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to fill a need in the lives of the immigrant children. Special books and games are provided which aim to enfold the child's interest in the book world. The story-telling hour keeps the children's interest centered on thoughts that are clean and wholesome. It also keeps them off the street and away from evil companions and surroundings. Settlements, recreation centers, clubs and other private agencies play a very important part in the education and development of the immigrant child. There should be a close cooperation among these different agencies in behalf of the child. The police department should cooperate with the schools in preventing truancy; the libraries should cooperate with the schools in teaching these newcomers the value of books; the street-cleaning department should cooperate with the school in establishing juvenile street-cleaning clubs; private agencies should cooperate with the schools in order to institute reforms and to check overlapping and duplication of effort which is aiming toward the same end.

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION,
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

FRANK B. LENZ

R

OF THE UNIVERSITY

OF

TOP

V

SOME PHASES OF FIELD WORK1

The decade just past has witnest the rapid growth of new ideas in every branch of education. While Europe has sent us the Montessori plan and has influenced us strongly in the development of industrial and vocational training in elementary and secondary schools, we owe, as college men, a peculiar debt of gratitude to the institution which welcomes us today. Here the thought took form-here the ideal of cooperative training in higher education attained its first realization. Hence we are honored in meeting at the University of Cincinnati.

Cooperation as broadly defined from the educational standpoint seems to me to mean nothing more nor less than extra-mural association with helpfulness as its aimthe elimination of the old barrier between town and gownthe democratization of educational facilities and equipment-the infusion of the blood of modern life into the withering body of abstract pedagogy. In exacter phrasing it represents those points of vital contact which exist between certain college departments and non-academic agencies. Such cooperation may be divided into two fields: 1. Extra-mural association; the non-academic agency is used as a training place for the student.

2. Intra-mural association; the facilities of the university are made available for the benefit of the public.

The larger subjects thus outlined have so often been discust in a general way that little could be added to the breadth of their treatment. It is, therefore, the purpose of this discussion to attempt a more detailed examination of one phase of cooperation in education, namely, field work. By field work I mean the activities of students 1 Address before the Association of Urban Universities at Cincinnati, November 17, 1915.

sent out by a university department to get experience in the actual doing of some piece of extra-mural work. I say "doing," for I do not include under this term visits of inspection or observation which bear much the same relation to real field work as does the reading of a textbook to laboratory practise. Field work is the essential element of the modern educational doctrine of learning by doing a doctrine which the majority of our colleges still unfortunately hesitate to incorporate in their educational creed. For this hesitation there are doubtless several excellent reasons. The greatest of these is lack of opportunity. The chance for field work is greatly diminished for the college in a small community, and only some 125 of our 500 institutions of higher education are situated in cities of 75,000 or more inhabitants. Of this 125, possibly not more than one-half are carrying on field work in even a single department. Either there is a lack of knowing just how to attempt the new plan of training, or consideration for religious system or traditional method forbids. It is significant, however, for the value of field work that its governing principles have been most extensively developed and applied by our greatest universities in our largest cities.

The traditions of education recognize three main factors in the formal training of the student; the recitation, the lecture and the laboratory. The quiz, the conference, the demonstration and the examination, are only variants or tests of these three basic methods. The science of teaching has reduced them to an exact status. We may refer at any time to a multitude of books on pedagogy which will inform us as to the value or worthlessness of the many theories which have grown up about them. Psychology has lent its aid in standardizing methods of procedure great normal schools, daily increasing in number, are introducing the same rigid training for teaching as for the other professions state laws for granting certificates to teachers are yearly growing stricter, yet none of these agencies seems to have recognized the value of the newest

factor in education-namely, field work. Few measures have been taken to insure its standardization in method

or its efficiency in execution. The subject has apparently rarely even been seriously studied in the light of the various experiences of those who employ it. The reasons for this are obvious: first, the comparative infrequency of its use as an educational means; second, the fact that it is confined almost entirely to colleges and universities, and such institutions have always been far behind the secondary and elementary schools in emphasizing formal training as a requisite for teaching.

In this short paper I should not presume to indicate anything more than the most elementary principles of a theory of field work, altho I am fully convinced that activities of this sort have progrest far enough to merit a fuller treatment and an attempt at standardization of methods. In connection with another work I have gathered information during the past months regarding the various means employed in a number of leading colleges and universities in conducting field work. Certainly no claim is made for completeness in material nor for originality in presentation. It may be interesting, however, to examine without much comment the conduct of field work in a few typical institutions. The number of departments which may offer field work is naturally considerably limited by the nature of the subjects offered. Its most successful application has been in medicine, engineering, social science, political science, economics and teaching. In the last named only do there seem to be definite "rules of the game." The others are still largely dictated by the personal methods of the supervising authorities.

Certain standards of comparison may be laid down as basic and applied to all forms of field work. Such are: methods of supervision, means for testing results, and plan of accrediting. Other important factors are: the assignment of work, coordination of theory and practise, remuneration for field workers and practical usefulness of the work. Field work in medicine, i. e., hospital training,

has become so integral a part of medical education that it is scarcely to be considered as a separate factor. While there is considerable variation in the practise of different medical schools, yet the problem in this department has had the experience of many more years for its solution than in any other branch of training and hence the coordination stands on a firm basis. Quite different is the situation in the realm of the social sciences. We are but gradually awakening to the fact that man's mental and moral side needs as careful attention as his physical being—an awakening well proved by the establishment of such types as the psychological clinic and the school for social workers. The crowded conditions of our larger cities have pointed out clearly to local universities the opportunity for cooperation. Hence the activity in offering courses in practical sociology with field work for the students.

Pittsburgh shows the rather unusual sight of a woman's college, the Pennsylvania College for Women, engaged in field work in social service. Particularly significant is the following quotation from the bulletin descriptive of this work: "On the part of the college woman also there is a demand for training for such work. She is no longer content to spend years in study merely for cultural satisfaction; she is eager to make her education count for general good." Here practical field work has been done in the following agencies: Associated Charities, Carnegie Library, Home Library Clubs, Child Labor Association, Juvenile Court, Kaufmann Settlement, Kingsley House, Soho Settlement, Vocation Bureau, Young Women's Christian Association. During the first year of the two-year course the student's work is confined to classroom and visits of observation. During the second year "the student goes to a philanthropic agency and does practical work under the direction of one of Pittsburgh's experienced social workers." On completion of the Social Service Course a certificate is given showing amount of reading, actual practise or field work, study of related subjects and subject of thesis which must be based on actual field work.

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