U. S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. Argentina: Profile of a Nation. Washington, Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, 1943. 24 p. Distributed by the U. S. Office of Education. Single copies free. (Supply limited).

With the aid of pictures, maps, graphs, and pictograms, this publication describes the history, resources, and people of Argentina. Junior and senior high schools.

U. S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. Mexico: Next Door Neighbor. Washington, Office of the Coordinator of InterAmerican Affairs, 1943. 24 p. Distributed by the U. S. Office of Education. Single copies free. (Supply limited).

A brief description of Mexico and its people, with special emphasis on the land problem. Text supplemented by maps, pictures, graphs, and pictograms. Junior and senior high schools.

U. S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. Venezuela: Land of Oil. Washington, Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (1944). 16 p. Distributed by the U. S. Office of Education. Free. (Supply limited).

Shows how since 1935, Venezuela has been able through its revenue on oil to launch a modern program of health and education. Pictograms and maps. High schools.

Preemployment Trainees and War Production. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1943. 88 p., illus. (Vocational Division Bulletin No. 224, Defense Training Series No. 2.) 15 cents.

Findings of a follow-up survey of a sample of the more than 5 million persons who had received training in preemployment courses through the federally financed programs of defense training and war production training in public vocational schools from July 1, 1940, to June 1942, inclusive.

*

Federal Security Agency. U. S. Public Health Service. Get Free Training With Pay in the World's Proudest Profession; Join the U. S. Cadet Nurse Corps. Washington, 1944. (Folder 6 p.) Free.

Gives qualifications, income and opportunities offered by enlistment in the U. S. Cadet Nurse Corps.

U. S. Army. Women's Army Corps. Woman's Place in War. Washington, 1944. 30 p. Illustrated. Free.

This recruiting booklet names 239 types of jobs WACS are performing.

Uncle Sam: How He Grew; 150 Years of American History as Recorded in the U. S. Census. By Roscoe Wright. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1943. 74 p. Illustrated. 20 cents.

Interprets the increase of information collected, from 5 questions in 1790 to more than 6,000 in 1940, as evidence that the real measure of a nation is

the origins, habits, occupations, culture, and standards of living of its people; and shows the value of the facts available in 1941, to the prosecution of the war. Useful reference book for senior high schools.

War and Post-War Responsibilities of American Schools. Compiled and edited by William C. Reavis. Chicago, Ill., The University of Chicago, 1943. 180 p. (Proceedings of the 12th annual Conference for Administrative Officers of Public and Private Schools, 1943.) $2. Process print.

Considers a variety of problems pertaining to wartime needs of schools and to the responsibilities of educators for the cultivation of international understanding and the maintenance of a durable peace.

Learning About-Education and the Peace. Washington 6, D. C., Educational Policies Commission, National Education Association of the United States, 1944. 40 p. 10 cents, single copy.

This manual, based on Education and the People's Peace, published in May 1943, aims to encourage and direct the discussions of this subject among high-school teachers and students; a bibliography is included. It should be of special interest to social studies teachers and supervisors, members of curriculum committees, and school librarians.

What to Read about the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). General Bibliography. New York 17, N. Y. The East and West Association, Inc. (40 East Forty-ninth Street), 1944. 18 p. Mimeog. 25 cents.

The bibliography is annotated and classified under the following main headings: General, Geography, Peoples; The People, Life, Leaders, Education; Their Culture, Literature, Art, Music, Theater, Science; The Soviets, Government and Political Theory; History: Old Russia, Revolutionary Russia, Under the Soviets; Foreign Relations and the War.

A Survey of Literature on Post-War Reconstruction. Prepared by Adolf Sturmthal. New York, New York University, 1943. 100 p. $1. (New York University, Institute on Post-War Reconstruction Series of Publications, No. 1.)

A survey of the literature on problems of post-war reconstruction revealing economic and social ideas common to most writers in the field.

Regents Plan for Postwar Education in the State of New York. Albany, The University of the State of New York, The State Education Department, 1944. 64 p.

The Board of Regents, representing The University of the State of New York, during the past year has developed a post-war plan for education. The plan includes studies and recommendations made over a period of years, together with new proposals recently developed. Part I of the report presents an educational program in relation to post-war emergency and longtime trends; Part II presents post-war building projects.

U. S. Department of Labor. Children's Bureau. Preliminary Statement; Juvenile-Court Statistics, 1943. Washington, 1944. 7 p. (Processed.) Single copies free as long as supply lasts.

Shows trend from 1937 to 1943 in number of juvenile-delinquency cases disposed of by 53 courts serving areas with populations of 100,000 or more; and discusses what such statistics do and do not represent. Tables. Single copies of Juvenile-Court Statistics, 1940-42, (Supplement, Vol. 8, The Child, December 1943) also obtainable free as long as supply lasts. JESSE GRUMETTE

Abraham Lincoln High School

THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW PROGRAM*

When I was invited to present a teacher's point of view on the New Program, I was thoroughly bewildered. I asked myself, "What phase of the New Program is left for discussion?" We are all familiar with the bulletin Changing Concepts. During this period of transition, we have accepted it as our bible. We have read and discussed the Guiding Principles of Curriculum Development. We have joined workshops planning the application of the principles. We have familiarized ourselves with Lane, Melvin, Hocket and Jacobson, Stephens, Caswell and Campbell, Lee and Lee and numerous other authorities who present the techniques and procedures of the deformalized program.

You can appreciate that the more I thought about your invitation the greater my predicament became. After serious deliberation and reflection, I decided that the title The Spirit of the New Program expresses the essence of the newer procedures.

SOME QUESTIONS. Are not our difficulties increased by our placing emphasis on the new terminology and techniques of the program? Are we not too much concerned with the division of our classes into committees, with the conference period, with the excursion that might precede the inauguration of a unit, with the creative element in the unit, with the culminating activities, the evalution and innumerable other phases of the New Program? How much concern, if any, have we given to the underlying philosophy of the deformalized program? May I dwell for a moment on the underlying factors in its basic philosophy? If we can agree that the aim of

*A talk delivered at the dinner meeting of the Vocational Guidance Association, May 15, 1944.

education is to equip children for living in a changing, democratic society, then we can appreciate the significance of the title The Spirit of the New Program.

CHANGES. Up to the present time, book learning has been considered an adequate preparation for life. Today we realize that preparation for complete living demands the fullest possible development of a child's potentialities. An individual who possesses a well-rounded personality is much more capable of living a complete life than one who has been restricted to a one-sided development. That we are living in a changing world is a fact that is obvious to all of us. The changes in the scientific world, the changes in the social order and, of particular importance, the change in the position of the home, are most vivid examples of the transition through which the world is passing. Because of the radical change in the position of the home, the school has been asked to assume greater responsibility for a child's care and development than heretofore. These additional burdens that have been thrust upon us may not be justified. Are we acting in a professional manner, however, if for selfish reasons, we refuse to do all that is in our power for the welfare of children? While we are deliberating and seeking justice in the matter, a generation of children may be lost.

ESSENCE OF DEMOCRACY. The essence of democracy is respect for the rights of the individual. Let this thought be our guide in our teaching procedures. We can't expect children to become intelligent, thinking citizens when they are trained in an atmosphere of autocracy, in a-teacher-dominated-classroom where citizenship is learned by memorizing our rights as listed by the Constitution. Day by day living in a democratic environment where the rights of others are respected, where responsibilities and privileges are shared, is the only practical preparation for democratic living. Children who are raised in this democratic atmosphere will continue in this mode of life, learned and experienced in childhood and enhanced with maturity of vision.

THE SPIRIT MATTERS.
whose spirit has been broken.
sion. Obediently he trudges along next to his master. He offers
no resistance.

We are all familiar with the dog
He has been whipped into submis-

You will recognize the teacher who prides herself on breaking the spirit of her class during the first few weeks of the term. She boasts, "When I have them down, then I'll be able to teach them." Yes, she may be able to go through the form of teaching subject matter, but she certainly is not teaching children to live and grow and blossom into men and women.

Recently I visited the home of one of our children. Material poverty was obvious but the poverty of spirit among the children was pathetic. They moved about the house like disembodied spirits. These children are very good children. They conform to every regulation in school. Need I say they have nothing to contribute to the class discussions? How could they be expected to when their personalities have been restrained, unnurtured, and undeveloped?

Some weeks ago, I visited the Women's House of Detention. The atmosphere in this building was most depressing. The prisoners were women whose spirits had been broken. They were under constant surveillance. They offered no resistance. They worked at their tasks in a quiet and orderly manner. Machines could have been providing the same results and possibly more efficiently. I shuddered at the knowledge that human beings could be degraded to such a low level.

Contrast this absence of spirit with the joyful exuberance to be found in almost any playground, with the vibrant living in the well-run kindergartens? This spirit of joy and happiness should be caught. It should spread beyond kindergarten and playground.

THE NEW SPIRIT. The spirit of the New Program is present in a school when democratic procedures and respect for the rights of the individual are the outstanding characteristics. Esprit de corps, accord between teachers and pupils, between teachers and supervisors is that intangible something that permeates the building. Every person in it is made to feel that she is essential to the welfare of the group. Such a school prides itself on its cooperative supervision. Those in authority provide inspirational leadership for teachers and children.

In the classroom, the teacher plays the role of the group leader; she is a source of inspiration; she does not dominate the scene. She knows her pupils; she is fully aware of what will contribute to each child's individual growth. She realizes that a child is the most precious thing in the world. She has the utmost respect for each