PERIODICALS "Mathematics in Current Literature." cepting or rejecting it. Each year we The Pedagogical Martha MacLear. We often ask the question, what mathematics does a person need in order to read magazines with ordinary intelligence? The following magazines have been examined very carefully to find out just what mathematical concepts enter in the discussions: Century, Good Housekeeping, Popular Mechanics, The Delineator, The Saturday Evening Post, and one issue of The Washington Post. The study resulted in the following classification: (1) Words and phrases with mathematical connotation; (2) Words of special mathematical flavor; (3) Business terms; (4) Measures and money. "A Defense of Education." By Walter Lippman. Century, May, 1923. It is interesting to see just how different authors attack the testing movement. The opponents make use of the same material as the tester, but he manipulates the figures so as to bring out the ideas that he wishes to prove. Educational psychologists admit that tests must be given children who have had about the same advantage in life, but some of the opponents do not seem to hold this in mind when making their criticism. The author is a very interesting writer and does his part well in challenging the educational world to put up the work on tests so that there will be no weak points. "The Progressive Teacher's Attitude Toward New Theory and Practice." Stuart G. Noble. Educational Review, May, 1923. Teachers are often very conservative because they have found out that many of the so-called new ideas are not new and that many times they are not worth while. The progressive teacher will always give a new method a careful survey before ac. have many new things coming on in the many different ways, and out of this mass comes a few things that are worth while. Just how far must a teacher go and still stay on the safe side is a question worth considering. A teacher should not be too conservative, nor should she be a radical. The following are some of the topics that are discussed from many angles at the present time: The project method; the subject of interest; the use of intelligence tests; the transfer of training, and others. The current educational literature contains the many radical ideas, and public meetings have such topics for discussion. Thus it is easy to see that the real live teacher must make some attempt to keep up with the times or she will be a back number. "The Two-Year Curriculum for Training Elementary Teachers." Shelton Phelps. Journal of Educational Research, May, 1923. The two-year normal course has probably served its day in the larger cities and progressive communities. The demand for a better trained teaching force has been getting more exacting every year. This demand cannot be met unless the teaching force is ready to meet it with the new requirements. There is too much to do in the two-year course. As salaries go up there will be more people entering the profession, and thus a chance to raise the requirements to three or four years. "The Economic Value of Public Parks and Scenic Preservation. George F. Kunz. Scientific Monthly, April, 1923. The problem of the best use of the land is a vital one for any nation. Our country is endowed with many places of great beauty and scientific interest. Some such areas have been set aside to serve as places of esthetic, educational, and hygienic interest. Dr. Kunz offers many good reasons why these religions so used are serving in their highest capacity. Beauty spots, recBeauty spots, recreation centers, such as parks or parkland areas, enhance the value of surrounding property, help fill the coffers of the neighborhood stores, inns, and transportation companies. They keep American money in America. Best of all, probably, they help to keep our people fit, happy, and inspired. This article and the article, "Economic Aspects of Our National Parks Policy," by Robert Yard, in this same number of the Scientific Monthly, are worth while for every American citizen. We are in need of this type of education to appreciate these land uses, so that we may more intelligently insist upon proper legislation for the use of public lands. "The Relation of Vocational and Educational Guidance to Vocational Education. A. F. Payne. School and Society, May 12, 1923. A large part of the children will need to earn money before they get through high school. Their experience does not bring them in contact with industry so that they are able to make the proper adjustment when they are forced into industry. As a result of this situation, much has been said as to the best method of such guidance. Mr. Payne has some interesting suggestions. "The Conservation of Health." Dr. Eugene R. Kelley. Scientific Monthly, April, 1923. The article is divided into Part I, Health Conservation in the Past; and Part II, Health Conservation in the Present and Future. The author considers the whole matter of health conservation to be of recent origin; for, although there was some "health promotion, as exemplified by the systems of the Roman baths or Grecian athletics," yet the people believed that when God permitted the pestilence it could not be averted. It was with the era of sanitary engineering, followed by the discoveries of Pasteur in bacteriology, that modern pre ventive medicine, or hygiene, really began. Several elements enter into the modern health movemnt. Foremost of these is widespread education through schools, books, and magazines. Superstitions and "old wives' tales" are still among the greatest obstacles to universal practice of hygiene. Certain economic and social movements have contributed to healthy living, although they were not directed primarily toward it. Such are the production, preservation, and distribution of enough food of sufficient variety. Improved standards of living are possible because of the ble because of the development of the science of plumbing. This has made a great advance in the amount of water per capita that is used by the average person today. Improved hours and conditions of labor for men, women, and children are partly the result of studies made in industrial hygiene, and, of course, the researches in medical science must not be omitted in reviewing the agents that have contributed to the success achieved. "There has sprung up in the past twenty years a greatly expanded conception of what health actually means. Health must mean something more than mere absence of acute disease. It implies a standard of personal vitality and physique that insures a positive enjoyment of existence due to a properly balanced, well-exercised, smoothly functioning bodily mechanism reacting agreeably upon the mental and emotional processes of the individual." "The Purpose of Home Economics Teacher-Training Curriculum." Fredrick G. Bonser. Teachers College Record, January, 1923. Mr. Bonser defines the field of home economics as a broad term which includes all the activities of the home. He enumerates briefly all of the most important home activities connected with food, clothing, cleaning problems, house decorations, provisions for mental and physical care and growth of children, the problem of main taining the social and civic position of the family, personal recreation, and managerial organization for carrying on all of the above activities. A teacher of home economics must have not only a knowledge of all home activities, but must also develop a skill in them. Further, Mr. Bonser very aptly points out that our school organization provides for various types of courses, such as home economics for general education in the elementary and high school, and home economics for vocational education as found in some high schools, continuation schools, and evening classes. It requires that teachers of home economics have a knowledge of the students taking these courses and the types of experiences best suited to their nature. He outlines a two-year course which would develop skill in home activities and a knowledge of all related home problems and an appreciation of the various types of schools and the curriculum best adapted to each. In this course he includes all related subjects, such as science, social and educational psychology, political economy, education, and practice teaching. BOOKS The Teaching of Fractions. By Edward Wildeman. Chicago: The Plymouth Press, 1923. Pp. 145. 75 cents. Is there any phase of common and decimal fraction about which you have any question in teaching? If so, read this book. Would you be interested in a comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of these subjects from a pedagogical standpoint? If so, read this book. Do you believe that the mastery of common and decimal fractions is a very simple task, involving just a few mechanical acts that pupils can master in a few lessons? If so, read this book. Brace and Company, 1921. Pp. 152. A desire to learn whether the national income is adequate to provide a decent living for all persons, whether this income is increasing as rapidly as the population, whether its distribution among individuals is growing more or less unequal, and to shift the divergencies among current estimates, led the Bureau to undertake this field for its first investigation. The National Bureau of Economic Research was chartered in 1920 to conduct quantitative investigations that affect public welfare. Its aim is to ascertain fundamental facts within its field as accurately as may be and to make its findings widely known. With a large staff at work, more than a year was spent upon the present study. Most books covering the teaching of arithmetic in all the grades must necessarily be brief in the subjects of common and decimal fractions. This book gives a com- Two methods of determining the income plete analysis of these subjects and offers of the nation were followed, and these helpful suggestions in the teaching of of were checked against each other. One every phase of the work. If there is a was an examination of evidence of income book as complete and satisfactory as this received (income-tax returns, reports on one on the teaching of fractions, it should wages, salaries, profits, etc.), and the be better known. other was an examination of evidence of income produced (statistics of crops, mines, etc.). When these two independent estimates were finally checked with each other, they agreed to within about seven per cent. E. C. Hinkle. Income in the United States: Its Amount and Distribution, 1909-1919. By the Staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research. New York: Harcourt The national income, reduced each year to a basis of 1913 prices, varied from thirty billion one hundred million dollars in 1909 to forty billion eight hundred million dollars in 1917, the highest point. The per capita income in the United States, when reduced to the basis of 1913 prices, is, for the successive years of the decade beginning with 1909, as follows: $333, $349, $338, $348, $354, $333, $350, $400, $396, $372. These amounts are much larger than in any other country. As to distribution, in 1918 about 86 per cent of persons gainfully employed had incomes of less than $2,000 per year; the most prosperous 5 per cent of the income receivers had nearly 26 per cent of the total income; and the most prosperous 20 per cent of the income receivers had 47 per cent of the total income. D. L. Geyer. Introduction to the Use of Standard Tests. By S. L. Pressey and L. C. Pressey. Chicago: The World Book Com pany, 1922. This volume gives a general discussion of tests as applied to general intelligence and tests in school subjects; also a brief presentation of statistical devices which are necessary in order to handle test results. It is well written and covers the three fields in an elementary way. For teachers who have not had training in measurements, this book gives a good introduction. It is general enough to cover the field and specific enough so that the character topics of the testing movement stand out. B. Laughlin. Pedagogical Pep. Edited by Mary E. Owen and Helen Mildred Owen. Chicago: Hall and McCreary, 1922. Pp. 384. $1.50. This book is a collection of essays written by classroom teachers in competition for a prize offered by the periodical Normal Instructor-Primary Plans. They are grouped under such heads as The Parent and the Community, Securing Securing Equipment for the School, School Management, Seat Work, Health Education, The Use of the Dictionary, and devices in various subjects. Naturally, the book is concrete and is not hard to read. D. L. Geyer. World Metric Standardization. Compiled by Aubrey Drury. San Francisco: World Standardization Council. Pp. 513. It seems almost incredible that since 1783 the United States and Great Britain have clung so tenaciously to such a cumbersome system of weights and measures as is used in these countries. With our widened horizon as a result of the war, the question of placing ourselves in line with practically all the civilized world returns with added force. This volume outlines the problem from all angles; gives the reasons for, and answers the arguments against the adoption of the metric system, supporting all its points with a mass of data as to business and professional concerns favoring the change, sources of opposition, cost of changing, and references in literature to the metric system. Some of the reasons advanced for the proposed change are saving in time and reduction in errors on the part of all who use weights and measures; removing of one obstacle in the way of foreign trade; and this, which is of particular interest to school people, the shortening of the time needed to teach the present system. The cost and inconvenience of making the change, which is the chief argument of the opposition, is shown to be of minor importance. Expensive scales could be remarked at slight cost. It would not be necessary to change sizes of machines; or if this were found desirable, a transition period would permit the use of the old machines until worn out. Ever since Thomas Jefferson secured the decimal money system, the question of metric standardization has been before congress at frequent intervals. Almost invariably it has been favorably reported by the committee, but for some reason— whether lack of sufficient interest, obstructive tactics by the few opponents of the measure, or attempts by German lobbyists to keep the country unprepared for war-it has always failed to pass. While the metric system has been legalized, the old system has never been made illegal. After reading this book, we are left with the impression which many of us have always had, that the United States and the British Commonwealth must eventually come into line with the other civilized countries and put an end to the meaningless jumble of weights and measures with which we have so long been burdened. W. H. Spurgin. Premiere Annee De Francaise. By Arthur Gibbon Bovee. Chicago: Ginn and Company, 1922. Pp. 540. Foreign languages have been taught to children in various ways. The direct, conversational method is characteristic of a new text by Mr. Bovee. The author has made a very successful attempt to apply the science of education to curriculum construction. The results of this scientific work may be seen in the many units of work which go to make up his text. There is no attempt to cover the whole field of grammar before reading and conversation starts, but only enough of the principles are brought in to make a simple beginning. The following points show some of the * characteristics of the book: (a) The material has been selected in light of modern psychology. All the material has been used many times in classwork. (b) The material has been graded to suit the beginner. (c) The principles of grammar have been introduced only as they are needed, and then the explanation is made in terms that the child can understand. (d) The direct method is used. The child meets natural situations and deals with a vocabulary most of which has been illustrated objectively. A real situation is brought in to furnish the vocabulary. The motivation is cared for by the type of situation. (e) Most of the new words are introduced without the aid of English. That is, the explanation is given in French. Thus the child is not made dependent upon an English vocabulary. (f) The words are made to appear enough times so that the drill work is well cared for. (g) Phonics are well cared for by giving detailed explanation as to the method of forming the sounds. He has a table with the rules well tabulated. (g) The book is wordy, that is, enough material is given for the course. Considering all the points, one might say that the text is very well written. B. Laughlin. The Economic Basis of Politics. By Charles A. Beard. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1922. Pp. 99. $1.50. This small volume is composed of four lectures given at Amherst College. Lecture I. examines the doctrines of political philosophers such as Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, Madison, Webster, and Calhoun, and shows them all to have believed that "the fundamental factors with which the statesman has to deal are the forms and distribution of property and the sentiments and views arising from the possession of different degrees and kinds of property.' Lecture II. traces through modern times the relation between the composition of the state and the economic composition of society and concludes that "the constitutions of government of great nations were, for centuries, deliberately fitted to the division of society into separate orders, groups, and estates, each of which pursued a separate calling and cherished its own sentiments about economic interests. This great fact stands out clearly, that through the centuries-down until our own day-group interests were recognized as forming the very essence of politics, both in theory and practice." Lecture III. discusses the doctrine of political equality and shows how the coming of power machinery brought a more mobile form of capital, industrial and mercantile capital, which broke up the old class lines and led to the doctrine of individual equality; and how the bourgeois of France, seizing upon Rousseau's doctrine of individual equality as a tool in |