As application of the democratic principle of participation to general school life has expanded the realm of teacher action, so it has given the students a larger share in their own education. Because they know that young people develop strength by taking responsibilities, the Thirty Schools have provided greater opportunity for them to share ill school management and curriculum planning. Of the many ways of sharing responsibility, so-called "student government" is most common. In the schools of the Eight-Year Study students work with teachers in co-operative rather than Student government. Education demands all the wisdom that young people and adults together call bring to the task.

Students share in many different activities such as protecting younger pupils at street crossings, regulating student use of automobiles, caring for school property, serving as hosts to school visitors, managing dining halls, corridors and study rooms, setting up exhibits of school work, interpreting the work of the school to parents, planning school assembly programs, developing cordial relations with other schools, and planning for the general social life of the whole school. In some places student committees serve jointly with faculty committees oil such all important problem as curriculum revision. Students welcome the opportunity to co-operate with teachers in trying to find solutions to the most difficult sorts of problems, and their contributions are invaluable.

The most significant aspect of student sharing in the Thirty Schools is to be found in the classroom. In schools generally pupil participation has been limited to affairs elsewhere. At the door of the classroom the Student entered into another world in which he did more or less well what he was told to do. "Why," teachers asked, "shouldn't the students take all active part in planning the work to be done? After all, they are the ones most concerned." Not in all classes, but in many of them, the democratic principle of sharing has become established in practice. Pupils join with file teacher in deciding what goals are to be sought, in selecting the steps to be taken to reach the desired ends, and in setting tip tests or measures to find out whether objectives have been reached.

This change in the pupil's place in the general life of the school and in the classroom enhances his sense of his own worth, develops his habit of responsibility, and challenges the most vigorous use of his intelligence. A notable example of such results is found in one of the schools of the Study. When the Student Council learned that the faculty was studying the democratic way of life in relation to the work of the school, the Council members embarked upon a study of the same topic. Out of this study there came a statement entitled The Philosophy of the Student Council.¹⁰

In this- remarkable document the young men and women of the Council set forth their own concepts of democracy and proposed steps which the Council and school should take in order to achieve a more satisfactory school-society. They stated that "there are two fundamental aspects of democracy which are generally accepted. First, democracy is based upon respect for the worth of the individual. . . . Second, democracy is a theory and a system for co-operative living." Then the council listed the ways in which they could promote individual welfare throughout the school, develop more opportunities for social relationships, ease financial burdens for those whose participation in school affairs was limited or denied because of lack of money, increase voluntary obedience to necessary regulations, encourage participation in public affairs, and develop in all students respect for the rights and opinions of others. These high school youth were thinking as seriously as their teachers were, and they felt as deeply their responsibility for the welfare of the school.

No one of the Thirty Schools has yet achieved democracy in every phase of its life. They are not complacent; they are still striving for clearer understanding and better ways, but they know more surely where they are going than they did eight years ago. They have progressed in making the general life of the school. consistent with the democratic ideal. In administration, in home and school relations, in the roles of teachers and students the American dream is finding greater realization.

The spirit of adventure which gave a tingle of excitement to the work of the early years grew less and less as the teachers came to grips with the difficult problem of translating all inspiring ideal into daily practice. They had "mounted up on wings as eagles"; soon they bad to have the fortitude to "walk and not faint." The next chapter tells the story of their struggle with the great daily problem of what to teach and how best to teach.

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