First, the school is drawing close to its community. More and more time is given by every school to exploration of the physical and human resources of the places in which the students live. What the community does and how it functions are subjects of direct, first-hand study.
One of the Thirty Schools states that "the value of the community as a vast reservoir of social, cultural, vocational, economic, industrial, and recreational resources is steadily gaining the attention of secondary education in California. 10 Visits to newspaper plants, factories, farms, libraries, museums, social-service and governmental institutions are common practice in schools generally. To be of greatest value, the Thirty Schools have found that such first-hand investigations should be part of a well-planned study with definite purposes clearly understood. In one school, located in Boston, the work of the ninth grade centers upon the study of the history and present life and problems of that community. "We use the city we live in," they say, "as a kind of demonstration laboratory for elementary economics, civics, science and architecture."11
Another school has carried first-hand study far beyond the bomidaries of the local community and reports as follows:
A week end proved necessary for senior high school students to study certain geological phenomena beyond Manhattan. The longer time proved equally valuable for glimpses of rural economy. Eight days at the height of a congressional fight in Washington were barely enough to introduce juniors and seniors to certain aspects of our federal government. A week's trip proved an effective experience for twenty-five ninth graders in New England country life in the spring; eight days were used when fifty ninth graders participated in farm activities as the Berkshire farmers prepared for the winter. Eleven days were spent by fifty twelfth graders traveling nineteen hundred miles to study the socioeconomic planning of the Tennessee Valley Authority and of certain government and co-operative enterprises in Georgia, North Carolina, and Maryland. About the same length of time permitted an industrial study in the bituminous coal fields of West Virginia. In all these recent enterprises, as much participation as possible has been included with observation.12
That last sentence suggests a related development: participation. Study of the community often creates a strong desire in young people to do something about conditions which they have discovered. Usually, however, they find their hands tied-they can discover no way in which they are permitted to act.
The Thirty Schools have recognized this need of youth to do something useful in the adult world. One school report 13 that, in connection with the study of recreation in the community, a group of students representing the six class sections of the high school made a tour of four of the city parks. On the trip damage to park property was noted. Previously smaller groups had visited these parks and listed the improvements needed in each. Following discussion, a program of action was agreed upon, and each class section elected a member to serve on a park committee.
The committee drew up a letter to the Park Superintendent pledging to protect park property and asking for the improvements which had been agreed upon as reasonable. A number of conferences with adults and with several adult organizations followed. The co-operation of these groups with the students and the Superintendent of Parks resulted in these improvements: putting tennis courts in good playing condition, installing new playing equipment, making new softball diamonds, putting in new horseshoe pitching grounds, and planting shade trees.
In a somewhat different realm, students in another school have taken responsible leadership in certain community affairs. This school writes:
During the study of a unit of War and Peace in the senior Enterprise, the students wishing to "do something about it all" decided that they could perhaps be most effective in the area of creating, or moulding, public opinion and prepared a program involving some drama and an explanation of world conflicts through the use of maps, which they presented to school and adult audiences totaling approximately three thousand people. . . .
Students also have attended adult conferences in Philadelphia which have been held on the subjects of housing and peace. They have from time to time been invited to neighboring women's clubs to conduct discussions concerning such subjects as Americanism, relations of movies to education, and ways and means of educating for peace. They have also been attending both the adult sessions and the school round-tables of the Foreign Policy Association.14
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8 Year Web Project
Introduction
III Curriculum-Needs
Traditional
