FOUR.
THE NEBRASKAN, FKlUAi, JUNE 9, 1933.
Dr. Broady Tells of University
Service to Small High Schools
Soeakini? over radio station
KFAB during the University of
Nehru lf broadcast tterkxi Tues
day afternoon, Dr. K. O. Broady,
nrofesaor of school administration
in Teachers college, described the
services of tne university 10 ibc
small high schools of the state.
He pointed out five assumed
weaknesses of the small high
school which make up moat of Ne
braska s secondary scnooi sysiew
as follows: Inadequate building,
inadequate teaching force, too
heavy teaching load on principal
or superintendent and too low
salaries to attract good men, two
few students for satisfactory so
cial life and that it can offer too
few subjects to constitute a satis
factory teaching nroerain.
He then continued to show what
the university is doing to help
small schools overcome these ob
stacles. He said in part:
"Let us consider the last men
tioned difficulty first, that of pro
viding a curriculum broad enough
to suit the needs of all who attend
high school. An endeavor is being
made first of all, to provide better
built schedules for small high
schools. Until recently schedule
building has been a sort of hit and
run offer. Each schedule was a
problem to be worked out by the
local high school administrator in
- the best way possible. Plans have
now been devised for making
schedule building a truly scientific
procedure. A plan has been de
veloped by which it has been pos
sible to bring regularity and ef
ficiency into any high school sche
dule. The principles of schedule
making used often lead to a bet
ter sequence of courses and a bet
ter distribution of the work thru
out the school day. Best of all
economy is effected. An analysis
of fifty schedules by Superinten
dent French of Mead, using the
plan of schedule building that has
been developed by the university,
has shown that if the state as a
whole avails itself of the informa
tion now available, a saving of ap
proximately a half million dollars
a year will be made. The saving is
determined on the basis of addi
tional subjects possible with the
same teaching force or saving in
tnhr aalaries rjossible while of
fering the same suDjecis a hcic
tofore. It may be said in passing
that skillful alternation of subjects
4a ha nn tnchniaue that has been
of most -value. Alternation has
long been used, tho never as ei
feciently as it should have been.
Does Not Stop Here.
"The university has not stopped
with schedule revision. It is pro
ceeding now to discover some
means by which subjects may be
made available that cannot be
taught by the local instructor. In
structors are developing courses in
a great variety of subjects which
may be offered either as extension
work in the various high schools
or may beturned over to regular
instructors for use as they see fit.
If the material is used as exten
sion work the plan is called super
vised correspondence study. The
extension division builds the les
sons, sends them to someone in the
local high school, grades the les
sons after they have been" pre
pared by the pupil, and returns
them to the pupiL The high school
gives the pupil a place to work and
sees that the proper guidance and
conditions for study are main
tained. "At first superviser correspond
ence study was promoted princi
pally as a means of making avail
able to high school pupils a wider
variety of subjects thaa would
otherwise be possible. The possi
bility of providing courses by ex
tension for adults who might be
induced to attend high school for
a limited time has also interested
those of us who were working
with supervised correspondence
study. Similarly, the feasibility of
making available courses on the
college level by supervised study
to students who for financial or
other reasons could not go on a
regularly organized college at
tracted us. We have had no reaowu
to change our mind regarding
these advantages and possibilities
'n the supervised correspondence
study. We know that we have by
the use of this technique a proce
dure by which we may add almost
indefinitely to the number of high
school, subjects available in the
high school program. This value
alone will warrant us in directing
every effort toward the improve
ment and expansion of our pro
gram. Sees Opportunity.
"However, other advantages of
supervised correspondence study
make the continuance of our work
even more worthwhile. First of alL
there is the opporunity for the in
troduction of sound teaching mteh
ods. Teaching practice usually lags
seriously behind advance in peda
gogical theory. By seeing the best
qualified extension teachers ob
tainable and by insisting that all
approved pedagogical techniques
be embodied in the units, tests and
instructions to local supervisors,
we feel that we are eliminating
much of this lag. We hope, as we
improve our organization, to be
able to transmit almost immedi
ately to all co-operating schools
new pedagogical findings,
"Then there is the opportunity
for constantly improving the sub
ject matter employed. At present.
except for the diligent efforts or
exceedingly enterprising individual
teachers, the improvement of sub
ject matter must await the re
vision of the course of study used
by the school or the adoption of
better textbooks or both. While we
are making constant progress in
the use of these agencies improve
ments are slow in reaching the
classroom. The University of Ne
braska is attempting to bring
about improvement thru revision
from time to time of the instruc
tional material provided.
Provides Curriculum Reform.
"Another closely related advan
tage of supervised correspondence
study comes from the fact that it
provides a vehicle for curriculum
reform. The best agency which we
have at present for bringing de
sirable curriculum changes on a
state-wide basis is a state depart
ment which has a division of cur
riculum research. The products of
this division appear in the form of
courses of study, suggestive, it is
true, but put up in such form that
a teacher must be trained in tne
course of study if it is to be ef
fective. This requires time and the
overcoming of considerable iner
tia. Moreover, the material, once
developed, becomes a static thing,
unchanged until the division of
curriculum research once again re
vises it. Our own setup overcomes
both these handicaps. In the first
place, the material is in such com
plete form that It may be used at
once without the necessity of es
tablishing first an accompanying
teacher training program. True we
must train our teachers for the ap
proximate situation which they
will find in the schools in which
they do their work but changes
within these broad lines can be
brought about without revamping
the training program, lae static
element is eliminated in that our
material is put in the form of
units, each more or less apparent
(this will be particularly valuWe
in the social and natural sciences)
the unit can be revised or re
placed entirely.
Other Advantages.
"Other advantages of supervised
correspondence study are, that it
relieves the teaching load of the
superintendent by making it pos
sible to offer by extension classes
that would otherwise have to be
taught by local instructors and
that it relieves teachers from cer
tain of the routine aspects of
teaching. The latter objective is at
tained particularly thru the units
and direction sheets sent to the
schools which offer the subjects by
means of local instructors. The
units, thus used, relieve the teacher
of the necessity of formulating
each day's assignment, preparing
the assignment sheets, if such are
used, and building tests. Since the
tests furnished the teacher are ob
jective for the most part, much of
the paper work that would other
wise be necessary is eliminated.
Not only is a great deal of the
work done
for , the teacher but
what is done is performed in su
nerior fashion for the sinurie rea
sob that the exteaaka teacher is in
a position to devote as muck time
to the preparation oc rairuc
tional materials as is needed.
"At present more thaa sixty
nhooia are uaine- auoervised cor
resDondence study lessons and
more than 200 pupils are enrolled.
Extension Division Aid.
"The material prepared by the
extension division may also be
used by the regular teacher. For
example, the instructor in a two
year high school must give half
her time to the 7th and 8th grades
and the other half of her time to
thP Qth and 10th e-rades. could USsS
this lesson material to advantage.
With so many preparations teach
ers in tnese smau nign scnoois arc
vrv much handicaoned. Thev ob
viously would be benefitted by be
ing able to secure lesson materials
already prepared and arranged in
such a way that the pupils could
work with little direction.
"I have snoken so far of the at
tempt of the extension division and
the department of school adminis
tration to overcome the disadvan
tage the small high school has suf
fprri in pomnarijwn with the large
high school because of the fact that
it has been able to offer only a
limited curriculum. The university
is also assisting the small schools
to overcome the other disadvan
tages I have previously mentioned.
You will remember reference was
made to the handicap the small
high school is supposed to suffer
because it must carry on us worn
in such a small building. Investiga
tion is showing that there need not
be a room for each separate ac
tivity. Equipment can be devised
whirh will serve several purposes.
Moreover, we are learning that
equipment need not oe as expen
sive and elaborate as we had at
nno time thought necessary.
mav almost be said that the
amount of space a high school
needs depends on the number of
mini la enrolled and not upon the
number of subjects taught. Altho
we have not progressed as iar
with our study of school buildings
as we have with some other as
pects of small high school adminis
tration, I think we feel saisfied
that practically every community,
no matter how small, has the fi
nancial resources to provide an en
tirely satisfactory high school
building for its work.
Secures Able Force.
"As soon as we develop a satis
factory curriculum and a satisfac
tory building for the small high
school, we should be able to secure
the teaching force and the admin
istration for these schools that we
really need. In fact, I feel that we
have outstanding teachers and ad
ministrators in our small schools.
What they need is appreciation
and encouragement. Sometimes
they do feel that the community
appreciates them, but not often
pnonp-h Teachers and administra
tors should be made to see that
they are a vital part of community
life. They should be encouraged to
imnrove theL- work constantly and
to secure more adequate prepara
tion. All of US must worn wnn me
facilities we have. That holds as
well for a teaching force as for
anvthin? else.
"I have said earlier that high
schools are supposed to be weak in
that there are too few students for
satisfactory social life. I do not
believe this is true. In a small high
school every student has the op
portunity to participate in any
number of activities. A student is
sure to know well and be intimate
with all of his classmates and all
of his teachers. In the large high
school he can know only the few
pupils who are his companions and
the few teachers under whom he
takes work. Even those teachers
be does not know well since he
oftentimes spends only a semester
with them.
"In summary, we fell that the
Acros from Campus
Food Prices to Fit
Depression Pockets
at
GEORGE'S
SANDWICH SHOP
1227 R Street
small high school is an institution
which can offer a superior type of
secondary education. We feel on
the other hand, that greatest ef
fectiveness will not be attained un
less there is a degree of co-operative
effort The university has a
legitimate place in secondary edu
cation L; this state. For a long
time it has been training second
ary school teachers and inspecting
and approving individual schools.
The university is now assuming
the role of actual helper in plan
ning better buildings and develop
ing more adequate curriculum. No
element of centralized control is
involved in this program. The
small high school may or may not
avail itself of the services of the
university as it sees fit. The uni
versity stands in the role of helper,
not as an official enforcing
agency.
. S. FLUISKERS FEW
IN SUMMER SESSIOS
nnilera hitrh school, he Said,
made up largely of three classes.
First, there are those who for soma
reason wish to finish their high
school course in less than four
years. Second are those who are
making up work missed because
of illness during the regular school
year. Third are those who are go
ing to summer school because they
have nothing else to do.
A' careful survey made both at
Nebraska, and Iowa State Teach
ers colleges a few summers ago
showed that of the high school stu
dents in summer school, only about
8 percent were taking courses
which they had taken previously
and failed in, Dr. Morton said.
Registration begins today for a
nine weeks session of summer
school in Teachers college high
school which will provide practice
teaching for summer students in
the university.
Only Eight Percent of
Secondary Pupils
Are Fail erg.
"Contrary to what might be ex
pected," Dr. W. H. S. Morton, prin
cipal of Teachers college high
school, declared Thursday, "sum
mer high school students are not
a bunch of flunkers making up
courses in which they have failed
during the regular school year."
Summer students in Teachers
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GEORGE BROS.
1213 N St.
AN MOW
rem
MOOL!
You teachers who have loot inspiration
during the winter
You students who have been "too busy"
for music
Take advantage of the opportunity to
study music under a staff of eminent in
structors. Register for summer music study June 9
and 10 the session begins June 12.
Courses in public school music, harmony
history of music, voice, piano and violin
methods.
Private lessons in all branches of applied
music: piano, organ, voice, and all instru
ment of the orchestra and band.
You music supervisors
and public school xzzuzla
teachers
We announce special work m the dp Mo
ments of Orchestra and Chorus in ock
nection with the All State High Shooi
Orchestra, Band and Chorus eouwta, in A
four weeks session, June 12 to Aftry
Orchestral aitd choral MtpertoiM and
methods will be offered under two na
tionally known educators ia muwc
Any one detiring It mmy
credit for the abitre ronriri,
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
SCHOOL of MUSIC
11 & St.
B689M72