318. LIMITATIONS OF THE CONVENTIONAL SCHOOL TERM.—A few decades ago, the typical school in an American city offered instruction to certain classes of young people between nine o'clock in the morning and three or four o'clock in the afternoon, for from 150 to 180 days a year. During the rest of the time the schoolhouse was idle.
This policy greatly restricted the education of important groups of people. Adult immigrants were barred from the elementary public schools. Persons desiring educational guidance in special fields often found that the school offered them no help. Cripples, men and women employed in the daytime, and other individuals who found it impossible or inconvenient to attend school during the conventional time limits, were restricted in educational opportunity. Many boys and girls who drop out of school because of the necessity of going to work, do so before their education has been completed. For most of these classes, the inability to take advantage of the regular school term has meant the denial of adequate education.
319. WIDER USE OF THE SCHOOL PLANT.—Recently the "wider use of the school plant" movement is helping these classes to secure or continue their education. For unassimilated immigrants, day and evening courses in citizenship are now provided in many cities and towns. In many cities vacation schools have been established for the convenience of children who have failed in their studies, or who are able and willing to make unusual progress in various subjects. For those who work by day there is often a chance to go to school by night. For those who find it inexpedient to leave their homes, there are, in many places, travelling libraries and correspondence courses. In some western states the farmer now has an opportunity of taking extension courses from the State university during those seasons in which his work is lightest. For pupils who are under the necessity of partially or entirely supporting themselves, some cities now have part-time or all- around-the-year schools.
320. THE SCHOOL AS A SOCIAL CENTER.—Closely associated with the movement to extend school facilities to those who would ordinarily be debarred from them, is the movement toward making the school a social center. Many city and some rural schools now provide free to the general public lectures on science, art, literature, and business. Moving pictures, dramatics, and other forms of entertainment are becoming a regular feature of this type of school work. In many schools the gymnasiums are available to the public under reasonable restrictions. Folk singing and dancing are being encouraged in numerous schools. Schoolrooms devoted by day to regular school courses are in many places being used during the evening for the discussion of public questions. In these and other ways the school is becoming a center of life for the community. It is extending into the homes of the people and is becoming the instrument of the community rather than of a particular group.
321. EDUCATION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS.—We may sum up the problems so far discussed in this text by noting that their solution calls for three different types of treatment.
First, we must strike at the root of poverty by giving every individual just what he earns, by making it possible for every individual to earn enough to support himself and his family decently, and by teaching him to spend his income wisely and economically.
Second, wise and careful laws must be passed for the purpose of correcting and lessening the social defects of American democracy.
Third, education must be relied upon to render the individual able and willing to do his duty toward himself and his country. The boys and girls of to-day are the voters and home-makers of to-morrow, and the responsibility of preparing those boys and girls for the efficient conduct of community life rests almost entirely upon the school. Thus education is one of the most basic factors in social progress. Neither a reorganized economic system, nor the most carefully drawn laws on social questions will solve the problems of American democracy until the individual citizen is trained to a proper appreciation of his responsibilities toward himself and toward his country.
QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT
1. What is the scope of education?