children, at least when it is a question of raising the instruction from a purely mechanical method to one based on a knowledge of the speech organs.' The Swiss school authorities are giving due attention to those pupils who suffer under some species of more or less marked psychic disturbance, which makes the usual school arrangements unsuited for their progress or recovery. Among the symptoms pointing to such cases are absent-mindedness, sudden rage, depression, unnatural activity of the imagination, delusions, and disturbed sleep. These young sufferers are obviously entitled to treatment such as their conditions require, which can be given only in school homes especially suited for them. Here they could be treated pathologically according to a plan adapted to each; the children could be segregated into groups to prevent harmful influences of one individual or class by another. These ideas are in part carried out in some of the cantonal schools, were special care is given to children of nervous temperament. Dr. Frank, of Zürich, advises that Parents of such children should be visited and thereby a clew obtained to a correct diagnosis of their troubles. The teacher himself should not presume to play the part of a pathologist, for he might thereby do great harm, but he should train himself to detect these not uncommon instances of slight nervous disturbance. Sometimes a quiet word from the teacher will help to remove the slight psychic obstruction; in other cases the trouble is to be referred to the specialist before the damage becomes too great. Dr. Frank adds that offenses committed by these children should be dealt with in a manner different, usually gentler, from those of others. The experiences reported from such homes in Germany make it plain that a rather long period is necessary to effect a cure, though even a stay of five or six weeks has been beneficial. For those that can not be fully healed the teachers try to find work that comes within their powers. "This endeavor has not only an economic but a moral and ethical side, for it will help to keep these less fortunate people from feeling that they are a burden." An attempt to realize this purpose was made in Basel in 1917 by opening a little trade school for subnormal children. At first it was known as the Weaver's Shop, but it was by no means intended to be limited to the occupation implied in the name. Aid from the Canton and from private donors enabled the originators to carry the plan further. The teachers in charge found that sewing, stitching, covering cushions, and to some extent weaving could very well be done by subnormal pupils. The results were, in fact, so encouraging as to warrant the extension of the idea by opening a school at Stapfelberg for subnormal girls. Since then funds have been secured from other sources, so that it is now contemplated to extend the scope of the endeavor by organizing rural homes where children of this class may become familiar with farm work and thereby be placed in the way of gaining their subsistence.' 1 Adapted from articles in Die Jugend, January and February, 1919. Movements of this kind have been accelerated by the war, and some new arrangements formerly regarded as of doubtful expediency have been put into practice. From the Canton of Aargau, for instance, several measures taken by the schools are reported that may be regarded as typical of what the schools are doing elsewheregreater attention to exceptional, criminally inclined, or unhealthy children; increase in the facilities for free lunch and free clothing; more thorough health supervision; improved sanitary conditions of schools and pupils' dormitories; reduction of the number of pupils in a class; conference on the choice of work, together with plans for free instruction of pupil apprentices; furnishing of writing and instruction material free of charge; remittance of tuition in the district schools; increase in the number of stipends for pupils; establishing courses in commerce adapted for girls and manual work for boys; greater freedom in the change, election, and omission of subjects; increase in the efficiency of agencies to secure employment for pupils; reduction, under certain conditions, of the obligatory school period. In immediate connection with the programs of all schools, there is a marked tendency to investigate the value of work done at the home as compared with that done in the classroom. With the aid of experimental psychology, teachers have reached the conclusion (reported mainly in Schweizerische Lehrerzeitung for Feb. 23, 1918) that: The work done at school was generally superior to that done by an isolated pupil at home as home work. In copying and figuring at home it was materially less than it should be in comparison with the same kind done at school. Qualitatively the comparison was also favorable to the school. As over against this, the experiments showed that in the case of certain pupils who were permitted to work quietly at home the work was better than that done in the class. In proportion as higher spiritual qualities entered into it, the assignment (imagination, judgment, presentation, literary style) done at home was better; in proportion as it involved the character of a memory performance, into which little of the pupil's personality entered, the classroom work was better. Among other conclusions reached was that the pupil, if permitted to select his own time for doing the assignment, would often choose hours unsuited to mental work, such as the time immediately after a meal. As the pupil grows more mature, with clearer realization of his responsibility, the home work becomes more satisfactory. It is obviously the duty of the school authorities to see to it that pupils do not become overburdened by assignments to be done at home. When home work is necessary, it may indeed serve as a link between the home and the school because the parents would be under obligation to see to it that the children have the necessary time for the home assignment. EXTENSION OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES DUE TO THE WAR. One of the first effects of the war on the schools in Switzerland, as elsewhere, was to furnish an incentive to break through the fixedness of the school programs and to respond to the immediate emergencies created. Occasions arose for extending the work of the schools in directions that had been thought to lie entirely beyond their province. The justification of these departures became topics for deliberations by school councils, leading inevitably to a new survey of the usefulness and timeliness of the various branches of the curricula. A new outlook tending to take as its viewpoint the very fundamentals in education began to prevail. If this wholesome disturbance of the educational régime comes to crystallize into any new principle of teaching, its characterizing features will be a more direct regard for the health and the entire career of a pupil, whether such regard can best be observed by the aid of books and lessons or in some other way. The pupil's life interests will be more fully paramount; and the programs of schools will be fashioned toward these ends, no matter how they may come to deviate from the school traditions. The possibility of suspending the school routine for the sake of greater interests first appeared in the form of an endeavor to help relieve the economic stress the war created. As the Swiss school publications report the early instruction for the guidance of teachers in conducting this relief work, and as later issues of the same publications give the actual achievement, it is possible to trace these endeavors through some of their stages. The Commission on Industrial Information in its report advises that those who have charge of placing city pupils as helpers should always have regard to the spontaneous willingness of the pupils to enter upon this kind of service. Of the two usual modes of making the labor of pupils available for agricultural productiveness, namely, as assistants during harvest and as independent tillers of gardens of their own, the latter is the more promising. To plant and produce crops of their own fosters a spirit of social responsibility and a sense of patriotic duty. Educationally, too, it has a superior value, for it is a form of experimentation in which the young agriculturist is spurred on to inform himself about the best method of tilling the plat allotted to him. It would be highly desirable, if city conditions would permit, to place school garden tillage on the program for the fifth and sixth years; even a further extension of it as a part of the curriculum would be advantageous if weather conditions would make it practicable to give it a fixed place on the daily schedule. The school publications call attention to the considerations that determine the success of pupils assisting on the farms during the busy seasons. The experiences of city pupils on the farm have not always been satisfactory either to themselves or to the farmers. Usually the boys come with incorrect and distorted conceptions of country work, and are therefore cruelly disillusionized during the first days; and, again, the farmer does not always have a correct conception of the city pupils' feelings and outlook. In participating in the work of the country it is best for the pupils to be accompanied by teachers and responsible persons who see to it that the stay in the country becomes profitable to their charges as well as to the farmers. There may not always be the needed accommodations, in which case the village schoolhouse could be used as a dormitory. Here the work group could be kept busy at some form of lesson during rainy days. The help should not be rendered gratis, but should be compensated by a wage; even though nominal, it would be an encouragement. The substance of the above suggestions, taken from the published instructions to Swiss teachers, is supplemented by information telling of the actual endeavors to carry them into effect. Instances are cited of individual farmers who spoke highly of the efforts made by the city pupils to help, adding that some of them rendered very material aid in harvesting the rye. The pupils from a certain modern school exceeded the expectations placed upon them. One result of these experiments was that an organization of teachers at Basel determined on a plan for carrying them further by making them a permanent school endeavor. To that end they invited pupils-boys and girls to take part. The press was asked to assist by urging the farmers to avail themselves of the pupil's help at the next harvest. To get the farmers themselves interested was regarded as most important.1 As the schools of Switzerland are closely identified in their work with the practical affairs of life, they were closely touched by the economic disturbances of the war. One immediate effect, already mentioned, was to organize for productiveness; another was the necessity for augmenting the salaries of teachers. Where the burden of this emergency increment should fall was at first a matter of uncertainty. The Federal Government looked for a solution which would make the increase 400 francs, instead of 600 as asked by the teachers, and apportion it equally between the Canton and the Commonwealth. Temporary increments were granted until 1919, when permanent salary improvements will undoubtedly be made, arrangements which appeared to be entirely satisfactory to the teachers. Despite the opportunities for more remunerative work, few teachers left their posts of duty for other employment. 1 Based on various issues of the Scluveizerische Lehrehrzweitung from Nov. 30, 1918, to Feb. 9, 1919, Some dislocation of the work came about through the general economic stress. School boards received many applications from pupils for dismissal before the expiration of the required time, because the parents wished them released for remunerative employment. In the interests of both the pupils and the schools, these requests were granted only in cases of extreme urgency. Considerable interruption of the work took place, however. In the spring of 1919, for instance, the irregularity had become so extensive that many schools concluded the year's work without the usual semester examinations. Exercises of another kind were then substituted, but in no case did these have the character of tests. These arrangements were so much the more necessary as the influenza epidemic had, in many districts, compelled the schools to be closed for periods from weeks to months. Increased opportunities for wage earners so diminished the school attendance in some districts as to make it difficult to maintain the school as usual. In the Canton of Zürich this led to the consolidation of several smaller districts, with the result of relieving somewhat the financial straits of each. In almost all these instances, the accounts state, the amalgamation, besides effecting a more equitable distribution of the school burdens, has been an advantage educationally. Hence there is a growing tendency to bring together a still larger number of school groups into consolidated institutions. The union of two schools is often effected by making one primary and the other of higher grade. Even districts and schools denominationally different from one another have in this way been satisfactorily brought together. In view of the ample supply of teachers the movement has not been in their interests, but its justification is upheld by a fairer distribution of the expenses, better equipment, better general instructional facilities, better utilization of the teaching force, a more ample supply of teaching material for each school. Again, it strengthens the community spirit and extends it into larger circles, widening the outlook by fuller sympathy with the people outside of the immediate circle. Among the more permanent effects of the war is the desire to overcome the tardy processes of carrying out school reforms obviously needed. The procedure now in vogue in Switzerland and elsewhere is delayed by deliberations on petty objections until the needed legislation is postponed for years, by which time the social order has moved on toward new horizons. An instance of how the usual delay can be overcome was presented when, in response to requirements arising out of altered conditions, vocational selection was brought into the courses. The same conditions also gave rise to a new inquiry into the educational significance of the manual labor that pupils and teachers voluntarily performed |