Open Air Classes in California
NEWS AND COMMENT.
Readers of The Psychological Clinic who have never lived in California, are in the habit of thinking of that state as a land of sunshine and fresh air. These luxuries, it is true, are supplied by Nature in abundance, but her beneficiaries, there as elsewhere, would seem to need lessons in appreciation. School buildings, for instance, have recently been completed in San Diego, in which a “system” of ventilation requires the doors and windows to be kept closed. Principal Pete W. P’oss, of the Washington School in San Diego, lias come forward as an advocate of outdoor air in the schoolroom. His kindergarten has actually been held out of doors for some weeks this .vinter, tables and chairs being picked up and carried out under the trees in the school yard. The children show the benefit of the change in their greater alertness.
The present Washington School Building is old and should be replaced, but Principal Ross has declared his pi’eference for the old building, whose doors and windows may be thrown open freely, as against any type of new structure whose air supply must be artificially limited. He says: “It is wrong to think that there are no children of tubercular tendencies in San Diego. There are more of them than anyone is willing to admit. And even if they be not sick, all children are better for plenty of outdoor air and quantities of sunshine. They need it.” School Citizens Committee.
On Saturday the fourth of February, the annual meeting of the School Citizens Committee was held at the Lawyers’ Club, New York City. This committee has set for itself the task of making the schools of our country democratic in organization by some form of pupil cooperation or self-government. Its members are, Civil Service Commissioner Richard Welling; Miss Julia Richman, District Superintendent of Schools of New York; Dr Samuel lieCulie Lindsay, Rev. Dr Thomas R. Slicer, Borough President George McAneny, Prof. Munroe Smith of Columbia University, Mr. Lyman Beeclier Stowe, Mr. Leonard G. McAneny, Mr. John G. Agar, Mr. Cortlandt S. Van Rensselaer, Dr Ludwig B. Bernstein, Dr Stephen S. Wise, Mr. George Haven Putnam, and Mr. Robert G. Mead. Prof. Lightner Witmer was present at the meeting by invitation.
Because of the success of the plan of self-government among the newsboys of Boston, it was decided that the Committee should enlarge the scope of the work and organize among the newsboys of New York City a Newsboys’ State. It was decided also to seek to have established in the College of the City of New York and in other colleges, courses for teachers in the theory and practice of pupil self-government. Co-operation with the Boy Scouts of America was decided upon. The report of the Assistant Secretary, Mr. Frank Kiernan, showed the growth of the idea in favor with the public as well as among educators. A recent canvass of a thousand cities and towns of the country has disclosed the fact that there are more than five hundred schools in the United States, organized for pupil self-government. The canvass of 1907 showed only a few schools so organized. Commissioner Welling was re-elected chairman, Mr. Lyman Beeclier Stowe, secretary, and Mr. Charles S. Fairchild, treasurer. The headquarters of the Committee are at No. 2 Wall Street, New York City, where a clearing house of information about pupil self-government in all countries is conducted.
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