious that the con- trol group should have as good instruction but no better than the experimental group. The two groups should also be restricted to similar if not identical subjects-~a thing that would be hard to arrange where such a wide range of elective subjects is offered for exploratory purposes.1 In other words the relationship of extra-curricular partic- ipation of any sort and scholarship is so obscured by the interplay of other factors that it is difficult to prove or disprove the contention that it is detrimental to the latter under most situations. Many authors of isolated magazine articles claim that scholarship improved after students were admitted to a share in their government. These contentions are not supported by any evidence. Since they were Opinions of educators who are in a position where careful observation would detect any tendencies of that sort, they are not worthless. Their great weakness is that the reported improvement covers only a very sort time after the adoption of some phase of student government. At such a time, both students and teachers are quite apt to be