Learning to Be a Schoolmaster

by Thomas R. Cole

I quote the following from a report of a Seattle high school principal regarding extra-curricular activities:

“The extra-curricular activities in a high school can be divided into two classes, the minor and the major activities. The minor activities are such as arise out of a desire to vitalize certain studies; the Science Club, the Short Story Club, the French Club are illustrations. For the most part these meet only once or twice a month for an afternoon program in which students who are interested participate themselves or occasionally invite some outsider to take part. Teachers desiring to stimulate greater interest in their specialties are usually enthusiastic supporters of such clubs. The programs are informal, held after school and requiring comparatively little effort on the part of the teachers; and those teachers who are alive to their work welcome the opportunities which these small clubs offer in the way of stimulating interest and adding zest to studies.

“Furthermore, these informal gatherings afford teachers and students an opportunity to meet outside the classroom and become better acquainted, which is always an important factor in successful school work. No teacher worthy of the name is averse to such organizations. It is difficult to find a single objectionable feature in them. Of course, they require some after-school time occasionally, and some planning on the part of the responsible adviser. No conscientious teacher begrudges this extra time and effort and every enterprising teacher finds enough in them to compensate him liberally for his efforts.

“The major activities such as class organizations, glee clubs, dramatic clubs, athletic associations, boys’ and girls’ clubs, the school paper, the Senior Ball, the Junior Prom, and the interschool debates offer more problems in the nature of care. They take in larger groups, are more formal or more pretentious, and demand a larger amount of time from teachers directing them. Not only that, but they also require a larger organizing capacity on the part of the advisers. Not all teachers can assume sponsorship for such organizations.

“These activities are to the school what the Fourth of July parade, the Elks’ big-brother picnic, and the Wayfarer are to the city. A city could get along without these activities and save itself a deal of hard work and expense. But enterprising men consider them worth ten times the effort and expense to the community as a whole. Some undesirable features follow in the wake of all these large city enterprises. Streets become congested, the police have to do double duty; there may be some accidents, some thefts, some people overworked. But in life unpleasant things are organically connected with the pleasant and if you would have the one you must have at least some of the other.

“In like manner the major school activities benefit the entire school. They have the effect of welding the large school into something like a homogeneous unit. They develop school pride and school interest. A large school can no more get along without these and be a live institution than can a church without its young peoples’ societies and programs, its men’s club suppers, and its ladies’ aid societies and be a live church organization.

“But aside from welding the school into a unit of effort and purpose, these organizations, like the minor activities, serve to socialize the institution, to bring pupils and teachers together in a way that the classroom does not afford, to 'bring out’ students, to discover latent talents, and to spur students on to a maximum standard of excellence.

“Aside from their socializing value, these organizations have an ethical purpose. Group interests are developed through them which teach pupils to work together for a common end. School enthusiasm and loyalty are developed which broaden in later years to interest in and loyalty to community and nation.

“Teachers have not introduced these activities as a rule. They came in response to a recognized need. No more can teachers put them out. They can, however, help to direct them into proper channels, supervise them, and keep them within proper bounds, all of which is a task worthy of a real teacher. Those instructors who can recall the turbulent days of the secret societies and cliques, of the unsupervised and unmanaged athletics, have no doubt that progress has been made, and are ready to help to keep up the good work.

“The objectionable features of the major activities are naturally more pronounced. It is easy to make too much of such activities, to make them too pretentious, to consume too much time with them so that they sometimes interfere with the curricular work of the school. As a rule principals and teachers strive to keep these activities within reasonable bounds. Sometimes they find themselves involved in a bigger undertaking than they planned for. However, unbounded American enthusiasm is in no small measure to blame for the overdoing of some of these activities.