Salem State University - Clipper Yearbook

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Our country is in danger! And it is not from strikes, Bolshevists, nor the high ccst of living. It is a danger which threatens not only this generation but future gen- erations in such a M ay that it is a menace to the unusually high standard of our coun- try. The greatest danger comes from lack of teachers! Never has the need of teach- ers been more imperative than it is now. The situat ion has been serious for some time and promises to become worse unless something is done to stimulate interest in the teaching profession. Last year twenty-two per cent of all the teachers in the United States resigned. Ten per cent of those who remained are below standard. Recent figures compiled by the National Education Association indicate that there are one hundred thousand teaching positions without teachers or else supplied with teachers who are not qualified to teach. The situation is bad for the children and equally hard for the teachers now employed. Classes have been doubled up, giving the teach- ers a larger number of pupils than they can attend to, and giving the children only one- half of the instruction and attention that they should have. In New York State alone for some time fifty thousand children were sent home every week because there was no one to teach them. Since the schools opened last September, nine hundred ninety- three teachers have resigned. In New York city, there are two hundred thirty-two thousand children in the elementary schools on part time or double-shift. In Phila- delphia, twenty thousand children are reported to be constantly on half-sessions and a changing group of five thousand were last year without teachers. What is to be done? Measures have already been taken to remedy the situa- tion, but more must be done before we can really accomplish that to which we are now looking forward. Teachers ' wages have been increased and the outlook for a still greater increase is very bright. Teachers are soon going to receive for their work sala- ries in proportion to those received for other kinds of work. Our normal schools are ready to receive students eager to enter the teaching profession, and the schools can al- most positively guarantee positions with a salary comparing well with that in other oc- cupations. The normal school does more than prepare a girl to teach. All of the finest quali- ties a girl possesses are brought out in the course of the work. She gains confidence in her own powers, learns to know children, and becomes a successful leader of groups of children. All these things and more will the normal school do for the girl who wishes to make the most of herself and to choose the finest things in life. 9

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Class Officers President. Priscilla .M. Macauley Vice-President, Alice K. Richardson Secretary, Marjorie V. Stone Treasurer, Leo R. McKinnon Editorial Staff of Year Book EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Hazel A. ( ' lerke ASSISTANT EDITOR Rachel E. Muffin ASSOCIATE EDITORS Isabelle R. Simpson Marun Elmer Stella M. Ross Cora Guarnaccia M in ( ' . Hvnes BUSINESS MANAGER R alph W. I [o VRD ART MANAGER A N ' . | ONI,AN

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r The project method is a phase of work now being tried out extensively in the schools. Professor William II. Kilpatrick. in his pamphlet entitled The Project Me- thod. - ' says that a project is a purposeful act. that is, a scheme or plan of a practi- cal nature which appeals to the doer as worth while. The child ' s school life is to he connected as closely as possible with his life outside the schoolroom, lie may be led to see that, if he has a worthy purpose, he may carry out a worthy project. That is what comes to our minds when we think of a project. First, have we a definite purpose; then, is it worthy of careful thought and planning? In all of our projects, we must note the presence of a dominating purpose and work toward it. Illustrations of individual I projects are making a dress or a bookcase, getting out a school newspaper, or making a business proposition of a garden. In the household arts course, when the project giv- en is the making of a dress, the purpose is to make the dress as well as possible so that it may be a source of satisfaction to the wearer. The child will thus realize that it is worthy of thought and doing. The next thing to be considered is the child ' s motive for producing a well-made dress. Some children may be interested in the process, but many may think of the project merely as a task. Motives which would appeal to chil- dren are il) to have the class vote for the neatest and best looking dress in the class; (2 to produce a dress that could be displayed at an exhibition to be given at the end of the year. In planning the projects for the school, we have to deal with different types of children. Some will carry out the project merely for the sake of being credited with the work, others for the product, while others will work because new problems will come up which will require reason and skill. Then as difficulties are overcome, the chil- dren will present new ideas and problems, which may develop into original projects. Group projects are as valuable to each child as are individual projects. The chief benefit is the training for co-operation and leadership. The child learns to work with others, to take orders, and perhaps to give orders. As a leader, the child learns to take the initiative; to find out what is to be done, and to see that it is done. As a member of a group, he learns to combine his ideas with those of others, using the ma- terial besl suited to the purpose of the project. In group projects, such as presenting ' a plav or organizing a baseball nine, the motive may be competition of several groups, the choice of the best group, and the presentation of the work by thai group. In the course of this book, we have given an account of several projects on the subject of book-making for flic children in Ihc grammar grades, or the junior high school. The first thing to do is to gel the children ' s interesl ; and then to have the chil- dren obtain information concerning the subject, to make their plan, and to work out the project; in general, to arouse the children to self -activity. If the children feel that they are doing the work themselves, the interesl will be much greater and the finished product of a better quality and a source of greater satisfaction. The members of the editorial staff wish to thank the teachers and the students for giving their time and valuable assistance to help make the Class Book of L920 a success. Special mention should be made of the hearty cooperation of the under- graduates. Never before have the members of the other classes supported the senior class so generously in literary contributions and subscriptions. in J