moeint asiu ni aerRALPH G. ECKERT

Oftentimes educators fail to realize the potential strength for buildingbetter schools that accompanies understanding on the part of parentsof what the schools are trying to do. In an earlier article in this issueparent-teacher cooperation was stressed. We five you here five types ofemphasis which may make for closer cooperation, with examples takenfrom California schools that experimented in this field. This article isadapted from an address delivered to the Conference of ElementarySchool Principals of California in San Diego, April 1, 1947 by Ralph G.Eckert, chief, Bureau of Parent Education in the State Department ofEducation, Los Angeles.

MARK TWAINrecounts the storyof how on oneoccasion, whiletraveling West, onthree successiveevenings followinghard days of stagecoach travel, he re-ceived the same re-ply to this question,"How far do youcall it to KansasCity?" The answeron each occasionwas,"Oh, about fivehundred miles." Onthe third eveningMark Twain had Cortesy Log Becr Cifa Schol

replied, "Well, thank goodness we are course, that the "whole child comes toholding our own." Such is the situation school" bringing with him his emotionalin which our schools often find them- problems, sufficiently severe at times toselves today. The constant influx of block the learning processes. We knowpopulation and building problems, prob- that parents, who would become veryably leave us very well satisfied if we excited if the child broke his arm andcan hold our own. would spare no expense in seeing that

But we must begin to look ahead to he had the best treatment will, never-the development of a more complete theless, allow a child with a "brokenenvironment for children. We know, of spirit" to go along without special

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help until his entire personality hasbecome warped.

He's Doing the Best He CanA new and dynamic theory of per-

sonality is emerging as a result of ac-cumulated psychiatric case work. Thebasic assumption now underlyingpsychotherapy is that the individual,regardless of what he has done, hasdone the best that he could. He cannotdo better because someone has failedto give him the affection, praise, or theexperiences in democratic living whichwould have given him the emotionalstability to have developed a more con-structive pattern of behavior, and tohave made "better choices."

We have, for some time, been willingto recognize that the child was notentirely responsible for his behavior. Sowe began pointing our finger at thefamily. The analysis of the war in-creases in delinquency and the psycho-neurotic rejectees and ejectees frommilitary service have now made itpopular to blame the parents for what-ever is wrong with the child. In thelong run, this is no more sensible thanblaming the child. For the parent, too,"is doing the best he can."

Society must somehow break throughthe vicious cycle by which a generationof emotionally immature and unstableindividuals marry and produce a gen-eration of emotionally immature andunstable individuals, ad infinitum. Thatthe sins of the fathers were passed onfrom generation unto generation was aBiblical observation of a fact. At first,attributed to supernatural punishment,later to the effect of heredity, and stilllater to the environment, we are nowready to strike a balance between the

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last two. The science of psychologynow forces us to say very humblyregarding any human being, "Were Ithat individual, born to that heredity,raised in that environment, influencedby those social pressures, I should bedoing exactly what he is doing."

Five possible types of parent educa-tion which can be carried on at theelementary school level offer oppor-tunities for improving the quality ofparenthood and the parent-child andparent-teacher relationships. Workingtogether understandingly, with special-ized assistance, there are few problemsthat cannot be solved by parent andteacher.

An Extended Kindergarten ProgramFirst, let us take the long range look

ahead and begin to plan for the develop-ment of a new type of kindergarten-primary program which would providefor close cooperation between parentsand teachers. We know that parents aremost anxious to cooperate at this periodand if we can, with careful selection ofkindergarten teachers and by profes-sional in-service training in the area ofmental hygiene and parent education,develop a corps of teachers highlyskilled in recognizing the early symp-toms of maladjustment-and then givethem time to follow through with par-ents-we can make a tremendous con-tribution to the emotional stability ofthat child in that family.

.Increased staff and services

It may well prove to be advantageousto many schools to hire two kinder-garten teachers, giving each a half dayfree for organized and individual parenteducation. The teacher might meet

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weekly with kindergarten parents, andfollow them on through the next year,meeting with them weekly as first gradeparents. In the next two years she mightmeet with them every other week,maintaining some contact with themthroughout the elementary school ex-perience of their youngsters. Such ateacher, having had this extended con-tact with parents and having contactedindividually those unable or unwillingto participate in the group meetings,would be the natural person in theschool to contact the home in all typesof guidance or discipline problems.

The kindergarten teacher would beaided in this by the development of amore complete kindergarten unit, withtwo or more rooms available, and aplace for parents to meet. It should bepossible to organize so that the teacherbest qualified to work with parentscould give a large portion of her timeto them, and the one most capable ofworking with children could workmore directly with them. If and whenwe develop an ungraded kindergarten-primary unit, taking each child wherehe is and individualizing his experiencesand progress throughout a two, two-and-a-half, three-year period, this sortof program should become not only in-creasingly feasible, but also increas-ingly necessary.

Early sex education

l his would be a very appropriatetime also for the school to help parentswith the problems of sex education. Evi-dence seems to indicate that there isprobably little danger in presentingwholesome sex information too early,but that there is great danger of pre-senting it too late. In such cases, it isusually found that someone has mis-

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educated the child and done so in anatmosphere of unwholesome emotionalovertones. The use of animals and petsand all sorts of visual aid material cangreatly help parents with this problem.Most people agree that the home is theideal place for the giving of sex in-formation, but there is no denying thefact that a vast majority of homes arenot doing an adequate job. Only thirtypercent of the P.T.A. members in LosAngeles polled considered themselvessufficiently informed to give their chil-dren an adequate sex education. Ninety-seven percent of them believe that it isdesirable for the public schools to de-velop a program of sex education whichwould give the youngster the informa-tion he needed at the time he needed it.

A New Kind of ReportThe second field in which new op-

portunities for parent education aredeveloping is in the area of report cards.Guidance people in the state of Califor-nia seem to be moving toward more ofa personality growth report than a com-parative academic evaluation. This typeof report tends to emphasize emotionaldevelopment, social skills, and specialskills, as well as skills in fundamentals.In the past, our program has tended tobe geared almost entirely to the childwith verbal ability, almost completelyignoring the socially useful mechanical,social, artistic, musical, and clericalabilities. Too often the grade report hasbeen used as a sort of psychologicalwhip, held over the child to insuregreater and greater effort. The psy-chiatric workers and the specialists inspeech correction or reading problemscan well attest to the serious emotionaldamage frequently done by parents at-tempting to force a child with C ability

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to do A work-whatever those termsmay mean.

A growth report which reflects thechild's achievement in relation to 'hisabilities seems much more wholesomefor the younger child. Because of theneed for competence and ability tosucceed in the higher and higher levelin our educational structure, a thoroughguidance program should be developedwhich will gradually lead the parentand the youngster to an honest evalua-tion of his abilities. It is upon an intel-ligent understanding of these generaland special abilities and disabilities thatvocational guidance and competencemust be built.

Parents choose to talk it over

The most desirable approach seemsto be a combination of growth reportand parental conference during which,over a period of years, a thorough eva-luation of the child's potentialities canbe discovered and assessed by parentsand teachers working together. Oneschool, some five years ago, initiated aprogram of such parental conferences.Approximately one month after the be-ginning of school when the teacher hashad a chance to get acquainted withthe child and his previous record, theschool goes on a minimum day sessionand individual conferences are sched-uled with parents during the balanceof the afternoon for as long as is neces-sary to contact all parents. A manualof instruction, which has been preparedfor new teachers, indicates clearly thatthis is a joint enterprise between parentand teacher, with each attempting tohelp the other develop a clearer under-standing of the child and jointly de-veloping goals for the coming year. The

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parent is then given a choice of return-ing for a second interview about three-fourths of the way through the year,or of receiving, at that time, a descrip-tive evaluation in essay form of theprogress toward the goals previouslyagreed upon. In the beginning, aboutfifty percent chose a second interview.Today about eighty-five percent of theparents choose to return for a secondinterview. At the end of the year, adetailed check sheet summarizes theprogress already largely evaluated andunderstood by both parent and child.

Teachers learn by doing

Some administrators fear the con-sequences of "allowing untrained peopleto counsel parents regarding the emo-tional problems of their child." If theapproach, however, is not one of givingadvice, but of seeking information andasking good questions to help the parentdiscover wholesome sets of values andbe reassured in the process, then thereseems to be little danger involved. Atthe same time, this will be a highlyeducational experience for the teachers.We talk a great deal about learning bydoing; certainly few people will be-come expert in working with parentsexcept by doing so.

Demonstration Accompanied by Research

A third method by which educationof parents can be carried on in theelementary schools is by the organizeddemonstration method. In a Fresno ele-mentary school last year, a demonstra-tion in reading at all levels was arrangedwith parents observing during the lastperiod of the day. The children werethen dismissed and the teacher at-tempted to help the parent see what

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the objectives were and to indicate howthey were attempting to reach them.The demonstration was so successfulthat it was followed later by demonstra-tions in arithmetic and in spelling.

San Diego has carried on a demonstra-tion program accompanied by a collec-tion of research data which wouldindicate that children whose parentsunderstood what the school was at-tempting in each subject and how theycould assist (not by helping the childwith his reading but by discussing thingswith him and thus developing a vocab-ulary and enlarging his interests) madesubstantially greater progress than theordinary group. Such demonstrationconstitutes probably one of the best jobsin public relations that the averageschool can undertake.

An Enlarged Guidance ProgramThe fourth area in which the elemen-

tary school can advance parent educa-tion is through the employment ofspecialized parent education and guid-ance personnel. Many schools wouldlike to hire a guidance person especiallytrained in the field of clinical psy-chology, but do not feel that they canjustify the expense. If such a person ishired, charged jointly against guidanceand parent education and is given free-dom in working with parents in groupsand time to work with both individualparents and children, the school may bevery sure that such a person will bekept busy and that it will get itsmoney's worth.

A "problem child" is a child withuesolved problems. To allow the childto continue in that state, ultimatelyin adolescence becoming a delinquentor in adulthood experiencing emotional

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breakdown, is little short of criminal-to say nothing of being a poor socialinvestment. The chief problem of sucha child is frequently his parents. Inmany instances, little can be done withthe child until the basic emotional rela-tionships in the home, which are pro-ducing the emotional symptoms weobserve in the child, can be dealt with.Research in the field of speech correc-tion indicates that the improvement istwice as great when the mother as wellas the child is involved in the therapy.On the other hand, it may even bedestructive to single children out andwork with them on their special prob-lems without doing anything to changethe environment which has producedthe tensions and emotional instabilitywhich is causing the speech defect. Ourgoal must be that, regardless of how heenters school, every child should leavethe elementary school a well-adjustedpersonality.

Activate the Parent-Teacher GroupFinally, we can do a great deal more

in parent education at the elementaryschool level if we can strengthen thework of our P.T.A.'s. We must beginto think of P.T.A. as parents, teachers,and administrators. Parent-teacher lead-ers now have a saying, "as goes theadministrator, so goes the P.T.A." Ifthe administrator is not enthusiastic, hisfaculty reflects that. If he tries to keepthem busy in mere money raising ac-tivity so that they do not "attempt tointerfere in the administration of theschool" that, too, is reflected. But if hewill recognize in the P.T.A. one of themost powerful friends of education anda tremendous potential force for good,not only in the school but in the com-

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munity, then we can begin to realizethe full possibilities of home and schoolcooperation.

Leadership is crucial

The P.T.A. is only as strong as itsleaders. Because of the rapid turnoverof local leadership, frequently with lackof preparation for the job; because ofthe tendency to quickly siphon off out-standing leadership into council, dis-trict, and state organizations, it be-comes incumbent upon teachers andprincipals who remain with the pro-gram year after year to furnish a kindof stabilizing and vital leadership. Werecognize increasingly that real leader-ship comes not so much in "knowingthe answers" but in asking vital ques-tions. What are the most importantneeds of the youngster in this schoolwhich are not being met? What canwe do about it? How can we do it?What other agencies and organizationscan we enlist?

Attention on the child

Another way in which the P.T.A.can be strengthened is by increasing thetrend toward the grade level type oforganization. Almost inevitably in aP.T.A. program in which there is awide range of children, the programbecomes geared to the interests andneeds of the newcomers each year.They turn out in the largest numbersand show the greatest interests. Afterseveral indoctrinations, repeated atyearly intervals, they lose interest.Can't we experiment with the develop-ment of a type of organization andprogram which would provide:

... for shorter business meetings withmore of the committee reports made to

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the executive committee and plans ofaction developed there. The reading'ofthe actions of the executive committee,which is small, could then be presentedto the group to keep them informed andin touch with the association's activity.Democracy does not require us to boreour constituents with every detail.

... for all parents to meet in one largegroup during the last hour of the schoolday for the program, including perhapsmusical numbers by the orchestra, fol-lowed by a speaker who might, in ahalf hour, deal with the basic principlesunderlying sound discipline. The groupmight then break up into grade groups,meeting with the teacher. Thus a groupof parents with children at a similarstage of development and probably fac-ing similar problems could discuss dis-cipline much more specifically. Thesame type of program would apply tosuch things as allowances, use of free-doms, or assuming responsibilities. Inother words, can we really developP.T.A. programs of genuine parenteducation?

. . . for enlisting the cooperation ofparents in assisting the teacher in agreat many ways, relieving her for moreimportant things and, at the same time,giving parents a new and ready appre-ciation of the types of materials whichare used and many other aspects of classprocedure. Could it not also be a valu-able vehicle for improved parent-teacherrelationships and greater appreciation onthe part of each for the other?

Welcome the newcomer

And can we not also use our HomeService Committee of the P.T.A. towelcome and orient new parents intothe community and school. Would itnot be a good idea for the P.T.A.Home Service Committee, workingvery closely with the Parent Educa-tion Committee perhaps, to call uponthe parents of the new child in the

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school to tell them about the P-T.A.and its work in the school? They couldperhaps leave a book or two from theP.T.A. library in which the newcomermight indicate an interest, with the sug-gestion that she bring it to the nextP.T.A. meeting. Don't all normal hu-man beings respond to this kind ofneighborliness?

Elementary Schools Have the Chance

For those who work with boys andgirls in the elementary schools there isa great challenge and a great oppor-tunity. We get all of the children, weget them young, and we can meet, withaffection and understanding, the needsof children whose homes do not givethem the affection and emotional sup-

port they need. Particularly will thisbe true in the days ahead as the "purpleheart battalion" enters our school. Be-ginning this coming year, we will getour first crop of war babies; thoseyoungsters whose homes, in too manycases, have never given them the kindof emotional stability to which everychild is entitled. Their young mothershave followed husbands from camp tocamp and then have experienced longperiods of separation during which theywere forced to face grave apprehen-sions, while perhaps living in crowdedand unsatisfactory quarters. These,along with parents of children whohave long been coming to our schools,rightfully look to us for cooperation inthe total educational job for children.

MAURICE F. SEAY

A mountain of problems can be moved when an entire state gives itstotal effort to the attack. Such was the case when Kentucky considerededucation a major field of progress, and united toward that end. Leadsto action for citizens' groups figure prominently in this outline byMaurice F. Seay, dean of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, ofhow to begin, sustain, and carry through on a large scale.

How It Began

The idea originated in the minds ofseveral members of the Kentucky Mer-chant's Association. These men, realiz-ing the state's great potentialities, weredisturbed to see Kentucky lagging be-hind her neighboring states in health,wealth, and education. So the Commit-tee for Kentucky was organized in 1944

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to discover the barriers which were im-peding Kentucky's progress-and totear down those barriers.

Behind the plan of organization ofthe Committee for Kentucky is the ideathat the people themselves, if informedand interested, can and will work outsolutions to their problems. The orig-

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Copyright © 1947 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved.