Maple Avenue Evening High School - Progress Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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New information and a wider knowledge make possible the maintenance of this attitude as long as life shall last . ' 'Schools represent a public investment. It is common sense and national economy to secure the greatest amount of service from them . ' The Organized Labor movement makes this demand upon educational ideals: Give to the masses of the people, those who perform mechanical work, which of its very nature is monotonous and may become alsofstultify- ing, an imaginative understanding and such a wide comprehension of the wholeness of life that no vocation need be to them a rut. Enable each to see up and beyond with a vivifying mental grasp that shall interpret labor in values of human service, and to do the day's work with the joy of crea- tive labor . h LABOR FEDERATION JOINS EDUCATION FORWARD MOVEMENT The executive council of the American Federation of Labor has ap- proved the plan submitted by the American Federation of Labor committee on education, under instructions from the Cincinnati convention, whereby the Federation will be adequately and permanently represented in directing the activities of the Workers' Education Bureau, New York, N. Y., with which the Federation has hitherto co-operated under a temporary agree- ment. s Under the terms of this agreement, an executive committee of nine members was created to direct the policies and activity of the Bureau. The chairman of the Federation committee on education, Mr. Matthew Woll, has been elected chairman of the executive committee of the Work- ers? Education Bureau, and two other members of that committee, Mr. George W. Perkins a11d Mr. John P. Frey, have been elected members of the same executive committee. ' Writing to the various labor organizations on this subject, President Gompers of the Federation of Labor says: In accord with the convention instructions I wish to commend the work of this Bureau to you and your membership for the purpose of furthering adult workers' education. I earnestly urge all affiliated organizations to co-operate in this work through affiliation with the Bureau . Page Forty-two

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Under this system those confronted with the necessity of earning some money and at the same time anxious to improve and advance in their chosen trade until they become a thoroughly rounded out mechanic before the best years of their lives have passed, attend school a certain number of hours each week on full pay. Courses of study are drawn up jointly by the three agencies. Theoretical, supplemental and some process work, the trade science, applied mathematics - in fact all the work pertaining to the trades of the students that cannot be readily obtained on the job, is taught in the school. No work is duplicated in the school that can be better learned in the atmosphere of the trade. The aim is not to do away with the apprentice- ship system but to shorten it and to give the learner a complete and scien- tific knowledge of the entire trade with specialization in some one line. The expense of equipment is borne by the industry while the sch-ool supplies a place to house the classes and pays the instructor, also sees to it that only those things essential to the trades are taught. Heretofore night schools have conducted various types of supplemental work in trade extension, such as drawing, blue prints and mathematics. Although good results have been obtained, this system has the serious drawback of working against the fatigue of the day and being aside and apart from the real trade atmosphere such as is found in the day trade extension school. EXCERPTS FROM SAMUEL GOMPERS' SPEECH ON AMERICAN SCHOOLS AND THE WORKING MAN In order to be consistent with democratic ideals, public schools must meet the needs of all. They must fit not only for the administrative, di- rective positions in life, but they also must meet the needs of those, who by their creative labor powers and the coordination of their minds and muscles give existence to the ideals and purposes that are in the minds of those who control industry and commerce . An appreciation of education has resulted in the demand for a wider use of the schools in order that fuller and better opportunities for learning, culture, and sociability may be brought into the common life. Education is an attitude toward life - an ability to see and understand problems and to utilize information -and forces for the best solution of these problems. Page Forty-one in

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Education and Complete Living By W. S. KIENHOLZ Director Vocational Education Los Angeles School District DUCATION has been variously defined in the past. Many such de- finitions have been quite apropos for the age and the intellectual at- mosphere of the occasion. It is quite common for some educators to sum up a great educational conference by defin- A , ing education in terms of the prevailing thought. Many of these definitions are unquestionably good, but some of them were better when they were given than they are today or, perchance, will be tomorrow. A few definitions that have been given may interest. Education , says one writer, is the systematic development and cultivation, of the mind and other natural powers . An- other speaks of education in the following terms: Any full education must be the result in great ' ' part of instruction, training, and personal association . Another says, Education is the systematic development and cultivation of natural powers by inoculation, example, etc . One of our present day educators defines education as adjustment to spiritual possession of race with View to realizing one's potentialities and to perpetuate civilization . Another writer, discussing the function of edu- cation, has the following to say: It is a waste of public money to teach things that are not useful. Some test for relative value should be applied to all subject matter . Many other versions of education might be given, some accentuating the cultural, others the spiritual, still others the social and economic. When Spencer defined education as preparation for complete living , he touched Page Forty-three .4.