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Show TEACHERS ASK comssiEH OF EDUCATION Spirited Contest Precedes Adoption cf Resolution Favoring Amendment to Constitution. HELPFUL SERVICES ARE APPRECIATED Officers, Speakers, Church, Press and Others Contributing Contrib-uting to Meeting's Success Suc-cess Thanked. I A spirited fight over tho proposed constitutional amendment abolishing the office of state superintendent of public pub-lic instruction and providing for appointment ap-pointment of a state commissioner of education by the state board of education edu-cation marked the closing day of the Utah Educational association convention conven-tion yesterday, but entled in the association as-sociation practically unanimously indorsing in-dorsing this proposed amendment. The contest over this matter came at the business section of the morning general meeting in the tabernacle and was raised through a report of the resolutions reso-lutions committee, in which was contained con-tained a resolution pledging the indorsement indorse-ment of the convention to the action of the state code commission, which is preparing a revision of the school laws, in deciding upon a recommendation to the legislature that tho constitution ,be amended so as to enlarge the powers and duties of the state board of education, educa-tion, abolish the office of superintendent of public instruction and provide for the appointment of a commissioner of education edu-cation by the nonpartisan board of education. edu-cation. Hot Fight Waged. The reading of this portion of the resolutions was the signal for a ''scrap" in the convention. The fight was waged rather hotly for some time, but finally, by motions, amendments and substitutes, the debate was stopped, and when the adoption of the resolution resolu-tion as originally presented was voted upon it was carried with but four negative nega-tive votes, while the entire convention in one voice, almost, voted yes. The contest was started .by G. W. Decker, a school board member of Iron county, who offered an amendment to the resolution striking out that portion referring to the naming of a commissioner commis-sioner of education by the board of education, and leaving the position an elective one, as it now is. Professor Joseph W. Merrill of the University of Utah was on his feet at once in opposition to the amendment. Me said that the object of the aj-pointive aj-pointive scheme was to take the office entirely out of politics, and that it should go through as intended. Principal Oscar Van Cott of the Salt Lake schools favored the amendment, contending that no officer who serves the people should be appointed, but should be selected by voice of the people. peo-ple. Discussion Follows. Principal L. M. Gillilan of the West high school was also opposed to the resolution without amendment and declared de-clared that no commission or board could improve upon the action of the people in selecting a school superintendent. superin-tendent. A. P. Griffith of Weber conntv 'declared 'de-clared that to make the office appointive would mean to further build up a machine ma-chine for the governor, and declared that he knew from experience in other states (hat nn appointive position of this sort would .be used to further machine ma-chine interests. Professor Milton Bennion of the University Uni-versity of Utah took exceptions to tho insinuations cast bv Mr. Griffith and challenged them promptly. He said it was not essential to retain the position as an elective one in order to maintain-democracy maintain-democracy in the schools. He declared that the selection of county superintendents superin-tendents and others had been taken out of politics and out of election to improve im-prove condit ions, and he thought the taking of the snperintendencv out nf election would improve matters. Thnt anv one or board would trv to make a political machine of the office he hotly denied. Dr. Snedden Speaks. Upon request of President K. G. Gow an?. Dr. Uft vid Snedden srviko nn the issue. 1 The eornpf politicians hide behind lone ticket-. ' ' said he. "Thrv are afraid of short tickets, and the shorter the ticket The mure afraid thev are. You can irust the penpl, to select the covernor, you can trust him to appoint a board of educat ion nnd von can tru-t the boari o pick the riiiht man for commissioner of r Juration. Jura-tion. If the cnvernor does wronc then center vour action on him. Some -tutfs have reverse.! themselves Political I v, ! am toll, am'. 1 understand oven Utah has. So center vour democracv on the governor's office nnd ail will lie weK with the resr.'" Knoch .Torgenson of the Jordan hich (Continued ca Pige Nine.) TEACHERS HAVE ! LILI CONTEST AT TABERNACLE Warm Debate Characterizes Character-izes Proceedings at Concluding Con-cluding Session of Convention. (Continued from Page One.) school moved a btit ;;t e motiou that tho whole n; rater of oi'ii:iiioner of ! pdnc.'iiion he eiiniinated from the reso- i lutions ami laid uvcv for euiisideratiou at the next meeting. Professor Merrill objected to delay on the ground that the teachers had had ample time to consider tie matter. Orson Kvan of the Jordan district sug-ppsteil sug-ppsteil that now was the time to act, as the legislature will act next year, anyhow. Proposal Is Carried. l inally a motion for the previous question was put and carried. Then the substitute motion was defeated, the motion to amend was defeated and the resolutions were adopted in their entirct3' as presented by the committee, with one amendment including thanks to the state press as well as to the city pre?s, for the space and attention given the convention. The resolutions presented and adopted were as follows: At the close of one of the most successful suc-cessful sessions of the Utah Eduua-lional Eduua-lional association, it is proposed to place upon the record this acknowledgment acknowl-edgment of tin? work of those who have been most directly concerned in bringing about the satisfactory re-8'ilis re-8'ilis to which we bear this cordial witness. Be it known, therefore, that the thanks of this association are due, primarily, to the president Dr. E. G. Gowiins. for his skillful analysis and exposition of the important prohlems that now face the leaching profession, profes-sion, and for his clear vision in proposing pro-posing a true method for the solution of these problems; to the secretary, .1. Fred Anderson, and the other officers offi-cers for their expeditious and impartial impar-tial handling of the proceedings. Services Appreciated. Similar sentiments of appreciation we heartily extend to our visiting guests from the fast, who. as leaders and Investigators in educational thought and procedure, have brought to our state their timely and wholesome whole-some messages. We thank Dr. Snedden for his masterful appeals in behalf of the be sic principles of teaching nrt the fundamentals of free institutions; Professor Hoslc for, his eloquent and convincing demonstrations demon-strations of many of the "things that V are more excellent" in our daily work and in the ideals of our profession, and Professor Hill for the uplifting r and inspirational vindications of the ' Inalienable rights of childhood which, In concrete and beautiful form, she has brought home to us. We recall the continuing generosity of the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S:iints in ngnin placing at our disposal the free use of these several magnificent buildings, and extend our thanks to the board of education of .Salt Lake City and the Hotel Utah for similar courtesies; to the press of Salt Lake City for the interest which they have taken in our proceedings, and to the several r.iilroads and street car companies com-panies for the fa'Mties they have placed at the disposal of our membership; mem-bership; also 1o the Remington Typewriter Type-writer company for free stenographic service. YVe indorse again the work of the American School Peace league and unreservedly commend the organization organiza-tion of branches of the league throughout the state of Utah for the promotion of internationalism. ContmisBion Indorsed. We indorse the labors of the educational edu-cational code commission making recommendations rec-ommendations to the legislature for the Improvement of the school laws of this state; so far as these recommendations recom-mendations have as yet been formulated formu-lated and made public, namely : (1 ) To enlarge the functions and author-It author-It v of the state board of education; (21 to abolish the ofiice of the state superintendent of public Instruction ii ml to substitute therefor the office of state commissioner of education, with the duties that appertain to that office in other states that have made this change, and to make the commissioner com-missioner appointive by the state board, thereby removing from the domain do-main of party politics this Important office. We recommend the appointment appoint-ment bv this assocla tlon of a committee com-mittee tn assist l he code commission In properlv presenting these changes before the state legislature. We indorse, in-dorse, also, the work of the committee commit-tee on the new course of study so far as this work lias been indicated in the published reports. Last, and not least, we take this occasion, also, tn congratulate anew the school boards mid the teachers of tlits commonwealth for the wholehearted whole-hearted co-operation and hih per-ccntaee per-ccntaee of attendance, which have made of this annual function another signal success, and to wish to one and X. jiM. in behalf of the officers of the association, the well-earned joys of a happv holiday season. l:v the committee on resolutions. L. .1. Ml'Hi. LIC1-; UKVNCLDS. ,M!1S EMMA J. IV FT. .1. II. l'Al'b. New President Speaks. When the business soi-mou of the convention con-vention began yesterday. President tiowans introduced V, .Tcnseu, the new president. who expressed his thanks tn the delegates for electing him to the office. ' An invitation was rend from J. II. Kemstroin of the committee in charge of the inauguration festivities for January Janu-ary 1 askinu the convention to take part in the- affair. The convention received re-ceived the invitation with thanks, but found it imposMble to participate. The committee in ehnrgo of a memo rial fund to erect memorials for A. C. Nelson, former superintendent of public pub-lic instrueton, and Professor William Stewart, of the University of Utah, reported re-ported that nothing definite had been done save to consult with the governor end governnr-eU'ct in relation to establishing estab-lishing a hall of fame in the capitol. which the committee reported the officials of-ficials favored. The convention authorized the president presi-dent to appoint a committer of three to take up active work of having some memorial erected for the two honored educators and to have something definite defi-nite to report at the next meeting. The committee will be named later. j The first, speaker at yesterday morn ing's session was Professor Hosie, who change. 1 his subject and spoke on "The bihrnrv in the School. ' ' lie declared that the school library is a move in DR. GEORGE N. THOMAS, THOM-AS, Utah Agricultural college, re-elected president cf public school teachers' retirement retire-ment commission. r "I jj .4 t 4 j n harmony with the progress of school work, and that great progress in this line is being made throughout the country. coun-try. He declared that the social point of view in education is back of the school library. He added that the course of study is a series of experiences experi-ences by which pupils come into control of certain values socially worth while. Pictures Essential. "Geography study in the schools is a farce unless the children have access to a geographical library, ' ' declared the speaker. ' ' Pictures arc essential to the teaching of geography, accounts, anecdotes, travelers' stories and accounts ac-counts of this sort are essential to the teaching of geography. "The browsing habit in reading is necessary, and there must be an extensive exten-sive library to furnish the f ielrl for browsing. I am much of the opinion that a oov should be brought up in a library. A variety of books is needed, and the room library in the school is just as essential as "the school library. The schools must prepare to play as well as work, and in the library we find the best sort of piny. The library is the ideal playground.'" Dr. Snedden spoke on the subject, "The Training of Mental Powers; Some Constructive Suggestions." The speaker said it was difficult to describe the trained mind, but that it was easily recognized rec-ognized when seen. The trained mind, he said, is necessary to give democracy and efficiency. The speaker declared that tho old philosophy of training the memory, the imagination, the power of observation, is erroneous. He declared that this is the primitive method of man in his attempt to train the mind. Theories Condemned. "Why teach girls algebra?" he asked. "Some eastern educators have said that girls are emotional and that algebra is necessary to hold down their emotions. The idea! Too much grammar, gram-mar, too much mathematics, too much of one thing or another commonly used to train the mind, does not train the faculties. But it is only in recent years that there has been any concerted attack at-tack upon this old and fallacious theory. "The mind is composite and the training of the mind must be just as composite itself. If we train the mind" by having it memorize poetry, it is trained to memorize poetry, not to do mathematics, and if it is trained to solve mathematical problems, it is trainer! for that purpose, not for literature litera-ture and so on. Thus it is seen that we must train the mind not with one thing, or by one course of instruction, but by a thousand things, in a thousand different differ-ent ways and by a thousand different methods. ' ' The new psychology savs there is not a memory, but ' memories, ' and to train the memory voti must train I he memories. Training along one rme does not train iloag anothnr. "The theory that there was one method meth-od of training the mind, one means of accomplishing it, U as false as the old belief that thero was a cure all for diseases. The sooner we learn this the better oft will education be." Should Be Useful.- The speaker declared thnt the object ob-ject of training the mind should be to make sure that what is taught the child will produce a bv-produrt, that will bo useful in after life. "Don't teach them that which will be useless to them in adulthood." said the speaker. Dr. Sneddon referred to the newspapers newspa-pers nnd their tendency, as he saw it, to print hie headlines and to make accounts ac-counts of happenings sensational. He declared that this was all right for those who understood to look behind for the real value, and that all should be taught, to look for the real value, not to take the face appearance as the whole truth. "It is rare that American newspapers tell whole untruths, but there is a tendency ten-dency to exaggerate. There is a mixture of truth and error, just like gossip. The child should be taujht to be critical and to discern the real value from the exaggeration. ' ' Dr. Sneddon said the same principle should be applied in the matter of fiction fic-tion and of lie r reading of the child. The musical programme of the session ses-sion was furnished by a mixed qnar-tette, qnar-tette, composed of Mr. S'orman AtWu-50U, AtWu-50U, soprano: Miss Kdna Dwyer. contralto; con-tralto; dohn W. Summerhays and Hucli W. Donall. They sang ":i ( hris'ir.-ts sonc and another ' selection. A vio'in solo was rendered by Owen Hiri lert and a tenor sola. Tori's "Cooibxe " was rendered by Mr. -Summerhnys. ' Declared a Success. The ,it'tern;-on session of the eonven tion marked the closing meeting of the convention propoj, and it was 'deebrc? bv the officers and owr-s present that t hN. the twenty-second annual meeting of the association, had been one of rlv most successful, interest in c and profitable profit-able conventions c-er held in the his-torv his-torv of the association. The programme of the seion was opened wit h a m::;ical program ire hv r.i American Fork male .-ho-. is. whih made a deided impression with siiiing. Dr. Sneddon wn the speaker of the eloin serine, tnkbi;; 'for his tonic "The font em porarv VT.v.vnu-r.t for Vo-eiitioi.al Vo-eiitioi.al Kdncation ' ' As a preface to his remarks, he declared de-clared that he had long been anxious to attend an educational meeting in Utah and, while he had heard much about the interest of Utah people in education, that evidenced in the present session had surpassed his expectations. He declared that he had most thoroughly thorough-ly enjoyed himself during the three davs of his stay. 'Turning to his subject, he said : ' ' More vocational education is an important im-portant thing. Kvery person in all times, every adult, has had some vocational vo-cational training before he reached the adult stage, but the problem today is tu nrovide better vocational training. We have vocational schools for professional lines, but few for regular buiness lines. What we need is vocational schools for every line of business and schools that will be closely and vitally related with the line of business or activity which they teach. I expect to see a bill passed by this congress giving federal aid to vocational schools. Must Be Practical. "In a short time there will be a thousand thou-sand vocational ?ehools where there is one today. In a lew years no state will permit any child to reach the state of the adult who shad no: have had a vocational training. There, will be a minority that will seek to avoid this, of course, but the state will take su.-h by force and compel them to learn something that will make thein scif-su scif-su pporting. ' ' The vocational school must be a school of practice. Let me speak of the home-making vocational school for women. It is just as important as any vocational school. Some women do not take to the idea of home making. About all that can be said for such "is, 'God help them.' Shame on them. The only good thing about it is that such women wo-men are not apt to leave any progeny to be like them. ' ' Dr. Sneddon spoke of the tendency of women to dress, paint and adorn themselves, them-selves, and declared that it had reached a stage that was alarming, to say the least, so much attention was being given to dress and so little to other things. Ho attributed the tendency to the desire of woman to find and' secure se-cure a' mate, and he said he didn't know whether he really could blame them or not. "We can't change the tendency of women to dress." said he, "by finding fault. We will have to devise some collective col-lective standards that will bring about a change and achieve different results. ' 1 1 have attended some meetings of teachers and have seen teachers sit and manicure their nails, do fancy work and the like. God help them. F can only wish they will soon find their 'prince' for the sake of the children they teach. " Committees Named. Dr. Sneddep declared that in the work of vocational education the world would not turn back, but would seek out the light of the future constantly, unless the world war should possibly throw progress back a thousand years and compel the world to advance again. In conclusion he declared that vocational voca-tional education must connect vitally with the vocation which the student is to follow, that the student must get his educational training and his actual experience ex-perience jointly. Moroni Olson then read to the convention conven-tion the message of Mrs. Fannie Fern Andrews, secretary of the American School Peace league, which was sent out under the title, "What the Public Schools Can Do Toward the Maintenance Mainte-nance of Permanent Peace." The message mes-sage was an appeal for organization of school peace leagues, the promulgation of peace propaganda and an opposition to the adoption of military training in the schools of the country. She declared de-clared that to the schools and their influence in-fluence must the nation and the world look for ultimate maintenance of peace. President E. G. Gowans then announced an-nounced the appointment of committees as follows: rommitt.ee to aid code commission in having school laws amended Principal F. D. Keeler, Salt Lake; O. E. Gaufin. Murray; Orson Evan, superintendent of Jordan district. Committeo on Stewart-Nelson memorial memo-rial Superintendent A. Molvneux of Logan. Dr. J. F. Merrill of 'Salt Lake and Superintendent C. H. Skidmore .of Granite district. Auditing committee Principal W. J. McCoy of Salt Lake and A. J. Hagen of Granite district. j |