Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Part 75

What can you say of the skill and ingenuity displayed in the invention, construction, or application?

Were any of the exhibits of women developments of original inventions, or an improvement on the work of some prior inventor?

What was the value of the product, process, machine, or device, as measured by its usefulness or beneficient influence on mankind, in its physical, mental, moral, or educational aspects?

What of the merits of the installation as to the ingenuity and taste displayed, and its value as an exposition attraction?

Did any new avenues of employment appear to be opened for women, as shown by their exhibits at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, in the arts, sciences, industries, etc.; if so, to what extent; what is their value?

In which of these will their work be of the most distinct value by reason of the natural adaptability, sensitive or artistic temperaments, and individual tastes of women?

In your opinion, what education will best enable women to enjoy the wider opportunities awaiting them and make their work of the greatest worth, not only to themselves but to the world, as evidenced by their work at the exposition.

REMARKS.--Give any information or make any statement you may think of interest in regard to the part taken by women as shown by their work or exhibits at the exposition, and the beneficial results to be derived by women in general by reason of their representation at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

Department A, Education, of which Dr. Howard J. Rogers was chief, comprised 8 groups and 26 cla.s.ses, the board of lady managers being represented in 6 of the 8 groups.

Group 1, Miss Anna Tolman Smith, of the Bureau of Education, Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., juror.

Under the group heading of "Elementary Education," the four cla.s.ses into which it was divided represented kindergarten, elementary grades, training and certification of teachers, continuation schools, including evening schools, vacation schools, and schools for special training. (Legislation, organization, general statistics. School supervision and school management. Buildings: Plans, models; school hygiene. Methods of instruction; results obtained.)

In a letter Miss Smith says:

The chairmans.h.i.+p which I held in the group jury was that of the committee on the report of the jury formed to prepare a survey of the material presented to the attention of the group to serve as an introduction to the secretary's minutes. Owing to circ.u.mstances the committee were unable to work as a whole on the report and it became consequently the sole work of the chairman. I mention this fact because it ill.u.s.trates the equality of service as between men and women in the jury of group 1.

Miss Smith's report is as follows:

WOMEN'S WORK AT THE EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITS, LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION.

With respect to the exhibits at St. Louis upon which the Jury on Elementary Education (Group 1) were appointed to pa.s.s judgment, it would be impossible to discriminate between the work of men and women as therein ill.u.s.trated.

These exhibits comprised first and chiefly the work of pupils; second, photographs and models ill.u.s.trating school architecture, school appliances, and school life; third, statistical charts and reports pertaining to the administrative work of school systems.

The great bulk of the material in these exhibits belonged to the first of the three divisions specified above. Since very nearly three-fourths of the teachers in the public elementary schools of the United States are women, it is obvious that the greater proportion of the pupils' work exhibited was the direct outcome of the efforts of women teachers.

In the South Atlantic and South Central divisions of our country the proportion of women teachers is much smaller than in the whole country; in the divisions named they form only a little more than one-half the whole teaching force, but so far as they were represented no difference was made between the work of men and women as exhibited in the section here considered, nor was there any difference in the mode of estimating the work.

The second cla.s.s of material mentioned, i.e., photographic views and models, was largely the work of experts, artists, and craftsmen employed for the purpose. It would be impossible to determine the relative proportion of men and women contributing, although it is probable that the former were in excess. It should be observed, however, that many very interesting devices for teaching children, many suggestive modifications of kindergarten material and exercises, and many excellent photographs showing cla.s.ses at work, were executed by women. The great skill and admirable system attained by women teachers in the preparation of material for teaching the sciences to children were ill.u.s.trated in a very graphic manner by the exhibits of normal schools, such as those of Ma.s.sachusetts and the State Normal School of Rhode Island.

The third cla.s.s of material named, i.e., that pertaining to school administration--chiefly in the form of statistical charts and reports--was the work of school superintendents and their clerical force, in which branch of the school service comparatively few women are engaged.

The mode of installation formed a striking feature in the case of many of the systems of public schools exhibited at St. Louis.

The highest results were achieved where the plan of the exhibit had been carefully worked out with full regard to aesthetic effect and educational significance. In the formation of these plans women had very largely partic.i.p.ated, and in one instance, namely, that of the Minnesota educational exhibit, the entire installation was planned and carried to a successful completion by a woman. This exhibit was ranked in the first cla.s.s for the unity of its plan, the completeness with which it set forth the educational provision in every part of the State, and its aesthetic finish. In judging of exhibits, the person who planned and organized the exhibit was regarded as a collaborator, and to Miss S.E. Sirwell, the collaborator in this instance, the highest award allowable was adjudged by the jury of group 1, a distinction which was conferred upon very few individuals.

The exhibit of the public school system of the city of St.

Louis, which was universally admired, owed its chief decorative effect to the artistic skill of Miss M.R. Garesche, who composed and executed a series of 16 transparent paintings representing a history of education. These pictures formed a succession of brilliant panels on the external side of the facade, and for this unique work a gold medal was awarded to Miss Garesche.

Mention should also be made of a very interesting series of paintings by Miss Florence Hedleston, of Oxford, Miss., representing all the wild flowers of that State, an exhibit which excited much attention both for its artistic excellence and its usefulness in teaching the native flora.

The exhibit of New York City afforded many striking examples of the ingenuity and progressive spirit of women teachers. The public school system of this city has had marked development on what may be called the sociologic or philanthropic side, and in this development, which was graphically ill.u.s.trated in the educational exhibit, women teachers have borne a very important part. It is, however, impossible here to particularize as to their work in this respect.

The external side of the New York City booth in the Education Building was utilized for the exhibit of the Woman's School of Design. The exhibit consisted of a remarkable collection of original designs which, with one or two exceptions, were purchased by manufacturing firms as they stood on the wall.

Although this work did not come within the scope of the jury of group 1, I mention it here to emphasize the fact that the exhibits of art schools in the Education Building showed very remarkable progress on the part of women in the art of designing.

This survey had been confined almost entirely to the exhibits of the United States. It need hardly be said that in no foreign country do women play so important a part in education, and on account of the mode of installation it would have been impossible to distinguish between their work and that of men in the foreign exhibits. Mention may, however, be made of the fact that the exhibits of French industrial schools for girls and of the French lycees for girls, which were of a very high order, were substantially the work of women. In the Swedish section there was a very admirable exhibit of secondary schools for girls and coeducational schools, which had been planned and installed by Miss Mathilda Widegren. In the English section were shown very remarkable specimens of art work in jewelry and silver repousse designed and executed by women students. As the foreign exhibits specified did not come under the jury of group 1, I am unable to report the awards which they received.

The increasing recognition of the value of women's services is indicated by the increase in the proportion of women called to serve upon the exposition juries. The jury of group 1 included three women, of whom two were foreigners, namely, Miss Elizabeth Fischer, a teacher from Halle, Germany, and Miss Mathilda Widegren, a.s.sociate princ.i.p.al of a private school in Sweden.

These three members were all women of great experience in the matters with respect to which they were called to judge, and their abilities were most cordially and heartily recognized by their colleagues. Indeed, in view of the place in education which is now accorded to women in our own country and in the leading countries of Europe, I should unhesitatingly say that it is for the advantage of women and of society in general that their work should not be separately exhibited, but should rather form an integral part of a collective exhibit. This principle, indeed, might not apply to certain specialties which have heretofore been exclusively or almost exclusively practiced by men, or which (like artistic needlework) have a particularly feminine character.

ANNA TOLMAN SMITH, _Member of the International Jury, Group 1, Louisiana Purchase Exposition_.

BUREAU OF EDUCATION, _Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C._

As chairman of the committee to report on the work of the jury, Miss Smith writes:

REPORT OF A COMMITTEE OF THE JURY OF GROUP 1.

The material presented for the consideration of the jury of group No. 1 (elementary education) comprised on the part of the United States the exhibit of public education as organized in 34 States and Territories, in 6 cities (presented as separate units), and in 15 foreign countries. In number, extent, and complexity these exhibits surpa.s.sed all previous collections of the kind; the separate entries ran up into the thousands, representing for the most part such important collections as the exhibits of cities, counties, and groups of rural schools, all deserving careful attention.

The examination of this material in the brief time allowed (twenty days) was a severe task, and would have been impossible but for the circ.u.mstance that, with two exceptions, the exhibits were all placed in one building. For the first time in the history of expositions the chief collective activity of civilized peoples was honored by an edifice planned and erected for itself alone. This concentration of the material under the general direction of an experienced and able chief, thoroughly familiar with the arrangements and of unfailing courtesy and helpfulness, alone brought the work a.s.signed the jury of group 1 within the bounds of possible achievement. Their efforts were furthered also by the expert qualification of each and every member of the group by the system and perfect harmony in which they worked, and by the exceptional ability of their official staff: Chairman, Dr. E.O. Lyte; vice-chairman, Mr. B. Buisson, representing the French Government; secretary, Mr. Morales de Los Rios, representing the Cuban Government.

The details of the group organization are shown by the minutes of the secretary, which also present a full record of its daily action and findings. It remains here only to speak of salient features of this particular division of the exposition, whose effects can not be indicated nor estimated by any system of awards.

The installations of the various exhibits had been carefully planned and were, as a rule, effective, and in many cases extremely beautiful. The United States has made notable progress in this respect since the Chicago Exposition of 1893, and even since the Paris Exposition in 1900, and in the present exposition several of our States and cities offer fine models of the exhibitor's art. This is the case especially with Missouri and St. Louis; the latter in particular has realized the double purpose of challenging popular attention and satisfying critical taste. The art of effective exposition, whether worked out with n.o.ble simplicity or rich decorative accessories, requires on the one hand intelligent selection and coordination of the material, and on the other skill in the treatment of s.p.a.ce and artistic elements. No small part of the value of an educational exhibit lies in its esthetic quality, since this reveals not less clearly than the methods and results of school training the inherent genius of a people. This International Exposition has been rich in this quality, on account both of the number of different nations partic.i.p.ating and the care taken by each to give distinctive character to its display. This is marked in the exhibits of elementary education, which in nearly all European countries forms a complete whole, distinct from other grades, and having the definite purpose of maintaining an established social order or national type through the intellectual, manual, and artistic training of the ma.s.ses. The presentation of elementary education as an independent unit indeed well accords with the conditions in nearly all countries excepting our own.

Elsewhere, as a rule, elementary education forms a complete system, having its separate administration, purposes, and ideals. In this respect the United States presents a notable contrast to the chief countries of the Old World, and one strikingly ill.u.s.trated in this exposition. In our own country education is conceived as an integral process steadily developing from the kindergarten to the university. To this conception corresponds the sequence of elementary and high schools united under a common administration and by close scholastic bonds. Hence a measure of violence is done both to elementary and secondary education as here organized by the endeavor to view them separately. On the other hand, a portion of the elementary education of foreign countries, notably of France and Germany, does not enter at all into the sum total of the impressions recorded by the jury of either group, because of the social distinctions that underlie in those countries the cla.s.sification of schools as elementary and secondary. These anomalous conditions affect particularly the cla.s.sification and judgment of the various agencies for the training of teachers (that is, normal schools, teachers' training colleges, and auxiliary agencies, such as normal cla.s.ses in academies or other secondary schools, teachers' inst.i.tutes, etc). In the chief foreign countries professional schools of this kind are easily cla.s.sified by virtue of their administrative relations, but in our own country the different orders of pedagogical training merge into each other almost imperceptibly because they are all based upon the same fundamental conception of the teaching profession.

It is interesting to note in this connection that the exhibit of Great Britain and Ireland has avoided all confusion by the selection of the characteristic features of particular schools or of processes that have worked well in certain communities or pupil and cla.s.s work of special significance. This mode of exhibition accords perfectly with the private character of a large proportion of the schools of all orders in England and with the local independence throughout the Kingdom. It results that this exhibit has greater emphasis upon typical and essential things than any other in the collection. In this respect it is most nearly approached by Ma.s.sachusetts among our own States.

The confusion arising from differences in cla.s.sification already referred to, which imply also more radical differences in opinion and practice, has led one of the most acute minds among our foreign colleagues to express the hope that one of the permanent results of this exposition may be an effort toward international unity, or at least agreement in respect to cla.s.sification and nomenclature. Undoubtedly such agreement would promote the great purpose of international comparisons which is to enable each nation to benefit by the experience of every other.

In addition to the broad distinctions between national systems as here indicated, there are also disclosed by the exhibits striking differences in the spirit and methods of instruction.

In France the teaching is logical and a.n.a.lytical. The stress of pedagogical training in that country is upon the treatment of subjects, and the abiding effects of that training are seen in the theses by teachers and by school inspectors (the latter all men of professional training), which form a very interesting and instructive part of the exhibit of that country. The a.n.a.lytical principle is maintained in the manual training, which, as shown by the examples presented, consists of a graded series of exercises upon the elements that enter into simple constructions. Germany adheres more closely to the authoritative method of instruction, a fact plainly shown by the photographs of cla.s.ses in which every child seemed listening with breathless attention to the word of the teacher. From the photographic displays one would readily infer that in our own country the emphasis of cla.s.s exercises is upon the activity of the pupil; in Germany, upon the personality of the teacher.

The importance of photographs in an educational exhibit was never so manifest as in the present exposition. By this means may be shown at a glance the equipment of schools and even the actual conduct of cla.s.s instruction, and the mind distracted by the endless succession of written work, drawings, etc., is thus reenforced by total impressions or images. This exposition surpa.s.ses all others in the extent, effectiveness, and beauty of the photographic displays and the value of the statistical charts presented. So full and graphic were these statistical summaries from all the princ.i.p.al countries that individual mention would be invidious. The jury, however, will never forget the display of charts and diagrams by j.a.pan, since they revealed in a universal language the status, organization, and wonderful progress of education in that country, whose effect must otherwise have been lost in the mysteries of an unknown tongue.

Those who recall the Centennial Exposition, at Philadelphia, must be struck with the progress made by our States and cities and even by the individual colleges toward uniform statistical schemes. The impulse to this important result came undoubtedly from the United States Bureau of Education, whose statistical representation of education in this country, current and retrospective, is one of the most valuable features of the entire exposition. As this material, however, is placed in the Government building, its consideration does not come within the province of the regular juries.

By means of the two media--photographs and statistics--a very complete representation of a school system is possible with great economy of s.p.a.ce and special regard to essential particulars. The extensive exhibits of pupils' work from our own schools show remarkable similarity in methods and results throughout the country; this similarity extends even to the rural schools, which, in the case of some particular districts, present work well up to the average of neighboring cities. There are also signs that the rage for "newness" has subsided; the work shows closer sequence and more systematic treatment of subjects than that exhibited at Paris. Correlation, for instance, is not so promiscuously applied, but limited to subjects whose relations are obvious, as geography and history, etc.

The impulses toward nature as the inspiring motive in art instruction and toward social activities as factors in school training have been felt in other countries than our own. Germany has replaced the conventional art instruction by a system based upon the study of natural forms, growths, and coloring, and Belgium presents a remarkable object lesson in the use of local products and industries in a progressive scheme of practical instruction. The skill with which Sweden has reduced domestic art and sloyd[1] to pedagogic form was already well known in this country, but it has excited new interest by its presentation here in one of the most admirably systematized and suggestive exhibits in the collection.

[Footnote 1: a system of manual training in woodwork, having originated in Sweden. (note added when transcribed to etext)]

School architecture forms an impressive feature of many of the exhibits. Germany has made a very full presentation under this head by means of photographs, plans, and complete models.

Argentina has an unrivaled collection of photographs, showing palatial school buildings of n.o.ble design and well-planned interiors. In this connection may be mentioned a device of a portable schoolhouse for use in congested city districts pending the erection of permanent buildings. The models shown were from St. Louis and Milwaukee.

The great movements now in progress in our country, as indicated by the exhibits, are, in the States at large, the improvements of the rural schools, particularly by the consolidation of small schools and the grading of the resulting central school, as graphically shown by Indiana, and the creation of towns.h.i.+p or county schools, as in Pennsylvania and Kansas.