Wider Use of the School Plant
REVIEWS AND CRITICISM. :Author: Clarence Arthur Perry, with an introduction by .Lutner liaisey Uulick, JVL.JD. JNew York: Charities Publication Committee, 1910. Pp. xiv. + 423.
By “wider use of the school plant,” Mr. Perry means the use of school buildings and equipment outside of the regular day-school hours, for the benefit of a larger part of the community than that which includes only the children of school age. IIow “wide” the use may be, is seen by a glance at some of Mr. Perry’s chapter headings,?Evening Schools, Vacation Schools, School Playgrounds, Public Lectures and Entertainments, Evening Recreation Centres, Social Centres, Organized Athletics, and lastly, Social Beterment. Social betterment, of course, is the real purpose of this book, as of other books published by the Russell Sage Foundation. It is the goal of all our present philanthropic endeavors. But one must be clear about the kind of social betterment which is intended. The community is not to take its bettering as children take cod liver oil and other disagreeable things that are good for them. Just what is to be aimed at may be best understood from the words of Mr. Edward J. Ward, the man who organized the social centres in Rochester so well and securely that they stand as models for the nation:
“The Social Centre was not to take the place of any existing institution; it was not to be a charitable medium for the service particularly of the poor; it was not to be a new kind of evening school; it was not to take the place of any church or other institution of moral uplift; it was not to serve simply as an ‘Improvement Association’ by which the people in one community should seek only the welfare of their district; it was not to be a ‘Civic Reform’ organization, pledged to some change in city or state or national administration; it was just to be the restoration to its true place in social life of that most American of all institutions, the Public School Center, in order that through this extended use of the school building might be developed, in the midst of our complex life, the community interest, the neighborly spirit, the democracy that we knew before we came to the city.”
To all those who are engaged in extending the usefulness of school property,?and to those whose interest is leading them to undertake pioneer work in this direction, Mr. Perry’s book can be of practical assistance. It is full of definite ideas as to programme and schedules of expense involved, and gives in well digested form the experience of the most successful leaders of the movement. As Dr Gulick remarks in the brief introduction which he contributes to the volume: “Mr. Perry has deliberately selected the most successful aspects of the work in all parts of the country. He has not portrayed the failures?and there have been many; he has not spent time in magnifying the difficulties?although they are real. All the illustrations represent actual undertakings, and being the best in each field, they may give the general reader the impression that the battle has already been won, that all obstacles to the wider use have been removed. The truth, however, is quite otherwise. While based entirely upon facts, the account does not purport to show the conditions existing in the average community.”
The usefulness of this book is enhanced by a good index,?a feature too often lacking in otherwise promising works,?and by full and exact bibliographical references to the current literature. An abundance of photographic illustrations, admirable presswork, and an appropriate binding complete the general satisfaction which Mr. Perry’s book conveys to the reader. A. T.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.