What European Schoolchildren Are Doing for Themselves There have recently been spun of ce-operative societies rum entirely. ug up all over Europe 2 number and often entirely by, school in "Latvia, for exsple, there were '309 of these Srganiatons at th, end of TH¥% although the mvetent. only there in 1920, In" rance, atthe end of 1086, there wore aver 3.0) til of whi lid cine int existence singe 11 Poland has over' 100, Bieta that country the iden has been ly spreading since 1908, To France probably Velonaa the honour of originaine the though the carly beginnings of the movement are wrapt According to a recent report, prepared by the International Labour Office at Geneva, the young operators in France low possess a monthly review, "Lo, Coopérateur Scolaire," and a quarterly bulletin, "I/Ecole Cooperative." The present movement in that country sprang! out of the impoverishment of the rural districts which followed the' end of the war. Materials had "be-ome costly, and it did not seem possible to provide the schools with the necessary materials for coreying their work. An inspector of elementary schools at SuintJean d'Angely, M. Profit, had the idea fof appealing to the' children themselves. for assistance, Provided Themselves Soon the schools in his district had obtained the materials necessary for their natural science studies means of the school ce-operative societies" which he inaugurated. Then, -they proceeded to. supply themselves with magic lanterns and slides oF small cinematograph apparates. They perfected the radi mentary sanitary accommodation, decorated the classrooms and planted flowers end trees which converted the dingy playgrounds into gay gardens, and they established workshops. They obtained the necessary money, not only from shares and contributions of active and honorary members, gifts from "is and subsi from municipalities, but also from fetes organized by the children, or by the sale of vegetables grown in the school gardens,
rags nnd the making of the ealaction of old iron and various mall objects.
In Poland the school ce-operative: wocleties "are under the wing of a special organizer appointed by the Union. of Consumers' Ca-operative Societies with the approval of the Minister of Public Instruction, The Polish movement covers all classes, of schools: elementary, secondary, normal, commercial and. agvicultural, and the societies take: many forms "with a view to " adapting themselves to the age and mentality of the pupils." Some of them are small. shops for school supplies, others are just savings banks. But in addition there exist ce-operative canteens managed by pupills, oooperative workshops for bookbinding, hairdressing, carpentry, ete ce-operative libraries, printing: pres-producing school newspapers and various pamphlets. One society has opened an employment agency for "its members. Several have rented mutual aid societies. Others have organized schoo! museums or have decorated the garden, _playground and classrooms. " Others again have established sports and general assemblies of the young ce-operators "and ¢he conferences organized ty themselves as occasion may require." One of his clemeatary scholars afterward wrote, "Our cooperative society has taught us many useful things and given us moments of very great happiness. The frequent general meetings ha' taught us how to speak, discuss and take the chair, We have learned a great deal in' regard. to organization."
An elementary school ¢o-operative society in Czechoslovakia of which an account is also given in the I.
O's report actually set the pace for the grown-ups of the poor mountain village in which it was started. Its object was the production of artistic woodwork."Very soon," says the report, "(it) admitted adult members and.... saved the whole district from wnemployment and misery." Another Czechoslovak school revived the ancient peasant earthenware industry means of its ce-operative society.
To Provide Themselves In Latvia the main activities of the school ce-operative societies is directed toward providing the me bers with the necessary require: ments for their studies. Sume-times the teachers belong but the management is left entirely to the pupils. The latest available state istles show a membership of 1457 boys, S414 girls and 130 teachers in 83 of the 300 Lettish schools which have established these societies. The rales have to be approved by the Board of Education, ani ment bership of the society may not be compulsory. Last October, Latvia held a Congress of School Co-operntive Societies—the third of the series—to which each school was entitled to send two delegates, one pupil and the other a teacher.
Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy and Russia all' have their sehvol com operative societies but details are scarce in regard to these countries. In the United States, Canada and Great Britain they have also sprung up—ehielly in the form of "Young Farmers' Clubs" for stock-raising, poultry and rabbit breeding. Others are to be found in the Argentine and Mexico, and the French have even introduced them ints two native schools in the Cameroons, one of their mandated territories fea. These two societies led. practically all the food consumed in thole respective schools and have also been able to support a number of needy scholars. the iden of ce-operative fits critics, operation a I'Beole primaire," 3 Profit, who started the ball roll in France, has warmly defended his system. "Ca-oper sy, "arouses the child to activity, ce Polish societies, pul survey in French of the movement under his charge. In this declares" that the mother tongue, arithmetic, "history, geography, drawing and manual work are easily associated with the subject of cooperation. He advocates the teaching of ce-operation itself, not. by special classes but by "meetings pels him to come out of his in vidualism and sets another aim to his efforts than that of more yer~ sonal satisfaction. It engages for the first time in the machinery of collaboration with his fellows. It bends him to rules established by his peers. It interests him in an object beyond himself: that of general progress."—"c.s.M."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.