Not long ago a teacher asked me in what manner a person with executive
ability has the best opportunity of showing it. I replied, "Ask your
principal for the privilege of taking charge of some school activity." I
dare say more principals and superintendents have been found through
their ability to handle student activities than in any other way. Too
often teachers who are really capable of doing executive work object to
this extra duty and thereby miss the opportunity of demonstrating their
real capacity for leadership. They also lose at the same time one of the
most fruitful and pleasant experiences in school work. I could give many
illustrations of teachers who have "found themselves" through being
associated with student enterprises.
Some superintendents feel that student activities are a waste of time,
and in a measure this is likely to be true unless the activities are
carefully supervised.
In one of the towns where I was superintendent, the school had had no
student activities during the preceding year except football and
baseball. The teams had been coached by an outsider who was intensely
interested in having a winning team but cared little for the value of
athletics to the boys or to the school. With this condition in mind, I
called the boys together and asked them how it would appeal to them if
we formed an athletic association and had rules governing athletics
similar to those followed in the larger towns in that vicinity. The boys
agreed to the plan and elected a committee to prepare a set of rules
that were to be submitted to them for approval. After a couple of
meetings, the committee outlined the rules in accordance with the
general high school athletic regulations, and they were formally
adopted.
The results of the formation of the association were threefold: First,
good scholarship and deportment were required of all pupils who
participated in athletics. Second, no money could be expended except
with the approval of the faculty adviser. Third, the coaching of all
athletic teams was placed under the direction of the superintendent. The
last point did not necessarily eliminate the assistance that might be
secured from outside coaches, provided they were made directly
responsible to the school.
The new plan for athletics worked splendidly with the exception of a few
vigorous protests from boys who were debarred from playing on account of
poor scholarship. Sufficient money was saved during the year to pay back
the amount that had been advanced for athletic supplies and we were able
to complete equipments for first and second football teams for the
succeeding fall. The boys were proud of this accomplishment and when I
occasionally hear from some of them, they often remark, "_We_ put ----
on the map in athletics."
The second activity needed was a "literary society." There had been no
such organization in the school for five years. The janitor told me that
the last literary society had ended in a "rough-house" and he hoped that
was the end of it for all time. He further declared he was not in favor
of coming to the building in the evening. I told him that we would
attend to the opening and closing of the building if we started the
organization, and that I hoped we could get along without any
rough-housing.
The pupils in ---- had little or no opportunity for group evening
entertainment and heartily welcomed the suggestion of forming a literary
society. Officers were elected with the understanding that they would be
given full charge of the organization, subject to the regulations of the
faculty adviser.
Meetings were held twice a month on Friday evenings at 7:30. No program
was arranged that required more than one and a half hours' time. It
usually consisted of a debate, music, school news, and readings. The
school auditorium held about 150 people and on many occasions the room
would be crowded in order to accommodate those who wished to attend.
Many of the parents made it an opportunity for meeting the teachers. It
might be mentioned that the janitor never missed a meeting and was one
of the most interested listeners.
After getting the athletic association and literary society organized, I
interviewed the editors of the two local papers relative to getting some
space for school news. Both were glad to publish any information
concerning the school that I might wish to furnish. Student editors were
then elected for the different high school classes and the upper grade
rooms. The news items were given to me on Wednesday of each week to be
edited and sent to the papers. The school news had its immediate effect,
and greater interest was taken in the school by the pupils and patrons.
The literary programs which appeared in the papers every two weeks gave
much prominence to that activity. The newspaper publishers were not slow
to see the effect the school news had in increasing their subscriptions,
so we all had reason to be pleased with the results of the enterprise.
There are many other valuable school organizations that have not been
mentioned. The number of activities should depend largely on the size of
the school. The real purpose and local value of each activity should be
given careful consideration before it is organized. Much harm can come
from poorly supervised student enterprises or from a student
organization that is permitted to take more of the time of pupils and
teachers than is justified. The time for the preparation of plays should
be limited and the work should be distributed among as many pupils as
possible. The centering of effort on one debating team or on a first
athletic team may help, or the showing that a school will make against
competitors (although I doubt it), but such a plan will not develop the
power and training within the school that should be desired.
I quote the following from a report of a Seattle high school principal
regarding extra-curricular activities:
"The extra-curricular activities in a high school can be divided into
two classes, the minor and the major activities. The minor activities
are such as arise out of a desire to vitalize certain studies; the
Science Club, the Short Story Club, the French Club are illustrations.
For the most part these meet only once or twice a month for an afternoon
program in which students who are interested participate themselves or
occasionally invite some outsider to take part. Teachers desiring to
stimulate greater interest in their specialties are usually enthusiastic
supporters of such clubs. The programs are informal, held after school
and requiring comparatively little effort on the part of the teachers;
and those teachers who are alive to their work welcome the opportunities
which these small clubs offer in the way of stimulating interest and
adding zest to studies.
"Furthermore, these informal gatherings afford teachers and students an
opportunity to meet outside the classroom and become better acquainted,
which is always an important factor in successful school work. No
teacher worthy of the name is averse to such organizations. It is
difficult to find a single objectionable feature in them. Of course,
they require some after-school time occasionally, and some planning on
the part of the responsible adviser. No conscientious teacher begrudges
this extra time and effort and every enterprising teacher finds enough
in them to compensate him liberally for his efforts.
"The major activities such as class organizations, glee clubs, dramatic
clubs, athletic associations, boys' and girls' clubs, the school paper,
the Senior Ball, the Junior Prom, and the interschool debates offer more
problems in the nature of care. They take in larger groups, are more
formal or more pretentious, and demand a larger amount of time from
teachers directing them. Not only that, but they also require a larger
organizing capacity on the part of the advisers. Not all teachers can
assume sponsorship for such organizations.
"These activities are to the school what the Fourth of July parade, the
Elks' big-brother picnic, and the Wayfarer are to the city. A city could
get along without these activities and save itself a deal of hard work
and expense. But enterprising men consider them worth ten times the
effort and expense to the community as a whole. Some undesirable
features follow in the wake of all these large city enterprises. Streets
become congested, the police have to do double duty; there may be some
accidents, some thefts, some people overworked. But in life unpleasant
things are organically connected with the pleasant and if you would have
the one you must have at least some of the other.
"In like manner the major school activities benefit the entire school.
They have the effect of welding the large school into something like a
homogeneous unit. They develop school pride and school interest. A large
school can no more get along without these and be a live institution
than can a church without its young peoples' societies and programs, its
men's club suppers, and its ladies' aid societies and be a live church
organization.
"But aside from welding the school into a unit of effort and purpose,
these organizations, like the minor activities, serve to socialize the
institution, to bring pupils and teachers together in a way that the
classroom does not afford, to 'bring out' students, to discover latent
talents, and to spur students on to a maximum standard of excellence.
"Aside from their socializing value, these organizations have an ethical
purpose. Group interests are developed through them which teach pupils
to work together for a common end. School enthusiasm and loyalty are
developed which broaden in later years to interest in and loyalty to
community and nation.
"Teachers have not introduced these activities as a rule. They came in
response to a recognized need. No more can teachers put them out. They
can, however, help to direct them into proper channels, supervise them,
and keep them within proper bounds, all of which is a task worthy of a
real teacher. Those instructors who can recall the turbulent days of the
secret societies and cliques, of the unsupervised and unmanaged
athletics, have no doubt that progress has been made, and are ready to
help to keep up the good work.
"The objectionable features of the major activities are naturally more
pronounced. It is easy to make too much of such activities, to make them
too pretentious, to consume too much time with them so that they
sometimes interfere with the curricular work of the school. As a rule
principals and teachers strive to keep these activities within
reasonable bounds. Sometimes they find themselves involved in a bigger
undertaking than they planned for. However, unbounded American
enthusiasm is in no small measure to blame for the overdoing of some of
these activities.
"Organized athletics in all schools are here to stay. In fact a much
larger participation is noticeable each year. Even grammar schools,
churches, business houses, and other corporations have their teams.
Athletics, however, beneficial as they are, can be overdone and in some
respects are being overdone. So with all the other extra-curricular
activities. They must be properly directed and sanely managed. This sane
management and proper direction must be encouraged by the public as a
whole.
"Necessarily, too, such activities as have proved their worth will have
to be provided for by the employment of teachers who are capable of
handling them and wherever they are a large drain on the adviser's time
and effort, that, too, must be taken care of. Improvements and
adjustments in looking after these activities are sure to come as the
result of increased experience. That there is much room for improvement
along these lines no one doubts. Let those who have experience and can
offer constructive suggestions do so freely. Their suggestions will be
gladly received, for nowhere in the high schools of the country has that
problem been solved.
"There is another form of organization commonly associated with high
school activities for which the high school management is in no wise
responsible and over which it claims no jurisdiction. It is the social
and club dances managed entirely outside of the schools and chaperoned
or patronized by people not connected officially with the schools. These
purely social activities are the most time-consuming and costly of all.
Many of these formal and informal functions occur every week in the long
dancing season, and because they are patronized by boys and girls of
high school age are mistakenly called high school functions. Many
parents are deceived into the belief that the schools are sponsoring
these club dances. For these the schools assume no responsibility and
should not be blamed."