Salisbury University - Evergreen Yearbook (Salisbury, MD)

Page 23 text:

Junior (or maybe it’s senior) activities center around the Campus Elementary School. The songs this class sings, the books they read, the games they learn, and the professional prob¬ lems they discuss may be baffling (or perhaps just nonsensical) to underclassmen, but never mind, they’re teaching — and so are the children! a And G ladly Vocational education calls for a curricu¬ lum of practical subjects and a technique of teaching which will make the knowledge gained functional. In the present world situation the empha¬ sis on education is intensified and the trend within educational effort is definitely away from general, or liberal arts courses, and toward all forms of vocational and technical courses. This trend demands two things (1) that the subjects studied and the activities engaged in bv the learner be definitely ap¬ plicable to the specific enterprise in which he is to participate, and (2) the organiza¬ tion of education and the techniques used in instruction be such that all subject mat¬ ter will be made functional through the process of learning. While there are many general, or liberal arts courses in the curriculum for teachers, the total education of the teacher is voca¬ tional and hence must be made applicable to techniques and skills required in instruc¬ tion. In addition to the application of these principles in all instructional efforts in the laboratory school, five outstanding activities which illustrate clearly the principle of func¬ tional teaching have been carried out. Three of these activities were used as a program for the College Elementary Parent-Teachers Association at its regular meeting December 16, 1942. Upper left — Student teacher Mary Ann Reinhold presides on bond-buying day in the fifth and sixth grades. Lower left — Edith Gross and Edna Schmick help prepare for a primary grade radio program. Below — Dr. Car- uthers looks on while Orpali Pusev and Rhoda Cooper teach the third and fourth grades their reading lesson. 1 9

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Their student teaching completed, seniors who, in these days, may have already spent a year out in the field” look towards induction into the Alumni Association. No longer can their problems be referred to a sympathetic teacher or supervisor. They are on their own with a great task before them. The fifth and sixth grades, und er the di¬ rection of their regular teachei, Miss Mar¬ garet Weant, and with the assistance of stu¬ dent teachers, prepared and presented two forums on the topic “Know Our Enemies.” The preparation for this activity required the selection, interpretation and organization of a wide range of materials. The selective and directive agency throughout the preparation was the accepted purpose as indicated bv the topic, “Know Our Enemies.” In other words, all materials used were selected with refer¬ ence to a specific function and all activities engaged in contributed to something specific and definite, viz., the desire to learn more about our enemies in the present war. It should be noted that this activity not only made the subject matter functional for the children but it enriched the professional subject matter incident to the education of the student teachers. Two other features of the Parent-Teacher Program were a broadcast of a Christmas party by the first and second grades with their regular teacher, Mrs. Bernice Brady, di¬ recting, and a dramatization of the story “Why the Chimes Rang” bv the third and fourth grades under the direction of their teacher, Miss Pauline Riall. In addition to the above activities, emphasis in all the rooms has been put upon participation in the war effort. This is illustrated by the picture on the opposite page which shows the fifth and sixth grades buying war stamps and bonds. From December 7, 1942, when the bond¬ buying campaign started, until March 8, 1943, the pupils and teachers of the College Elementary School bought stamps and bonds amounting to $2,419.75. l he acceptance of knowledge for physical survival is assured without question, but the controversy concerning the mental survival 20 of large portions of our academic knowledge will perhaps continue. The basic problem is to maintain a proper balance between tech¬ nical, vocational knowledge and the branches of knowledge which are ordinarily said to deal with idealism. The problem is not too serious for, on one hand, liberal courses can profit greatlv from the stimulus of intelli¬ gent applications of such courses to actual social problems, while on the other, voca¬ tional courses can be made broader and be given a greater social significance by the study of the broad generalizations found in the liberal arts courses. Children may be directed along two lines (1) to do something practical and to appre¬ ciate it as such, and (2) to build up general ideals which w ill give them a richer and more significant life. The duty of the school is clear. It seems, for the time being at least, we must emphasize in our schools all knowledge and activities which have physical survival Value. — T. J. CARUTHERS.