act as the centralizing, the unifying,
the combining agency and bring order out of that which would otherwise
be chaos by recognizing the value of each contribution of each of the
others, assigning it to its proper place and thus aptly blending the
work of the three. Now, which shall be the centralizing force? Really,
is there any question? Must it not be the original institution--the
home--the one which saw the need of the others and called them into
being--the one upon which the responsibility finally rests? And even tho
many individual homes are weak, wholly incapable of doing themselves all
the varied kinds of work needed, yet the collective institution can and
must act. And even the individual home, efficient or inefficient,
should, much more than it does, thus act within the limits of its own
jurisdiction and up to the limits of its own power.

And to whom does the school belong, anyway? To the Board of Education?
Is it the private possession of the teachers? Does it exist to give
teachers positions? Why, no, of course not. It is yours, and yours, and
yours. They, both Board and teachers, are your servants, hired men and
women, if you and they please--hired for pay to do your work, just as
much as are the clerks in your stores, the harvest hands on the farms,
or the maids in the kitchen. A different kind of work to be sure but,
nevertheless, we are workmen for pay. And we need watching just as much
as do the other workers. But let us put it in this way--we need
intelligent, sympathetic co-operation, as an opportunity and as a spur
for our best work and as a joy in it all--your constant kindly interest
and your intelligent co-operation. I suppose that the situation is quite
different in a city of this size from what it is in the large centers. I
remember of talking, at one time, to an audience of teachers in a large
city. I was astounded to learn that those teachers did not know, by
sight even, the parents of one-half of their pupils, and many of them
had been in the schools for a period of from three to four years. Whose
fault was it? The teacher's or the parents? Why, what is the school? And
whose is it? And what is it for? Whose fault was it? The question does
not need an answer. It answers itself. But I urged those teachers to
visit the homes--to become acquainted with the parents of their pupils
so that they could know the atmosphere surrounding them and thus be
better able to guide their development and minis