In cities the most important movements relate to the physical development of the young and the use of the school machinery for the benefit of persons beyond the limit of school age by means of evening schools, or outside the appointed school hours by means of vacation schools and recreation centers. The most extensive work along these lines is going on in New York City, and formed one of the most instructive features of the exhibit of this great metropolis.
A beginning of continuation schools for the people is seen also in the county agricultural school included in the Wisconsin exhibit. Schools of this type form a prominent feature of the German exhibit and constitute for us at this time the most important lesson of that comprehensive exposition. Apart from the educational lessons, which possibly only appeal to specialists, this exposition marks distinct steps in the realization of the chief end of educational exhibits, namely, the increase of popular interest in ideal purposes through their effective symbolic representation.
ANNA TOLMAN SMITH, Chairman of time Committee.
GROUP 2, MISS ANNIE G. MACDOUGAL, CHICAGO, ILL., JUROR.
Under the group heading "Secondary Education," the two classes into which it was divided represented: High schools and academies; manual training high schools; commercial high schools. Training and certification of teachers. (Legislation, organization, statistics. Buildings: Plans and models. Supervision, management, methods of instruction, results obtained.)
Miss MacDougal's report is as follows:
Study of the world's work, as displayed at the St. Louis Exposition, revealed the truth that to-day there is no clear line of demarcation between the work of men and of women. The product of woman's brain or of her hand was there placed side by side with the similar work of man, to be judged upon its merits, not by a standard suggested by limitation and apology. Such a cataloguing was the surest evidence of woman's industrial progress. Her part in art, literature, music—the decorative side of life—has long been granted; what she is capable of doing in the practical business enterprises of modern society is just beginning to be revealed.
My opportunity for observing this phase of woman's work was largely confined to the educational exhibits, where I had the pleasure of serving as a juror, by appointment of the board of lady managers. Owing to the character of the exhibits in the Department of Education, it was impossible to differentiate the work of the men and the women teachers, excepting where the exhibits showed the work of separate institutions for the sexes. A comparison of that kind would be profitable only from a pedagogical point of view and is of minor consideration in our American system of education. Woman's place in the schoolroom is defended by tradition, expediency, and merit; and instead of surrendering in the face of foreign criticism their positions as instructors, women teachers are to-day broadening their field of labor by serving as instructors in many higher institutions where a generation since they were not even admitted as students. To-day, in high schools, academies, and colleges, women not only share in the work of instruction, but fill offices of administration as well.
Woman's success in a purely administrative or executive function was what proved most interesting at St. Louis. Many of the State exhibits of the public schools were in charge of women. In each instance I found them well informed on questions of school statistics and eager to be helpful to visitors. It seemed as though these young women felt the distinction of serving in a public capacity and had taken pains to prepare themselves for a creditable performance. The most striking instance of independent and original work was shown in the State exhibit from Minnesota. This exhibit was under the sole charge of Miss Susanne Sirwell, who planned it with the main purpose of exploiting the complete system of manual training adopted in the Minnesota schools. With this plan in view, Miss Sirwell collected the specimens from various schools of the State, supervised the erection of the booth, and installed the displays. As a result, the Minnesota exhibit had a distinct system and unity, was free from useless and cumbrous repetition, its main idea was readily grasped, and it stood as a memorable proof of one woman's artistic sense of proportion and adequacy. It was original in conception; it had beauty of color, order, and arrangement, and, as Miss Sirwell herself laughingly boasted, it was one of the two or three exhibits in that huge building which were ready and finished for public inspection on the opening day of the fair.