Our Schools in War Time—and After

by Arthur D. Dean

Possibly no great harm was done by the action of these state officials and state boards. Yet the action affords food for thought; and perhaps the best way to bring about reflection is to pass immediately, without comment, to a quotation taken from the London Times of July 19, 1917,—a quotation which gives a picture of the end of the road on which some of us in this country started in the spring of 1917.

The reply, last week, of Herbert A. L. Fisher, Minister of Education, to a deputation of the Committee on Wage-earning Children was sympathetic and not merely a common-form shelving of the issue. The deputation asked for legislation restricting the labor of school children out of school hours. The extent of the evil was indicated by the deputation, but it is doubtful if even the educational public know how widespread and deleterious it is. On October 5, 1915, we pointed out that nearly half a million children between the ages of 12 and 14 years were receiving no education, or no education worth having, and that all of these were at work which led nowhither at the very age when their moral and physical development was at stake. Since then the conditions which we condemned have passed from bad to worse. Many thousands of children under the age of 12, under the ages of even 10 and 11, are at work, and willingly at work, since the younger the child, the more readily it responds to the demand for helpfulness. Mr. Fisher cannot but realize the evil of this exploitation of young children by parents and tradesmen. It is an evil affecting not only the efficiency of school life but our whole economic system. There never was an economic need for this child labor, and the Board of Education admitted in their circular to local authorities last week that there is no economic need in rural districts for such labor even now. This circular was a letter from the National Service Department and dealt with the pressure on education authorities in rural areas to release boys and girls under 12 for service on the land. The letter definitely states that, in view of the labor released from the army and the number of women now available, "it would appear that there should be no necessity for such a serious interruption as is contemplated of the education of the nation's children."

This should suffice to determine the policy of the rural-education authorities. But the position in towns is even more urgent, and Mr. Fisher and the government might give additional powers to local authorities to deal with the labor of children in full-time school attendance. It was certainly a mistake in the legislation of 1913 to make it possible for the street trading of such children to receive official recognition. But street trading is not the chief cause of anxiety. Another is the employment of little children by shopkeepers and distributing agencies before school, in the dinner interval, and after school. The local authorities should be empowered to forbid all employment for wages of children under 12 and to restrict within very narrow limits the employment of children at school under 14.

Naturally Mr. Fisher must not overburden or imperil his bill, or interfere with the labor necessary for the war. He cannot be expected to change the face of England in a moment. But he can strike deep without disturbing the organization of society. He can transform from below by ameliorating the conditions of very young children. The country is ready now for changes that seemed Utopian two years ago. By means of nursery schools the nation is dealing at last with the raw material that is to be the England of to-morrow. The same principle should be followed in the case of children between the ages of 6 and 12 years. The physical welfare of these children is of the first importance. Yet between these ages thousands, through the carrying of heavy weights and other means of over-strain, are receiving life-long physical injury. All efforts for educational reform are being balked by their employment. The elaborate scheme of the Half-Time Council, which was reported in our last issue, depends, as indeed practically all of the reform schemes and Mr. Fisher's own proposals depend, on the physical efficiency of the children. The deputation asked that provision should be made for the education of children abnormally employed during the war.

Out of all the literature which has been put forth on the relationship of children to industry in war time it would appear that Dr. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education, most adequately states the fundamental principles, in his circular letter to the educational authorities of the country issued in June, 1917. Portions of his letter bear directly upon employment of children in time of war. Other portions are closely related to statements in other chapters. It is well worth quoting in full:

It is of the utmost importance that there shall be no lowering in the efficiency of our systems of education. Schools and other agencies of education must be maintained at whatever necessary cost and against all hurtful interference with their regular work except as may be necessary for the national defense, which is, of course, our immediate task and must be kept constantly in mind and have right of way everywhere and at all times. From the beginning of our participation in the war we should avoid the mistakes which some other countries have made to their hurt and which they are now trying to correct.

If the war should be long and severe, there will be great need in its later days for many young men and women of scientific knowledge, training, and skill; and it may then be much more difficult than it is now to support our schools, to spare our children and youth from other service, and to permit them to attend school. Therefore no school should close its doors now or shorten its term unnecessarily. All young men and women in college should remain and use their time to the very best advantage, except such as may find it necessary to leave for immediate profitable employment in some productive occupation or for the acceptance of some position in some branch of the military service, which position cannot be so well filled by anyone else. All children in the elementary schools and as nearly as possible all high-school pupils should remain in school through the entire session.

When the war is over, whether within a few months or after many years, there will be such demands upon this country for men and women of scientific knowledge, technical skill, and general culture as have never before come to any country. The world must be rebuilt. This country must play a far more important part than it has in the past in agriculture, manufacturing, and commerce, and also in the things of cultural life—art, literature, music, scientific discovery.

Russia and China are awakening to new life and are on the eve of great industrial development. They will ask of us steel, engines, and cars for railroads, agricultural implements, and machinery for industrial plants. They will also ask for men to install these and to direct much of their development in every line. England, France, Italy, and the central empires have thrown into battle a very large per cent of their educated and trained men, including most of the young professors and instructors in their universities, colleges, and gymnasia, lycées, and public schools. Their colleges and universities are almost empty. The young men who would under normal conditions be receiving the education and training necessary to prepare them for leadership in the future development of these countries are fighting and dying in the trenches. All these countries must needs go through a long period of reconstruction, industrially and in many other respects. Our own trained men and women should be able and ready to render every possible assistance. It should be remembered that the number of students in our universities, colleges, normal schools, and technical schools is very small as compared with the total number of persons of producing age—little more than one half of 1 per cent. The majority of these students are young men and women who are becoming more mature and fit for service. The older of the 60,000,000 men and women of producing age are growing more unfit and are passing beyond the age of service. It should also be remembered that the more mature the young men who volunteer for service in the army, the more valuable their services will be.

Therefore a right conception of patriotism should induce all students who cannot render some immediate service of great value to remain in college, concentrate their energies on their college work, and thus be all the more ready and fit when their services may be needed either for war or for the important work of reconstruction and development in our own and other countries when the war shall have ended.

All schools, of whatever grade, should remain open with their full quota of officers and teachers. The salaries of teachers should not be lowered in this time of unusual high cost of living. When possible, salaries should be increased in proportion to the services rendered. Since the people will be taxed heavily by the federal government for the payment of the expenses of the war, teachers should be willing to continue to do their work, and do it as well as they can, as a patriotic service, even if their salaries cannot now be increased. All equipment necessary for the best use of the time of teachers and students should be provided, as should all necessary increase of room, but costly building should not be undertaken now while the prices of building material are excessively high and while there are urgent and unfilled demands for labor in industries pertaining directly and immediately to the national defense. Schools should be continued in full efficiency, but in most instances costly building may well be postponed.

During school hours and out of school, on mornings, afternoons, Saturdays, and during vacation all older children and youth should be encouraged and directed to do as much useful productive work as they can without interfering with their more important school duties. This productive work should be so directed as to give it the highest possible value, both economically and educationally. For children and youth in schools of all grades there will be need of more effective moral training, and provision should be made for this. While the war for the safety of democracy is in progress, and when it is over, there will be greater need for effective machinery for the promotion of intelligent discussion of the principles of democracy and all that pertains to the public welfare of local communities, counties, states, and the nation. To this end every schoolhouse should be made a community center and civic forum with frequent meetings for the discussion of matters of public interest and for social intercourse.

One phrase in Commissioner Claxton's letter is especially significant. It is This productive work should be so directed as to give it the highest possible value, both economically and educationally. In this whole question of children and industry in war time, we are brought face to face with several facts. The first is that industry, both agricultural and manufacturing, will demand the services of children. Second, that organizations like state and national child-labor committees, which have fought for the welfare and development of American children, will continue to oppose all attempts to break down the school system through relaxation of the enforcement of compulsory-education laws, or to break down the labor laws either by giving young children special permits to work or by exempting certain establishments from the laws limiting hours of labor. Third, that the children themselves will desire to work rather than go to school. The comparatively high wages which will exist during a war emergency will call them as can no course of study. Fourth, that families whose earning member or members are off to war, and who feel in addition the higher cost of living, will look upon their children as being a possible added source of income. And fifth, that school authorities will thus stand amidst half a dozen fires. Some will back against the wall and say: "I don't believe in closing the schools," "Under no conditions will the child-labor laws in this state be relaxed," "The war hysteria makes me enforce child-labor laws more vigorously than ever," "Children have plenty of time to garden after school." Others will, under pressure, lose their heads, and shut their eyes to the fact that children are working illegally. Some may seek for a "reasonable excuse," and they can find plenty of such excuses by referring to the action in England. Still others will go on peacefully without thought or action one way or the other. But the rest, and it is to be hoped that their numbers are legion, will try to discover some means of making this emergency count in an educational way. Here are some of the factors which enter into the situation.

In the first place, children like to work, that is, outside of school, and these work impulses of youth ought to be organized to contribute to the educative process. It is readily enough granted that they have not been in the past. In fact, these work impulses have been exploited for private gain. Now, on account of the war, they are aroused to a high pitch, and we ought to be able to organize them in connection with the new work opportunities for higher economic efficiency as well as for higher social efficiency.

In the second place, it is doubtful whether we can much longer continue the policy of increasing the regular attendance of youth at school without giving some consideration to the educative value of labor. The educative process taken in its largest sense goes on for twenty-four hours a day. It concerns health, character, mental capacity, citizenship, and useful work. To most people the educative process merely centers around the schoolhouse, and such think of education in terms of schooling. To them, to increase the number of years that youth is obliged to go to school is to increase the number of years given over directly to the educative process. But the child goes to school for about five hours a day for five days in the week for about thirty-six weeks in the year, and in this time he deals largely with books; and many find it a reasonable excuse, because they are "going to school" and "getting an education," to avoid any useful work. Now some kinds of work are wholesome and educative. Most farm work comes in the class of useful and profitable employment. When the hours are not too long and the factories and stores are sanitary and the pay is reasonable, work in these places may be profitable to youth. Because this is not always the case is no reason why we should not attempt to make it so.

It would seem that educators now occupy a strategic position from which they may exert a tremendous influence in the direction of standardizing the work of juveniles in terms of the deepest social significance, and a good start in this direction may be made in meeting the war emergency. The subject is so large and the previous discussion of it so limited that we have not very much background on which to work, and it is not advisable at this time to do more than merely hint at some possible procedures.

First, why not have the rural schools for children up to 12 years of age open early in September and close the first of August, and make provision for stopping the school work of the youngest children during the winter months in those parts of the country where it is difficult for them to reach school? Why not organize classes in dandelion digging, berry picking, currant picking, and even, once in a while, weeding, by having a series of field and harvesting days under the direction of the school teacher with the coöperation of the parents? Why not have able-bodied boys in these rural schools released from book work in April and remain out of school until the first of November, and then require them to attend school faithfully for six days a week during the rest of the year? Why not have the boys between 14 and 16 drop out of school in June and July to pick small fruits and berries and to work in vegetable gardens? Under certain conditions, in regions where such service can be used,—which is not often,—they might stay out in September to pick fruits and gather small crops.

Of course it is to be expected that the answer to all of these questions will be a most emphatic No. Yet they have not been set up primarily because the farmer tells us that he needs labor, but rather because it is felt that boys need labor; that is, useful labor.