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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 R. H. Edwc-rds 
 
Corned University Library 
 BV1100 .S95 
 
 Training a staff: a manual for Young Men 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 336 827 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029336827 
 
TRAINING A STAFF 
 
TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 A Manual for 
 
 Young Men's Christian Association 
 
 Executives 
 
 PAUL SUPER 
 
 Secretary for Training, Personnel Bureau, 
 International Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations 
 
 ASSOCIATION PRESS 
 
 Nbw York: 347 Madison Avenue 
 1920 
 
Copyright, 1920, by 
 
 The International Committee of 
 
 Young Men's Christian Associations 
 
TO MY WIFE 
 
 Aid and Companion in 
 
 Many an Enterprise 
 
 OF Study 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction ix 
 
 PART I 
 
 Processes 
 
 The fourteen elements in the local training program 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. A Varied Experience 3 
 
 How can our younger secretaries be given that varied ex- 
 perience which will result in their largest growth and 
 development? 
 
 II. Projects 16 
 
 How can our secretaries-in-training secure educational 
 values — growth — ^from performing these assigned tasks 
 that make up a varied experience? 
 
 III. Class-Room Work 50 
 
 What method or type of class-room work will produce the 
 best results in preparing young secretaries for immediate 
 and future executive leadership? What should be the 
 content of the course of study? 
 
 IV. Class-Room Work (Continued) 74 
 
 V. Coaching: The Understudy Relation 95 
 
 What coaching by senior secretaries is necessary and help- 
 ful in the training process? 
 
 VI. Reading and Study 121 
 
 How can reading and study be made to contribute to pro- 
 fessional growth? 
 
 VII. Staff Conferences 1 141 
 
 How may sta2 conferences be make an effective part of 
 the process of training Association secretaries? 
 
 VIII. Departmental Studies 158 
 
 What sort of theses or reports is it profitable to have 
 junior secretaries prepare? How should such work be 
 directed? 
 
 IX. Inspection Trips 163 
 
 What inspection trips should be included in a secretary's 
 training? How may they be given large educational 
 value? 
 
 vii 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 X. Special Helps from Local Experts i79 
 
 How can the Association avail itself of local talent in 
 supplying specialized instruction needed along certain 
 lines? 
 
 XI. Relations to City Institutions 183 
 
 To what institutions should young secretaries be related 
 as part of their training? What are the training values 
 growing out of these relationships? 
 
 XII. University Relations 192 
 
 What arrangements can be made whereby our secretaries 
 may take courses in nearby colleges and universities? 
 
 XIII. Association Summer Schools 206 
 
 What arrangements in regard to processes, equipment, 
 curriculum, and teachers will make the summer schools 
 contribute most in the training of secretaries? 
 
 XIV. Conventions and Conferences 230 
 
 What convention procedure will make the sessions count 
 in the training of secretaries? 
 
 XV. A New Man's First Week 236 
 
 How can a new secretary's first week with an Association 
 be so organized as to get him properly started and give 
 him a good impression of the Association and its leadership? 
 
 PART II 
 
 Reasons 
 
 The theories underlying the processes 241 
 
 PART m 
 
 The Content of the Secretaryship 267 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 Appendix A. A National Training -Policy for China 287 
 
 Appendix B. An Examination in Association Progress and Principles 294 
 
 Appendix C. Suggestive Project Study Outline 296 
 
 Appendix D. A Suggested Technical Library for a Y M C A 
 
 Secretary 298 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. The Awakening in Regard to Personnel 
 
 An official of the Western Electric Company said a few 
 years ago that for many years industry has centered its atten- 
 tion upon improving products, plant, and processes, but that 
 recently it had come to realize that more vital than any of 
 these is that newly recognized factor in industry, personnel. 
 Man is now regarded as the element most worthy of careful 
 attention as the central problem in production. The convic- 
 tion that this is so was becoming established just before the 
 Great War, and many of the large corporations of the country 
 were engaging employment or personnel managers ; the War 
 itself, however, gave the personnel movement a great impulse, 
 so that now one meets evidence of the new emphasis in indus- 
 try on every hand. The demand for personnel experts has 
 so grown that some of the large universities are now conduct- 
 ing courses to train men for this special service of recruiting, 
 selecting, placing, training, and holding employes; and the 
 supply of such experts is far from equal to the demand. Im- 
 portant conventions and conferences are being held every 
 year for interchange of experience in these matters, and highly 
 trained scientists are devoting their time to the discovery of 
 the principles that must guide practice in matters of personnel. 
 
 Many of the heads of large business operations have ex- 
 pressed themselves on this subject. "Take away our factories," 
 Andrew Carnegie is quoted as having said, "take away our 
 trade, our avenues of transportation, our money, but leave me 
 just one thing — my organization of men, and in four years I 
 will reestablish myself." 
 
 Says Charles M. Schwab, "The biggest asset of the Bethle- 
 hem Steel Company is not its vast plants, its mines, its ma- 
 chinery, or any of its material possessions ; it is its organization 
 of men." 
 
 ix 
 
X INTRODUCTION 
 
 It is a difficult thing to say which phase of the problem of 
 personnel is most important — choosing, training, placing, or 
 retaining; it is certain, however, that the training problem is 
 of central importance. Julius Kruttschnitt, head of the South- 
 ern Pacific Railroad, once wrote, "The test of an effective 
 organization is that it shall be self-perpetuating" ; this self-per- 
 petuation is made possible by the training of the men in the 
 line of promotion. 
 
 "Train your men in every department," says George M. 
 Basford, an engineering expert. "This cannot be made too 
 emphatic. You will fail in your mission in life if you do not. 
 You will leave a priceless legacy in the form of an organiza- 
 tion replete with human efficiency and, therefore, human hap- 
 piness, if you do. The men in high authority today will leave 
 the legacy of greatest value to the future if they properly at- 
 tend to the training of the recruits coming into the ranks." 
 
 This deep conviction of industrial leaders is paralleled 
 among the leaders in the Young Men's Christian Association. 
 The "Stone Commission Report" of 1915 said, "Many 
 leaders continue to feel that the employed officer is still the 
 most pressing problem of the present time." And S. Wirt 
 AViley, general secretary of the Minneapolis Association, begins 
 his recent widely-read monograph on developing a staff with 
 these striking paragraphs: 
 
 "The development of his staff is the great executive function 
 of the secretary. Important as is his leadership with the 
 Board of Directors and committee organization, it is his ability 
 to develop and manage an employed staff that eventually de- 
 termines his usefulness, for the very reason that even in the 
 management of committees he must multiply himself through 
 his associates. 
 
 "The relative importance of this ability increases as the range 
 of a secretary's responsibility enlarges and as his Association 
 grows in size and complexity. It is more fundamental in the 
 general and executive secretaries than in department heads. 
 It is more important in the large city than in the small town 
 Association. 
 
 "The lack of this feature of executive ability in our depart- 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 ment heads, executive and general secretaries is one of the 
 most serious weaknesses in our organization." 
 
 II. The Background of This Book 
 
 The reahzation of the vital relation that the training of the 
 local staff bears to the success and permanence of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association has led to this effort to produce 
 a manual on staff training. This book is the outgrowth of eight 
 years of work on the subject of training secretaries. In 1912 
 I accepted definite responsibility for the secretarial training of 
 young college graduates recruited on the Fellowship Plan by 
 C. K. Ober of the International Committee. I had then had 
 eleven years' experience as a local secretary, but realized 
 the necessity of much more specific training on my part in 
 order to discharge faithfully my responsibility for the careers 
 of these men. My endeavor to make up for my lack of pre- 
 vious preparation for educational work led to my securing what 
 might be called five contributions to my equipment, and these 
 are the basis or background of this book. 
 
 First, eight years of local and traveling experience, study, 
 and experimentation in the training of a staff, with that as )Tiy 
 sole responsibility during the second half of the period 
 mentioned. 
 
 Second, an extended study of how large corporations are 
 training executives, including visits to the plants, interviews 
 with the executives in charge, and study of the available ma- 
 terials and literature. 
 
 Third, an examination of some of the newer movements in 
 the training of engineers in technical colleges, suggested by the 
 analogy of the secretary as a social engineer and my own ex- 
 perience as an engineering student twenty odd years ago. This 
 examination I found highly rewarding. It led to personal con- 
 tact with some of the important developments in professional 
 education. 
 
 Fourth, a faithful study of the Hterature of educational 
 theory and teaching method, including visits to educational in- 
 stitutions and interviews with educators and teachers working 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 on such processes as cooperative education and project 
 teaching. 
 
 Fifth, visits to practically all the Associations in America, 
 Canada, Japan, and China where the training of the stafiE is se- 
 riously undertaken, and extended study of what has been done 
 in our own movement here and in other lands along the line of 
 secretarial training, including long conferences with scores of 
 Association leaders and many of those most vitally concerned — 
 the beginners themselves. 
 
 III. The Essence of the Sfcretaryship 
 
 Dr. Charles R. Mann of the Carnegie Foundation points out 
 that education may proceed toward static information or 
 toward dynamic ability. This latter phrase, dynamic ability, I 
 take to be the essence of the secretaryship ; it is skill in doing 
 things that need to be done. Fundamental theory and broad 
 culture are essentials, but the secretary expresses himself pri- 
 marily as a worker, and in his faculty for accomplishing things 
 he stands or falls. His training, therefore, must be of a sort 
 that will develop him on the side of dynamic ability. Knowl- 
 edge to him is a tool to help him do his work, and one acquires 
 skill with a tool by using it. Hence in the training of secre- 
 taries as presented in this book the central thing is experience. 
 
 Diagrams of ideas are never fully satisfactory; they always 
 leave important considerations unrepresented ; yet the following 
 diagram gives some idea of the central importance of the 
 work experience and the relation of other elements of training 
 to it. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 xui 
 
 Summer 
 School 
 
 Reading 
 and Study 
 
 Class 
 Discussions 
 
 WORIC 
 EXPERIENCE 
 
 Projects 
 
 X 
 
 Coaching 
 
 Staff 
 Conferences 
 
 inferences 
 
 dud 
 (pnventions 
 
 Diagram showing the central importance of actual experience in the 
 training scheme, the relation of all the other elements to it, and the 
 unity of the whole training-center process when organized and con- 
 ducted in harmony with this theory. 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 IV. The Relation of the Processes to the Work 
 Experience 
 
 This diagram is based on the idea that the getting of one's 
 daily work well done is the main consideration. Around this 
 chief essential are grouped four training processes that have a 
 most intimate, immediate, and practical relation to the success- 
 ful performance of one's duties^staff conference _.as ..to_.thg 
 task covering the what and how of the work, class discussion 
 as to difficulties and underlying theory, j;eading^nd_^stiidy for 
 light and help, and_coaching on the work in hand. These four 
 processes are the indispensable essentials to a real training 
 program. As they all relate most closely to the day's work, 
 they are continuous processes as long as there is work in hand 
 and grow in importance as the pressure of work increases. 
 They are of most value in the busiest seasons; they are the 
 sharpening of the sickle that furthers the harvest. The chap- 
 ters devoted to these topics aim to produce conviction that the 
 fall, winter, and spring months, the busiest seasons, are the 
 time of the most profitable employment of these training 
 processes. 
 
 Not quite so closely connected with each man's present work, 
 yet having a helpful relation to it, are four other training proc- 
 esses — ■jnspecdon_ tripSj relations to other institutions in the 
 city, studiesj)f_ other departments" of the Association, and con- 
 ferences with experts in various lines of work. They are im- 
 portant experiences, and should form part of the education of 
 every secretary. They are, however, dispensable, and are 
 therefore diagramed farther from the center. 
 
 The third group, the outer circle, composed of attendance 
 upon confererices_andj;pnyentions, summer schools and.courses 
 in nearby colleges and universities, are "also possible phases" ol 
 local training having much value; but they do not correlate 
 quite so closely with the work of the immediate present. 
 
 These eleven processes relate not only to the central experi- 
 ence, the purposeful tasks of each day, but also, in varying 
 degrees, to each other. The lines radiating from "reading" 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 indicate this connection in one instance. To draw in the rest 
 would confuse the diagram, but similar lines should connect 
 "coaching" and "inspection trips," for instance, and "reading 
 and study" are hardly remote considerations in "university 
 courses." The object of this illustration is not so much to 
 indicate how these processes bear one upon another as to 
 show how they all are intended to help in the work experience 
 of each man. Where the training is conducted in the manner 
 described in the first fifteen chapters, this will be the case. 
 
 The work experience being thus vital, it is of great import- 
 ance that it be organized so as to_j)ut the utmost educational_ 
 v alue into it. Chapter I, on A Varied Experience, and Chapter 
 II, on Project Teaching, introduce the reader to this problem 
 and suggest a method. It is based on the now well accepted 
 theory that the educational process must be one of activity on 
 the part of the student, one that provides for his full self-ex- 
 pression, and that produces a man able to attack and solve the 
 problems of his profession, capable of independent thought, 
 full of initiative, and resourceful in life's situations. 
 
 V. Using the Association as a Training Center 
 
 This full presentation of the local program of training is 
 made because of four deeply rooted convictions : 
 
 First, that the local Association is a tremendous training 
 asset when so used. Over 400 American Associations employ 
 a stafif of four or more secretaries, and in most of these the 
 methods here described can and should be used. 
 
 Second, that one of the chie f duties and junc tions of__a gen- 
 eral secretary is the training^of^jnen_^Jn^_^^the^ work of the 
 ""A'ssdciation. 
 
 Third, that every man on every staff needs continuous train- 
 ing all the days of his sem^^arid that the training of every 
 man on thTltalT should be organized and conducted according 
 to a well-considered and adhered-to plan. 
 
 Fourth, that the use of this training process is one of the 
 very best ways of getting the regular work done ; training is by 
 no means a duty added to the work of the general secretary. 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 but one of the accepted ways of getting all the activities of the 
 Association well planned and executed. 
 
 VI. Values Resulting from Using These Plans 
 
 In different cities where these plans have been presented and 
 taught (not in lectures but by the discussion method) the men 
 have been asked what benefits would accrue to the local As- 
 sociation if they conducted staff training processes. Here is 
 their composite answer of beneficial results. They say such 
 training would: 
 
 Encourage the younger men. 
 
 Help get and hold a staff. 
 
 Make the Association more efficient. 
 
 Put the men on their toes. 
 
 Dignify the secretaryship. 
 
 Serve the community more effectively. 
 
 Make friends for the Association. 
 
 Get better results from the work. 
 
 Supply men for vacancies. 
 
 Promote team play. 
 
 Stimulate trainers to master their subjects. 
 
 Lead secretaries to embody what they teach. 
 
 Raise the standing of the Association in the community. 
 
 Lead men to think constructively. 
 
 Stimulate the older secretaries. 
 
 Enable the plant to run to capacity. 
 
 Reach more people. 
 
 Give the staff more time for thought. 
 
 If these men in the field are right, then we have here a proc- 
 ess that an Asociation can hardly afford to neglect, and one 
 that many will seize with eagerness. The immediate result, of 
 course, is the increased efficiency, satisfaction, and joy of the 
 younger secretary, his greater contentment and wider outlook. 
 The general secretary soon finds that, due to the increased 
 efficiency of his junior staff, he has more time for the real 
 leadership of the Association than had previously been the 
 case. In a book by Henry F. Cope there occurs this striking 
 sentence : "No man has the spirit of Jesus unless he has the 
 educational spirit, the burning hope and desire that men should 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 come into the fullness of life." This is the ideal attitude of a 
 general secretary toward his stafif. What will a general secre-" 
 tary filled with the spirit of Jesus not do that the men on his 
 staff may come into "fulness of life"? ^-- 
 
 VII. Reconstructing the Assistant Secretaryship 
 
 Where these plans are carried out, a new day will dawn 
 for the assistant secretary. To many this position has been 
 one of unrelieved drudgery, a killing grind with little inspira- 
 tion or hopefulness in it. '■ Here is a chance to reconstruct en- 
 tirely the position of assistant, to knock the end out of the 
 blind alley, to open up attractive avenues of expression and 
 growth, and to indicate a real future. Jobs that have had 
 little meaning can become positions to be eagerly accepted by 
 young men looking for a way into a useful life work; the 
 dull years that to some have actually served to stand between 
 them and the real secretaryship become the very avenue lead- 
 ing to it and the preparation for effective service therein. 
 Paraphrasing the slogan of the War, "Make the world safe for 
 democracy," perhaps this book may help to make the Associa- 
 tion safe for assistant secretaries. The loss of good men 
 through an unhappy experience during the first year of service 
 has been a large and sad deduction from our ranks. The sav- 
 ing of those of this group who are really fitted for our work 
 is an undertaking of no small importance. May this book 
 help to achieve it! 
 
 VIII. Wider Applications 
 
 While not much is made of the point in the body of the book, 
 the principles and methods set forth here have wider appHca- 
 tion than the training of secretaries in the city Young Men's 
 Christian Association, the real purpose for which the book is 
 written. 
 
 I. Volunteer workers: 
 
 Many of the plans are equally applicable to the training of 
 volunteer workers for all sorts of committee work. Portions 
 of the matter on staff conferences, to mention one section, ap- 
 
xviit INTRODUCTION 
 
 ply to committee meetings ; and coaching is a process used in 
 all training of volunteer workers. 
 
 2. Bible-class leaders: 
 
 The whole process of group-discussion, the subject of the 
 third and fourth chapters, applies in full to the leading of 
 Bible discussion groups, in which, indeed, much of this matter 
 was developed by Harrison S. Elliott. 
 
 3. Leaders of boys' clubs: 
 
 Boys' secretaries have seen that these plans will serve them 
 in training leaders for all sorts of boys' clubs and groups. 
 
 4. Gymnasium leaders' corps: 
 
 One physical director quickly discovered that these methods 
 would help him to train leaders for his gymnasium classes and 
 clubs. 
 
 5. College and rural Associations: 
 
 Naturally, these plans are not limited in their appHcation to 
 the city Association. County, railroad, and other Associations 
 will find them equally helpful, while my four years as a college 
 general secretary lead me to believe they may help in student 
 fields, especially in developing a strong cabinet. 
 
 6. Foreign Associations : 
 
 Secretaries in other countries will find help here in the 
 training of the nationals of these countries in the work of the 
 Association, both as secretaries and as committeemen. 
 
 7. Other rehgious and social organizations : 
 
 Pastors of churches, secretaries of Young Women's Chris- 
 tian Associations, head workers of social settlements, and other 
 leaders who have to do with the training of assistants and vol- 
 unteer workers will, I hope, find in these chapters useful 
 processes. 
 
 8. Corporations : 
 
 Several leaders in the training of men for executive positions 
 in industrial and business corporations have said that the ideas 
 developed in this book apply with full force to their work. 
 This is probably true ; a few of the plans discussed are adapta- 
 tions of processes in operation in industry, learned during my 
 study of executive training in corporations, while I served 
 
INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 as a member of the Training Methods Committee of the Na- 
 tional Association of Corporation Training, and while a student 
 of personnel work with F. C. Henderschott of the New York 
 Edison Company in a course given by him in New York 
 University in the fall of 1918. 
 
 IX. Limitation 
 
 As the name implies, this book deals only with the training 
 of the local staff as carried on by the executive or general secre- 
 tary. No attempt is made to treat the whole subject of secre- 
 tarial training or the theory and practice of those essential 
 institutions, the Association Colleges. The hundreds of men 
 in the assistant secretaryship who have had no special training 
 for the work of the Association, and the large possibilities of 
 this source of Association leadership, justify the preparation of 
 a book limited to this problem and suggesting ways by which 
 these men may secure at least some of the elements of sound 
 professional training. 
 
 The Association Colleges occupy an important position in the 
 training of men for the secretaryship — a position the signifi- 
 cance of which will secure growing recognition. It is my hope 
 that this contribution to the problem of local training will serve 
 as a stimulus to all the training agencies and result in increasing 
 interest in the Colleges. 
 
 X. Appreciation 
 
 How much I have drawn upon the wisdom and experience 
 of others in the preparation of the chapters that follow ! The 
 words of appreciation that often end an introduction were never 
 written more sincerely than are these, as I acknowledge very 
 deep personal indebtedness to the writers whose books I have 
 studied and the men whose patience I have doubtless tried with 
 persistent questioning, and who have been a great help to me 
 in my effort to learn how to do my work of training secretaries 
 for the Young Men's Christian Association. The list of those 
 interviewed is too long to print in full, and it is difficult to 
 choose only a few; yet in passing over many who know their 
 
XX INTRODUCTION 
 
 names should be here, I must mention J. W. Dietz of the West- 
 ern Electric Company and C. R. Dooley of the Standard Oil 
 Company, real educators in industry, who, at important times, 
 gave me more help than they realized; William Orr of the 
 International Committee for his guidance of my study of pro- 
 ject teaching; Harrison S. Elliott, of the International Com- 
 mittee, master of the discussion method ; my associate, Jay A. 
 Urice, for help all along the line; C. K. Ober, pioneer seer of 
 this vocation, who first suggested that I undertake the work of 
 training secretaries ; my "chief," R. P. Kaighn, for many op- 
 portunities and helpful suggestions; Miss Sadie Lind of the 
 Personnel Bureau office for efficient help on the manuscript; 
 and her to whom this book is dedicated, wise counselor in 
 every task. 
 
 Paul Super. 
 New York, 
 
 October i, 1920. 
 
PART I 
 
 PROCESSES 
 
 The fotirteen elements in the local training program 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 A VARIED EXPERIENCE 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. What Does a YMCA Secretary Do? 
 II. What Things Does a Secretary Get Others to Do? 
 
 III. A Varied Experience 
 
 1. A corporation plan 
 
 2. An Association plan 
 
 3. The understudy plan 
 
 IV. A Graphic Record of Varied Experience 
 V. Values to Be Secured 
 
 1. Technical skill 
 
 2. Personal growth 
 
 3. Ability to attack and solve problems 
 
 4. Initiative and resourcefulness 
 
 5. Certain character qualities 
 
 6. Outlook 
 
 VI. Avoiding Extremes 
 
 1. First possibility of error 
 
 2. Second possibility of error 
 
 VII. A Guide to Your Definite Planning 
 
 Problem 
 
 How can our younger secretaries be given that varied ex- 
 perience which will result in their largest growth and develop- 
 ment f 
 
 I. What Does a YMCA Secretary Do ? What Prob- 
 lems Does He Have to Attack and Solve? 
 
 The answers to these two questions will give us helpful sug- 
 gestions as to what a Y M C A secretary should study during 
 the first years of his preparation for, and experience in, secre- 
 
 3 
 
4 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 tarial leadership, and the tasks that should be assigned him for 
 training purposes. The answers will form the content, the 
 subject matter, of his secretarial education. 
 
 These questions have been asked in various city Associations 
 where the training of the staff was being discussed; such As- 
 sociations as, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Columbus, and Nashville. 
 Here is the composite answer to the first question, before the 
 material was systematized. 
 
 What Things Does a Secretary Do? 
 
 Gets members. 
 
 Gives information. 
 
 Leads Bible classes. 
 
 Gets jobs for men. 
 
 Becomes personally acquainted 
 
 with men. 
 Promotes entertainments. 
 Locates men in living rooms. 
 Gives vocational advice. 
 Operates a building. 
 Teaches men to play games. 
 Works with committeemen. 
 .Trains teachers. 
 Enrolls students. 
 Collects fees. 
 
 Arranges religious interviews. 
 Teaches thrift. 
 Leads hikes. 
 Gives sex instruction. 
 Teaches men attitude toward 
 
 job. 
 Introduces men to churches. 
 Develops character by personal 
 
 contact. 
 Lends men money. 
 Raises money. 
 Accounts for money. 
 Disburses money. 
 Trains other secretaries. 
 Leads men into the Christian 
 
 life. 
 Conducts game rooms. 
 
 Arranges medical and physical 
 
 exams. 
 Promotes hygienic living. 
 Operates a restaurant and soda 
 
 fountain. 
 Makes talks and speeches. 
 Prepares publicity and arranges 
 
 its distribution. 
 Assigns lockers. 
 Handles correspondence. 
 Writes manuals. 
 Supervises work of others. 
 Coordinates his work with 
 
 others. 
 Gives information as to points 
 
 of interest. 
 Pacifies folks. i^ 
 
 Shows building. 
 Makes lobby attractive. 
 Promotes a "24 Hour a Day" 
 
 Club. 
 Runs a check room. 
 Operates a billiard room. 
 Sells books, money orders, etc. 
 Conducts committee meetings. 
 Makes a budget. 
 Outlines and plans policies. 
 Runs movies. 
 
 Purchases books, supplies, etc. 
 Conducts lectures. 
 Makes surveys. 
 Promotes extension activities. 
 
A VARIED EXPERIENCE 
 
 5 
 
 Wins people to the purpose of 
 the Association. 
 
 "Sells" Association features and 
 activities. 
 
 Coaches committeemen. 
 
 Coaches assistants. 
 
 Studies reports. Writes reports. 
 
 Helps assimilate new members. 
 
 Outlines business for committee 
 meetings. 
 
 Ushers at meetings. 
 
 Leads singing. 
 
 Works up committees. 
 
 Makes prospect lists. 
 
 Follows up students. 
 
 Plans programs of activities. 
 
 Conducts meetings. 
 
 Discovers, secures, trains group 
 leaders. 
 
 Conducts training classes. 
 
 Keeps abreast of times. 
 
 Receives callers. 
 
 Fraternizes with men. 
 
 Conducts personal interviews on 
 others' problems. 
 
 Studies for personal growth. 
 
 Promotes recreation. 
 
 Makes daily reports. 
 
 Visits prisons. 
 
 Conducts foremen's meetings. 
 
 Promotes educational classes. 
 
 Supervises classes. 
 
 Employs instructors. 
 
 Determines educational policies. 
 
 Inspects building. 
 
 Hires help. 
 
 Locates and rectifies difficulties. 
 
 Solicits foreign work money. 
 
 Coaches assistants at desk. 
 
 Recruits extra workers. 
 
 Extends hospitality. 
 
 Takes membership applications. 
 
 Inspects equipment and activi- 
 ties, 
 
 Helps on State and National 
 Association affairs. 
 
 Carries on community service. 
 
 Studies his field. 
 
 Studies the needs of men. 
 
 Runs an orchestra. 
 
 Writes newspaper articles. 
 
 Writes ads. 
 
 Interviews prospective students. 
 
 Calls on sick men. 
 
 Attends staff conferences. 
 
 Organizes Bible classes. 
 
 Balances the cash. 
 
 Rents rooms. 
 
 Makes entries in record books. 
 
 Pays bills. 
 
 Banks money. 
 
 Cultivates relationships with 
 churches, schools, etc. 
 
 Keeps rooms in an orderly 
 shape. 
 
 Devises physical education pro- 
 gram. 
 
 Conducts shop meetings. 
 
 Organizes athletic leagues. 
 
 Promotes shop socials. 
 
 Conducts financial campaigns. 
 
 Organizes social clubs. 
 
 Is a boys' work expert. 
 
 Cultivates friends for the Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 Maintains a foreign work ex- 
 hibit. 
 
 Manages an office. 
 
 Answers general public in- 
 quiries. 
 
 Formulates courses of study. 
 
 Interviews men. 
 
 Promotes social programs. 
 
 Secures committee service. 
 
 Works through committeemen. 
 
 Sets up leagues and tourna- 
 ments. 
 
 Sells candy, stamps, postcards. 
 
TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Posts dormitory payments and Keeps attendance records. 
 
 room assignments. 
 
 Operates the 'phones. 
 
 Dictates letters. 
 
 Answers criticisms. 
 
 Conducts camps. 
 
 Organizes campaigns. 
 
 Operates playgrounds. 
 
 Meets men. 
 
 Leads men to church member- 
 ship. 
 
 Promotes physical work. 
 
 Checks cash. 
 
 Keeps membership records. 
 
 Secures speakers. 
 
 Secures and attends Boards of 
 Directors and committee 
 meetings. 
 
 Cooperates with pastors. 
 
 Organizes a laundry system. 
 
 Promotes reading-room activity. 
 
 Maintains relation with settle- 
 ments and charities. 
 
 Maintains relations with Y. W. 
 C. A., K. of'c, C. S. Inc., 
 Red Cross, etc. 
 
 Learns people's names. 
 
 Add to this list such other tasks as are peculiar to your own 
 Association. The total result is rather an overwhelming list. 
 What a wide range of interests and tasks it covers, and what 
 a variety of talent is required ! It would be profitable to spend 
 quite a while in careful study of this analysis of your work. 
 Do this now, or return to it. 
 
 a. Which of these things do men do fairly well without pre- 
 vious training? That is, at which do they attain skill 
 immediately ? 
 
 b. For which of these tasks is it necessary to train men? 
 Which do they do well only after special training? 
 
 c. Which do they learn to do after entering the Association 
 secretaryship ? 
 
 d. For which are there a variety of processes, but just one 
 best way? 
 
 e. In which do character qualities count most? 
 
 f. For which items is technical skill required? 
 
 g. For which are standard processes in use in your Associa- 
 tion? 
 
 Copy this list, and write "a," "b," "c," etc., in front of those 
 items which you select in answer to questions "a" to "g." 
 Now that you have done this, what is the content of your train- 
 ing program, so far as this study reveals it? What do your 
 men need to be taught ? 
 
A VARIED EXPERIENCE 7 
 
 Perhaps you could handle this material more readily if you 
 classified it under a system of headings. If no better system 
 suggests itself, try one of these : 
 
 A functional classification of secretarial tasks. 
 
 Studying Training 
 
 Planning Dispatching 
 
 Organizing Reporting 
 
 Enlisting or selling Conducting or supervising 
 
 Assigning Accounting or recording 
 
 Promoting Maintaining equipment 
 
 A classification by departments. 
 Religious Membership 
 
 Educational Office 
 
 Social Business 
 
 Physical Boys 
 
 Economic Finance 
 
 Try this one: 
 
 Dealings with things 
 Dealings with persons 
 Dealings with ideas 
 
 A division into staflf duties and line duties is also possible, 
 each of these broad classes being again subdivided, either by 
 functions (things you do, as plan, promote) or by departments. 
 
 II. What Things Does a Secretary Get Others to Do? 
 
 There are those who believe that a secretary who does all 
 the work himself is not the most efficient leader. The real 
 secretary, they would say, is the one who gets others to do 
 things, and so multiplies himself many times. 
 
 With this in mind, check your list again, and indicate how 
 many of those listed tasks and others in addition, the skillful 
 secretary gets others to do. 
 
 I. To what extent do the two lists, the things a secretary 
 does and the things he gets others to do, coincide ? 
 
8 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 2. What is the fundamental difference between the two 
 lists ? 
 
 3. What tasks is it out of the question to expect laymen to 
 perform? 
 
 4. What tasks should the secretary never do if he can get 
 a layman to undertake them? 
 
 III. A Varied Experience 
 
 Without discussing at this point just why we believe it is 
 so, let us proceed on the assumption that the best way of 
 learning how to do a thing is to do it. Many will accept this 
 as axiomatic. The underlying theory is fully presented in a 
 later chapter. 
 
 You have carefully prepared a list of things you desire your 
 staff to be able to do, and at which you wish your younger 
 secretaries to begin to acquire skill. The problem you now 
 face is that of so organizing the work-schedule and task-as- 
 signment of each of these younger secretaries that he will have 
 opportunity of securing actual experience in a wide variety of 
 work. Probably three considerations influence your desire to 
 give them this wide experience : 
 
 You want all this work done. 
 
 You want each secretary to have an opportunity to learn the 
 elements of the whole secretarial vocation, to secure first of all 
 a broad general experience. 
 
 You want to give each man an opportunity to discover the 
 sort of work he can do best, the line of his personal aptitudes 
 and likings. You need this information for your guidance, and 
 he also needs it as the basis of his choice of that phase of the 
 secretaryship which is to be his life work. 
 
 With a view to giving a man this opportunity for getting a 
 wide experience and discovering his best aptitudes. Associa- 
 tions and corporations have used the following plans in or- 
 ganizing the work-schedules of prospective future executives. 
 
 /. A Corporation Plan 
 
 Some corporations route these younger men through their 
 
A VARIED EXPERIENCE 9 
 
 various departments, planning a stay in each one long enough 
 to allow the learner to get a good grasp of the problems and 
 processes of that phase of the business. He carries real re- 
 sponsibilities, does genuine "production work," but is not kept 
 in one place beyond a reasonable learning period, say three 
 months. 
 
 The chief difficulty encountered here is the objection of the 
 head man to instructing new men continually, and then losing 
 them just when they become of real assistance. A second ob- 
 jection is the break in the young man's personal relation to 
 things he has started and which more or less center in his per- 
 sonal connection with them. There is undoubtedly a loss in 
 this shifting of personality. 
 
 Some think that the ultimate gains due to all-around trained 
 men, and the ability of the job to attract ambitious men, out- 
 weigh their disadvantages. But the department heads often 
 object to the process. They prefer low-grade men who "stay 
 put" to men of larger ability who shift every three months. 
 The plan has not been extensively tried in Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Associations. 
 
 2. An Association Plan 
 
 Some general secretaries think well of the plan of schedul- 
 ing seventy-five per cent of a man's time in a permanent 
 position for a year and leaving twenty-five per cent of his time 
 to be utilized in work in different departments. For instance, 
 a man might spend six hours a day in the office, and two hours 
 in tasks in other departments; such as, soliciting members, 
 making collections, managing shop meetings, teaching Bible 
 classes, and working with committees. The plan has much to 
 commend it. Then men are brighter during the shorter office 
 periods, more deeply interested in the whole Association, more 
 attracted by their work, and get a genuine varied experience. 
 Some favor shortening the six hours of office work to five, and 
 dividing the day's fifteen-hour schedule between three men. 
 These are reenforced during the most busy hours by depart- 
 ment heads and other secretaries. This brings department 
 
10 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 heads behind the counter and levels up the whole standard and 
 dignity of .counter duty. The recommendation comes out of 
 successful experience. Difficulties with the cash are obviated 
 by having three cash drawers or a main and supplementary 
 cash drawer, or by each man checking the cash as he comes 
 on and goes off, using a printed form which is quickly filled 
 in. Work out a schedule for your office on this basis, to see 
 what difficulties are involved. How can one overcome these 
 difficulties ? 
 
 The position of office secretary in the general office is usually 
 considered the best place in which to begin one's secretarial 
 experience. It affords splendid opportunities for meeting men, 
 learning their needs, their problems, why they come to the 
 Association building, and ways in which the Association can 
 best serve them. Contacts are formed there. The records 
 of the Association are kept there. Definite responsibility is 
 easily assumed, a view of the whole Association is secured, 
 and the minute details are there met and mastered. The 
 junior secretary's office work is easily supervised, he is readily 
 coached for different tasks, and his progress easily noted. On 
 the other hand, many office secretaries are neglected, receive 
 little help or coaching, become discouraged with the deadening 
 routine of an unvaried experience, and leave the work. The 
 office secretaryship can be made a splendid place in which to 
 receive training. No real training will take place there, how- 
 ever, unless such training is definitely planned and supervised. 
 
 J. The Understudy Plan 
 
 The position of understudy to the general or executive sec- 
 retary has great possibilities along this line (getting a varied 
 experience), if the general or executive secretary understands 
 the kindly and unselfish art of providing this variety of ex- 
 perience for his assistant. The senior who knows how and is 
 willing to delegate worth-while pieces of work to his junior 
 holds the key to the junior's growth and happiness. There are 
 such men. May their tribe increase ! 
 
 Whatever plan of giving junior secretaries a varied experi- 
 
A VARIED EXPERIENCE ii 
 
 ence is adopted, someone must carry the responsibility of 
 planning, scheduling, dispatching, and supervising this phase 
 of their work. 
 
 Who should do this in your Association? 
 
 How can he schedule this work for a junior secretary? As 
 one answer to the second question, a modification of a graphic 
 method worked out for the shops and industries working in 
 cooperation with the engineering school of the University of 
 Cincinnati is here presented. (For original, see U. S. Bureau 
 of Education Bulletin No. 37, 1916, p. 18.) 
 
 IV. A Graphic Record of Varied Experience 
 Proceed as follows : 
 
 1. Break Up the secretarial task into all those things a secre- 
 tary on your staff needs to be able to do, as we have attempted 
 to do early in this chapter. Let us hereafter use the word 
 "project" for each of these tasks. 
 
 2. Classify these under appropriate heads. For this purpose 
 the departmental classification may be the most usable. 
 
 3. Rule a sheet of paper as in the accompanying diagram. 
 
 4. For convenience, consider all days after the 28th of the 
 month as part of the fourth week. 
 
 5. When a project has been completed, grade the perform- 
 ance of the project A, B, C, or D, and enter this letter in 
 the proper week. 
 
 6. At any time, a chart for each secretary-in-training, so 
 filled out, will show the areas of his experience, his degree of 
 skill, his improvement, and the areas of Association work in 
 which he has been given no training. 
 
12 
 
 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Record of Experience and Projects 
 
 Secretary-in-Training 
 
 Sept., 1920, to Sept., 192 1 
 
 Month 
 
 September 
 
 October 
 
 November 
 
 Week 
 
 1234 
 
 1234 
 
 3 4 
 
 Business Office: 
 Receiving cash 
 Ordering supplies 
 Checking dormitory rent 
 Paying bills 
 Filing magazines 
 Etc. 
 
 Membership Work: 
 Soliciting members 
 Collecting fees 
 Sending renewal notices 
 Building prospect list 
 Etc. 
 
 Social Work: 
 Showing visitor building 
 Promoting dormitory social 
 Conducting social singing 
 Etc. 
 
 Religious Work: 
 Organizing Bible class 
 Promoting a forum 
 Conducting religious inter- 
 view 
 Etc. 
 
 V. Values to Be Secured 
 
 In conducting a young secretary through this varied experi- 
 ence as an introduction to the tasks and problems of the secre- 
 taryship, there are at least six values to be secured. The pro- 
 jects can easily be gone through mechanically and very little 
 of these gains achieved. The educational values w^e desire to 
 obtain must be definitely planned for, and the securing of them 
 lifted to a higher plane than incident or accident. 
 
 Which of these six values are essential to managerial ability? 
 
 I. Technical skill. Ability to do the various phases of the 
 work well. A finished workman is the result sought. For in- 
 
A VARIED EXPERIENCE 13 
 
 stance, the junior secretary might be asked to call up the 
 directors to remind them of attendance at a directors' meet- 
 ing. Technical skill in performing this task would consist 
 in securing the right men, clarity in making known to them 
 who is speaking and the object of the telephone call, the 
 use of a pleasant voice in 'phoning, and the securing of 
 an accurate report as to whether or not the men called up would 
 attend the meeting. 
 
 An important phase of technical skill is the possession of cer- 
 tain right habits; such as always answering the 'phone in a 
 pleasant voice, or in saying "Jones speaking,'' instead of 
 "Hello," upon taking down the receiver. 
 
 2. Personal growth — constantly enlarging caliber. This 
 growth comes from thought in connection with tasks, from 
 asking "Why?" The junior secretary in this case might want 
 to know why the directors are wanted at this particular meet- 
 ing, and proceed from that to the deeper underlying principle 
 of the Association as a layman's organization. He advances 
 beyond mere technical proficiency in calling up the directors 
 and getting a clear report by using this task as an occasion for 
 a deeper understanding of Association philosophy. Or he 
 might want to know who these men are whom he is calling up 
 and what the most efifective approach to each of them would be. 
 The point is that in our giving men a varied experience they 
 must be allowed to develop beyond mere perfection in routine 
 to a consideration of principles. 
 
 3. Ability to attack and solve problems, an understanding 
 of how to locate the difficulties in any situation, and to find the 
 proper solution for the problem presented. 
 
 4. Initiative and resourcefulness. The giving of men a 
 varied experience can be so conducted as to eliminate com- 
 pletely these important values from a man's personality. Or 
 projects can be so assigned as to give a man's own creative 
 instincts an opportunity, and develop them through their 
 exercise. 
 
 5. Certain character qualities, such as continued enthusiasm, 
 the habit of doing one's best, patience, optimism, faith in men, 
 
14 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 kindly forcefulness, organization of time, neatness, and 
 gentility. 
 
 6. Outlook; ability to see and the habit of seeing the im- 
 mediate task and the Association itself in its wider relations, 
 its place in society, its historical setting, and to appreciate the 
 relation of what are usually called cultural subjects to a secre- 
 tary's life and work. 
 
 Happy is that junior secretary whose chief sees in the daily 
 round of work opportunity for the enriching of his junior's 
 life and the securing of these educational values. Both the 
 junior and the senior will make their way into the Associa- 
 tion's "Who's Who." 
 
 VI. Avoiding Extremes 
 
 Success in the matter of giving men a varied experience lies, 
 as does most success, in avoiding the possible extremes. 
 
 1. First possibility of error. 
 
 a. Men may be kept at certain tasks long after the educa- 
 tional value of the project has been secured. There are some 
 tasks at which secretaries-in-training should be kept only so 
 long as they afford valuable experience, or give insight into 
 processes. 
 
 b. The opposite extreme is so to crowd on work and experi- 
 ence as either to confuse the learner or overwork him. Time 
 is an element in growth, and digestion helps intellectual, just 
 as it helps gastronomic, processes. 
 
 2. Second possibility of error. 
 
 a. "I throw them into the water and let them swim" repre- 
 sents another extreme. The method results in poor swimmers 
 and many drownings. 
 
 b. On the other hand, some men are coached till they are 
 sick of it, and all their initiative is taken from them by too 
 much instruction as to detail. 
 
 VII. A Guide to Your Definite Planning 
 
 I. If you make the office secretaryship a genuine beginning 
 of a secretarial education, what sort of man should you place 
 
A VARIED EXPERIENCE 15 
 
 in this position, as to age, education, and possibility of growth? 
 
 2. To what extent have you found that a variety of tasks 
 helps in the development of a man and in the discovery of his 
 best abilities? 
 
 3. How many hours do your younger secretaries spend be- 
 hind the office counter? 
 
 4. How many hours can they spend there and do first-class 
 work? 
 
 5. How can these men be given an educational and refresh- 
 ing varied experience? 
 
 6. How would you definitely use the twenty-five per cent of 
 a man's time available for work outside the office? 
 
 7. Who should be responsible for the use of this time? 
 
 8. How can these varied tasks, or projects, be given real 
 educational value? 
 
 Having read this chapter through, return now to the ques- 
 tions you have merely read and not answered, and do the work 
 required to answer them. Only to the extent that you actually 
 think these things through will this material here given be of 
 value to you. In the last set of questions above, the first two 
 do not require immediate action. Questions 3 to 8 are asked 
 with the hope that you will take paper and pencil and work 
 out a definite plan, now. Investigate, plan, decide, act. 
 
 In making your thorough analysis of your Association work, 
 consult the list of projects in Chapter II and the material in 
 Part III, "The Content of the Secretaryship." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PROJECTS 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. Project Teaching: Five steps 
 
 1. A list of projects 
 
 2. The project outUne: Illustration 
 
 3. The assignment 
 
 4. The execution of the project 
 
 5. Report and discussion 
 
 II. A Consideration of the Steps 
 
 r. The preparation of project outhnes 
 
 a. Six illustrations with comment 
 
 (i) Securing a Committee Meeting 
 
 (2) Soliciting a Membership Renewal 
 
 (3) Using the Telephone 
 
 (4) Preparing Stock for Stair Stringer 
 
 (5) A Potato-Growing Project 
 
 (6) A Vegetable Garden Project 
 
 b. Three methods of preparation 
 
 ( 1 ) Problem-solution method 
 
 (2) Chronological order 
 
 (3) Related study method: Illustration and 
 
 comment 
 
 2. Assigning a project: Three methods 
 
 a. A previously prepared outhne 
 
 b. A jointly prepared outline: Illustration 
 
 c. The junior prepares the outline 
 
 3. The execution of the project 
 
 a. Coaching 
 
 b. Related study 
 
 4. Reporting the project 
 
 III. The Choice and Sequence of Projects 
 
 1. Selecting projects : Considerations affecting the choice 
 
 2. The sequence of projects 
 
 16 
 
PROJECTS 17 
 
 IV. Summary 
 V. Suggested Projects 
 VI. Long-Term, or Major, Projects 
 VII. References 
 
 Problem 
 
 How can our secretaries-in-training secure educational 
 values — growth — from performing these assigned tasks that 
 make up a varied experience? 
 
 I. Project Teaching 
 
 We broke up the secretarial vocation into the tasks or proj- 
 ects that compose it. Now we push farther into the training 
 problem, and seek to discover a way of giving genuine educa- 
 tional value to these tasks. 
 
 A modern teaching method known as "project teaching" 
 afifords an answer to the question at the top of the page. The 
 method itself is as old as man. It is new only in that it is a 
 scientific organization of what certain good teachers have long 
 been doing. 
 
 Any task, anything that is to be done, is, in this use of the 
 word, a project. Balancing the books, soliciting a member- 
 ship, leading a meeting, promoting a social — all these are proj- 
 ects. Some take a few minutes ; some go on for months. 
 
 The five steps in project teaching are as follows: 
 
 1. The work of a secretary is analyzed into its component 
 tasks, as was done in the previous chapter. Each of these is 
 called a "project." 
 
 2. An outline of the things to be done is then prepared for 
 each project — an outline for the actual doing of a piece of 
 real work, a part of the Association's regular program. Such 
 an outline as this : 
 
 PROJECT — Securing a Committee Meeting 
 
 I. When will you have the committee meet? 
 
 a. Who should be consulted as to the time? 
 
 b. What hours have previously proved well chosen? 
 
i8 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 2. Where shall the committee meet? 
 
 a. What places are most convenient to all concerned? 
 
 b. What places are available? 
 
 c. What places are especially desirable? 
 
 d. What is the previous experience on this point? 
 
 e. If a meal-time meeting is chosen, who pays for the 
 
 meal? 
 
 3. How will you notify the committeemen? 
 
 a. What are the advantages of (i) a post card, (2) 
 
 a letter, (3) a 'phone call, (4) a personal call? 
 
 b. What information as to the business to be trans- 
 
 acted should this notice convey? 
 
 4. How can the chairman best be prepared to preside in- 
 
 telligently, and get all necessary business transacted? 
 
 5. How can the members be prepared for helpful participa- 
 
 tion in the discussion? 
 
 6. What final reminder of the meeting will you send out? 
 
 3. The third step is the assigning of this project to the 
 secretary-in-training. 
 
 4. He undertakes and completes the project with a well- 
 considered amount of consultation and supervision. 
 
 5. He reports upon his project, sometimes to the senior 
 secretary, sometimes to a training-class where it is discussed. 
 
 II. A Consideration of the Steps 
 
 Let us now consider each of these five steps and see what 
 help to a good understanding of them we can get from the 
 experience of those who have been using this method these 
 past ten years. We will begin our discussion with the second 
 step, the preparation of project outlines, reserving comment 
 upon the making of a list of projects until the general method 
 of their use is well understood. 
 
 J. The Preparation of Project Outlines 
 
 a. Six illustrations with comment 
 
 Here are a few sample outlines. We will study their 
 characteristics, and then discuss how to prepare them ourselves. 
 
 (i) PROJECT — Securing a Successful Committee Meeting 
 The Membership Committee is to meet at 4:30 p. m. in a 
 class-room. 
 
PROJECTS 19 
 
 1. How should you prepare the room for this meeting? 
 
 a. What are the advantages of meeting around a table? 
 
 b. How will you arrange the chairs so that the least 
 
 possible number of men sit with the light in their 
 eyes? 
 
 c. What will you do with excess chairs or furniture, to 
 
 make the room neat and attractive? 
 
 d. What will you do if the table and chairs have not 
 
 been dusted? 
 
 e. What heat and ventilation arrangements need to be 
 
 attended to? 
 
 2. What preparations will facilitate the work of the com- 
 
 mittee ? 
 
 a. What advance information should they have con- 
 
 cerning the business to be considered? 
 
 b. What typewritten reports or notes should be pro- 
 
 vided for each man? 
 
 c. What preliminary work will prevent the meeting 
 
 from being a monologue by the secretary? 
 
 d. How much coaching will the chairman require to 
 
 prepare him to preside? 
 
 3. Who will meet and greet the members as they arrive? 
 
 a. Where meet them? 
 
 b. What instructions will the man at the counter need? 
 
 4. How should the meeting be conducted? 
 
 a. Who will prepare the order of business? Who will 
 
 preside ? 
 
 b. Who will keep the minutes? Why? 
 
 c. What are the advantages of definite action in the 
 
 form of motions or resolutions? 
 
 d. How long should the meeting last? 
 
 e. How bring it to a close if it is going to run too 
 
 long? 
 
 f. Under what circumstances may long and difficult 
 
 matters be referred to sub-committees for report 
 at a later meeting? Or 
 
 g. To sub-committee with power to act? 
 
 5. What do you desire to accomplish by this meeting? 
 
 a. What is the main issue to be considered? 
 
 b. To what extent do you want the help of all the mem- 
 
 bers of the committee in reaching decisions? 
 
 c. How far do you want to "put something over"? 
 
 d. Which procedure, b or c, will develop genuine work- 
 
 ing committees? Why? 
 
20 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Comment: (The paragraphs under this head are not part 
 of the project outline.) 
 
 1. Here the thought and activity of the junior secretary who 
 is to carry out the project are stimulated entirely by questions. 
 No directions are given. What effect will this have upon his 
 interest and initiative ? What is the relative value of questions 
 and directions in producing thoughtful action? 
 
 2. The order of the questions is chronological, with the ex- 
 ception of the last set, 5 a, b, c, d. There are other good ways 
 of arranging the questions. 
 
 3. The questions are all such as a senior secretary would 
 ask a junior on his staff. 
 
 4. How many of the questions can 'be answered by saying 
 "yes" or "no"? 
 
 5. How would you justify your giving this amount of time 
 and care to setting up a task for an assistant? 
 
 (2) PROJECT — Soliciting a Membership Renewal. This 
 man has failed to reply to the usual notice that his dues 
 are now payable. 
 
 1. a. Who is he? How old? What are his connections? 
 
 b. Why has he not called to pay his membership fees? 
 
 c. Did he join for privileges, or as a contribution, or to 
 
 render service? 
 
 d. Has he been to the building recently? Why, or why 
 
 not? 
 
 e. Has he been getting that for which he joined the 
 
 Association ? 
 
 f. Where, and at what time had you best see him? 
 
 g. What conditions will you have to meet when you 
 
 see him? Will he be alone or with other people? 
 
 2. a. What approach will best win his attention? 
 
 b. Outline your opening. 
 
 c. In what will he be especially interested, some privilege 
 
 or the idea of service to others? 
 
 d. In what will you attempt to interest him? Can you 
 
 enroll him for some piece of service ? 
 
 e. Why is it bad practice to say, "Your membership has 
 
 expired"? What is the advantage in saying, "You 
 usually pay your annual dues at this time"? 
 
 3. a. What advantage is there in having his receipt all 
 
 made out in advance? 
 
PROJECTS 21 
 
 b. Does it help to have with you certain printed matter 
 
 or reports? 
 
 c. Can you use free tickets of admission to coming events 
 
 with good effect? 
 
 d. Should you carry with you a memo of the date he last 
 
 paid, amount, and the feature he is interested in? 
 
 e. Have you blank checks with you? 
 
 f. He might be willing to interest a friend. Have you 
 
 a ten-day pass with you? 
 
 4. a. How many men can you see today? 
 
 b. How will you route them? 
 
 c. Could you really save money by using a taxi, time 
 
 and energy considered? 
 
 d. Can you handle certain men better if you take a mutual 
 
 friend or member of your committee with you? 
 
 5. a. Go to it and bring back the membership ! 
 
 b. Make every visit add or retain a friend, smooth out a 
 
 complaint, or enlist service. 
 
 c. What can you do to leave the man in an interested 
 
 and friendly attitude? 
 
 6. a. Why did you succeed ? 
 
 b. Why did you fail? 
 
 c. Would a friendly call a month in advance of renewal 
 
 date have helped? 
 
 d. Prepare a report showing what you have learned by 
 
 this experience. 
 
 e. Formulate some principles or rules of procedure based 
 
 on your conclusions. 
 
 Comment : 
 
 1. The order here is not chronological. It considers, first, 
 conditions and possible difficulties; then solutions for these; 
 then details of procedure, specialized things to be done; then a 
 few numerical calculations ; and finally, a review and report. 
 
 2. It has been suggested that in some places in this outline 
 too much of a man's thinking is done for him; for instance, 
 questions 2 e and 3 d. How would you revise these to im- 
 prove them? 
 
 3. Note that 2 b and 5 b are directions. How much does 
 this change improve or mar the process? 
 
 (3) PROJECT— C/.fw^ the Telephone. (Prepared by J. C. 
 Clark, Shanghai, YMCA.) 
 
22 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 The way you use the telephone may secure or lose a 
 member for the Association. It may even determine 
 whether or not you are to be a secretary. Tact, intel- 
 ligence, patience, and character are all needed when using 
 the 'phone. 
 
 1. Suppose a stranger calls up and you answer the tele- 
 
 phone. To him you are the representative of the Asso- 
 ciation; the impression you make on him causes him to 
 be favorable or unfavorable to what you represent. 
 What kind of an impression do you plan to make? 
 
 2. How can you be sure that you make such an impression ? 
 
 3. What do you do when people speak to you over the tele- 
 
 phone in a language which you do not understand? 
 
 4. What do you do when they ask for someone whose name 
 
 you have never heard? 
 
 5. What do you do if they ask you to give someone a mes- 
 
 sage? 
 
 6. What do you do if they ask you to call someone else 
 
 to the telephone? 
 
 7. How do you close a conversation? 
 
 8. If many persons use your telephone, what should you do 
 
 every day with the mouthpiece? 
 
 9. If you want to call the fire department, or police depart- 
 
 ment, what is the quickest way? 
 10. What is the fire department number? 
 
 Comment : 
 
 1. Between 2 and 3 might be inserted the questions, What 
 do you say when you take down the receiver? Why? What 
 are the advantages of saying "Y M C A" instead of "Hello"? 
 What inflection and tone of voice will make the best impres- 
 sion upon the person calling? 
 
 2. See if you can devise questions that will make the student 
 himself suggest the points covered in the introductory para- 
 graphs. 
 
 Fruitful experiments in the outlining of work have been 
 made by educators in a variety of fields. Their efiforts have 
 been very successful in the training of men. As their proced- 
 ure will illuminate our task, a consideration of their method 
 will be rewarding. 
 
 The following three projects are illustrative of work in other 
 fields. The first is a carpentry project used in the training of 
 
PROJECTS 23 
 
 carpenters for the United States Army. It is Job No. i from 
 Instruction Manual No. 4, "Carpenters," published by the War 
 Department Committee on Education and Special Training, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 (4) FROJKCT— Preparing Stock for Stair Stringer^ Saw 
 to a Line. (A drawing and three photographs illus- 
 trate the project.) 
 Square the ends of a 2" x 12" x 8' o" plank by sawing 
 
 i" piece or pieces from the ends. 
 Operations: Lining (pencil and square), sawing, testing 
 with steel square. 
 
 1. How does a plank differ from a board? 
 
 2. What are saw horses used for? 
 
 3. What is a steel square used for? 
 
 4. How should the square be held while marking a line 
 
 from edge to edge? From face to face? 
 
 5. What is meant by squaring from edge to edge? From 
 
 face to face? 
 
 6. What is a cross cut saw used for? 
 
 7. How does a cross cut saw differ from a rip saw? 
 
 8. What is meant by a 10 point cross cut saw? 
 
 9. How should the saw be held? 
 
 10. Tell just how to start the saw kerf. 
 
 11. How should the blade of saw be held so as to cut square 
 
 with the surfaces of the plank? 
 
 12. If the saw leaves the line what should be done? 
 
 13. Should you saw on the line? If not, on what side of the 
 
 line should you saw? 
 
 14. While sawing should you press upon the saw? 
 
 15. What should be done to prove that the saw blade is 
 
 square with the surface of the plank? 
 
 16. How can you prevent the edge of the plank from split- 
 
 ting when finishing cut? 
 
 17. How can you prove the end of the plank has been sawed 
 
 square ? 
 
 18. How are saws designated as to size? 
 
 19. If you were going to purchase a cross cut saw for general 
 
 use tell just what you would ask for. 
 
 Comment : 
 
 I. Could the information after "Operations" be drawn from 
 the students' own thinking by some such question as "What 
 
24 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 operations are necessary in preparing this board?" How do 
 you support your opinion? 
 
 2. What determines the order of these questions? 
 
 3. How will the student secure the data required to answer 
 No. 10? 
 
 4. What desirable result is better obtained by asking ques- 
 tions than by giving explicit instructions in imperative sen- 
 tences ? 
 
 The other two are projects used in the training of young 
 men for scientific agriculture, and are taken from Bulletin No. 
 21, "The Home Project as a Phase of Vocational Agricultural 
 Education," issued by the Federal Board for Vocational Edu- 
 cation, (pages 20 and 21). 
 
 (5) Potato Growing Project 
 
 1. Shall I grow potatoes? 
 
 a. Is this section adapted to potatoes? 
 
 b. Is my soil suitable for growing potatoes? 
 
 c. Can I control all pests and diseases which prevail 
 
 in this district? 
 e. Is there a good prospect for potatoes paying a profit 
 this year? 
 
 2. What shall be my aim in potato production? 
 
 a. Shall I grow late potatoes for winter use? 
 
 b. Shall I grow early potatoes for the market ? 
 
 c. Shall I grow potatoes for seed? 
 
 d. Shall I make a combination of the aims above? 
 
 e. To which is ray soil best adapted? 
 
 f. Which offers the greatest prospect for returns? 
 
 g. Which will fit in best with my work at home and at 
 
 school ? 
 
 3. How shall I prepare my land? 
 
 a. Have the previous crop and the treatment of the 
 land left it in suitable condition? 
 
 b. What crop should I use to prepare the soil for a 
 
 future potato crop? 
 
 c. When and how should barnyard manure be used 
 
 for a crop of potatoes ? 
 
 e. Can I afford to use commercial fertilizers on my 
 
 potato land; if so, how much of what kind? 
 
 f. When shall I plow and how deep? 
 
 g. What other preparation is necessary? 
 
PROJECTS 25 
 
 Comment : 
 
 1. The form here is that which a project takes when the 
 student outhnes his project for himself. 
 
 2. What are the advantages of this form of procedure? 
 
 (6) A Vegetable Garden Project 
 
 (Part only. Univ. State of N. Y., Bui. No. 624 (1916). 
 (1-5 omitted). 
 6. Hotbed and cold frame construction. 
 
 a. State the object of a hotbed and of a cold frame. 
 
 b. Give the advantages of forcing vegetables under 
 
 glass. 
 
 c. Is it advisable to force vegetables for your market? 
 
 d. How large a hotbed will be needed to grow plants 
 
 for your garden? 
 
 e. What should be the size of the cold frame in pro- 
 
 portion to the hotbed? 
 
 f. Describe the method of building a hotbed accord- 
 
 ing to the following points : 
 
 (i) Size of standard hotbed sash. 
 
 (2) Depth of pit. 
 
 (3) Amount of material needed to build hotbed 
 
 frame. 
 
 (4) Make a complete working drawing of the 
 
 hotbed. 
 
 (5) Describe in detail the method of oreparing 
 
 horse manure for hotbed pit. 
 
 g. Give a complete bill of cost of the hotbed. 
 
 Comment : 
 
 1. This outline combines questions and directions. 
 
 2. What are the strong and weak points of this form of 
 outline ? 
 
 b. Three methods of preparation 
 
 These specimens serve to give an idea of what a project 
 outline is like. We can now study how to prepare such an 
 outline. There are at least three principles in accordance with 
 which the questions may be constructed and arranged. Each 
 of these three gives us a method of outline preparation, which 
 we will name problem-solution, chronological, and related- 
 study, and present in that order. 
 
 (i) The Problem-Solution Method 
 
26 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 (a) Let the first group of questions be such as will reveal 
 the conditions to be met in undertaking the task, smoke out the 
 difficulties, help locate the problems involved. 
 
 (b) Let the second group lead to plans to meet these diffi- 
 culties, solve these problems. 
 
 (c) Let the third group suggest specific things to be done in 
 preparation for the work. 
 
 (d) The fourth group should deal with any necessary cal- 
 culations that need to be made — the "how much, how many, 
 when." 
 
 (e) The fifth, any questions or sviggestions that will facih- 
 tate the actual dispatching of the undertaking. 
 
 (f) The last, questions that will help in the examination of 
 the completed task and in the preparation of a report upon it. 
 This includes the idea of appraising what has been done with a 
 view to improvement. 
 
 Examine the membership renewal project. To what extent 
 does it conform to this scheme? 
 
 Very simple projects will not require questions under all 
 these heads. 
 
 Dr. John Dewey's well-known analysis of the thought proc- 
 ess is the basis of the above set of instructions. The Dewey 
 analysis without modification would direct one through a proj- 
 ect as follows : 
 
 A Problem. A project always presents one or more prob- 
 lems. Each problem should be located and clearly stated. 
 
 Suspended Judgment. When confronted with the necessity 
 for action men act in three ways — from impulse, from habit, 
 or after thought. Here our action is to be thoughtful, so we 
 suspend judgment as to what to do until we have carefully 
 sought a proper solution of the problem. 
 
 Search for a Solution. Here we find we have three re- 
 sources ; our own previous experience that may have a bearing 
 upon this situation, the experience of others, secured through 
 interviews or by reading; and our own constructive imagina- 
 tion and reason. All the data that these sources supply we 
 weigh and appraise. Different possible courses of action are 
 formulated and examined. We decide upon what seems to be 
 the best thing to do. 
 
PROJECTS 27 
 
 Action. We do the thing we decided upon, carry out the 
 plan adopted after careful thought, work the plan. 
 
 Appraisal. Then we examine what we have done to see if 
 our plan worked, satisfactorily solved our problem. The weak 
 and strong points are looked for, and decisions reached as to 
 future action under similar circumstances. 
 
 (2) The Chronological Method 
 
 In this, a series of questions is so arranged as to bring up all 
 the elements of the project in the order in which they will be 
 performed, a chronological order. A question introduces each 
 major step or difficulty. Apply this idea as a test of projects 
 (I) and (4). 
 
 (3) The Related-Study Method 
 
 Study the portion of the "Vegetable Garden Outline" printed 
 as Project (6) on page 25. Notice that here and there are 
 questions or directions that push into fundamental theory, a 
 and b for instance. In the project printed as Appendix C, 
 page 296, there are many such questions. Those in the Associa- 
 tion projects (i) and (2), pp. 18-21, deal chiefly with what to 
 do and how to do it. Such "why" questions as are used are not 
 ones that go deep into theory or Association history and prin- 
 ciples. But questions that lead to this deeper reasoning are 
 very desirable. We will give an illustration of a project so 
 outlined. Any of the above could be revised to serve this same 
 purpose. In the following outline, in addition to questions 
 which form the plans and specifications of the project, there 
 are others that require more than technical skill; they require 
 reasoning and the looking up of reference material. Their 
 use in teaching helps to develop the mental ability the students 
 will need in executive and administrative work. 
 
 PROJECT— 5'^f up a "New Members' Supper" 
 
 1. What ends do you wish this supper to serve? 
 
 a. Of what benefit may it be to the new member? 
 
 b. Of what benefit may it be to the Association? 
 
 c. Of what benefit may it be to the committee that handles 
 
 it? 
 
 2. When will you give the supper? 
 
28 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 a. What considerations should be given weight in de- 
 
 termining the time? 
 
 b. Who should be consulted as to possible conflicting 
 
 plans ? 
 
 3. Where will you have the supper served? 
 
 a. What places are available? 
 
 b. What are their advantages and disadvantages? 
 
 4. How will you secure your desired attendance? 
 
 a. What men will you invite? 
 
 b. What form of invitation will you use? 
 
 c. How will you know how many to provide for? 
 
 d. How will you follow up your invitation? 
 
 e. What publicity would be desirable and helpful? 
 
 f. What cooperation will you want from other mem- 
 
 bers of the staff, and other committees ? 
 
 5. What program will you provide to follow the supper? 
 
 a. How much time is available? 
 
 b. With what information should the new member be 
 
 made acquainted? 
 
 (i) Concerning the Association's origin? Locally? 
 In London? 
 
 (See "History of the Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Association," Doggett, pp. 30-41.) 
 
 (2) Concerning its founder? 
 
 (Same reference.) 
 
 (3) Concerning our central objective? 
 
 (See "Some Fundamental Principles," 
 Super, pp. 7-9.) 
 
 (4) The fourfold work. 
 
 (Same reference, pp. 14, 15.) 
 
 (5) The place of the layman in our movement. 
 
 (Same reference, p. 17.) 
 
 c. How much of this can be interestingly presented 
 , in short talks? Who shall be asked to speak? 
 
 What charter members or "old timers" are avail- 
 able? 
 
 d. What other presentation of this material would be 
 
 effective ? 
 
 e. What features will you provide in addition to talks? 
 
 f. What opportunity will you give the new member 
 
 to tell why he joined and what he expects to do 
 and get? 
 
 g. How could you use the statistical data in the 1920 
 
 Year Book of the Y M C A, pp. 80-81 ? 
 
PROJECTS 29 
 
 6. What profitable lessons can you learn from the expe- 
 
 rience of other Associations with this feature? 
 
 a. From the Cleveland Central Association? 
 
 b. From the Brooklyn Central Association? 
 
 7. How will you divide the various tasks that make up this 
 
 event among the committee? 
 
 8. Prepare an outline of what you have learned from this 
 
 experience, with suggested improvement for the next 
 similar event. 
 
 Comment : 
 
 1. This project outline assumes that the decision to hold 
 such a supper has already been reached. It is, perhaps, a 
 regular affair, and its promotion is now being turned over to a 
 junior secretary. 
 
 2. His first task, however, is to think the project through 
 for himself and not merely proceed mechanically with a set 
 program. 
 
 3. The use of a committee is contemplated in the drawing up 
 of the outline. The pronoun "you" may refer to the junior 
 secretary as the executive goes over the ground with him, then 
 to the committee as the junior secretary or chairman presents 
 these questions for group discussion and action. 
 
 4. This brings to the fore the fact that the project method 
 of teaching is applicable to the training of committees as well 
 as of junior secretaries. 
 
 5. To what extent can such outlines be used in getting mat- 
 ters before a board of directors? 
 
 So much, for the present, on the subject of how to outline 
 a project. The next subject we will discuss is the third step 
 in the process, number 3 under I at the beginning of the chap- 
 ter, page 18. 
 
 2. Assigning a Project 
 
 When the executive has decided to assign a certain project 
 to one of his juniors, he faces the question of how to get the 
 task or undertaking before the man who is to handle or direct 
 it. He may choose one of three general methods of doing this. 
 
30 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 a. A previously prepared outline 
 
 The executive will have a carefully outlined project drawn 
 up according to one of the plans above. He calls in the junior, 
 or calls upon him, and, with this list of questions before him, 
 discusses the whole project with the junior, raising but not 
 answering the questions. 
 
 A copy of the project outline may be given the junior during 
 the discussion, at its close, or even some time previous to it. 
 The central feature here is that the outline has been prepared 
 by the executive in advance. 
 
 If the junior does not "warm up" to this particular piece of 
 work and his interest in it cannot be aroused, another man may 
 be chosen, or it may be necessary for the junior to tackle the 
 job even though it does not greatly interest him. But this is 
 unfortunate. The stage is not set for good educational work, 
 as a vital factor in education is interest. 
 
 A good deal of project teaching is done by the American 
 secretaries in the Shanghai (China) Association. We print 
 here an assignment prepared by S. E. Hening. It has some 
 interesting and sugge-stive features. 
 
 Assignment on Statistical Records 
 Study Material and Sources of Information 
 
 Emerson's "Home Course in Personal Efficiency" — Lesson 
 Two. 
 
 Emerson's "Twelve Principles of Efficiency" — Chapter VI. 
 
 Hubert's "Problems of Business Management." 
 
 Stone Commission Reports. 
 
 S. E. Hening's "Accounts, Records, and Reports." 
 
 Statistical Reports of City Associations in China. 
 
 Report Blank of the National Committee. 
 
 Annual Reports of the National Committee. 
 
 Brinton's "Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts." 
 
 Other books in the Business Department and Secretarial Train- 
 ing Libraries. 
 
 Observe the system used in the Shanghai Association. 
 
 Compare this with system used in your Association. 
 
 Consult with Messrs. Wm. Lee, J. C. Clark, H. A. Wilbur 
 S. E. Hening, and others. 
 
PROJECTS 31 
 
 1. Keep the statistical records at the Shanghai Association, 
 
 from 191. — to 191 — . 
 
 2. What are records? (Give a full answer). 
 
 3. What is their purpose? 
 
 4. What are the chief points in satisfactory records ? Why ? 
 
 (Full answer). 
 
 5. Do you think records should be kept on cards, loose 
 
 sheets, or in bound books? Why? 
 
 6. What is the value of records in the Young Men's Chris- 
 
 tian Association? (Full answer). 
 
 7. What kind of information is usually desired by (a) The 
 
 Board of Directors? (b) The General Secretary? 
 (c) Other secretaries? 
 
 8. What bearing should this have on the way records are 
 
 kept? 
 
 9. What different kinds of records are kept in the Associa- 
 
 tion? 
 ID. What statistics would you consider the most important 
 in your Association? Why? 
 
 11. Should all local Associations in China follow the same 
 
 method in keeping statistical records? Why? 
 
 12. Can you suggest any improvement in the report blank 
 
 sent out by the National Office? 
 
 13. How are statistics kept in your Association? 
 
 14. Translate into Chinese (material to be specified in each 
 
 case). 
 
 15. Outline a plan for keeping statistical records in your 
 
 Association. 
 
 b. A jointly prepared outline 
 
 Here the two men sit down with pencil and paper, or go to 
 the blackboard and together discuss the project, locate the difH- 
 culties, formulate the questions to be answered, and outline a 
 procedure that suits the occasion. This is, of course, a very 
 common method with many who never heard of "project 
 teaching." It is likely to be done more efficiently after the 
 process described just above has been used a while, and skill 
 in analyzing a task secured by such careful work as project 
 outlining takes for granted. 
 
 Sometimes, in this conference method of outlining an under- 
 taking, the suggestions come in most unorganized form. Here 
 is an illustration ; it represents the work of a group of older 
 
32 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 secretaries who were working up an outline for a junior sec- 
 retary's training. 
 
 The project to be outlined was, "Arrange for and carry 
 through the lo p.m. Good Night Service." In getting the 
 matter before the group interested, the leader asked, "What are 
 the things that we must consider?" The answers came as 
 follows : 
 
 (i) Get speaker, carefully (s) Start and stop on time, 
 
 chosen, so as to ap- (6) Ushers, 
 
 peal to men. He must (7) The setting of the occa- 
 
 be coached. sion; fireplace. 
 
 (2) Get confidence of the (8) Seating. 
 
 members. (9) Music. 
 
 (3) Consider who is in the (10) Program items. 
 
 building that night and (11) Presiding officer, 
 hour. (12) Ventilation. 
 
 (4) How advertise. (13) Object of the meeting. 
 
 The list illustrates how we often take hold of a project right 
 in the middle. Which of these items would have been sug- 
 gested first, if a chronological order had been consciously fol- 
 lowed? 
 
 After these points were all on the blackboard, they were re- 
 classified as follows : 
 
 I. Object of the meeting. Consider: 
 
 1. Number present. Possible conflicting attractions. 
 
 2. The previous program of the evening. 
 
 3. What the men have done during the day. 
 
 4. Their unmet needs. 
 
 5. Specific objects of the meeting. 
 
 II. The program of the meeting. 
 Items s, 9, 10, II on the list. 
 
 III. The arrangements for the meeting. 
 Items I, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12 on the list. 
 
 When a senior and junior secretary are outlining a piece of 
 work together, they might go no farther than this. The items 
 might not be, and need not be, phrased as questions. In this 
 particular instance the outhne was to be used as in "a" above. 
 
PROJECTS 33 
 
 "a previously prepared outline," so the group proceeded to put 
 the items into the form of questions to be asked the junior 
 secretary who was to manage the meeting. How effective 
 would the process be if the junior secretary in turn asked his 
 committee th^se questions and had them run the meeting? 
 Here are the questions: 
 
 PROJECT— .^rroM^^ for and Carry through the lo P. M. 
 Good Night Service. 
 
 1. What is the object of this meeting? 
 
 a. How many members are likely to be in the building 
 
 at that hour, and attracted to such a meeting? 
 
 b. What have they been doing earlier in the evening? 
 
 c. What has been their occupation during the day? 
 
 d. What are their needs? Their unmet needs? 
 
 e. What specific need shall we try to meet in this 
 
 meeting? 
 
 2. What shall the program of the meeting be? 
 
 a. Whom shall we secure to speak on this topic? 
 
 b. How shall we coach him as to what need he is to 
 
 meet? 
 
 c. What music shall we provide? 
 
 d. What songs. Scripture, etc.? 
 
 e. Who shall preside? 
 
 f. What details must be arranged so as to be able to 
 
 start and stop on time? 
 
 3. What arrangements must be made aside from the pro- 
 
 gram? 
 
 a. How can we secure the members' confidence in this 
 
 meeting ? 
 
 b. What advertising will be most effective? 
 
 c. How shall we arrange the seats around the fire- 
 
 place ? 
 
 d. How shall the doors and windows be arranged so 
 
 as to secure proper ventilation, avoid drafts and 
 undue noise? 
 
 e. Whom shall we secure as ushers? 
 
 c. The junior prepares the outline 
 
 After a young secretary has been taught this problem and 
 project method of study and of analyzing a task, he may be 
 assigned a piece of work and asked to prepare his own outline. 
 
34 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 This he may, or may not, discuss with his chief. At times the 
 former, at other times the latter, will be the case. 
 
 Now carrying this last of the three methods one step farther, 
 we come to the ideal project. 
 
 It is one the junior secretary conceives himself. A statement 
 by Professor W. S. Taylor of the State College of Pennsyl- 
 vania reveals two of the reasons for the superior value of the 
 self-conceived project. "The project that enlists the energy 
 and resources of the student most is not your project, but the 
 project that he himself is working out. . . . Every project 
 is a life problem, and we get direction and power to handle 
 other problems of life from having successfully worked out 
 the preceding one." 
 
 Right there are the two great values of the project which 
 is a result of the junior secretary's seeing something that needs 
 to be done, and undertaking to do it. First, his interest is 
 deeper than in a task that has been assigned him by another, 
 resulting in his more energetic enlistment in the enterprise; 
 and second, he experiences a definite increase in power as a 
 result of his having seen and solved a problem. 
 
 We do not mean to imply that any one of these three methods 
 of getting the student under the project should be used to the 
 exclusion of the other two. The wise general secretary will 
 experiment with all three, and see with which method he has 
 the largest success, or which process succeeds with each of the 
 men he is training. The same treatment does not secure equal 
 response from all men. 
 
 Remember the caution given in the latter part of the previous 
 chapter against destroying a man's initiative by giving him too 
 minute instructions, and, on the other hand, drowning him by 
 throwing him unaided into water in which he is not able to 
 swim. In assigning the task, do not tell the student too much. 
 Start his mind working in productive fields by well-considered 
 questions. Stimulate thinking. Do not crush it. "Wisely di- 
 rected freedom" is the ideal condition for developing what 
 John Dewey calls "problem-solving ability." 
 
 A brief quotation on the subject of project teaching from 
 
PROJECTS 35 
 
 William Orr, an authority in this field, is appropriate in this 
 discussion of assigning tasks. 
 
 "In assigning projects, the interests and hkes of the students 
 should be to some extent considered, as one is likely to gain 
 more knowledge in performing a task in which he is interested 
 than in doing something that does not appeal to him. The in- 
 terest shown in a particular line of work will reveal the special 
 aptitude of the student. This principle, however, may be ap- 
 plied too literally, as it frequently happens that one taking up a 
 task for which he has no liking at the outset becomes greatly 
 interested in it as he masters its details and gains a sense of 
 efficiency. 
 
 "In addition to performing a given task or- project according 
 to standardized methods, worked out by experience, stress 
 should be put upon the student to reflect upon better ways and 
 means of accomplishing this task. This appeal may be made 
 in the form of suggestive questions. The purpose is to en- 
 courage initiative and resource on the part of the student, and 
 to discourage a merely mechanical performance of instruc- 
 tions." 
 
 Projects are assigned to groups as well as to individuals, and 
 responsibilty for the various parts of the enterprise assumed 
 by different members. These cooperative undertakings help 
 to develop that highly essential element of success, team work, 
 and give the men valuable experience in working as members 
 of a group. Project teaching seeks to cultivate individuality 
 but not individualism. The thought of a British philosopher 
 is worth noting here : "Civilization is growth in the capacity 
 for and use of cooperation." 
 
 We will end this section here, lest we ourselves be guilty of 
 over-instruction. 
 
 J. The Execution of the Project 
 
 This is the fourth step of the five mentioned in the first 
 section. 
 
 a. Coaching 
 
 After the preliminary discussion the doing of the piece of 
 work should proceed with a moderate amount of coaching, or 
 no coaching at all, unless the secretary-in-training seeks help. 
 
36 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Let the amount of supervision also be reduced to the least 
 amount commensurate with keeping proper check on progress 
 and observing the degree of skill with which the man works. 
 
 The executive should visit the young secretary while he is 
 at work, in order to observe his methods and how he deals with 
 different situations ; but this should always be done in a quiet 
 way, the executive never intruding himself into the situation 
 or taking matters out of the hands of the younger man, unless 
 it is to prevent a positive disaster. It is in the unaided handhng 
 of difficulties that the young secretary gains most power. 
 These supervisory visits of the executive should be so con- 
 ducted as to be welcomed by the beginner as contributing to 
 his progress. 
 
 We will examine the subject of coaching further and more 
 fully in Chapter V. 
 
 b. Related Study 
 
 Let us consider the growth in power and knowledge which 
 the student may experience if the project is considered as a 
 genuine educational opportunity, and used as an occasion for 
 making investigations in fields of knowledge related to the task 
 in hand. 
 
 Each task suggests lines of helpful study. The project of 
 leading a boys' Bible class calls for a study of adolescent psy- 
 chology, religious education, theory of education, and teaching 
 method. Making the arrangements for the annual election of 
 officers and directors will suggest an investigation of the As- 
 sociation constitution, the history of the evangelical test, the 
 Paris basis, and the basis of membership in other countries. 
 These investigations, designated as "related study," are sug- 
 gested by almost every important task undertaken. There is 
 no more appropriate time for this study than when the student 
 is working on a problem upon which it will shed hght, in 
 solving which it will give him an increase of skill, and into 
 which such reading and study will give him a deeper insight. 
 Motive, or interest, is best created by the desire for help in 
 solving problems. This stimulus to real study is set in opera- 
 tion by the presence of a task that makes the study profitable. 
 
PROJECTS 37 
 
 Naturally there will not be time for the junior secretary to 
 make wide investigations in connection with every task he 
 undertakes; but this fact should not be allowed to operate to 
 the exclusion of all such related study. A reasonable amount 
 of it will bring large rewards ; and how much more significant 
 very simple tasks become when the mental habit of investiga- 
 tion is operative ! Association history and principles, psychol- 
 ogy, sociology, instead of being just dead stuff in books, 
 become interesting answers to the daily supply of "whys," and 
 positive help in that deep desire of our hearts, "making good." 
 
 A good discussion of related study is found in R. W. Stim- 
 son's "Vocational Agricultural Education," pages 42 to 50, 59, 
 64 to 66, and 70. There it is shown that project knowledge, 
 secured through project teaching, is of three kinds, or degrees. 
 First, rules, which we discover or seek to discover; second, 
 reasons, the understanding of the reasons for the rules; and 
 third, broader results — "horizon" — "informational material of 
 many sorts," the fruits of related study. These three. Rules, 
 Reasons, Broader Results, Mr. Stimson calls the "Three R's" 
 of the project method. 
 
 It is the pursuit of this related knowledge that has made 
 the daily work of some junior secretaries stimulating and 
 worthy, and the absence of which has led strong young college 
 men to leave the work because they found it dull routine and 
 deadening. The same breeze blows in both places ; the differ- 
 ence in destination is due to the set of the sails. 
 
 The execution of a project furnishes an unexcelled opportu- 
 nity for the introduction and discussion of those experiences in 
 the history of the Association, both locally and as a movement, 
 on the basis of which it has formulated its principles. As they 
 have a definite bearing upon both the manner in which certain 
 things are done and the reason for so doing them, the young 
 secretary should become acquainted with these historical situa- 
 tions and accepted principles. A few simple questions asked in 
 connection with any project bring this material to the front. 
 Such questions as these : In what way, if any, does Association 
 history, local or general, throw light upon the problems in- 
 
38 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 volved in this project? What lessons can we learn from the 
 experience of others in performing this task, or securing this 
 end? What fundamental Association principles does this proj- 
 ect introduce? What Hterature bears upon this piece of work? 
 
 4. Reporting the Project 
 
 The secretary-in-training may report his project upon its 
 completion, or he may report it at one or more stages of its pro- 
 gress, if it is a long one or composed of various minor projects 
 each of which might be reported. The report may be in one of 
 three forms: 
 
 a. Written in his note-book, for his own private purposes, 
 such as future reference. A membership campaign in which 
 he takes part is worthy of such a report. 
 
 b. An oral report to his senior secretary, following written 
 notes. 
 
 c. An oral report to a group of secretaries, following written 
 notes. This report is then discussed, questions are asked and 
 answered, criticisms considered, and problems located and 
 analyzed, with suggested solutions. 
 
 The elements in the problem of reporting a project seem to 
 be these : the note-book, the choice of projects for reports, the 
 content of the report, the manner of the report (to whom and 
 under what circumstances), and the senior secretary's com- 
 ment upon the report, or the group discussion of it. 
 
 I. What form of notebook is most desirable? 
 
 a. What are the relative values of the loose-leaf and 
 
 bound form of notebook? 
 
 b. What cover is most pleasant to handle ?_ 
 
 c. Which do you prefer, a large one like I. P. 514, or 
 
 a smaller one like I. P. 507? Why? 
 
 d. What degree of care should be exercised in writing 
 
 up the project in the notebook? 
 3. What information should the report contain? 
 
 a. What is the name and nature of the project? 
 h. What is the general problem involved? 
 c. What statements of each problem or difficulty en- 
 countered and the steps taken to solve it will be of 
 
PROJECTS 39 
 
 value to you as a permanent record? Will help 
 you make the situation clear to others? Will en- 
 able you to present a helpful report? 
 
 d. What data should be recorded and preserved? 
 
 e. What value is there in listing these problems as you 
 
 go? 
 
 f. What results should be reported? 
 
 g. What judgment do you now pass upon your work? 
 h. What improvement can you suggest? 
 
 i. What notes will you take during the report to the 
 general secretary or the group? 
 
 3. To whom, and how, shall the report be presented ? 
 
 a. From which of the three forms of report given above 
 
 will the young secretary gain the greatest benefit? 
 
 b. Which will give the senior secretary the best line 
 
 on the junior's ability, growth, and needs? 
 
 c. Which will be of most value to the Association ? 
 
 4. What sort of comment upon the report will be help- 
 
 ful? 
 
 a. What part has criticism in this comment? 
 
 b. What part has commendation? 
 
 c. How much of the necessary criticism will the group 
 
 provide ? 
 
 5. Under what circumstances should the project be reas- 
 
 signed to the same or another member of the group ? 
 
 III. The Choice and Sequence of Projects 
 
 A discussion of the process of selecting projects and build- 
 ing a course of study or "curriculum" may be helpful. The 
 problem as it presents itself might be stated thus : How shall 
 I choose and arrange the projects that are to make up that part 
 of my junior secretaries' experience which I desire to have 
 definite educational values? 
 
 I. Selecting Projects 
 
 The work done in Chapter I in breaking up the Association 
 vocation into its parts, elements, or tasks, provides a list of ac- 
 tivities and functions from which to choose our projects. Ob- 
 viously all these tasks cannot be assigned to a man in one year, 
 perhaps not in two years. Nor can all of the tasks a man per- 
 forms be organized as educational projects. There is not time 
 
40 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 enough available for the thorough process of study, execution, 
 report, 'and discussion involved. But a fully satisfactory solu- 
 tion of this problem is readily found.. Here it is. Select such 
 parts of the work as will illustrate the chief processes and prin- 
 ciples of the vocation, such projects as will introduce the 
 young secretary to the typical methods of the secretaryship and 
 representative facts of the Association. These representative 
 elements are sometimes referred to as "type situations," or "life 
 situations." 
 
 If in the handling of a limited number of typical situations 
 the student is taught to observe their characteristics carefully, 
 formulate or state his problem, locate the difficulties, secure and 
 organize data, use books of reference, interview, decide upon a 
 plan of action, apply his knowledge, and test his results, he will 
 develop secretarial ability. He will progressively be able "to 
 do," "to solve problems," and "to meet complex situations." 
 He will gain "power equal to his needs as they confront him 
 in Hfe." 
 
 In making up a selected list of projects, three possibilities in 
 reference to each will be kept in mind. 
 
 a. Some projects are prescribed because they are essential 
 and fundamental, and they should by all means be executed. 
 
 b. Some are elective, and may be undertaken if there is time. 
 
 c. A third list will be made up of projects in which there is 
 no attempt to go through the whole educational process. The 
 procedure is short-circuited or curtailed. For instance, the 
 cash may be balanced without either the executive or the 
 student having prepared a project outline, and there may be no 
 formal discussion of the project following its completion. The 
 educational experience of having done it, however, is secured. 
 
 The functional as well as the departmental characteristic of 
 the project should be considered in making the selection. For 
 instance, skill in promoting is important ; but planning, super- 
 vising, and teaching are also necessary elements of a man's 
 equipment. Experience in all the functions of the secretary- 
 ship should be provided so far as is possible. A good dis- 
 cussion of some of these will be found in C. K. Ober's book, 
 
PROJECTS 41 
 
 "The Association Secretaryship," pp. 22-37, pubHshed by As- 
 sociation Press. 
 
 Character values should also be taken into account. Many 
 of them can be cultivated in connection with almost any large 
 project, so this consideration may not lead to the choice of 
 one task as against another; but the growth of such elements 
 of personality as accuracy, system, courtesy, tact, perseverance, 
 truthfulness, reliability, industry, aggressiveness, and refine- 
 ment should be definitely planned for, watched for during 
 supervision of each man's work, and patiently and tactfully 
 brought about. Such corporations as Westinghouse Electrical 
 and Manufacturing Company of Pittsburg, and the Common- 
 wealth Edison Company of Chicago grade their executives-in- 
 training in these things from time to time on blanks printed 
 for that purpose. 
 
 The importance of these character qualities has gained other 
 weighty recognition. The War Department of our Govern- 
 ment gave large significance to them in the grading of officers 
 in the Army. Among the qualities they selected for these rat- 
 ings are : Leadership, self-reliance, initiative, decisiveness, 
 tact, ability to secure the cooperation of men, loyalty, reliability, 
 sense of duty, carefulness, perseverance, and the spirit of serv- 
 ice. The famous investigation by Prof. Chas. R. Mann, of the 
 Carnegie Foundation, as to the elements that should enter into 
 the education of an engineer found that such results of training 
 as integrity, initiative, resourcefulness, and so forth were even 
 more vital to success in the profession than technical skill it- 
 self. These things being so in the military and engineering 
 realms, how much more must these qualities of character be 
 valued in an Association secretary ! Surely our training proc- 
 esses must provide for their discovery and growth. And 
 where will they be so revealed and given a chance to develop as 
 in the carrying out of regular projects? 
 
 In short, in building a curriculum of projects we must have 
 three things in mind as we make our choice of tasks : 
 
 Projects that will develop a skilful workman. 
 
 Projects that will provide exercise of a variety of functions. 
 
42 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Projects that will exercise certain qualities of character. 
 None of these desired results "just happen." They must be 
 consciously set up and encouraged. 
 
 2. The Sequence of Projects 
 
 What factors will determine the order in which the various 
 projects will be undertaken? 
 
 First, the time of the year. Some things are done only in 
 September, some only in January. 
 
 Second, the degree of difficulty. Some projects are simple, 
 and even a beginner is equal to them. The more difficult must 
 naturally come with growing powers. 
 
 Third, departmental considerations. The projects might all 
 be chosen from one department for a while, and later from 
 another. 
 
 Fourth, unanticipated situations and special enterprises aris- 
 ing in the course of the year which can be broken up into good 
 projects. 
 
 However, while careful and progressive work will require 
 the planning of many projects months in advance, even to the 
 extent of scheduling a fairly set course of study or "curriculum 
 of projects," many of the most profitable projects will be de- 
 vised by the young secretaries themselves, and will be proposed 
 by them from time to time. Welcome and encourage such pro- 
 cedure. The self-devised undertaking of the student has more 
 possibiHties for education than most of those you can assign 
 him. A sense of personal interest, ownership, responsibihty 
 for success, and enthusiasm will attach to these original proj- 
 ects that will not often accompany the task that is thought out 
 and assigned by another. Here the creative instinct is opera- 
 tive, and a man's deepest sense of personality and independence 
 is satisfied. The "psychology" of the situation is all in favor 
 of the plans the junior himself makes to meet a need he has 
 himself discovered. 
 
 IV. Summary 
 
 The first step in project teaching is the preparation of a hst 
 
PROJECTS 43 
 
 of projects. The second is the outlining of the single projects. 
 The third is the assigning of the project. The fourth is the 
 execution, and the fifth is the report and discussion of the 
 project. Project outlines consist chiefly of a series of carefully 
 prepared questions, which help the student to locate the difficul- 
 ties and think the task through. A project is assigned to a 
 student in one of three ways : a discussion of a previously pre- 
 pared outline, an outhne worked up in conference, or one pre- 
 pared by the student alone before consultation. Of these three 
 the last has the highest educational value. The execution of 
 the project should lead to a broadening study of related mat- 
 ter. A report and discussion of the task is an important part 
 of the process. Limits of time preclude the possibility of a 
 large number of projects being undertaken in this thorough 
 way, so only typical ones are chosen. They should be given 
 character, as well as technical, value. The sequence of the 
 projects will be determined by consideration of season, sim- 
 plicity, and special need. 
 
 V. Suggested Projects 
 
 The projects given here are based on the work of a certain 
 Association of i,8oo members and a staff of twelve secretaries. 
 Each Association will need to prepare a list based on its own 
 activities. The one that follows is not complete; it is a sug- 
 gestion only. 
 
 Front Office, or Lobby Counter 
 
 1. Answer the 'phone properly. 
 
 2. Receive cash and issue receipts. 
 
 3. Issue a set of checkers and keep a record. 
 
 4. Collect dormitory rent and post record. 
 
 5. Call up directors to remind them of meeting. 
 
 6. Deal with a "down-and-out" visitor. 
 
 7. Lend books from the library and keep record. 
 
 8. Check incoming magazines and file in reading room. 
 
 9. Keep bulletin board up-to-date. 
 
 10. Handle incoming mail. 
 
 11. Check laundry in and out. 
 
 12. Revise the boarding house record. 
 
44 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Religious Work 
 
 1. Secure a speaker for a meeting. 
 
 2. Plan the advertising for a meeting. 
 
 3. Manage the ushering for a meeting. 
 
 4. Work up and teach a Bible class. 
 
 5. Run a shop meeting. 
 
 6. Work up a gospel team. 
 
 7. Lead a young people's meeting. 
 
 8. Teach a Sunday school class. 
 
 9. Lead a prayer meeting. 
 
 ID. Give an address in a church. 
 
 11. Help in a religious interview system. 
 
 12. Do and report on personal work. 
 
 13. Advise with a pastor on some religious work plan. 
 
 14. Promote the Association's foreign work interests. 
 
 15. Relate a newcomer to a key man, for follow-up. 
 
 16. Promote the use of religious books. 
 
 17. Prepare a Bible study exhibit in the lobby. 
 
 18. Follow up Bible class absentees. 
 
 19. Work up a men's weekly Bible study supper. 
 
 20. Handle the Sunday afternoon fellowship supper. 
 
 21. Get a man to attend church with you. 
 
 Educational Work 
 
 1. Canvass prospective students. 
 
 2. Prepare advertisements for educational classes. 
 
 3. Enroll students. 
 
 4. Work up chapel meeting. 
 
 5. Take charge of chapel meeting. 
 
 6. Promote a reading club. 
 
 7. Secure teachers for night school. 
 
 8. Keep a record of enrolment and attendance. 
 
 9. Make a comparative study of this and last year's statis- 
 
 tics. 
 
 10. Observe a class in English, arithmetic, etc. 
 
 11. Follow up absentees. 
 
 12. Conduct an educational forum. 
 
 13. Develop cooperation with the public library. 
 
 14. Outline the content of a course of study. 
 
 Membership Work 
 
 1. Prepare a. list of prospects. 
 
 2. Prepare an advertising booklet. 
 
 3. Prepare a newspaper display ad. 
 
 4. Prepare a window card. 
 
PROJECTS 45 
 
 5. Write a newspaper story to secure members. 
 
 6. Canvass stores and shops for membership prospects. 
 
 7. Secure new members. 
 
 8. Secure renewals. 
 
 9. Make membership collections. 
 
 10. Show a prospect over the building. 
 
 11. Promote a weekly New Members' Supper. 
 
 12. Organize a membership committee, or use it. 
 
 13. Keep membership records and issue cards. 
 
 14. Relate new members to volunteer service. 
 
 15. Compare your statistics with those of other cities. 
 
 16. Interview new men on the spirit and aim of the Associa- 
 
 tion. 
 
 Social Work 
 
 1. Promote a billiard tournament. 
 
 2. Promote a bowling tournament. 
 
 3. Promote a checker or chess tournament. 
 
 4. Organize an outing to a place of interest. 
 5- Organize a hike into the country. 
 
 6. Organize an over-night camp. 
 
 7. Promote an Association Open-House Night. 
 
 8. Promote a social for a special group. 
 
 9. Promote a dormitory party. 
 
 10. Work up a social for the employes of a large plant. 
 
 11. Work up a college men's banquet. 
 
 12. Show new members over the building. 
 
 13. Organize and direct a "hospitality squad." 
 
 14. Organize a social sing around the piano. 
 
 15. Prepare bulletins advertising events. 
 
 16. Discover and visit sick young men. 
 
 Boys' Department 
 
 1. Run a "Bean Supper" for employed boys. 
 
 2. Teach a boys' Bible class. 
 
 3. Help in a boys' extension club. 
 
 4. Tend the office a period. 
 
 5. Serve as Scoutmaster of a troop of Boy Scouts. 
 
 6. Speak at a high school dinner. 
 
 7. Meet with the inner circle of the Hi-Y Club. 
 
 8. Secure an adult leader for a boys' group. 
 
 9. Visit local point of interest with boys. 
 
 10. Organize an educational club for stamps, or wireless. 
 
 Business Office 
 I. Order supplies. 
 
46 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 2. Check supplies received with goods ordered. 
 
 3. Check bills with goods ordered and received. 
 
 4. Check the cash and entries for the day. 
 
 5. Pay insurance premiums. 
 
 6. Pay bills and file receipts. 
 
 7. Inspect the building as to cleanliness and repair. 
 
 8. Gather data for the monthly report. 
 
 9. Arrange distribution of advertising matter. 
 
 10. Write a letter of thanks for a subscription. 
 
 11. Send out monthly membership renewal notices. 
 
 12. Check membership receipts. 
 
 13. Assist in preparing a budget. 
 
 14. Revise the mailing list. 
 
 15. Prepare the monthly pay-roll. 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 1. Attend and report to a committee meeting. 
 
 2. Attend and report to a directors' meeting. 
 
 3. Report an event for the daily papers. 
 
 4. Write a news report for Association Men. 
 
 5. Issue the regular news letter or bulletin. 
 
 6. Run a campaign for subscribers to Association Men. 
 
 7. Attend and help promote a gymnasium class. 
 
 8. Assist a man who is looking for job. 
 
 VI. Long Term^ or Major Projects 
 
 In order to secure a clear understanding of project teaching 
 and not inject too many elements into our thinking about it, 
 most of the projects so far considered have been short-term, or 
 single-act, projects, such as getting a member or securing a 
 committee meeting. We now consider another kind — long- 
 term projects, such as leading a Bible class for a whole season, 
 building up a new department, for example work for high 
 school boys, or bringing about proper cooperative relations be- 
 tween the Association and the local churches. 
 
 The difference between these major projects and the briefer 
 ones we have described is one of time. These longer ones are 
 superior in that they offer better opportunity for the introduc- 
 tion of related study, for the discovery of Hues of profitable 
 reading, and for the use of this information in furthering the 
 project. 
 
PROJECTS 47 
 
 Perhaps the chief vakie of the long project is that it gives 
 the student a chance to apply and study in operation the great 
 fundamental movement-building ideas that underlie the As- 
 sociation enterprise, the principles upon which it is built — type 
 situations in the larger sense. Illustrations of these ideas are: 
 the Association is a layman's organization directed and actually 
 operated by laymen; the study of the Bible has a vital place 
 in building Christian character; as an arm of the Church we 
 seek the interests and welfare of the body ; the acceptance and 
 following of Jesus are essential to fullest manhood; bodily 
 health has a close relation to social, spiritual, and mental health. 
 
 What projects express these dynamic ideas and embody them 
 in operation? Devise them and relate the secretaries-in-train- 
 ing to their development, with time to work them out and in- 
 itiative of inventing or adapting means. The young secretary 
 will thus learn that the work of the Association is not just a 
 series of interesting though unrelated stunts, but is the consecu- 
 tive concrete form the great ideas have taken. He will become 
 at home in these ideas and himself produce new expressions of 
 them; he will become a thinker, an inventor of processes and 
 not merely a copier of plans. The Association movement will 
 gain growing significance to him, and open vistas of interesting 
 experiment and work from which he will not easily turn aside 
 for less vital and rewarding occupations. 
 
 It will be seen at once what an incentive such projects are 
 to real study, the related study discussed in an earlier section. 
 McMurry points out that knowledge is best acquired in wholes 
 that have a relation to the achievement of some clear-cut and 
 useful end. This movement toward a definite end, plus the 
 knowledge related to its achievement, constitutes a project in 
 the educational sense. Facts and theories, so far as they are 
 really acquired, are acquired in connection with the securing 
 of some definite purpose. Principles that are used lose all ab- 
 stractness and vagueness. They cease to be "static informa- 
 tion" and become part of "dynamic abihty." The major proj- 
 ect is the finest incentive to practice in the use of knowledge. 
 
 The process of finding the difficulties involved in an enter- 
 
48 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 prise, of relating data to the solution of the problems, of assign- 
 ing the task, hearing reports upon it, etc., is the same in either 
 short or long projects. The major project is merely a series 
 of closely related minor projects, all of which yield to the same 
 treatment. A good sample outline of an undertaking involving 
 a long period of time and many minor tasks will be found in 
 "Vocational Agricultural Education," by R. W. Stimson, page 
 119 and following. It will repay careful study. 
 
 It might be well at this stage of your reading to take one of 
 the above-mentioned major projects, the one on church coopera- 
 tion for instance, and try your hand at preparing an outline. 
 Proceed on the basis that you are going to ask one of your 
 associates to undertake to bring about better cooperation be- 
 tween your Association and the churches of your city. The 
 following questions asked of yourself will help you in your pre- 
 liminary study of the project, help you break it open for close 
 examination. 
 
 In what aspects of this enterprise will my associate be in- 
 terested? 
 
 What difficulties will he encounter? 
 
 Upon what points will he have to make decisions? 
 
 Where will he need help? 
 
 From what sources can he secure this help by interview or 
 reading? 
 
 Into what minor projects can this major project be broken? 
 
 What will be his first steps in getting the propect under way ? 
 
 Remember you are not to tell him the results of your study. 
 You are to think this through so as to find the channels into 
 which his thought should be directed, and then ask him ques- 
 tions which will set his mind thinking along these and other 
 profitable lines. Here reread this chapter from II 1 b, page 25, 
 through II 2 b, page 33. 
 
 VII. References 
 
 I. The Project Method. W. H. Kilpatrick. A pamphlet re- 
 print from The Teachers' College Bulletin for Oct. 12, 1918. 
 Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. 
 
PROJECTS 49 
 
 2. Vocational Agricultural Education. R. W. Stimson. A 
 good presentation of the theory of project teaching, with illustra- 
 tive outlines. Read pages 32-98, 1 19-126. 
 
 3. The Project Method in Education. M. E. Branom. The 
 most helpful portions are the Preface and Chapters I, 2, 6, 10, and 
 15. A fine bibliography in the back of the book. 
 
 4. The Home Project. Bulletin 21, Agricultural Series No. 3, 
 Federal Board for Vocational Education, Washington, D. C. Free. 
 Valuable in a study of project outlines. 
 
 5. The Cooperative System of Education. Bulletin 37, 1916, 
 U. S. Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. Free. 
 
 6. A Study of Engineering Education. C. R. Mann, Bulletin 
 II, Carnegie Foundation. A valuable study of education for a 
 profession, and the relation of project study to vocational prepara- 
 tion. Read especially pages 54-66, 87-94. 
 
 7. Manuals for "Carpenters," and "Machinists," issued by the 
 War Department Committee on Education and Special Training, 
 Washington, D. C. Free. A number of project outlines, some- 
 what hastily prepared but illuminating and well worth studying. 
 
 8. Teaching by Projects. C. A. McMurry. Represents a dif- 
 ferent use of the term, but has many stimulating and helpful ideas. 
 
 9. Democracy and Education. John Dewey. Not an easy 
 book to read, but it contains the fundamental philosophy of this 
 method. 
 
 10. What Is Education? E. C. Moore. A fine readable book 
 on the present-day conception of the sort of education that is 
 worth while. 
 
 11. The Curriculum. Franklin Bobbitt. A study of what to 
 study and how. 
 
 12. Project Teaching. Article in School Science and Mathe- 
 matics, for Jan. 1919, pp. 50-62. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CLASS-ROOM WORK 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. What Type Produces the Best Results ? 
 
 1. The tests of class work 
 
 a. Thought 
 
 b. Mutual search for truth 
 
 c. Growth 
 
 d. Change of action 
 
 e. Solution of problems 
 
 f. Motive 
 
 g. Participation 
 
 2. What class-room method meets these tests? 
 
 a. The lecture method 
 
 b. The recitation method 
 
 c. The seminar method 
 
 d. The discussion method 
 
 II. Problem-Discussion Procedure 
 
 1. Just what takes place during this sort of class period? 
 
 2. The teacher's outline : Membership illustration 
 
 3. Comment on the questions 
 
 4. The assignment 
 
 5. An analysis of the class period 
 
 6. The teacher's function 
 
 7. The student's part in the discussion 
 
 8. Branom quoted 
 
 III. Some Elements of Problem Teaching 
 
 1. The selection of problems for discussion 
 
 2. The preparation of teaching outlines 
 
 3. Breaking the problem open 
 
 Problem 
 
 What method or type of class-room work will produce the 
 best results in preparing young secretaries for immediate and 
 
 5° 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 51 
 
 future executive leadership f What should he the content of 
 the course of study? 
 
 I. What Type of Class-Room Procedure Produces the 
 Best Results? 
 
 I. The Tests of Class Work 
 
 What tests shall we apply to what goes on in the class room 
 to see if it is helpful? By what standards shall we measure 
 these periods spent together ? What results shalj we look for ; 
 if found, pronounce the method good; and if lacking, question 
 the process? 
 
 a. Thought: The class hour should be, as Dewey puts it, 
 "a place and time for stimulating and directing reflection." It 
 is not a time in which the student merely recalls and recites 
 what he has read. Nor is it a time for listening to lectures. 
 The best teachers have recognized this and are discarding the 
 lecture method. It is a time for the consideration of prob- 
 lems, of search for solutions, the weighing and evaluating of 
 suggestions and data, or proposing and examining suggested 
 ways out, or arriving at tentative conclusions to be tested by 
 reason and, as soon as possible, by action. This is what 
 thought means. The securing of these things is the highest 
 use of a class period. Apply this test : Did the students 
 thoughtfully grapple with a problem, or did they merely re- 
 think another man's thoughts after him ? The former is good ; 
 the latter varies from less good to useless. 
 
 This thinking should have four characteristics : It should 
 be purposeful, judicious, logical, independent. 
 
 b. Mutual search for truth : If the teacher and the students 
 work together in an honest eff^ort to find the truth about a mat- 
 ter, the class period is pretty sure to be helpful to all con- 
 cerned. Class periods in which the teacher assumes that he 
 already knows all the truth and reads or talks it off are not 
 productive of mental growth; nor are classes in which the 
 unalterable truth is recited from the latest textbook — not even 
 this one. "Let us proceed together toward the truth" would 
 be a good motto for the front of any class room. 
 
52 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 c. Growth: Has the class hour produced growth? At the 
 end of a class period the student should leave the room having 
 genuinely grown because of his participation in what took 
 place. A class in which the teacher is doing all or most of the 
 work is not resulting in much growth for the students. Apply 
 this test to classes you have seen. The period has been a suc- 
 cess if there is a difference between what the student knows 
 and can do at the beginning and what he knows and can do at 
 the end of the hour. 
 
 d. Change of action : If the student does not in some way or 
 situation act differently as a result of the class period, can it 
 have been worth while? It should result in some change of 
 action, some modification of conduct or procedure. In a Bible 
 class, this is obvious. It is equally true of a class in Associa- 
 tion methods, and of a class in Association principles. It is a 
 severe test, but it is recognized today by educators as valid and 
 essential. Ask yourself, during any class period, "Will any one 
 in any way act or do differently as a result of this period to- 
 gether?" If you answer "No," question the worth-whileness 
 of what was done or said. Change of action will be due to a 
 change of thought about something, for a man's thoughts are 
 the root of his acts. The best evidence of this change of 
 thought is a change in the way the student acts in some life 
 situation — ^better membership sohcitation, more skilful teach- 
 ing, accuracy in checking bills. 
 
 e. Solution of problems : Were any real live issues discussed, 
 any genuine problems examined ? Did the material brought out 
 help any one solve some difficulty that was troubling him ? Did 
 real help come out of the meeting? If no live issue was in- 
 volved and no solutions examined, could the subject-matter 
 have mattered much? Might it not just as well have been left 
 out, and the time have been devoted to something that made 
 a difference? 
 
 f . Motive : A class-room method is a success if its use stim- 
 ulates the students to real mental effort on worth-while tasks. 
 The stimulation we have in mind is not the pressure of com- 
 pulsion from some other person or system, but the urge of 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 53 
 
 inner desire. When the students come eagerly to class, believ- 
 ing they are going to get help on a real problem, get it, and 
 attack with zeal the matter to be studied for the next period, 
 the process is a good one; the students are "motivated." Ab- 
 sence of this motivation indicates a poor teaching system or 
 very poor use of a good system. In Dewey's apt phrase, the 
 student should feel "the bite" of a real question. To solve that 
 problem, he will think, discuss, study, and act with a genuine 
 inner motive. If the class periods deal with real Issues in the 
 lives and work of the students, such motive will be generated. 
 The core of motive is interest, and the core of interest is a prob- 
 lem for which the student wants a solution. The class dis- 
 cussion must also generate motive for further study and ex- 
 perimental action. 
 
 g. Participation : In the best teaching, the student partici- 
 pates more than as a listener. Listening is not enough. The 
 more of the man that is engaged in the learning process, the 
 better the results. There must be self-expression. Therefore 
 a good class-room procedure provides that the student shall 
 take part with his ears, his eyes, his mouth, his hands, his 
 mind — as much of him as is possible. His mental participation 
 will take the form of effort to locate difficulties in situations, 
 consider solutions, formulate opinions, estimate the value of 
 the ideas of other students as they present them, and come to 
 personal conclusions, and will issue in occasional statements as 
 his contribution to the process. The student will participate in 
 all these ways when the question is in some way vital to him. 
 
 2. What Class-Room Method Meets These Tests? 
 
 These tests are severe ones. They go to the very heart of the 
 matter. Most of the teaching we have seen and done would 
 fail to meet one or more of them. If they are true tests, how- 
 ever, we are bound to seek to acquire a method for our own use 
 that possesses the possibility of some day measuring up to them 
 as we grow in skill. Surely we will drop any method which can 
 never by any chance, or the attainment of perfection in it, reach 
 this level of good teaching. We will briefly examine the more 
 
54 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 common methods and see which offers the best chance of a 
 high score. 
 
 a. The lecture method: On the last named test, participa- 
 tion of the student, it ranks the lowest of all methods. Con- 
 sider how little of the student, mind and body, is involved in 
 listening to a lecture, even when he is taking notes. As Pro- 
 fessor Moore says, "It is a peculiarly unsuccessful method of 
 teaching." Put the test of "thought" to it. If the student stops 
 to think about any statement he fails to catch the speaker's 
 further remarks. Try "mutual search for truth." There can, 
 of course, be no mutuality when one man does all the talking 
 and the other only listens. Some growth may result, but not 
 so much as when thfere is participation. Action may be modi- 
 fied and sometimes is. The motivation of the listener to a lec- 
 ture is generally weak. The lecture has the further weakness 
 that it covers a far greater amount of matter than the hearer 
 can use or digest. 
 
 These considerations have led most real educators to drop 
 lecturing for other methods of class-room procedure. But 
 what about all these college professors who lecture? Most of 
 them are specialists in some area of learning, but have given 
 little thought to the processes of teaching their subject, and are 
 not educators in a correct sense of the word. They are chem- 
 ists, historians, sociologists, and so forth. Many of them look 
 with scorn upon the idea of studying the technique of teaching; 
 their lectures are the best evidence of their low estimation of 
 the science or art of class-room method. 
 
 When a class meets, there are three factors present — the 
 teacher, the text, or subject-matter, and the student. Modern 
 educators consider the student the center of education and the 
 most important factor of the three. But the lecturer, by his 
 monopoly of the situation, says that he, the teacher, is the 
 most important. 
 
 b. The recitation method: In the proper use of the word, 
 this is an occasion on which students reproduce to the teacher 
 things they have read in a lesson assignment. At its worst, it 
 is a phonographic repetition of words committed to memory ; at 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 55 
 
 its best, a reciting of what others have said. The facts studied 
 are given to the teacher in response to test questions, which 
 usually call only for matters of recorded fact, and seldom for 
 pergonal opinion. Where the work rises above this level, it 
 becomes just to that extent not a recitation, but a discussion, 
 and is to that extent good. Apply some of the seven tests 
 given above, and draw your own conclusions as to the educa- 
 tional value of real recitations. Take the test of thought. Is 
 the thought exercised in a recitation motivated by a worth- 
 while purpose? Does it call for the use of judgment,? To 
 what extent does it require logical organization of data? How 
 much independence does the recitation method encourage? 
 
 Recitations have one favorable quality ; they reveal whether 
 the student has studied his text, or not. But this result can be 
 secured so much better by the use of other methods (problem- 
 discussion and project work), that it can scarcely be consid- 
 ered an argument in favor of recitations as a class-room pro- 
 cedure. 
 
 In the recitation, the textbook is considered the important 
 factor or element, and the correct reproduction of its words or 
 opinions constitutes success. Professor Moore calls it " a re- 
 hearsal of what has been learned before the class exercise takes 
 place." The writer of the article "Pedagogy," in the Inter- 
 national Encyclopedia, says, "The minimum of advantage re- 
 sults if the time be spent in saying lessons learned memoriter 
 from a book or in reciting facts more or less known to all the 
 class. A class exercise is at its best when the class is engaged 
 upon some problem towards the solution of which each one, 
 including the teacher, from his peculiar point of view, con- 
 tributes his proper share." 
 
 c. The seminar method : There is much to be said in favor 
 of this method of work, consisting of "research work carried 
 on by the students under the direction of a teacher." The 
 students meet at regular intervals "for the discussion of reports 
 on special research conducted by one of their number." For 
 most purposes, however, it is a heavy method and not reward- 
 ing to all the members of the class. As all the students are 
 
S6 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 there working on different problems, the discussions are not 
 vital enough to the men not reporting, participation is not suf- 
 ficiently provided for, and the element of mutual search for 
 truth becomes a watching of others' search for different truths. 
 
 d. The discussion method: This method, when it is pre- 
 pared for and conducted in accordance with the best practice, 
 seems to meet all the requirements. Recent developments in 
 the technique of discussion as a means of education make it the 
 most helpful, rewarding, and stimulating of all class-room 
 methods. This procedure is called "problem teaching," teach- 
 ing by the discussion of problems. We will devote a section 
 to making the process clear, and then one to the question of 
 how to conduct such classes. 
 
 In discussion classes, the student is the important factor of 
 the three. Not what the text says or what the teacher says, 
 but the student's growth is the vital thing. His personality, his 
 ability to reason, what he becomes able to produce — these and 
 similar values are chiefly considered, rather than what the 
 teacher says or the book says. The work falls upon the 
 student. He has to find the problems, gather the data, consider 
 suggestions, suggest the solutions, weigh others' propositions, 
 and verify or test these in some sort of action. 
 
 II. Problem-Discussion Procedure 
 
 I. Just What Takes Place during This Sort of Class Period? 
 
 a. The teacher or leader, in introductory remarks, centers the 
 attention of the students upon a problem which is vital to them 
 all. Frequently he will set the problem or lead to a discussion 
 of it by asking a question which looks into the experience of 
 each man present. For instance, he asks, "What real leaders 
 in the work of the Y M C A have you known or known about?" 
 After all or most of the group have repHed, he asks, "What 
 makes these men leaders?" At once he has a discussion 
 started on the essentials of religious leadership. 
 
 b. The second step is the mental one of suspending judg- 
 ment until the data has been examined and hypotheses tested. 
 
 c. The third step is the gathering of data, or the presenta- 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 57 
 
 tion of material drawn from reading or experience of a per- 
 sonal nature. The problem and this data might be put upon 
 the blackboard so as to keep it well in hand. These sugges- 
 tions are carefully considered. Irrelevant matter is rejected 
 by the students or questioned by the leader. For this purpose, 
 the meeting must be "so conducted that the emphasis will fall 
 on reflection rather than on mere reproduction." He will ask 
 few who, when, and where questions and many beginning with 
 "Why." 
 
 d. This material should lead to some conclusion or hypoth- 
 esis that solves or appears to solve the problem. 
 
 e. This is carefully tested by the group until they think the 
 problem solved. Some may not agree. They have that 
 privilege. 
 
 f. The application of this conclusion or solution is discussed, 
 and the action that grows out of it decided upon. It is tested 
 in actual experience as soon as possible. All this discussion 
 may take more than one meeting. Further reading or inves- 
 tigation may be necessary before a conclusion can be reached, 
 or the time for the close of the period may arrive. If so, the 
 leader and group decide upon what to do in preparation for 
 the next discussion period. This is the lesson assignment. 
 
 2. The Teacher's Outline 
 
 The teacher prepares for a class of this sort by writing out a 
 series of questions which will first center interest and attention 
 on a live problem, then help find the "hot spot" in the problem, 
 then draw out ideas bearing on the question, lead to a conclu- 
 sion which will solve the problem, summarize the discussion, 
 and, at the end, formulate applications, or things to do growing 
 out of the conclusion reached. All this by questions. Here is 
 an outline that we have used with a group of younger secre- 
 taries : 
 
 PROBLEM : What should he the meaning of membership in 
 the YMCAf 
 I. a. What reasons do you give men for becoming members 
 of your Association? 
 
58 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 b. What is your strongest appeal? 
 
 c. What is the chief purpose in the minds of men who 
 
 join? That they are hiring someone to provide 
 privileges for them, or that they are investing money 
 in an enterprise in which they are partners ? 
 
 d. In how far is the appeal to men to have a part in the 
 
 enterprise a practical basis of membership solicita- 
 tion? 
 
 2. a. What was the motive and purpose which impelled the 
 
 members of the early London Association to band 
 themselves together in membership? 
 
 b. To what extent does this motive exist now in men who 
 
 join your Association? 
 
 c. In those who join the student Associations in the 
 
 colleges ? 
 
 3. How far should we make selling of privileges the basis 
 
 of our membership solicitation ? 
 
 4. Some folks say we should make willingness to have a 
 
 part in the work of the Association a condition of 
 membership. What is your opinion regarding this? 
 What is the basis of church membership and finance? 
 To what extent could you build an Association around 
 the idea of service ? 
 
 5. In how far do your members actually share in making and 
 
 carrying out the plans of the Association? To what 
 extent should this be their responsibility? 
 
 6. In view of this discussion, what would you say mem- 
 
 bership in the Association should mean? 
 
 7. Would we have fewer or more members on the basis of 
 
 appeal to and requirement of service? What changes 
 in our present handling of membership would be neces- 
 sary? What effect would this have on the financing of 
 the Association? 
 
 8. Would these changes of membership basis increase or 
 
 decrease the size of the task of the secretary? What 
 changes do you feel it would make ? 
 
 J. Comment on the Questions 
 
 The first question is a "point of contact" question, connecting 
 with the daily experience of these young secretaries. The next 
 is a transition question to introduce the problem, which is 
 brought out by t-he third and fourth, all of the first series. The 
 last one of the first series begins to draw out data on the phase 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 59 
 
 of the problem upon which this discussion is planned to center. 
 The leader believes this is a live question with the group. Ex- 
 perience proves that it is. Question 2 a. introduces historical 
 data that will help them to solve the problem. This is the 
 scientific way of using history. Question 2 b. ties this his- 
 torical data to the present day. Questions 3, 4, and 5 seek for 
 more matter for consideration. Question 6 is put to secure a 
 summary and a conclusion, or hypothesis. Question 7 a. b. and 
 c. are put to test this conclusion. The two questions under 8 
 are "application" questions, bringing out the actual bearing of 
 the discussion on the lives of the students. 
 
 4. The Assignment 
 
 This discussion was not conclusive. A need for more data 
 was felt. To secure it the following assignment was made: 
 
 Brown, Write Boston and secure information as to their 
 basis of active membership, and how it works. 
 
 Smith, Investigate Knoxville's service membership. 
 
 Jones, Learn what Philadelphia finds to be an acceptable 
 membership basis. 
 
 Green, What privileges do members of the Student Asso- 
 ciation secure ? 
 
 Robinson, Get information on the Grand Rapids plan. 
 
 Peters, Look up service membership in the boys' depart- 
 ment. Read up in American Youth. 
 
 All, 
 
 1. Examine the ads of your Association and see to what 
 
 motives they appeal. 
 
 2. To what motives do you appeal in your personal solicita- 
 
 tion? 
 
 3. Try to secure a member purely on the appeal of a chance 
 
 to serve. 
 
 4. Consider the bearing of community work on this question. 
 
 Absence of hterature makes this particular data hard to se- 
 cure. The assignment is generally much simpler, and should 
 be. As a rule it will be limited to available reference books or 
 readily conducted "projects" upon which the students will 
 report. 
 
6o TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 5. An Analysis of the Class Period 
 
 After the meeting in which the above outline was used an 
 analysis of the discussion was made, based on records kept by 
 several observers. In this forty-one-minute period, the leader 
 took part thirty-four times, and the students sixty-seven times. 
 This was considered too much participation for the leader. It 
 was due to the facts that the class had made no preparation, 
 and that for this group the question was not vital enough. So 
 they warmed up but slowly, and the teacher had to ask "prob- 
 ing" questions in addition to his main questions. As to time oc- 
 cupied, the leader used fifteen minutes, and the class twenty-six 
 minutes. This was not considered so bad, but too much time 
 was occupied by the teacher. There were a few short silent 
 periods. Are these good or bad, and why ? What is going on 
 during these silences? 
 
 The record shows that all the students took part, but that one 
 was wordy, and one or two somewhat backward. This is the 
 case in many classes. What measures would you take to bring 
 out the backward ones and restrain the too forward member? 
 
 6. The Teacher's Function 
 
 The part of the leader in such a problem-discussion class as 
 we are advocating includes these functions : 
 
 a. He is chairman of the group, with a rather democratic 
 interpretation of that word. As such he makes a careful in- 
 troductory presentation of the topic, making the situation clear. 
 This may take one to three minutes. 
 
 b. He has thought into the situation to be discussed, and 
 prepared an outline composed of questions that will help the 
 students to locate the problem and its difficulties. These ques- 
 tions he proposes from time to time as the discussion progresses 
 and he deems the next question timely. 
 
 c. He holds the discussion to the question ; but he does not 
 rule out answers with which he disagrees, if they are on the 
 topic. 
 
 d. He summarizes the discussion from time to time, recog- 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 6i 
 
 nizing different viewpoints where they exist, as they frequently 
 will. 
 
 e. He exercises self-restraint, both in the matter of time he 
 uses and in putting his own views forward to the checking of 
 free discussion and preventing thought on the student's part. 
 
 f . He occasionally introduces his own experience or data, but 
 on the same basis as that offered by any student and not as 
 settling the question. He gives it for what it is worth, and of 
 this the group should be the judges. 
 
 g. He draws out timid or reserved men and restrains the 
 too talkative. 
 
 h. He helps the group think through their problem. He 
 makes the students think — and that means, to repeat the famous 
 Dewey idea, to locate difficulties, gather and consider sugges- 
 tions, draw conclusions, and test them — and express their 
 thoughts. 
 
 i. He does not lecture, but may at times introduce data not 
 accessible to the students, or offer a suggestion; only in brief 
 talking periods, however, and when that data is needed. 
 
 j. He does not allow his own attitude on the subject to in- 
 fluence the group unduly. At times he will not even reveal it. 
 Rather than give solutions to problems, he sends the student 
 to search for solutions. 
 
 k. He makes the assignment for the next lesson, spending 
 even as much as eight to ten minutes in getting the problems 
 involved well before the class. He guides the students to rele- 
 vant data, by giving references to be read. 
 
 1. He watches for new points of view or data which he has 
 not himself previously considered, and acknowledges this new 
 point of view as such when it is presented. 
 
 m. He studies each student's mental processes and charac- 
 teristics. 
 
 n. He sets tasks involving the testing of new conclusions. 
 
 7. The Student's Part in the Discussion 
 
 a. He considers the situation presented by the leader and 
 helps to locate the problem involved. 
 
62 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 b. He then works with the others to help define the problem 
 and find just where the situation presents difficulties. 
 
 c. He contributes his point of view to the discussion, pre- 
 senting such data and opinion as he thinks will bear upon the 
 solution of the problem. 
 
 d. Meanwhile, he suspends judgment until the evidence has 
 all been brought in. 
 
 e. He asks questions for information, or to reveal the weak- 
 ness in another man's position. 
 
 f. He answers similar questions from the teacher and his 
 fellow-students. 
 
 g. He carefully considers the contribution of other men, get- 
 ting and weighing evidence. Some he questions, some he re- 
 jects, some he accepts. He modifies his own position to square 
 with this new data. 
 
 h. He arrives at a conclusion, and ventures to suggest his 
 solution or opinion. 
 
 i. He then proceeds to test his conclusion and presents it 
 for others to test. 
 
 j. He decides that he must have further data on certain 
 points, and asks for or is given references bearing upon it. He 
 plans certain study and experimentation. 
 
 k. The students may not all agree. There may be a variety 
 of opinion. Perhaps only longer experience can determine 
 which view is correct, or better. 
 
 1. After class, he tests his conclusions in some appropriate 
 action. In the resulting situation he locates new problems for 
 the next discussion. 
 
 m. He prepares for the next class period. 
 
 n. He keeps notes, both on the group discussion and on his 
 personal study and experience. 
 
 8. Branom Quoted 
 
 An excellent summing up of the method of discussion will 
 be found on pages 159 to 161 of Branom's "The Project 
 Method in Education." It is too long, to quote, but should 
 be read by those who intend to use this method. The following 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 63 
 
 quotation, though long, is so helpful that it must be reproduced 
 here. It is from the same work, and begins on page 167. 
 
 "It will be noted that the project-problem has a fourfold as- 
 pect: (i) Preparatory step, involving a consideration of ma- 
 terial out of which a problem may arise. In many instances the 
 solving of one problem may give rise to another problem. The 
 character of the preparatory material used is important, since 
 the problem and the initial interest of the class in the problem 
 largely depend on it. 
 
 "(2) Problem raised. A problem is raised and concisely 
 stated. Spontaneous self-activity of pupils should be sought. 
 A problem is secured in an ideal fashion when the pupils raise 
 it. It may be necessary, however, for the teacher to assist the 
 pupils and occasionally even to raise the problem for the class. 
 The significant thing is not that some pupil verbally shall state 
 a problem but that the class shall have a need, a problem — ir- 
 respective of how the need was created — which it wants to 
 satisfy. Care should be exercised in the final statement of the 
 problem, as succeeding work hinges on the definite expression 
 of a problem worth while. 
 
 "(3) Materials secured and interpreted. When the class has 
 a problem that it needs, or preferably wants, to solve, various 
 sources of information, as textbooks, supplementary readers, 
 pictures, maps, museum material, newspapers, magazines, and 
 people, should be consulted for appropriate material. This 
 material should be interpreted so as plainly to show its bearing 
 on the solution of the problem. The teacher should not attempt 
 to force her organization on the class. It is far better to accept 
 the pertinent points made by the pupils in the order in which 
 they are made, thus encouraging an easy flow of thought. The 
 pupils should not be thinking. What does the teacher want us 
 to say? but. What does the solution of the problem demand? 
 
 "(4) Problem solved or material summarized. If the prob- 
 lem has been solved, the solution should be stated by the class 
 as accurately, as definitely, and as concisely as possible. The 
 final statement should represent the team work of the class, 
 if the problem is a group problem. It is not to be expected that 
 a definite solution can always be secured, or that the individuals 
 of the class will agree on the solution in all cases. In the actual 
 problems of life, adults often analyze and weigh the factors 
 concerned, postponing judgment. With respect to many prob- 
 lems in life people have widely divergent views. It is the prov- 
 ince of the teacher to work with the pupils, getting them to 
 
64 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 come to their own conclusions, after all the available evidence 
 has been presented. All of the above steps need not and prob- 
 ably vfiW not appear in the same recitation. An entire recita- 
 tion period, for example, may be devoted to a discussion of the 
 preparatory material and the raising of a problem. It is not 
 believed that the project-problem, as defined in this chapter, is 
 the whole of educational endeavor, but it is beHeved that the 
 project-problem should occupy an important place in school- 
 room practice." 
 
 III. Some Elements of Problem Teaching 
 
 A consideration of some of the outstanding difficulties en- 
 countered in the use of this method of teaching may be helpful 
 to those who wish to initiate and conduct such discussion 
 periods as a regular feature of their training program. 
 
 I. The Selection of Problems for Discussion 
 
 a. The problems to be discussed in the class periods grow 
 out of the daily work of the members of the staff. At first 
 thought this suggestion seems to many to be vague and unsat- 
 isfactory. It seems too hit-or-miss, too unorganized. A little 
 experimenting with finding the problems in the daily work soon 
 results in the disappearance of this seeming difficulty. Skill in 
 locating problems is developed and real pleasure is experienced 
 in the process. Further, the students soon get into the game 
 and themselves suggest the problems, the ideal situation. 
 
 A day's work of a staff of six men is full of problems; not 
 all of them can be chosen for discussion. The progress will 
 naturally be from the more simple to the more difficult, but all 
 must be real to the men engaged in the discussion. 
 
 Sometimes the work experience of different men will be so 
 organized as to bring certain problems to the front. In the 
 fall, membership problems ; at the beginning of the fiscal year, 
 financial and budget problems. Where a graded series of proj- 
 ects is used as a regular training process, the problems grow 
 out of the projects and the class room becomes a place for the 
 discussion of the difficulties encountered in the projects. 
 
 This coordination of class discussion with the day's work is 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 65 
 
 the element par excellence that makes the class period valuable 
 and interesting. It also adds to the attractiveness of the day's 
 work, and lends it new motive. Most training centers that have 
 failed have failed for lack of just this element, the relation of 
 class-room work to daily duties. Interest has waned because 
 the discussions or lectures (they have generally been lectures) 
 Seemed to have no relation to the immediate daily life of the 
 secretary-in-training. In the adoption of this plan lies the 
 solution of that and related problems. 
 
 b. Let each lesson, then, begin with a centering upon some 
 problem that is live and real to at least some of the group. 
 The series of problems that make up a course of study is de- 
 termined upon in advance to this extent: 
 
 ( 1 ) Some problems are foreseen. We know they will arise. 
 We can count upon their being real whenever we bring them 
 up. They are such questions as. Why do we have active and 
 associate members? Why do we have members at all? Why 
 do we serve men and boys only, and not women and girls and 
 small children? Why doesn't the Church do this work? Why 
 is it not self-supporting? How are we related to other 
 YMCA's? 
 
 (2) Some we plan to bring into the experience of the 
 students by putting them into certain situations where these 
 questions are sure to become real. Such as, What is our secre- 
 tarial relation to laymen? What is the Association's relation 
 to movements to create and enforce laws? 
 
 (3) Some are seasonal, appropriate to certain annual or 
 monthly events in our work. 
 
 (4) Some, however, will arise very unexpectedly. A news- 
 paper attacks the Association; a janitor is burned; an endow- 
 ment gift is received; a prominent non-church member wants 
 to know why he cannot hold office — these and many other un- 
 planned situations furnish the finest sort of problems for group 
 discussion, in the light of Association principles, history, and 
 methods. Postpone the discussion you had planned, and use 
 these events as the occasions of valuable education. 
 
 (5) Finally, the launching of any new enterprise or move- 
 
66 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 ment or feature provides proper occasion for profitable class 
 discussion. Use it. 
 
 c. The philosophy of all this is that only such class discussion 
 is profitable as relates to a real problem in the experience of the 
 men of the group. Only when items of information bear upon 
 the solution of a problem, the removal of an obstacle, the ac- 
 complishing of some purpose, have they value as subject-mat- 
 ter. When men actually face a "forked-road situation," and 
 they can and must act in one way or another, then, and then 
 only, is a class discussion worth while. Your problem as 
 teacher is to see these situations in a day's work, seize them for 
 class use, and at times create them for the broadening of your 
 students' experience. "Skill in teaching is brought into play 
 just here in staging situations which present difficulties and 
 arouse in the mind of the learner a need for solutions."- 
 
 The wise teacher will not bring material into class for which 
 the students feel no need, or for which no need can be readily 
 awakened or aroused. Technically, the material of instruction 
 is called subject-matter. But it is only suBject-matter in the 
 real technical sense when it is needed by the student. W. W. 
 Charters says on this subject, "Subject-matter originates when 
 some need, problem, dissatisfaction, or difficulty occurs. It is 
 a way of acting in the attempt to satisfy needs, solve problems, 
 remove dissatisfactions, and overcome difficulties. Its func- 
 tion, then, is to solve problems, satisfy needs, and overcome 
 difficulties." These needs, difficulties, and problems referred 
 to are present ones in the life of the student, not remote or an- 
 ticipated ones. (For the whole discussion of subject-matter, 
 read "Methods of Teaching," by W. W. Charters, pages 
 26-74.) 
 
 John Dewey, America's greatest educational thinker, states 
 a phase of this truth in a negative way, thus : "The assump- 
 tion that information which has been accumulated apart from 
 use in the recognition and solution of a problem may later on 
 be freely employed at will by thought is quite false." The 
 best educational thought has exploded the idea that you can lay 
 up information for use in future situations. When the time 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 6j 
 
 comes to use it, it is not there. The only subject-matter that 
 really "makes good" with us is subject-matter that we use now 
 to help us out of some hole. It is the other sort, the "future 
 useful" sort, that men have always condemned as "theoretical." 
 It simply has never been squared and tested in some life task, 
 so far as the would-be learner is concerned. On the other 
 hand, the "present used" is thereafter the "future useful." 
 
 d. This seems to hmit greatly the amount of crystaUized ex- 
 perience that can be properly introduced into a discussion, or 
 given to a student as assigned reading. A few words more 
 from Dewey somewhat clear the air. "An experience, a very 
 humble experience, is capable of generating and carrying any 
 amount of theory (or intellectual contact)." The only point 
 contended for'here is that theoretical discussion apart from an 
 actual situation to which the members of the group are parties 
 is fruitless. But just as a large cup is carried by a small handle, 
 so a small but vital experience can be made the handle by 
 which one gets a good grasp on much theory. The experience, 
 with its problem, is the absolutely essential handle. 
 
 Summary. The principle of curriculum-building that we 
 should employ, then, is this. Let class discussion be upon prob- 
 lems that arise in the course of real daily experience. So fore- 
 see and so organize this experience that it will include the situa- 
 tions with which most secretaries have to deal. This handling 
 of present problems is the only preparation for the future that 
 educational thought can fully indorse as worth-while and fruit- 
 ful. But this sort of preparation, this getting ready for Hfe by 
 living, has received the highest educational and psychological 
 sanction. 
 
 2. The Preparation of Teaching Outlines or Plans 
 
 The wise teacher goes into class with a well-prepared outline, 
 consisting of a series of definitely written questions with which 
 he proposes to guide the discussion. He may see fit to depart 
 from his outline to follow a good lead that develops during the 
 class period. This is sometimes advisable. The fact of this 
 possible abandoning of the outline should not count against its 
 
68 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 careful preparation. Real education does not result from 
 "catch-as-catch-can" methods. 
 
 Here is one way of preparing an outline : 
 
 a. First step : Consider the group 
 
 Center your thought upon some situation in the present ex- 
 perience of your class which presents difficulties. This gives 
 you the general topic, subject, problem, for the class period. 
 Perhaps you are just launching some educational classes for 
 young men, and the whole staff of ten secretaries is more or 
 less related to it, especially the office staff and the educational 
 and membership secretaries. The question of how to get 
 students is a live one to some of the group, while perhaps the 
 point of why should the Association conduct educational classes 
 is the way in which the question lies in the minds of others. 
 It is a "forked-road situation" to some, for their conviction or 
 lack of it will make a difference in their actions in the matter, 
 while to others the how aspects of the question are more vital 
 than the whys. 
 
 Careful consideration of the needs of all leads us to decide to 
 present the why angles of educational work first, unify the 
 group in a desire to do educational work, and then proceed to 
 the hows, with a basis of conviction. 
 
 b. Second step : Locate and define the problem 
 
 The steps are not sharply separated. In fact, we have al- 
 ready begun the second one. We decide that perhaps the ques- 
 tion of the advisability or propriety of the Association conduct- 
 ing class work is the general center of difficulty, so we choose 
 as our general topic, Why should the Y M C A conduct educa- 
 tional classes ? 
 
 Now we ask, just where do the men on our staff have diffi- 
 culty with this question? Where do they have trouble? We 
 are not entirely sure, so we will raise questions that have pre- 
 viously troubled young secretaries, find the real "hot spot," and 
 follow the lead of the discussion. Perhaps in personal con- 
 versation in advance of the class hour we can locate these diffi- 
 culties exactly. We decide that the following questions are 
 vital to the group: 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 69 
 
 What needs do Y M C A educational classes meet in men's 
 lives ? 
 
 Why should we not leave this work to the public night 
 schools and correspondence schools? 
 
 What relation has educational work to our central religious 
 and character-building objective? 
 
 c. Third step: Secure and consider suggestions and data 
 bearing upon the problem 
 
 We decide that the following points at least should be con- 
 sidered : 
 
 Large percentage of young men with no education beyond 
 the seventh grade ; quit school at fourteen. The War revealed 
 gross ignorance. 
 
 General lack of vocational education. PubHc schools do not 
 provide it. 
 
 Ambitions of young men to advance and limited opportu- 
 nities of education for employed boys and men. 
 
 Lack of a character-building basis in schools run for private 
 gain. 
 
 The Y M C A ideal of fourfold manhood. 
 
 Occupation of leisure hours to advantage. 
 
 Opportunity for fine religious work with men. 
 
 d. Fourth step: Adoption of a proposed solution of the 
 problem 
 
 This must have, a "therefore" relation to the considerations 
 examined under the third step. Harrison Elhott calls this step 
 "the big idea." In large issues, it is dignified by the term 
 hypothesis, or theory. It is our proposed solution. In our 
 preparatory thinking through of the problem, we now decide 
 upon this as our answer : 
 
 In view of the points we have considered, the Y M C A 
 should conduct educational classes for men and boys. It should 
 be largely of a vocational nature, and come during the leisure 
 hours of those concerned. 
 
 While this is our present conclusion, the class after consider- 
 ing the data presented in the discussion by the various mem- 
 bers of the group may reach a different one, or may divide 
 
70 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 into two groups. Or the class may wish to study further 
 before reaching a conclusion. Whatever the conclusion is, 
 let the group reach it without compulsion other than that of 
 facts. 
 
 e. Fifth step: Resulting action, or application 
 
 If the discussion is valuable just to the extent that it modi- 
 fies conduct, results in action, our discussion should close with 
 consideration of the things that should be done as a result of 
 the data we have considered. Such action might be : 
 
 A study of the educational or vocational needs of a certain 
 group of men or boys. 
 
 Interviews to enlist certain men or boys in classes related 
 to their known needs. 
 
 An investigation of what other night schools or correspond- 
 ence schools are doing in the city, in order to locate needs 
 poorly met, or not met at all. 
 
 Reading references bearing on problems of Association edu- 
 cational work revealed by the discussion. 
 
 f. Sixth step : Finding a point of contact 
 
 This is the last step in our preparation for the discussion, 
 but naturally the first point in the discussion itself. We- ask 
 ourselves, what in the recent or present experience of at least 
 some of the group can be used as a vivid introduction to the 
 topic for the day's discussion ? Two suggestions occur to us. 
 
 The public night school has just issued some good advertis- 
 ing matter and some of our stafif are concerned as to its effect 
 upon our Association educational classes. 
 
 Or 
 
 Educational classes open two weeks from today and the en- 
 roUing of students must be pushed. 
 
 Of these two, we decide to use the former. 
 
 We now have before us the materials for a class period. It 
 could be used as the outline for a lecture. We prefer to use it 
 as the basis of a discussion. Therefore our next step is to 
 frame questions that will start a discussion of each of the 
 points we have decided to present for consideration, Thi§ 
 process yields such an outline as this : 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 71 
 
 Lesson Outline or Plan 
 Point of contact 
 
 You open by showing the men the new public night school 
 advertisements, and ask, How many of you have seen this 
 advertisement? What effect will this public school effort 
 have upon the Association educational classes ? 
 What shall be our attitude toward it ? 
 Transition question 
 
 What needs in the lives of men and boys does the public 
 night school work meet? 
 
 Locating the problem 
 
 What needs does the Association night school work meet? 
 
 To what extent should we compete with other agencies? 
 Why? 
 
 What relation has our educational work to our central 
 religious and character-building objective? 
 Suggestions for consideration 
 
 What did the War reveal as to illiteracy among American 
 men? 
 
 What percentage of young men and boys have had no 
 schooling beyond the seventh grade ? 
 
 What special preparation have .they had for their present 
 or any vocation? 
 
 How much character-building effort is made by local 
 schools run for private gain? 
 
 To what extent are young men ambitious to advance in 
 life? . 
 
 What relation has education to advancement? 
 
 What relation has the use of leisure hours to education? 
 To advancement? To character? 
 
 How successfully can the Y M C A relate the use of leisure 
 hours to education ? To advancement ? To character? 
 Tentative conclusion: Summing up question. 
 
 What sort of educational classes, if any, should the 
 Y M C A conduct ? 
 Resulting action 
 
 What group should we study to discover their educational 
 needs ? 
 
 Whom shall we undertake to enlist in educational classes ? 
 
 What educational needs of boys and men are at present 
 inadequately met? 
 
 What can we read to help us understand and do this work 
 better? 
 
72 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Sun unary of results 
 
 At the close of the discussion, the leader should seek to 
 lead the men to sum up their conclusions in an analysis, 
 which the leader writes on the board. This clarifies thinking 
 and makes good provision for note-taking. Such summaries 
 help organize the results of the discussion and reveal to the 
 student that it has arrived somewhere and not just ended 
 in the air. Study the art of clear and effective summary. 
 
 J. Breaking the Problem Open 
 
 After the topic for discussion has been decided upon and 
 before he prepares his outline, the leader must examine it 
 minutely to see all its angles, phases, and implications, es- 
 pecially through the eyes of his group. See 2 a and b above. 
 It has been found helpful to take a sheet of paper and write 
 down suggestions and ideas under four heads, or questions. 
 Write one of each of these questions at the head of a sheet of 
 paper and proceed to break open the topic with their aid. The 
 questions suggested are : 
 
 1. Why are these students interested in this particular prob- 
 lem? 
 
 2. What decisions do they have to make in relation to it? 
 What are the issues involved ? 
 
 3. Where do they have difficulties? 
 
 4. Where do they need help? 
 
 Be sure to find the forks in the road where the men have to 
 make decisions, and see that these issues are thought through. 
 Do not be afraid to bring out diversity of opinion. If you are 
 going to have a group discussion, rather than a recitation, you 
 must find issues, for it is only around places where opinion 
 divides that you can have real live discussion. The problems 
 lie at these points, and your chief educational aim is to see 
 that the students acquire skill in methods of attacking and 
 solving problems. 
 
 This preparation will require time, perhaps as much as two 
 hours for each class meeting. It is time well spent. Plan for 
 it in advance, set aside and schedule these periods of prepara- 
 tion, having them come a day or two in advance of the class 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 73 
 
 meeting. Just before the meeting review your preparation, 
 going over all your notes, both the preparatory material and 
 your final list of questions. Do not expect to be able to use all 
 the material you prepare, or unload all you know. Have a 
 reserve fund. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 CLASS-ROOM WORK {Continued) 
 
 Analysis 
 
 III. Some Elements of Problem Teaching {Continued) 
 
 4. The use of questions 
 
 a. Kinds of questions 
 
 b. Qualities of good questions 
 
 c. Suggestions 
 
 5. When and how to lecture 
 
 6. Assigning the next lesson 
 
 7. Reviews 
 
 8. Class-room methods 
 
 9. Examinations 
 
 IV. The Student's Work in Preparation 
 V. The Course of Study 
 
 1. The class year 
 
 2. Courses 
 
 a. First year 
 
 b. Second year 
 
 c. Advanced year 
 
 3. Special considerations 
 
 4. Methods discussions 
 
 5. Other uses of the problem method 
 
 VI. References on the Discussion Method 
 
 III. Some Elements of Problem Teaching {Continued) 
 
 4. The Use of Questions 
 
 During the War our soldiers in France became familiar with 
 two kinds of shells. The first kind came over, went into the 
 ground, and lay there inert. It had all the appearance and 
 qualities of a shell, except that it did not explode when it was 
 expected to by both the sender and the receiving parties. These 
 shells that failed to go off were called "duds." The other kind 
 came over, went into the ground, exploded, and threw the earth 
 
 74 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 75 
 
 up all around. Questions are just like shells. Some come over 
 into the class and are expected by both teacher and students to 
 explode, but nothing happens. All is silent and unreaHzed ex- 
 pectation. Such questions are "duds." The other kind either 
 produce an instant response from one or more students, or start 
 lines of thought which quickly result in a general desire to 
 reply. This kind go off. They stir the gray matter ; the effect 
 upon the class is like a live shell going off in the loose earth. 
 
 How can one make sure that his questions will go off, and 
 not just He inert? The matter is one of large importance, for 
 good questioning is the very heart and center of the discussion 
 method. As Charters says, "To question well is the highest 
 achievement of the teacher." Is it a gift, or can this skill be 
 acquired? The latter, most decidedly. 
 
 Let us first look at a variety of questions and pick out the 
 kind that explode when they hit the class. 
 
 a. Kinds of questions 
 
 (i) Development or discussional questions 
 
 This sort of questions center thought about a problem and 
 progressively lead to a locating of difficulties, gathering of data, 
 weighing of these suggestions, and a conclusion. They "are 
 framed in relation to a developing line of thought," lead to an 
 end, start somewhere, and arrive. The series of questions 
 about Y M C A membership on page 58 are of this sort. The 
 "what" questions set the problem and gather data. The "to 
 what extent," "how," "how far," "your opinion" questions pro- 
 voke evaluations of it and discussion, bring out points of view, 
 stimulate thought. "Why" questions do the same. The 
 "would" questions test the conclusion reached by the clabs. 
 These are typical discussional questions; this order, however, 
 is not a set formula to be followed. Other phrasing is possible. 
 
 To secure a discussion, questions must raise or reveal an 
 issue, define a problem, and center thought on difficulties with a 
 view to finding a solution, a way out. They may require analy- 
 sis of something. They call for evaluation of suggestions, and 
 require the exercise of judgment. At times they propose com- 
 parisons. They are a teacher's greatest tool. 
 
76 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 (2) Test questions 
 
 These depend largely upon the student's memory of what he 
 has read or done. They ire the teacher's means of finding out 
 if assignments have been read and understood. Where they 
 are used, they should be phrased so as to lead a student to recite 
 upon a whole topic, and not merely yield one statement at a 
 time. There is little place for this sort of question in a discus- 
 sion group ; its proper use is in the recitation method. 
 
 (3) Factual questions 
 
 These stand lowest in the educational scale, if indeed they 
 stand in it at all. Who organized the Y M C A ? What con- 
 vention adopted the evangelical test ? Such questions are value- 
 less. They do not stimulate thinking apart from simple mem- 
 ory, and the student does not grow in answering them. What 
 we want is the fact plus the student's interpretation of it, his 
 personal thought about it. On this basis the above questions 
 might better be : Why was such an organization as the 
 Y M C A needed by the group that organized it ? What is 
 your opinion as to the wisdom of adopting the evangelical test? 
 On what do you base it? The first requires analysis of a situa- 
 tion, and the second a judgment. Both are valuable mental 
 processes, with educational value. 
 
 (4) Yes-or-no questions 
 
 These are beyond the pale. Condemned in every court, they 
 still stalk in our midst. The student guesses if he does not 
 know, and it is fifty-fifty that he will be correct. Or it may be 
 a dead certainty. The Y M C A was organized by George 
 Williams, was it not? There is a simple device by which one 
 can save the situation when he has inadvertently asked a yes- 
 or-no question. After the answer ask "Why," or "Why do you 
 think so?" 
 
 There are times when you want the student to say yes or no. 
 These, however, are occasions when your aim is a decision, not 
 a recitation or a discussion. But you cannot get a discussion by 
 using yes-or-no questions. When a student answers, his 
 answer ends thought; and the object of educational questions 
 is to get a lot of thought. 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK -jj 
 
 b. Qualities of good questions 
 
 (i) They should stimulate thought. Measure your ques- 
 tions by the amount and quality of thinking they secure. 
 
 (2) They should open up a topic, not just get a fact. 
 
 (3) They should present an issue leading to discussion by all 
 in the group, "start something" in the class. 
 
 (4) Where real good questions are used, this discussion will 
 continue after the class has been dismissed, groups of two and 
 three getting into animated conversation. 
 
 (5) They direct along a path to a conclusion. 
 
 (6) They should be single-barreled, containing only one 
 idea. "Is the Y M C A a good thing for boys, or is the Boy 
 Scouts better ?" combines this double-barreled quality with the 
 yes-or-no in addition. Both ideas are worth presenting, but 
 they should be presented as two questions, and in different 
 form, perhaps beginning with "why." 
 
 (7) They should be simple, short, clear, and easily under- 
 stood. 
 
 (8) They should hook into the experience or reading or 
 ability of the student. 
 
 (9) They must not indicate the answer. 
 
 (10) Some, but only a few, may be asked to reveal to a 
 student his areas of ignorance. 
 
 (11) Let them be interesting. Odd or exaggerated ques- 
 tions may attract temporary attention ; to be vitally interesting 
 they should relate to the needs and experiences of the mem- 
 bers of the group. 
 
 c. Suggestions 
 
 (i) Once the discussion is started, questions should proceed 
 from the students as well as from the teacher, and from 
 students to each other. Encourage students to answer their 
 own questions, but answer some yourself. 
 
 (2) Ask your question with your eyes moving about over the 
 class, then designate the person who is to answer it. This 
 keeps the whole class alert and thinking. 
 
 (3) Do not ask too many questions. Rapid fire is not pro- 
 ductive of thought. But you can reduce the number to not over 
 
78 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 twenty or twenty-five only by carefully considering the quality 
 of the questions to be asked. 
 
 (4) When you ask a student a question, give him time to 
 think out his answer and say it properly. Do not interrupt, be- 
 come impatient, or allow others to cut in as long as he is mak- 
 ing progress and shows signs of getting somewhere. Encour- 
 age the use of well constructed sentences, spoken so all can 
 hear. 
 
 (5) Follow the lead of the students' questioning rather than 
 your own outline, if their questions develop the topic. 
 
 (6) Your best questions will be those based upon good or- 
 ganization of material, thought out in advance, and all written 
 out. Do not rely upon spontaneous combustion to produce 
 good questions. 
 
 (7) Prepare a question outline. It will consist of main 
 questions with probing questions as subs, to be used in case the 
 main question does not bring out the material you are seeking. 
 Here is an illustration of a main and several probing questions. 
 
 I. Why was an organization such as the Y M C A needed 
 in London in the forties ? If the response is not full and satis- 
 factory, ask, 
 
 a. What harmful social evils existed? 
 
 b. What were the living conditions of clerks? 
 
 c. What provision did the Church make for young people's 
 interests ? 
 
 (8) Not all things can be brought out in response to ques- 
 tions. There is no use trying to pump water out of an empty 
 cistern. Some things you will have to tell, which leads us to 
 our next topic. 
 
 5. When and How to Lecture 
 
 With fear and trembling lest in granting an inch an ell — 
 that's forty-five inches — be taken, we admit that there is a real, 
 even a helpful, place for lecturing. Not a big place, however ; 
 just a httle one. There are at least eleven different times when 
 short lectures or talking periods are genuinely valuable. (But 
 do not have them all occur in the same forty-five minute 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 79 
 
 period. That is taking an ell ! ) The basis of legitimate lectur- 
 ing is found in the fact that there are some units of subject- 
 matter that simply cannot be pumped out of a class that does 
 not possess them. Those vmits, however, are much fewer in 
 number than many teachers suppose. 
 
 a. When to lecture. Use brief lecture periods 
 (i) To introduce new material not accessible to the group 
 in private study, or that is needed at once before the discussion 
 can proceed efficiently. This material may be the result of the 
 personal research or the experience of the leader. 
 
 (2) At the opening of the class period, to present a situa- 
 tion involving a problem the solution of which is to be worked 
 out by the group; to set the problem, as some say. 
 
 (3) To present a fact or theory upon which the leader 
 wishes the class to reach an opinion. 
 
 (4) To explain matter not understood, an understanding of 
 which may not well be postponed. 
 
 (5) To save the time of students in getting some needed and 
 not easily secured data, the finding and reading of which would 
 consume a wasteful amount of time. 
 
 (6) To sum up a period or part of a period. 
 
 (7) When a preview of a course is needed in order to see 
 the setting of a single unit or period. 
 
 (8) To arouse enthusiasm, to secure appreciation of some 
 situation or subject-matter, to stir emotion. 
 
 (9) To interpret something, show its significance and 
 meaning. 
 
 (10) To present a good illustration. 
 
 (11) To assign a lesson, 
 b. How to lecture 
 
 ( 1 ) In short periods, two to five minutes, with discussion in 
 between and occupying most of the time. 
 
 (2) Through a student who presents an oral report based on 
 analytical notes. 
 
 (3) Follow a clear analysis, which you place on the board 
 if possible, to make the points stand out. 
 
 (4) Use the simplest possible language and terms. 
 
8o TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 (5) Not dogmatically, as settling the whole matter. 
 
 (6) So as to initiate, not end, thought. 
 
 (7) Introduce only vital matter, not merely erudite or 
 interesting facts. Admit only such matter as furthers the dis- 
 cussion and is needed by the students in solving the vital prob- 
 lems before the class. 
 
 c. Why not more ? 
 
 (i) There is danger of telling what can be learned better by 
 other methods. 
 
 (2) In the opinion of many educational investigators, and 
 for reasons easily proved, the lecture method has been demon- 
 strated to be the poorest of all teaching methods. Why use 
 such a poor tool? It simply does not "deliver." 
 
 6. Assigning the Next Lesson 
 
 The acid test of good teaching, says Professor Kilpatrick, 
 "is to leave the student with a desire to know more." A 
 teacher may insure that his work will meet this test by acquir- 
 ing skill in lesson assignment. The psychology of continued 
 interest is most operative where the assignment for the next 
 lesson grows out of the day's discussion. At its close, a new 
 problem has been sensed, and the students desire data to help 
 in its solution. They want more information. The lesson 
 assignment, therefore, sets the problem and tells where to find 
 materials bearing upon it. Such an assignment is naturally 
 made at the end of the lesson. It should be given time com- 
 mensurate with its importance. A fifth of the class period is 
 not too much. Where the next lesson begins a new topic, how- 
 ever, the assignment might just as well be made at the begin- 
 ning of the class hour. 
 
 Three degrees of skill are revealed in the making of lesson 
 assignments. 
 
 a. The lowest order of skill is revealed when the teacher 
 says, "For tomorrow take the next ten pages." This is the 
 classic illustration of the way not to do it. 
 
 b. It is good practice to take five or more minutes at the end 
 of the class period and state clearly the ground you want cov- 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 8i 
 
 ered, the reading to be done. Then indicate the points to be 
 especially observed, the matter that is of little importance, diffi- 
 culties that may be encountered, and the way to approach and 
 study the lesson. Then give a minute to see if the students 
 have understood. 
 
 c. The best assignments use the problem approach. The 
 problem has arisen out of the group discussion. Perhaps the 
 leader anticipated it and is ready with directions to new ma- 
 terial on the subject. He tells what to read, whom to interview, 
 upon what questions to think and read. The students then 
 regard the new lesson not as a task imposed by the teacher, but 
 as aids the teacher has given them in solving a problem in 
 which they are interested. It makes all the difference in the 
 world. 
 
 The leader may have to look up his references after the 
 class hour, not having been able to see where the class would 
 come out and so prepare his assignment in advance. In this 
 case he writes it out and posts it where all can see it, in time to 
 make preparation for the next meeting. 
 
 In either case it consists of three units : first, the topic, stated 
 in problem form; second, questions which open up the topic 
 and direct investigation; third, a list of references, with the 
 pages to be read. 
 
 There is another form of assignment, called a project as- 
 signment. It consists in things to do, and questions bearing 
 upon these things. For instance, in a class studying Y M C A 
 membership methods, the next lesson might be the preparing 
 of advertising material, a soliciting letter, or it might be an 
 effort to secure older men on a service basis. The lesson on 
 membership given earlier in this chapter ended with this sort 
 of project assignment. It is very good pedagogy as well as 
 highly practical from the point of view of training men in 
 working methods. These assignments also illustrate that at 
 times each member of the class will have a different reading 
 or task upon which he is to report. 
 
 Those who wish to make a full study of lesson assignments 
 should read "Supervised Study," by Professor Hall-Quest of 
 
82 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Cincinnati University. It will suggest some interesting experi- 
 ments and new ways of using a class period. 
 
 7. Reviews 
 
 What part do reviews play in the discussion method of 
 teaching? The best review is the actual use in today's discus- 
 sion of results secured or conclusions reached in previous meet- 
 ings, used to help solve today's problem. Ground gained in the 
 process we have here set forth is more securely held than that 
 covered in lecture or recitation methods; and the materials for 
 this course being the kind that the student actually can and 
 does and wants to use, their permanent possession is more as- 
 sured. A meeting should occasionally be devoted to gathering 
 up the results of previous meetings, and together working out 
 an analysis or outline of the subject. Such a meeting naturally 
 would come at the end of a whole topic. 
 
 Charters's short discussion beginning on page 355 of his 
 "Methods of Teaching" is one of the best references. This is 
 one of the most helpful books published on the problem 
 method of teaching. Get it. 
 
 8. Class-Room Methods 
 
 Vary and enrich your class-room work by the use of some 
 of the generally accepted teaching devices. 
 
 a. Blackboards 
 
 Successful teaching can sometimes be done without 
 the use of blackboards, but it is a shame to try it when black- 
 boards add so much to the certainty of securing results. The 
 eye becomes the ally of the ear in the learning process, and 
 visual memory reenforces that of sounds. Conciseness and 
 clarity of thought and statement are secured through the neces- 
 sity of writing and of economy of space. Analyses and out- 
 lines fasten themselves in the mind. Diagrams indicate rela- 
 tions and often make abstract ideas easily understood. 
 
 There are blackboards and blackboards, and most of those 
 met in our American Associations are of a poor sort. Nash- 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 83 
 
 ville (Tenn.) stands out in memory as an oasis in a desert be- 
 cause of its splendid folding blackboard, making twenty-four 
 writing surfaces available within a few yards of space. No 
 Association is well equipped unless it has ample blackboard 
 space, both stationary and portable — a rich asset not only in 
 class-room work but in forums, committee and directors' meet- 
 ings, and for use in all sorts of talks to groups. 
 
 Sometimes all the period, sometimes only a few minutes will 
 be spent at the board. Vary your method. 
 
 b. Class arrangement 
 
 Meet around a table large enough for each man to 
 have table room. This limits classes to perhaps a dozen, but 
 few Associations have occasion for larger ones, as a large staff 
 naturally divides into several groups, such as new men, second 
 year men, and advanced men. Have the least possible number 
 of men face the light. It is annoying, tires the eyes, and makes 
 men sleepy. 
 
 See that temperature and ventilation are regulated so as to 
 make all men comfortable. It is hard to do good mental work 
 in a chilly or stuffy room. Use good chairs, so as to make the 
 students physically comfortable. Avoid folding camp-chairs, 
 for not one in a thousand can be sat upon in comfort for an 
 hour. Let the room be arranged in a neat and orderly fashion, 
 with unnecessary or broken chairs removed. A disorderly 
 room begets a disorderly mind. 
 
 c. Accessories 
 
 Comprehension and visual memory are both greatly aided 
 by the use of objects brought into class. Pictures of 
 Association buildings under discussion, photographs of leaders, 
 copies of books referred to, samples of printed matter bearing 
 on the topic, maps, charts, graphs, diagrams, and models, add 
 to the interest of the period and give variety to the meetings 
 as well as serve a genuine educational end. Take time to pass 
 these around and talk about them in relevant discussion. Do 
 not proceed with other matter while an object is being cir- 
 culated among the group. Only one thing can be central in 
 attention at a time, and it will usually be the object and not 
 
84 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 the new topic you have taken up. Both are worth while, so 
 give separate time to each. 
 
 d. Attitude 
 
 The attitude of the successful group leader is always 
 one of appreciation and encouragement. To ridicule or make 
 light of a student's serious contribution is greatly to retard his 
 progress, possibly to discourage him altogether. 
 
 Enthusia,sm is another essential. What does not arouse your 
 own enthusiasm is not likely to interest your group deeply. 
 
 In addition to appreciation and enthusiasm, the virtues of 
 attitude, according to the Ohio State School Survey, are sym- 
 pathy, cooperation, stimulation, even temper, reasonableness, 
 tolerance, dignity, courtesy, firmness, tact, resourcefulness, and 
 quickness to react. The vices are suppression, antagonism, 
 harshness, laxity, irritability, unreasonableness, intolerance, 
 rudeness, weakness, nagging, noise, disorder, dependence, 
 blundering, and lack of dignity. 
 
 e. Faults 
 
 Some of the most common faults in class-room method 
 are : delay due to students arriving late, lack of promptness in 
 beginning the lesson, waste of time in calling the roll, low and 
 indistinct speech on the part of teacher or pupil, cross-con- 
 versation apart from the main discussion, unprepared black- 
 boards and chalk, room not previously arranged and dusted, 
 books and exhibit objects not well arranged or forgotten, tele- 
 phone and other interruptions. Every one of these should be 
 guarded against. Class-room work is of high importance, the 
 time is brief, and nothing must be allowed to impede progress 
 or reduce the efficiency of instruction. 
 
 p. Examinations 
 
 The best examination is a use. Knowledge is a tool, and the 
 best test of the possession of skill with the tool is some piece of 
 work done involving its use. A project examination is the 
 best examination. What a man may write about a saw is no 
 indication of skill as a carpenter. Can he use the saw ? Then 
 he passes our test. 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 85 
 
 Your students have studied sections of Association history, 
 used it in solving problems. Can they now use this history in 
 some profitable way ? The examination used by Mr. Urice at 
 Silver Bay, printed as Appendix B, is a project examination. 
 Had he given this test in a local Association, it would have 
 been made even more a use of material than it is. Use is used 
 here in contrast with memory. A man may remember the Paris 
 Basis but have no idea as to how to use it in determining As- 
 sociation policies. He may remember certain instructions as 
 to how to get members, but not be able to get them. There- 
 fore, let your tests be doing — use tests, not merely memory 
 stunts. The Association secretaryship is a vocation; skill in 
 it is measured by achievement, and the best vocational exam- 
 ination is participation in the vocation. Skill in use, not facility 
 in memorizing, is what we test for. 
 
 IV. The Student's Work in Preparation 
 
 This will be more fully dealt with in Chapter VI, "Reading 
 and Study." This, however, is the proper place for a few 
 specific suggestions. 
 
 1. The general secretary should provide special time for it, 
 and such preparation should be as much the duty of the young 
 secretary as serving behind the lobby counter. The scheduling 
 of time for study will lend class-room work a degree of stand- 
 ing nothing else can give it. Just how much time should be so 
 scheduled the staff should decide in conference. Perhaps the 
 collegiate standard of two hours' preparation for one hour of 
 recitation may obtain here as well. 
 
 2. His reading and study should have as its aim not the 
 covering or mere understanding of certain pages, but the gath- 
 ering of suggestions that will help solve a problem. This 
 definiteness of aim gives all study real motive and also aids the 
 student in knowing when his lesson is prepared. 
 
 3. Not all students need to do the same reading. The fact 
 that dififerent references yield different opinions sets the stage 
 for real search for truth. The class period becomes a genuine 
 discussion, a sifting, examining, and weighing. 
 
86 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 4. A student's preparation should look toward a discussion 
 of the assignments, not just reproduction of them. Send him to 
 the reference with three or four questions, and let him present 
 his report (oral) as answers to them. 
 
 5. A large corporation in Pittsburgh had a number of college 
 men in training for executive positions. Their chief class 
 period came Monday morning. Saturday morning these men 
 met for what they called a "rehearsal class," when they went 
 over together, without the teacher being present, the material 
 they were to be questioned about on Monday. A similar group 
 of college men in a New York bank had a round-table meeting 
 at a convenient hour when they compared notes and exchanged 
 experiences. Can our young secretaries-in-training adopt and 
 use this idea? 
 
 6. Keep a good notebook, loose-leaf and of a convenient 
 size. How much should go into it? A full outline of all dis- 
 cussions or lectures ? As much as you are likely to use, and no 
 more. Pages of notes are carefully taken and then carefully 
 filed and forgotten. The summer schools are places of prolific 
 note-taking. Are the notes reread and used? If so, they are 
 worth while; otherwise, not. College men take a great many 
 notes, in anticipation of an examination on what the lecturer 
 said. A functional taking of notes, notes taken in anticipation 
 of using that material in real life, is the kind recommended for 
 our secretaries. These should then be filed or grouped by sub- 
 ject. And notes taken on reading and private study may ex- 
 ceed in amount the notes taken in class. Group discussion 
 does not readily lend itself to note-taking, except during the 
 summings-up. The group should exchange experience on this 
 and work out a policy. 
 
 V. Course of Study 
 
 Our presentation of class-room work has thus far dealt 
 largely with material in which are combined three or four bodies 
 of matter frequently treated as separate subjects. The tendency 
 of educational theory is away from the division of subject-mat- 
 ter and is in the direction of breaking up the content into life 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 87 
 
 situations instead of logical analyses. The procedure recom- 
 mended here is an expression of this theory. The content of 
 secretarial instruction has long been indicated by such divisions 
 as Organization, Principles, History, and Methods. There is 
 much to commend the newer method of relating the instruc- 
 tion to real life situations on the problem-project basis, in 
 which any one lesson may draw its material from all four of 
 these old logical divisions. Organization as such, methods as 
 such, cease to be the line of cleavage. The project will fre- 
 quently involve historical matter, the use of methods, the ap- 
 plication of principles, and participation in organization. This 
 makes these materials seem much more real and useful and 
 takes them out of the realm of ornaments and theory. The 
 new basis of organizing subject matter is psychological, 
 whereas the older plan is best designated as logical. 
 
 The Association has not as yet had much experience with 
 this approach, so detailed instructions cannot be given. Prob- 
 ably we cannot go the whole length at once, but shall have to 
 work our way into it. The suggestions that follow indicate 
 lines of work and study within the possibilities of most As- 
 sociations of a staff of ten men, and many with but five or 
 six on the staff. 
 
 Reread in connection with these sections, Chapter I, Chapter 
 II, section III, and Chapter III, section III, i ; for general 
 theory, Franklin Bobbitt's book, "The Curriculum." 
 
 I. The Class Year 
 
 Work on this basis is so practical and articulates so closely 
 with the daily work of promoting the Association program that 
 it should begin with the resumption of activity in September 
 and continue until the first of June. 
 
 The Secretarial Class, as it is sometimes called, may well 
 meet three times a week for fifty or sixty minutes, preferably 
 in the morning, say at nine o'clock. Where all the staff are 
 employed in one building, the plan of meeting Tuesday, 
 Wednesday, and Friday, from nine to ten, has worked well. 
 Where the group comes from many parts of the city and from 
 
88 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 distant buildings, classes have been held from, nine to twelve, 
 as in Chicago and Brooklyn for instance. These three classes, 
 one after the other, are not nearly so effective as the three 
 classes on different mornings. Where the days indicated are 
 used, Monday and Thursday are reserved for staff conferences. 
 A plan for these is suggested in Chapter VII. The class takes 
 the place of staff prayer meeting on those days. 
 
 The first year that work of this kind is done, the whole staff 
 may profitably take the course. It represents a new approach. 
 The experienced men should be present both to get and to give. 
 The second year these men take a more advanced course, and 
 all new men on the staff constitute the first year group. The 
 third year and each year thereafter the men who have had the 
 regular second year's work plan a course for the season. It 
 will be different each year. 
 
 The following plan is suggested as one way of doing it. 
 
 z. Courses 
 
 a. First year 
 
 Tuesday, p to lo a. m. Elementary projects in Association 
 work, growing in difficulty during the year. The class period is 
 used for discussion of problems encountered. The course in- 
 cludes projects and problems in most of the usual Association 
 departments. The general secretary will usually be the teacher, 
 as only he can assign the men real projects. In a metropolitan 
 center, a branch executive may be chosen leader. The work 
 will be most effectively done when each branch has its own 
 class. 
 
 Wednesday, 9 to lo a. m. Bible study. A high-grade class 
 in which the Bible, methods of teaching the Bible, and uses of 
 Bible rnaterial are all considered. It may be taught by a mem- 
 ber of the staff or some local resident apart from the staff. It 
 should not be a series of lectures about the Bible, but should 
 be group study of the Bible. For first-year work, use the gos- 
 pels. Sharman's new course, "Jesus in the Records,'' is excel- 
 lent for this purpose. Bosworth's "Studies in the Life of 
 Jesus Christ," is another good course. The aim of this class is 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 89 
 
 to get a student's grasp of the materials. It will be devotional 
 and inspirational as a by-product. 
 
 Friday, 9 to 10 a. m. Same as Tuesday. 
 
 b. Second year 
 
 Tuesday, 9 to 10 a. m. Advanced Association projects and 
 problems. Perhaps this year's work will introduce more of the 
 problems of the executive, efficiency principles, departmental 
 responsibility, and more business administration and promo- 
 tion. All these things will be studied in their relation to proj- 
 ects, however, and not as separate bodies of subject-matter. 
 Let the men gradually acquire knowledge of and skill in using 
 efficiency principles week by week, rather than learn about 
 them as a segregated fund of knowledge. 
 
 Wednesday, p to 10 a. m. Bible class. In some Associa- 
 tions the whole staff will want to be together for this Bible 
 class, instead of dividing into groups by years. Where this is 
 the case, it might be well to study the gospels the first year, 
 the Acts and Epistles the second, and the Old Testament the 
 third. Hutchins's new course, "The Religious Experience of 
 Israel," is one of the best published. 
 
 Friday, 9 to 10 a. m. Problems of the modern city. This 
 is a study of practical sociology, the constructive forces in 
 city life with which we can and should cooperate, and the 
 destructive forces we must count upon and combat. Among the 
 former will be such subjects as city management (your own 
 city), problems of city health and sanitation, housing, recrea- 
 tion, law-making and enforcement, education, and so forth. 
 The course would include a study of local employment prob- 
 lems, labor problems, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, gam- 
 bling, amusements, care of dependents and defectives, charity 
 organization societies, settlements, present-day unrest, immigra- 
 tion, foreign groups, evening education, temperance, child wel- 
 fare agencies, and the modern city church. The class would 
 discover the problems, then the agencies working to solve them, 
 then the relation of the Association to the same problem and 
 agencies. It will be a full and profitable year, if the right 
 leader is secured. 
 
90 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 c. Advanced year 
 
 This group would meet twice a week at a convenient hour. 
 It might not be possible to meet simultaneously with the 
 younger groups, as these men may have to run the building 
 while the others are in class. They would choose their own 
 leader and themselves decide upon what subjects it would be 
 most profitable to study. Here, too, correlation with practical 
 work is a great aid and incentive. 
 
 Among subjects that it might be profitable to study may be 
 mentioned advanced work in the problems of the modern city, 
 business administration, theory of education, religious educa- 
 tion, sociology, modern religious movements, movements and 
 developments in the Orient, Latin America, or Europe, applied 
 psychology, social psychology, personal evangelism, modern 
 missions, fundamentals of Christian thought, vocational educa- 
 tion or guidance, advertising, salesmanship, current events, 
 phases of Association work, as rural, industrial, or community. 
 Association tendencies, work for boys, and so on through a long 
 list. Two courses might be followed simultaneously, meeting 
 on different days. 
 
 5. Special Considerations 
 
 a. As to laymen 
 
 The mixing of laymen and the staff in a class that is 
 designed to train secretaries has proved to be a failure 
 and been generally discontinued. Houi-s suitable to the sec- 
 retaries were not good hours for the laymen, and vice versa. 
 Furthermore, the degree of interest and the point of view were 
 so different as to make material of deep interest to secretaries 
 uninteresting to the laymen. On the project and problem 
 basis, the two will obviously work better as separate groups. 
 Mixing the two groups is strongly advised against. 
 
 b. As to time 
 
 Long before you have reached this point in the chapter, 
 you may have objected that this is too hard and takes too 
 much time. As to the first objection, it is indeed not an easy 
 matter; it will require study, acquisition of new skill, and, of 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 91 
 
 course, time and effort. It is so worth while, however, will so 
 effectively attract and hold strong men for the staff, so increase 
 each man's ability and output, so unify the staff and create 
 enthusiasm in the work that it will prove worth all it costs and 
 more. Then, too, twenty years' connection with the Young 
 Men's Christian Association leads me to observe that it is not 
 the habit of Association secretaries to back off from a good 
 thing because it is hard. And finally, it is not as hard as it 
 looks. Try it and you will see. 
 
 4. Methods Discussions 
 
 There is a way of treating lessons in such subjects as mem- 
 bership work, educational work, and similar method material 
 that is so interesting to the group and educationally sound that 
 it is presented here. It will help some men. Let us take mem- 
 bership work as a sample. This will be a development lesson 
 rather than a group discussion, though there will be plenty of 
 discussion. 
 
 A Series of Lessons on Membership Work 
 
 The leader goes to the board and asks, What are the tasks 
 involved in getting and holding an Association membership? 
 He writes on the board all the suggestions that come, caution- 
 ing the men to keep to large divisions, not minutiae. After 
 he sees that the subject has been fairly well covered, in say 
 three or four minutes, with the help of the class he gathers 
 the suggestions into the main divisions such as this : 
 
 1. Getting members. 
 
 2. Keeping membership records. 
 
 3. Assimilating members. 
 
 4. Securing renewals. 
 
 5. Utilizing and training them as committeemen. 
 Leader: Let us now examine the task of getting members. 
 
 How are they secured? 
 Group contributions: 
 Personal solicitation. 
 Drop in to join. 
 Through advertisements. 
 By means of campaigns. 
 Brought in by friends. 
 
92 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Leader: Who does this personal soliciting? 
 Group contributions : 
 Secretaries. 
 Committeemen. 
 Directors. 
 Satisfied customers. 
 Leader: What secretaries should solicit members? 
 
 (Here you get a good discussion.) 
 Leader: What sort of advertisements are used? 
 Group contributions : 
 Booklets. 
 Letters. 
 
 Newspaper stories. 
 Newspaper advertisements. 
 Window cards. 
 Bulletins. 
 Leader : What characteristics make a booklet a success ? 
 Leader : What gives a letter pulling power ? ■ 
 So the leader proceeds, taking each contribution, putting it 
 on the board, analyzing it with the group, pushing farther into 
 the subject, discussing disputed points, letting the group rule 
 out poor suggestions, occasionally offering a suggestion him- 
 self, at times asking questions that reveal the weakness of 
 some idea. 
 
 It is surprising what can be done with a group by this proc- 
 ess. The total contribution is wonderfully worthy, full of good 
 things, and every man has participated, thought, grown, 
 searched for truth, solved problems, been interested, and very 
 likely decided on some action. That makes it a pretty good 
 educational process, does it not? 
 
 The last five minutes are used to assign a project to each 
 member of the group, based on the things on the board — let us 
 say membership advertising. They are real, not make-believe. 
 They will be used, not just discussed in class. To a group of 
 six, these might be assigned : 
 
 Draw up a ii x 14 window-card to get members. 
 
 Write a letter soliciting a member. 
 
 Prepare a four-inch double column newspaper ad. 
 
 Write a newspaper story to attract members. 
 
 Design a poster for the bulletin-board. 
 
 Outline a leaflet, four pages, envelope size. 
 
CLASS-ROOM WORK 93 
 
 When the class meets for the next period, these projects are 
 reported upon, discussed, and after modification, actually used. 
 The leader plans the development of his lesson in advance so 
 as to make his projects articulate with the tasks of the day. 
 Obviously, this would be a timely lesson in early September. 
 
 After checking up on the projects, the outline is further 
 developed, and, if it is advisable, new projects are assigned. 
 So the course proceeds. The assignments after the second les- 
 son might be study assignments instead of objective projects; 
 they would bear upon some problem brought up in the class 
 meeting. Can you use this plan? 
 
 5. Other Uses of the Problem Method 
 
 The plans developed at length in this chapter are not the 
 only use of the problem method. The teaching of Association 
 history in chronological order of events can be conducted along 
 the lines recommended by M. E. Branom in "The Project 
 Method in Education," pages 200 to 219, or by W. W. Charters 
 in "Teaching the Common Branches," chapter 10, or by the 
 simple use of the problem method worked out in Secretarial 
 Bureau Bulletins number 4 and number 11, issued several 
 years ago and mailed free to those asking for them by the 
 Personnel Bureau, International Committee Y M C A, 347 
 Madison Ave., New York. Experience and conviction, how- 
 ever, lead to the recommendation of the method developed 
 above. 
 
 VI. References on the Discussion Method 
 
 1. Methods of Teaching. W. W. Charters. Pages 215-217, 
 266-276, 296-313, 396-414. Splendid treatment of discussion, ques- 
 tioning, and assigning lessons. 
 
 2. The Project Method in Education. M. E. Branom. Pages 
 124-140, 145-170, 200-219. Very helpful material in relation to 
 class-room method. 
 
 3. What Is Education ? E. C. Moore. Pages 222-232. A sec- 
 tion on the recitation, lecture, and development method. 
 
 4. The Method of the Recitation. C. A. & F. M. McMurry. 
 Pages 1 18-189. A full treatment of the development method of 
 
94 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 teaching, as compared with lecturing and hearing recitations from 
 textbooks. 
 
 5. The Educative Process. W. C. Bagley. Pages 256-264. 
 A chapter on teaching the student to arrive at his own conclusions. 
 
 6. How TO Teach. Strayer & Norsworthy. Pages 200-218. 
 A chapter on different types of class-room work, such as inductive 
 and deductive lessons drill, recitations, and lectures. 
 
 7. The Pupil and the Teacher. L. A. Weigle. Pages 169- 
 180. The various kinds of questions and how to ask questions. 
 
 8. Types of Teaching. L. B. Earhart. Pages 80-90. A chap- 
 ter on how to make lesson assignments. 
 
 9. Democracy and Education. Xo^^*^ Dewey. Pages 163-192. 
 The relation of experience to thinking, and how to think scien- 
 tifically. 
 
 10. How We Think. John Dewey. Pages 68-78. An analysis 
 of what we do when we think. 
 
 11. Teaching by Projects. C. A. McMurry. Pages 222-224. 
 The use of questions in teaching. 
 
 12. The Teaching of Bible Classes. E. F. See. Pages 156- 
 172. (Association Press.) A discussion of the art of questioning. 
 
 13. The Leadership of Red Triangle Groups. H. S. Elliott. 
 (Association Press.) A full discussion of how to conduct discus- 
 sion groups, especially Bible study groups. 
 
 14. The Silver Bay Experiment. Jay A. Urice. (Association 
 Press.) An account of a successful effort to apply the group- 
 discussion method of teaching. 
 
 15. International Encyclopedia. Article "Pedagogy," Vol. 
 18, page 246. Read the section dealing with the different class- 
 room methods. 
 
 16. The Question as a Measure of Efficiency in Instruc- 
 tion. Romiett Stevens. (Columbia University.) An investiga- 
 tion of the relation of the number and quality of questions to suc- 
 cessful teaching. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. Why Coaching Is Needed 
 
 1. To supplement projects and class-room work 
 
 2. Because of personal differences in men 
 
 3. From the point of view of the general secretary 
 
 4. Some secretaries 
 
 II. What Is the Coach's Part in Producing a Winning 
 
 Team? 
 
 1. Preparatory work 
 
 2. Technical factors 
 
 3. Physical factors 
 
 4. Psychic factors 
 
 5. The secretary as coach 
 
 III. Beginning on a New Man 
 
 1. Inducting him into his work 
 
 2. Conditions affecting work 
 
 a. Circumstances and environment 
 
 b. Temperament and training 
 
 3. Things about which to coach men 
 
 a. Office methods 
 
 b. Departmental methods 
 
 c. Staff 
 
 d. Plant 
 
 e. Activities 
 
 f. Visitors 
 
 g. The city 
 
 h. Accessory talents 
 i. Professional habits 
 j. Personal condition 
 ' k. Etiquette 
 1. Attitude 
 
 IV. Spirit and Attitude 
 
 95 
 
96 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 V. Whom to Coach and How 
 
 1. The man who is "falling down" 
 
 2. The man who is "making good" 
 
 3. The understudy 
 
 a. His place in the organization 
 
 b. Ways of training an understudy 
 
 4. Special coaching occasions 
 
 5. The coaching question 
 
 6. The happy medium 
 
 VI. Records 
 VII. Questions for Further Study 
 
 Problem 
 
 What coaching by senior secretaries is necessary and helpful 
 in the training process? 
 
 I. Why Coaching Is Needed 
 
 1. To Supplement Projects and Class-Room Work 
 
 It is obvious that in the execution of projects the young sec- 
 retary will find himself in situations for which his previous 
 experience is not adequate preparation. For the successful cul- 
 mination of any considerable enterprise, he will need prepara- 
 tory coaching and personal attention at dift'erent times during 
 its progress. Experience shows the value of this same careful 
 individual coaching in minor tasks also, as well as in larger 
 duties. 
 
 Class-room work also is inadequate to the training of men 
 for success in the vocation. Recent years have witnessed a 
 decreasing belief in the efficacy 6f the school room in fitting 
 men for objective undertakings. "The benefit of class instruc- 
 tion is limited," says President E. C. Moore, "and the limits 
 are quickly reached. Improvement can come only by the 
 adoption of methods and opportunities for supplementing class 
 instruction with work for individuals." One form of such sup- 
 plementing is found in personal coaching. 
 
 2. Because of Personal Differences in Men 
 
 One seldom finds two men alike. The degree of intelligence 
 
COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 97 
 
 is different ; response to the same suggestion differs ; men ap- 
 proach and do their work in a variety of ways; help is needed 
 at different points and in varying amounts. Each man on the 
 staff has his personal peculiarities, and these require individual 
 treatment. Personal coaching is the only sure process by which 
 these diverse needs can be met. All this from the angle of the 
 assistant. 
 
 J. From the Point of View of the General Secretary 
 
 a. He wants certain things done in a special way. Local ex- 
 perience has resulted in the standardization of certain proc- 
 esses, and, until a new way can be proved better, all men are 
 expected to learn the accepted method. It is passed on through 
 personal coaching. 
 
 b. In the course of his own career the general secretary has 
 acquired knowledge of Association processes, points of view, 
 and traditions — his share of the social heritage of the vocation. 
 That this wealth may not be lost and pass away with his own 
 going, the secretary wishes to transmit it to the younger men 
 coming on to his staff. Much of this transmission is secured 
 by personal coaching in connection with daily work. 
 
 c. The experienced secretary wants to save his juniors from 
 repeating the costly errors of himself and others. He wishes 
 to save the Association also. So he coaches. 
 
 d. He knows that coaching has a great deal to do with pro- 
 ducing a winning team, to use a figure from athletics. 
 
 e. He knows it to be the heart of the understudy relation, to 
 use one from big business. 
 
 f. He realizes that the process of coaching has the same 
 value in training laymen that it has in training secretaries, and 
 seeks to perfect himself in it. 
 
 g. He beHeves that his juniors will in turn use the processes 
 used on them, and coach others. 
 
 h. He feels a sense of moral obligation to give this individual 
 attention to his new associates. 
 
 i. There is a growing conviction in the brotherhood that a 
 secretary must be more than a promoter, that he must be a 
 
98 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 teacher and trainer of men — lay and employed. Much of this 
 training work will be in the form of personal coaching. 
 
 4. Some Secretaries 
 
 It may be that some senior secretaries have not realized the 
 nature and value of coaching as a means of getting work well 
 done, or, realizing it, have done more or less of it, as most do, 
 but have never made a real study of coaching and reduced it 
 to an art. 
 
 For such, this chapter may contain a real idea. They may 
 find in it a way of adding a new tool to their kit, an additional 
 skill to their equipment. 
 
 There is practically no literature on the psychology or ped- 
 agogy of coaching. It is a good field for research. In the ab- 
 sence of helpful writing, let us go to the athletic field and study 
 the man coaching a team. 
 
 A number of general secretaries, physical directors, and 
 departmental men have been interviewed on this subject. 
 Many of these men spoke both as athletes who had received 
 coaching, and as secretaries who did coaching. Working to- 
 gether, we found the athletic analogy yielded much helpful 
 suggestion. This composite answer to our question will repay 
 mulling over. 
 
 II. What Is the Coach's Part in Producing a Winning 
 
 Team? 
 I. Preparatory Work 
 
 a. He has scouts out looking for good material, and does, 
 some scouting himself. In the course of his experience he 
 finds that certain ponds are "good fishing" and goes there 
 again. 
 
 b. From the available material he selects the most likely pros- 
 pects, with a view to next year's as well as this year's team. 
 Some material he leaves where it is for a while and watches 
 its development before deciding that he wants a certain man. 
 
 c. He knows he cannot "make a silk purse out of a sow's 
 ear," that there is no use trying to polish a brick, that he can- 
 
COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 99 
 
 not clinch nails in a potato ; so he is mighty careful in his selec- 
 tion of the men upon whom his energies are to be spent. He 
 tries to pick winners. 
 
 d. He provides good equipment for his men to work with. 
 
 2. Technical Factors 
 
 a. He puts the men to work at once, giving them elementary 
 tasks within the range of their ability. 
 
 b. He coaches the men on these tasks, giving them the funda- 
 mentals and the fine points as they are needed and the men 
 are alert to receive them. As an expert, he supplies the tech- 
 nique of the game. 
 
 c. Each player is studied carefully, in order that both his 
 personal characteristics and his special aptitudes may be dis- 
 covered and understood. 
 
 d. He supplies constructive criticism based on this study, and 
 directs each player's energies into the most profitable lines. 
 
 e. He analyzes the game, and arranges a sequence of in- 
 struction. He has a curriculum, as it were, a program of learn- 
 ing the game. 
 
 f. He knows the game himself, and is constantly on the 
 alert to learn more. 
 
 g. He studies the technique of the coaching process, and the 
 best way of overcoming difficulties in the way of making his 
 team a successful one so far as his work as coach is concerned. 
 
 h. He devises plays, and encourages his men to undertake 
 the same. 
 
 i. He has discussions of the game and its technique, illustrat- 
 ing and working out plays upon the blackboard, and helping 
 each man to understand fully his own part in the game, the 
 part of other players, and the game as a whole. Thus he 
 combines work and theory, each based upon the other. 
 
 j. On the field he demonstrates some plays himself, making 
 the process clear and setting a standard of performance. 
 
 k. He finds weak spots, and strengthens them either by sup- 
 plementary coaching or by shifting a player. Some men he 
 finds he has to drop from the team. 
 
loo TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 1. Certain positions have to be filled, so he looks for the men 
 most likely to fill them well and directs their training toward 
 that end. He knows the requirements of each position, and the 
 kind of man most likely to make good in it. 
 
 m. On the field, he supervises the work of the men, keeps 
 track of their progress, and notes their difficulties. 
 
 n. He knows he cannot turn out a winning team by carrying 
 the ball himself, so he has other men carry the ball. On pro- 
 fessional teams, where the coach is himself a player, he knows 
 he cannot play the whole game himself, so he faithfully seeks 
 to bring other men up to his own degree of skill. He knows 
 better than to be a lone star. 
 
 o. Men vary in the things they can do well. The coach finds 
 his material long on some things and short on others. In foot- 
 ball, he may find his men are light but fast. He builds his 
 game and style of play on this fact or condition, bases his plays 
 on the players available. He also builds more or less around 
 certain skilful players. 
 
 p. He teaches the technique of scoring, how and when to 
 make the final effort that makes all the previous work of some 
 avail. 
 
 q. In consultation with the men, he decides upon which are 
 the major and the minor games, and plans, their work ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 r. He supplements himself, choosing assistant coaches for 
 special service, and has the older men coach the newer ones. 
 
 s. He knows that general or specific instruction to the group 
 as a whole will not suffice, and gives each man all the individual 
 instruction he needs. 
 
 J. Physical Factors 
 
 a. The wise coach looks carefully into the physical condition 
 of his players,, cautioning them against things he knows reduce 
 effectiveness. 
 
 b. He gives suggestions— even makes rules— as to eating, 
 sleeping, and other physical factors. The man who goes con- 
 trary to these is recognized by all as jeopardizing the success 
 
COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION loi 
 
 • 
 
 of the team, and the group works with the coach to enforce 
 provisions demonstrated to be wise. 
 
 c. Symptoms of over-work are watched for, and measures 
 taken to reheve the strain. 
 
 4. Psychic Factors 
 
 a. The coach develops the right attitude of mind toward 
 practice, training, the game, team-mates, etc. 
 
 b. He seeks to create incentive, enthusiasm, inspiration, be- 
 lief in the game, and loyalty. 
 
 c. He wins the men's confidence in himself, by his skill, his 
 interest in them, and his personal character. Inspiring loyalty, 
 he is in turn loyal — to the men, the game, the institution em- 
 ploying him. He both is loyal to and believes in his men. 
 
 d. He has high ideals as to the quality of his own work. 
 
 e. He commends good work. 
 
 f . Esprit de corps and team play being vital to the game, he 
 endeavors to create and maintain them. With larger liberty, 
 he yet shares the hardships of the men, asks nothing he is not 
 willing to do himself, preaches and practices self -subordination 
 to the group interest. 
 
 5. The Secretary as Coach 
 
 If this analysis of the work of the coach is correct, and 
 coaching is part of the secretarial task, a duty quite like that 
 of the man in athletics, the responsibility this analogy lays upon 
 the secretary is no light one. Indeed, the above is scarcely a 
 full measure of it, for the task, of the secretary is just as much 
 harder and more exacting as his goal is more significant and 
 vital than that of the athletic coach. Each duty of the coach 
 implies a more serious one for the head of the Association 
 staff, an obligation more sacred. 
 
 With no disrespect for the coach, we may say that his prime 
 interest is in winning games. The secretary must win games 
 also, but in addition he must train men for their life's occupa- 
 tion, and prepare future leaders for the Association move- 
 ment. Then, too, coaching is the coach's way of making a Hv- 
 
I02 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 ing, of serving a college, or at most of improving somewhat 
 the quality of men. Coaching is the secretary's way of extend- 
 ing the Kingdom of God. 
 
 There are other differences. With the secretary, there are 
 no seasons; the task is continuous. The task is also more 
 varied, and more kinds of ability are required. The secretary 
 is himself a player in the game. Losses in this game mean 
 more than losses in athletics. The characters of the men and 
 boys of a city are involved. The Association objective is more 
 complex, just as it is more vital, and results are more difficult to 
 measure as well as more difficult to produce. They are more 
 mental and spiritual, less physical, slower, perhaps, as well as 
 more difficult to obtain. 
 
 The secretary works under five disadvantages. He has many 
 other duties, he has no substitutes to fall back upon, he has 
 less material from which to choose, it is harder for him to dis- 
 pose of poor material, and he cannot be so constantly on a 
 man's trail during practice and the game. 
 
 On the other hand, all the incentives and power of a great 
 cause and motive are with the secretary; he is a partner with 
 God himself in this enterprise. 
 
 III. Beginning on a New Man 
 I. Inducting Him into His Work 
 
 With the parallel of the athletic coach in mind, let us see 
 how a general secretary should begin work on a new man. He 
 might proceed as follows : 
 
 a. Assign the new man definite work at the very beginning. 
 Find out what he has done previously, and use these things as a 
 basis, if possible. 
 
 b. Instruct him in the simple tasks of his position, have him 
 perform them in your presence, and observe his performance. 
 
 c. Correct his faults and errors in a kindly way. Help him 
 to realize and understand these places of least efficiency, but 
 do not rub it in. 
 
 d. Express appreciation of that part of his work which is 
 well done. Recognize ability. 
 
COACHING : THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 103 
 
 e. Do not let him overdo during these early days, or later. 
 
 f. By varying his tasks, by study and observation, discover 
 his strong and weak points, his personal qualifications. Build 
 on his "longs," and coach him on his "shorts." 
 
 g. See that he understands the reasons for certain methods 
 of doing work, the advantages and disadvantages of different 
 ways, so that he becomes personally committed to them and is 
 not merely mechanically obeying orders, like the Irishman who 
 tapped the car wheels but did not know that he was doing it 
 so he could by the sound discover cracked ones. 
 
 h. Use certain tasks as a point of contact in introducing a 
 discussion of fundamental principles, and bring in historical 
 matter where it helps to solve the problem or to understand it. 
 
 i. Gradually add to his responsibilities, with the necessary 
 coaching as to new duties. Put more stress upon why than 
 upon how, so as to give him a chance to use initiative in devel- 
 oping method, or to improve a process already in use. 
 
 j. Demonstrate certain processes, such as the way you want 
 the 'phone answered, how to show a guest over the building, 
 how to inspect the plant, etc. 
 
 k. See that he understands the technique of each task, such 
 as recording cash receipts, taking membership applications, and 
 checking laundry in and out. 
 
 1. Require a reasonably good standard of performance, but 
 let him understand he is not expected to be a star the first week. 
 Failure in certain things, however, should not be lightly passed 
 over. 
 
 m. Encourage him to ask questions where he does not under- 
 stand ; expect the whole staff to be ready to help new men find 
 themselves. 
 
 n. Let these coaching contacts be frequent in the beginning. 
 
 o. Let your coaching be constructive rather than critical, so 
 far as possible. "Do" helps more than "don't." 
 
 p. Show him the importance of his task as a contribution to 
 the whole scheme of the Association. Make him feel worth 
 while. 
 
 q. Secure his confidence, respect, and friendship. 
 
I04 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 r. Have a sequence of tasks for him, a curriculum based on 
 an analysis of his position. 
 
 s. Relate some of your group discussions to the needs you 
 discover in your coaching. 
 
 t. Teach him to carry each undertaking to its proper com- 
 pletion, to "score." 
 
 2. Conditions Affecting Work 
 
 There are certain conditions which so vitally affect the way 
 in which men work that the secretary, in his individual coach- 
 ing of men, must give careful attention to them. They will 
 considerably modify what he will say and do under exactly the 
 same superficial circumstances. These modifiers come under 
 the head of circumstances and present environment on one 
 hand, and temperament and training on the other. 
 
 a. Circumstances and environment 
 
 Before a man is reproved or censured in private coaching, let 
 the senior secretary discover the circumstances affecting his 
 work. His physical condition may be such that good work is 
 simply out of the question. Perhaps he is getting insufficient 
 sleep, due to a noisy room, a sick wife or child, or ill health. 
 His stomach may be out of order, due to too great economy 
 in eating or the reverse, or to the difficulty of getting a good 
 eating place, or to too great haste in eating. Some permanent 
 illness may have hold of him, reducing his vitality. Or he may 
 be overworked and need chiefly lightening of the load. Change 
 from an athletic college life to off-ce work may be a condition- 
 ing circumstance. 
 
 Other men are seriously depressed by home conditions, a 
 petulant or sick wife, or one out of sympathy with her hus- 
 band's choice of vocation or location. Her discontent or 
 jealousy of others may greatly reduce her husband's working 
 efficiency. Or she may be making demands upon him at home 
 that deprive him of opportunities for rest, recreation, or study. 
 He may have to do the washing and ironing. 
 
 The whole matter of the staff's home situation and physical 
 condition must be kept in mind if coaching is to be helpful. 
 
COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 105 
 
 sympathetic, or effective. Financial and other matters causing 
 worry must also be taken into account. They must first be 
 known, and such information- comes only to men of kindly 
 interest. 
 
 b. Temperament and training 
 
 Not all men respond alike to the same suggestion, nor are all 
 to be treated in just the same way. Individual differences in 
 temperament and training must be allowed for. Disposition is 
 a determining factor; this must be discovered and sails set ac- 
 cordingly. The sensitive man and the more hardy one are not 
 to be dealt with just alike. 
 
 Professor Hall-Quest, during a long experience in coaching 
 students, has found the following types. We have all of them 
 in the secretaryship : 
 
 The timid pupil — easily misjudged; hesitates to assert his 
 rights. 
 
 The overconfident pupil — likes to be prominent ; may resent 
 explanations. 
 
 The impulsive pupil — sees things at once, but superficially. 
 
 The careless pupil — unreliable in details. 
 
 The industrious but not brilliant pupil — deserves recognition. 
 
 The brilliant but lazy pupil — should be warned. 
 
 The all-round pupil — can and does learn easily. 
 
 The resentful pupil — low marks or criticism offend him. 
 
 The indifferent pupil — an enigma often; hard to arouse; 
 seek for his chief interest. 
 
 The artistic pupil — very neat. 
 
 The social pupil — prefers clubs and social life in general. 
 
 Professor Bagley, quoted by Professor Hall-Quest in 
 "Supervised Study," p. 58, classifies pupils into eight groups, 
 the first six of which at least we have to deal with on our 
 staff; for the pupil grows up and enters Association work. 
 These are: (a) The stubborn pupil; (b) the haughty pupil; 
 (c) the self-complacent pupil ; (d) the irresponsible pupil ; (e) 
 the morose pupil; (f) the hypersensitive pupil; (g) the deceit- 
 ful pupil; (h) the vicious pupil. 
 
 Finally, we must take account of a man's training, and expect 
 
io6 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 much or little on only a fair basis. His past experience and 
 home and school training produce conditions easily understood 
 in the light of knowledge of them, and these enter into the 
 decision as to how to deal with that member of the staff in the 
 coaching relation. 
 
 J. Things about Which to Coach Men 
 
 The secretary who decides to make coaching a genuine teach- 
 ing process will analyze the secretarial task to find the places 
 at which coaching is likely to be necessary. He will prepare a 
 sort of curriculum or course of coaching, and check off the 
 different matters as they are attended to. It will generally be 
 most helpful if it comes in connection with a piece of work 
 actually in hand. This is not always possible, so some of the 
 coaching periods, long or short, will be deliberately introduced 
 at appropriate times apart from a related task. The list in 
 Chapter I will be of some assistance. The spheres in which 
 coaching is found to be helpful may be studied under the fol- 
 lowing outline : 
 
 a. Office methods : Some Associations have written stand- 
 ard practice instruction sheets describing how certain pieces of 
 work are to be done. These would, of course, be given to the 
 new man to read. He will need coaching along with them. 
 Checking the cash, answering the 'phone, assorting mail — a 
 large number of these minor duties are best done in a certain 
 way. Discover it and coach the new men in it. 
 
 The attitude of the office man also needs attention. He must 
 not only do his routine work accurately and faithfully, but he 
 must be alert to greet people coming to the counter either on 
 business or to visit socially. The spirit in which counter service 
 is to be performed needs to be definitely taught. Few assist- 
 ants in the front oifice do this work well. The Association is 
 not as successful in greeting people as is the average hotel or 
 the United Cigar Stores. Here is a sphere for careful coach- 
 ing. The hotel and the cigar store clerks are taught how to 
 meet the public. 
 
 b. Departmental methods: Here is an important place for 
 
COACPIING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 107 
 
 careful analysis of the whole sphere of work, decision as to 
 how things should be done until better methods appear, and 
 coaching of new men in the present approved process. All the 
 departments — physical, educational, religious, social, and such 
 divisions of the work as boys, dormitory, membership, thrift, 
 and so forth — should have their technique passed on in this 
 personal manner. This includes both details and policies. 
 
 c. Staff : Certain facts and peculiarities about the members 
 of the staff should be given the new man, so that he may 
 quickly enter into an understanding sympathy with all the older 
 men. He should be coached on his attitude to his fellow-work- 
 ers, an attitude of respect and cooperation, and this spirit 
 should be extended to include the humblest janitorial help. A 
 secretary once said, "I expect to treat the president and the 
 janitor on exactly the same basis; on the basis that I am a 
 gentleman." 
 
 d. Plant : There are a number of things about the plant the 
 new man should know : Its size, cost and age. Where differ- 
 ent rooms are located, and what each room is for. Where 
 things are kept. How to regulate the temperature, ventilation, 
 and lights. Janitorial responsibilities. What to do in emer- 
 gencies. Cleaning processes. 
 
 e. Activities: The new man must be quickly equipped to 
 answer questions about activities, regular and special ; facts 
 about dates, prices, schedules, and persons must be given him, 
 with coaching as to ways in which he can cooperate. To be of 
 real assistance in making things go, membership for instance, 
 he must be coached in salesmanship. 
 
 f . Visitors : The Association man who can receive and en- 
 tertain visitors is a joy forever, if not a thing of beauty. Let 
 his preparation for this important service include coaching in 
 how to meet people, how to show them over the building in an 
 entertaining way, and how to practice the art of social con- 
 versation — finding the subjects that interest the guests and 
 talking about them. 
 
 g. The city : Show the new man a map of the city, take him 
 to different parts of it, explaining the different sections, streets, 
 
io8 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 buildings, churches, schools, and institutions, so that he in turn 
 can use this information in his work. Tell him about the im- 
 portant and interesting personalities, and have him meet some 
 of them. Coach him on local interests, industries, traditions, 
 and history. It will add greatly to his interest in his work and 
 increase his effectiveness as a worker. 
 
 h. Accessory talents : See that he is coached on such work 
 as public speaking, letter writing, salesmanship, and adver- 
 tising. 
 
 i. Professional habits: Coaching here should include the 
 cultivation of promptness, neatness, courtesy, system, accuracy, 
 optimism, methods of planning and executing work, and per- 
 sonal efficiency. The use of slang will be regulated, and good 
 form in manner and speech cultivated. 
 
 j. Personal condition: Many men need to be coached on 
 their personal appearance, on their habits of sleep, eating, and 
 exercise. "How to Live," by Fisher and Fiske, should be 
 placed in their hands for its many valuable suggestions in right 
 living. Genesis 41:14 contains a suggestion. 
 
 k. Etiquette : "The formalities or usages required by the 
 customs of polite society." Some very good men have put 
 their knives into their mouths, misused the salad fork, said 
 "ain't," and done other distressing things. Make up for the 
 omissions in early training. 
 
 1. Attitude : Many younger men will need coaching on im- 
 portant matters of attitude, including such things as a Christian 
 Association secretary's attitude to the church, the Association, 
 Sunday, the Bible, democracy, study, women, humble people, 
 work, and life itself. All these, and others, should be discussed 
 at some time or other as an appropriate occasion presents itself 
 or can be made. This does not mean that the general secretary 
 will deliver a brief and solemn lecture on each of these sub- 
 jects. It means that these things will be quietly and frankly 
 discussed, and such help given as may be needed. 
 
 A few years ago the Secretarial Bureau of the International 
 Committee issued a bulletin on this subject. It is reproduced 
 here as supplementing this discussion. 
 
COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 109 
 
 Topics for Interviews with Junior Secretaries 
 
 Issued by the Secretarial Bureau of the International Com- 
 mittee. Bulletin Number 8 
 
 Successful general secretaries of Associations are having 
 occasional interviews with the younger secretaries of their 
 staffs for the following purpose. Naturally many of these 
 interviews are of a very confidential nature, and they are all 
 conducted in the spirit of deepest sympathy and friendship. 
 Create an atmosphere in which such interviews will be natural, 
 frank, and informal. 
 
 Many younger secretaries have a genuine desire for a larger 
 opportunity for such contact with the general secretary as is 
 here suggested. 
 
 The following are some of the objects which a senior secre- 
 tary should have in mind in his interviews with junior secre- 
 taries : 
 
 1. To correct wrong personal habits, such as excessive use 
 of slang, grouchiness, too free and easy a manner, lack of at- 
 tention to personal appearance, etc. 
 
 2. To help solve religious problems, such as doubts; and to 
 give counsel as to religious development. 
 
 3. To see if duties and their performance are understood. 
 
 4. To coach as to specific Association methods and policies. 
 
 5. To advise as to personal finances. 
 
 6. To discover and prevent friction within the staff. 
 
 7. To see if the men are in good health and spirits; and to 
 advise regarding exercise and living conditions. 
 
 8. To give encouragement as to personal progress. 
 
 9. To suggest lines of study and growth. 
 
 10. To guide general reading. 
 
 11. To advise as to church and Sunday school relations. 
 
 12. To advise concerning companions, and engagement and 
 marriage. 
 
 13. To discuss future training, education, and promotion. 
 
 14. To reprove in a kindly way for errors that have been 
 made. 
 
 15. To cultivate a sense of comradeship. 
 
 16. To develop a correct attitude toward the Association and 
 its work. 
 
 17. To give a clear idea of the Association's function and 
 message. 
 
 18. To stimulate professional ideals. 
 
no TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 IV. Spirit and Attitude 
 
 The following paragraph from a typewritten sheet received 
 from Mr. L. E. Buell, of Michigan, is well worth quoting: 
 "To suggest to a man without destroying his initiative; to 
 inspire him to do his best without unduly flattering him ; to hold 
 him to his task without weakening his sense of responsibihty ; 
 to correct him without offending him ; and to always give him, 
 in public as well as in private, credit for all that he does — this 
 requires talent of a high order and it must be well mixed with 
 love and the grace of God." "Mixed with love and the grace 
 of God" — this describes the attitude of the true secretarial 
 coach; kindly observation of a man's work and helpful dis- 
 cussion of the results with suggestions as to possible improve- 
 ment, suggestion often made in question form rather than 
 given flatly. Thus conducted, the coaching contact becomes a 
 period of fellowship and inspiration, a thing to look forward 
 to and to be remembered with pleasure. It is easy to "nag" 
 a junior and call it coaching. It is quite another thing to do 
 it "mixed with love and the grace of God." One does not have 
 to stretch his imagination to see Jesus dealing with His disciples 
 on this kindly and friendly basis. The reproduction of His 
 spirit in the senior secretary as a coach will add much to the 
 effectiveness and more to the joy of the juniors on the staff. 
 
 The coach's attitude must not only be kindly, it must be 
 democratic. This phase of the subject is well presented in a 
 recent letter from Mr. Jay A. Urice, of the International Com- 
 mittee staff, to an interested local general secretary. A quota- 
 tion from the letter with the questions referred to is repro- 
 duced here : 
 
 "The chief need, I feel, is for an attitude, a quahty of in- 
 terest, and a spirit which will lead the senior secretary to a 
 more democratic attitude toward his staff. This attitude will 
 lead him to be as much concerned at least with the development 
 of his men as with the establishment of his ideas. He will 
 view all of his contacts with them in terms of their develop- 
 ment. His interest in them will be in drawing them out, and 
 he will be willing to lead them out and watch them proceed in 
 the use of methods, plans, and policies with which he will at 
 
COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION iii 
 
 times thoroughly disagree. This democratic spirit has for its 
 basis the educational principle that men grow in resourceful- 
 ness only as they are forced to use their own initiative, and that 
 they learn to exercise good judgment only as they have actual 
 experience in feeling the consequences of decisions which are 
 entirely their own. This sort of a relationship means that the 
 senior secretary must have confidence that the future of the 
 movement, or of a local Association, will be safeguarded best 
 by the development of men of initiative, resourcefulness, and 
 ability, rather than by the perpetuation of sets of ideas which 
 those of us who have the relation of 'senior' now feel are 
 essential. 
 
 "For the reason that I believe that an attitude is more essen- 
 tial than a plan, I am not able to make my suggestions as con- 
 crete as you will perhaps want. I attach some 'tests' of the 
 attitude, which have grown out of a number of conferences — 
 especially out of a recent conference which I conducted with 
 the executives of the various branches of the New York City 
 Associations. These may be helpful in stimulating men to 
 examine their attitude and its bearing on the development of 
 their men." 
 
 An Attitude Which Makes Coaching More than Method 
 
 Some tests as to whether my attitude and relationship is 
 such that my junior secretaries are encouraged in development 
 of their own ability and resourcefulness. 
 
 1. Do the members of the Board of Directors speak of 
 "your" staff or "our" staff when referring to my associates? 
 
 2. Do my men seek coaching from me or must I call them? 
 How "formal" are our interviews? 
 
 3. When "advising" with my juniors, do I attempt pri- 
 marily to get them to adopt my ideas or encourage them to 
 form their own ? 
 
 a. What is the nature of my advice — my answers to his 
 questions or guidance which will lead to a junior finding his 
 own answer? 
 
 b. How much will my men develop if their aim is only to 
 reproduce my ideas or methods ? 
 
 4. Do my juniors come to me as freely to talk over known 
 points of difference of opinion as points where they are sure 
 we will agree? 
 
 5. How important is it that my juniors always agree with 
 me on matters of Association policy or personal affairs? 
 
112 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 a. How frequently do we disagree as to procedure in plan- 
 ning? 
 
 b. Who is finally "right" when we disagree ? 
 
 c. Does apparent lack of disagreement come from their re- 
 luctance to express themselves freely, or because we are nat- 
 urally "of one mind" on the topics we talk over? 
 
 6. Are men encouraged to assume initiative in thought and 
 action even to the point of disagreement with me? 
 
 a. How much do they actually share in formation of general 
 policy ? 
 
 b. How far am I willing to trust them in this? 
 
 7. Who finally "settles things" when I am in conference with 
 my juniors? What is the effect on their growth when I be- 
 come the final authority? 
 
 8. In how far am I willing to let a junior proceed on a plan 
 of his own making which I feel sure will fail ? 
 
 a. How willingly do I help him when he starts on a plan 
 with which I do not entirely agree? 
 
 9. To what extent do we learn together from the suc- 
 cesses or failures of his work? Of my work? 
 
 a. Do I find that I can frankly admit learning with my 
 juniors and not lose my prestige with them? 
 
 10. In how far is my relation that of captain of a company 
 and in how far that of a more experienced member of a group 
 of associates? 
 
 a. To what extent is each type of leadership practical? 
 
 V. Whom to Coach and How 
 
 I. The Man Who Is "Falling Down" 
 
 a. Find out why. Is it due to circumstances, such as over- 
 work, discouragement, friction, wrong placement ? Or is it due 
 to characteristics within the man himself? To what extent 
 can these circumstances be altered or these characteristics 
 modified ? 
 
 b. The coach may or may not reveal to the man the fact that 
 he is falling down. The wise thing may be to try to lead him 
 into more successful work without upsetting him by the 
 revelation of his failure. 
 
 c. Some men, on the other hand, will need the "jolt" given 
 by a frank statement of their lack of success. Let the doctor 
 consider before he prescribes. 
 
COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 113 
 
 d. The coach keeps himself from prejudice against the fail- 
 ing man, and tries to preserve an open mind about him. 
 
 e. The coach should exercise patience. 
 
 f . Stimulate the man to better effort. Try to give him new 
 incentive and vision. Encourage him with "That's all right, old 
 man, you'll do better hereafter." 
 
 g. Make constructive suggestions. Coach him in detail 
 where it seems to be needed. Let this coaching be private and 
 helpful, not as reproof. 
 
 h. Plan more careful training for him, and supplement him 
 at his weak points. 
 
 i. A rest or short vacation may be the thing needed. 
 
 j. You may be able so to adjust the conditions under which 
 he works as to bring him up to standard. 
 
 k. You may shift the man and assign him to other work. 
 Mr. Richard C. Morse once asked, "Is he competent for any- 
 thing else than that for which he is incompetent?" He may 
 well be. 
 
 1. If you find he is hopeless, begin to develop another man 
 for the task. "Warm up another pitcher." 
 
 m. It may be necessary to dismiss him. Help him secure 
 another place suited to his ability. Part friends. 
 
 2. The Man Who Is "Making Good" 
 
 The one who is an assured success will also need coaching; 
 and he will well repay it. What coaching does the quick, alert, 
 and skilful man need? 
 
 a. Express appreciation of his good work, giving such 
 recognition or reward as is appropriate. But do not spoil him. 
 It may be necessary to warn him against over-confidence, even 
 to "reduce a swelled head." 
 
 b. Show him his shortcomings, however, if he has sorhe, and 
 encourage him to improve in these places. Hold him steady. 
 
 c. Build upon his strong points. Open up new opportunities 
 based upon the things he does well. 
 
 d. Give him special instruction along the line of his interest 
 and aptitude. Suggest reading bearing upon his work. 
 
114 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 e. Set a new goal for him. Challenge him with bigger 
 things, giving him chance for more responsibility and leader- 
 ship. 
 
 f. Relate him to one who needs his help, letting him have a 
 hand in training others. 
 
 g. Watch him to prevent his overdoing. 
 
 J. The Understudy 
 
 To "understudy," the Standard Dictionary advises us, means 
 to study a part in order to be able if necessary to take the part 
 of the one playing it. Big business took up both the idea and 
 the word, and the understudy relation has now an established 
 place in organization and administration. It is a generally 
 accepted theory in many concerns that every important position 
 must have a man as an understudy ready to take the place of 
 his chief should occasion arise for so doing. Three ideas are 
 involved — the status of the man, the sort of man needed, and 
 the nature of his training. 
 
 a. His place in the organization 
 
 Naturally the position of the understudy is not all future. 
 He has important work to do in the position he actually holds. 
 His whole interest, however, is not involved in that position. 
 He has his eyes and ears set to the front to learn the duties 
 of the man ahead of him, the man whose place he understands 
 he is some day to fill if he himself makes good. It is well to 
 have part of his mind occupied with that "if." It is the bridge 
 that he must cross if he is ultimately to reach the advanced 
 position. 
 
 But while he has his eyes on his chief, his chief must in turn 
 have his eyes on his understudy and plan and direct his experi- 
 ence so as to prepare him for promotion when the chief him- 
 self goes up or elsewhere. 
 
 The leading executives of the day consider this relationship 
 important. F. A. Delano, former president of the Wabash 
 Railroad, says, "Today leaders recognize the need of training 
 understudies. Railroads have taken the lead in training their 
 own men for positions of leadership. Young men are taken 
 
COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 115 
 
 into the organization of the railroad and trained gradually in 
 the duties and responsibilities of higher positions." 
 
 Julius Kruttschnitt has already been quoted as saying, "The 
 test of an effective organization is that it shall be self-per- 
 petuating." The understudy relation is the process of self- 
 perpetuation. 
 
 The fear is likely to enter the mind of some men that if they 
 train understudies to do their work, they themselves will be in 
 danger of losing their positions and of being replaced by the 
 lower-salaried assistants. This is overcome by the establishing 
 of the understanding that no man can gain promotion until he 
 has prepared a man to follow him when he goes up. The 
 condition of his own advancement becomes the preparation of 
 his successor. In the Association this fear is not operative. 
 There is such a demand for trained men that good men are not 
 afraid of being laid aside or replaced. The situation is all 
 favorable to the training of understudies. 
 
 The chief criticism of the actual operation of the understudy 
 system is directed at the type of men chosen as understudies. 
 Somehow men usually choose inferiors in quality as their 
 subordinates in position. The man chosen to supplement the 
 executive is rarely of the quality of his chief. As a result, 
 when the head man is removed and his place filled by the man 
 he has trained, there is often a let down in the quality of the 
 occupant of the position. The man you choose to follow you 
 should be at least as good a man as yourself — worthy of ad- 
 vancement and capable of doing even better work than his 
 predecessor. Hunt for such men. 
 
 From the point of view of the employing concern, it has the 
 choice of either understudying its important positions and hav- 
 ing trained men available in emergencies due to loss or pro- 
 posed expansion, or breaking in new and relatively untried men 
 as executives. The former policy is the cheaper in the long 
 run. Further, the reputation of pursuing such a policy draws 
 strong men into the junior positions in hope of advancement. 
 Can we pay enough to hold competent understudies? Yes. 
 The man will more than produce his cost during the years of 
 
Ii6 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 preparation. This is the answer of industry and of common 
 sense. 
 
 An engineer named Frank B. Gilbreth has worked out an 
 interesting system of promotion, in which each man is the coach 
 of another man and is himself being coached by the man ahead 
 of him. Applied to our work, each secretary is related to three 
 positions. The three positions are as follows : first, the lowest, 
 the position that the man has last occupied in the organization ; 
 second, the position that the man is occupying at present in 
 the organization; third, and highest, the position that the man 
 will next occupy. "He belongs to the group next higher up as 
 a learner, and part of his time is spent in preparing for promo- 
 tion to that group. The members of this higher-up group must 
 coach the younger men. He belongs to his own group, in which 
 he cooperates with other members in learning his duties. He 
 belongs to the group lower down as a teacher, and part of his 
 time is devoted to instructing some one in this lower group to 
 take his place." This conception of the three-fold group fills 
 the whole staff with the spirit of cooperation and mutual 
 improvement. 
 
 No one plan will be so effective in the training of men as the 
 complete development of this understudy relation, in which 
 every secretary is looking to the training of younger men, and 
 each junior secretary is encouraged to prepare for promotion. 
 A wise secretary will seek to teach his understudy everything 
 which he himself knows, and will continually seek to bring out 
 all there is in the younger men. The older secretary will 
 especially seek to train the younger men in willingness to 
 assume responsibihty and in ability to carry it. 
 
 b. Ways of training an understudy 
 
 (i) Take him along on important calls to meet men and 
 learn how to approach and deal with them. 
 
 (2) Take him to meetings in which he will experience some 
 of the contacts, opportunities, obligations, and relationships of 
 the general secretary. 
 
 (3) Have him attend directors' meetings and committee 
 meetings, taking some part in calling the meeting, deciding 
 
COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 117 
 
 what is to go before it and how, and participating in the meet- 
 ing itself. 
 
 (4) Have him go over some of your correspondence with 
 you, discussing the issues involved in the various letters and 
 how they should be answered. Have him answer some of them 
 himself. 
 
 (5) Show him some of your letters, including "thank you" 
 letters and soliciting letters. 
 
 (6) Send him on important errands for you. 
 
 (7) Have him accompany you to gatherings of secretaries 
 to which you have been invited. 
 
 (8) Assign actual tasks to him of a worthy nature, so that 
 he will learn the game by playing it. 
 
 (9) Talk over your problems with him and use him in 
 solving them. Work together. 
 
 (10) Share with him all the relationships possible. 
 
 (11) Direct his reading. 
 
 (12) Go to places together — to the club, walking, to your 
 home, to conventions — and thus afford opportunity for leisurely 
 discussion of things mutually interesting. 
 
 4. Special Coaching Occasions 
 
 Think into the kinds of occasions when men will need special 
 coaching or concentrated attention. In addition to those al- 
 ready named or implied there may be mentioned these : 
 
 a. When a man is about to undertake a new task, work in- 
 volving unaccustomed processes or new kinds of skill or 
 problems. 
 
 b. When you begin to make a specialist out of a man whose 
 duties have been general. 
 
 c. When you must prepare a man for a new position in 
 your organization. 
 
 d. When you are uncertain as to a man. 
 
 e. When he is a good man but lacks team-play. 
 
 f. When you fear a "fall down," or a man is in a tight place. 
 
 g. When you see a piece of faulty work. 
 
ii8 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 h. When a man is discouraged or has exhausted his own 
 resources, 
 i. When he has made a bad break and not seen it. 
 
 5. The Coaching Question 
 
 As in problem teaching and project work, the best means of 
 securing thoughtful action and resourceful initiative is through 
 the use of questions. Instead of telling a man outright what 
 to do, ask him questions that will reveal the conditions in- 
 volved and lead to his finding his own answer or way out. The 
 self-discovered point or method is more likely to be faithfully 
 or enthusiastically observed than one pointed out or imposed 
 by another. 
 
 Of course, each coaching occasion is really a brief project, 
 and a man's action should be guided here just as in a regularly 
 outlined project of more serious proportions. The questions 
 will usually be extemporaneous, but at times they will have been 
 carefully planned. You will discover something you wish to 
 correct and devise a good series of questions calculated to 
 secure the desired improvement. 
 
 Therefore practice the question method of coaching. The 
 results will repay the effort. Skill in questioning as a method 
 of directing work is a talent to be highly prized. It secures 
 results in growth, initiative, resourcefulness, good feeling, and 
 morale in the staff that can be secured in no other way. Once 
 you get the secret of this process you will find the employment 
 of it so interesting and pleasurable that its use will be a constant 
 source of satisfaction to you, not to mention its benefits to the 
 men thus coached. 
 
 6. The Happy Medium 
 
 In all this coaching, preserve a fine balance between too much 
 coaching and too little. Your coaching will stimulate or stunt, 
 inspire or irritate, help or hinder, steady or stampede. It is 
 not always easy to know where to draw the hne. Perhaps it is 
 well to err on the side of too Httle, but why err at all? Like 
 all problems, this one yields to study. 
 
COACHING: THE UNDERSTUDY RELATION 119 
 
 VI. Records 
 
 Corporations with men in training for executive positions 
 have found it advisable to keep records of the qualities and 
 progress of men. The data for these reports are gotten from 
 observation of the man in his class-work, his projects, his 
 regular duties, but perhaps best of all from the coaching con- 
 tacts. The record card should contain a list of qualities on the 
 left, with blank squares opposite them on the right for oc- 
 casional entries, once a month or more or less frequent. The 
 Westinghouse Students' Record is on card-board 8%. x I0j4 
 inches. The upper third contains the fundamental facts as to 
 the student's age, education, residence, previous experience, col- 
 lege activities, and a place for a small photograph. The middle 
 third is a place in which to record his experience in the various 
 departments of the company, with dates. The lower third, 
 called "Progress Report," lists fifteen characteristics in a 
 vertical column, with twenty-five squares opposite each in 
 which to enter a monthly record. The characteristics are : in- 
 terest in work, application, aptitude, reliability, self-confidence, 
 initiative, aggressiveness, executive ability, personality, coop- 
 eration, business tact, conduct, neatness, accuracy, speed. Be- 
 low are three lines for remarks. 
 
 Perhaps only the larger Associations would care for such a 
 record. Smaller ones might use it to advantage, however, all 
 with modifications to suit special situations. 
 
 A study of record cards leads to the suggestion that the card 
 should contain all the fundamental facts about a man ; a photo- 
 graph of him ; a place for recording his varied experience with 
 the local Association, with an estimate of the quality of work 
 done and ability shown ; a list of qualities considered essential 
 in a secretary, and spaces for frequent estimates as to the man's 
 possession of these qualities; and space for the entry of those 
 facts that no questionnaire quite fits, simply blank lines for 
 remarks. This will require a letter-file size card of good 
 quality, and privately kept. Opinion varies as to whether this 
 card should or should not be shown to the student. 
 
I20 TRAINING A STAFF" 
 
 VII. Questions for Further Study 
 
 1. How frequently should coaching be given a young sec- 
 retary ? 
 
 2. What psychological laws afford guidance in the coaching 
 process ? 
 
 3. What principles of good pedagogy find application here 
 and should be observed? 
 
 4. What do you consider the coach's part to be in turning 
 out winning athletes? 
 
 5. Which of these findings apply to the coaching work of a 
 general secretary? 
 
 6. How would you begin work on the coaching of a new 
 employe ? 
 
 7. In what specific duties is coaching necessary and effective ? 
 Concerning what features and relationships? 
 
 8. What should be the mental attitude of the secretary 
 toward the man he is coaching? 
 
 9. What positions on the Association staff should be under- 
 studied ? 
 
 10. Devise a record form to be used in keeping record of a 
 secretary's history and progress. 
 
 11. What qualities make a man successful in the sort of 
 coaching developed here? 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 READING AND STUDY 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. A Study of the Reading Situation 
 
 1. How many books do you read a year? 
 
 2. Why do not Association secretaries read more? 
 
 3. Why do they feel they ought to read? 
 
 4. The rewards of well-planned reading 
 
 II. Concrete Suggestions 
 
 1. What to read 
 
 a. As to aim and content 
 
 b. As to form 
 
 2. A reading policy for an Association secretary 
 
 a. Majors 
 
 b. Minors 
 
 c. Browsing 
 
 d. Magazines 
 
 e. A sample list 
 
 3. Sources of information about books 
 
 a. Book reviews 
 
 b. "Helpful Reading" 
 
 c. Librarians 
 
 d. Bibliographies 
 
 e. Advertisements 
 
 f. Conversation 
 
 g. Book stores 
 
 4. How to secure books 
 
 a. Draw from the library 
 
 b. Borrow them 
 
 c. Buy them 
 
 d. Have the Association buy them 
 
 5. Where and when to read 
 
 III. How to Get the Most out of Reading 
 
 I. Have an aim 
 
 a. The will to master a subject 
 121 
 
122 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 b. The desire to solve a problem 
 
 c. Seek the author's aim 
 
 d. Assume an obligation 
 
 2. Mark the book 
 
 3. Take notes 
 
 4. Take book tests 
 
 5. Apply your findings 
 
 6. Retain a critical attitude 
 
 7. Observe proper physical conditions 
 
 IV. Getting Reading and Study Assignments 
 V. McMurry's Eight Factors in Study 
 VI. References 
 
 Problem 
 
 How can reading and study be made to contribute to profes- 
 sional growth? 
 
 I. A Study of the Reading Situation 
 
 1. How Many Books Do You Read a Year? 
 
 a. Take a pencil and write down the titles of the books you 
 have read during the past twelve months, or, if your memory 
 does not retain the titles for the whole year, prepare a Hst of 
 those you have read during three months. This will help you 
 to find something like your annual book reading. Perhaps you 
 have kept a record by months in your pocket date-book; this 
 has been found to be a good plan, with a goal set for each 
 month. What is your total? The question has been asked of 
 a large number of secretaries. The answers fall into three 
 groups : about six, about twelve, about forty ; the last number 
 is quite the exception ; there are far more reports of six than 
 of twelve, and five is very common. In other words, large 
 numbers of secretaries are reading but one book every two 
 months, or even fewer books than this. 
 
 2. Why Do Not Association Secretaries Read More? 
 
 a. They are too occupied with administrative detail. Work- 
 ing long hours, they prefer to use their few hours of leisure 
 either in exercise, in being with their families, or in more 
 
READING AND STUDY 123 
 
 restful ways than solid reading. Some of these men could be 
 led to realize that in well-directed reading, chosen because of 
 its bearing upon problems in hand, they would find ways of 
 increasing their working efficiency and reducing the grind. 
 
 b. They do not know just what books to secure, and have 
 not found or devised plans of laying out their reading. 
 
 c. Many have not definitely selected subjects upon which 
 they wish information, or fields in which they wish to be expert 
 or at least informed. So there is no inward push toward books. 
 
 d. Others just naturally have no intellectual interests and 
 no taste for reading. 
 
 e. The home situation of some is not favorable to reading. 
 
 f. Some have tried, gotten nothing out of it, and quit. 
 
 g. A few are handicapped by eyes that soon reach their 
 limit. 
 
 J. Why Do They Feel They Ought to Read? 
 
 Many secretaries admit the obligation to devote time to read- 
 ing, even time during the working hours of the day, and feel 
 they ought to read more or less deeply and widely for the fol- 
 lowing reasons : 
 
 a. They want information on subjects related to their work, 
 such as business administration, religious education, biblical 
 interpretation, and Association theory and practice, especially 
 new developments. They need definite help, and believe that 
 answers to their problems can be found in reading. 
 
 b. Some want interesting knowledge in cultural fields, and 
 have intellectual interests they like to cultivate and feel they 
 ought to, if for no other reason than to keep them in touch 
 with the growing men of their city and to enable them to 
 talk other things than Y M C A. They want to "keep up." 
 
 c. Some know the power that lies in books and want it. 
 
 d. The tendencies, movements, and currents of thought and 
 events are reported and reflected in good books and magazines. 
 With these things secretaries know they must be acquainted. 
 
 e. Generally speaking, they feel they ought to read because 
 they realize reading is both a means and a mark of growth. 
 
124 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 4. The Rewards of Well-Planned Reading 
 
 Being large and real, the rewards of well-planned reading 
 are readily named and easily recognized. 
 
 a. Growth, in caliber and power. 
 
 b. Inspiration. 
 
 c. Broad culture. 
 
 d. Knowledge. 
 
 e. Wide vision, a more distant horizon. 
 
 f. Standing. 
 
 g. A sense of being at home in any group. 
 
 h. Increasing skill as a student; in John Dewey's compact 
 sentence, "the habitual power of effective mental attack." 
 
 II. Concrete Suggestions 
 X. What to Read 
 
 a. As to aim and content 
 
 A well-rounded reading policy will include literature of four 
 kinds : 
 
 ( 1 ) Informational, facts needed in one's daily work or con- 
 tact with people. 
 
 (2) Inspirational, reading that lifts one up, cheers him, in- 
 creases his zeal, and reenforces his powers. 
 
 (3) Cultural, in the generally understood use of the word. 
 
 (4) Recreational, things read just for fun. 
 
 Now, one book may supply all of these elements, any com- 
 bination of them, or only one ; the predominating factor would 
 be the basis of classification. "Twelve Principles of Efficiency" 
 is an informational book, though it brings inspiration to most 
 men and culture to some. Sherlock Holmes most of us would 
 classify as recreational and read him as such. 
 
 b. As to form 
 
 Books, pamphlets, magazines, and papers will comprehend 
 the general run of material to be read, and a good policy will 
 include them all. As a general thing, men spend far too much 
 time on magazines and an almost sinful number of hours on 
 newspapers. Books and pamphlets carried about might well 
 
READING AND STUDY 125 
 
 replace the too-much-read daily news, most of which is useless, 
 much inaccurate, some altogether misleading, and nearly all of 
 it sufficiently acquired from a reading of the headlines. To 
 spend time reading very many of the columns of the afternoon 
 paper when the morning paper is daily examined is sheer waste. 
 Many secretaries who say they have no time to read books 
 spend an hour or more a day on newspapers, to small profit. 
 The progress of current events is well kept up with by reading 
 the carefully gleaned reports in the Literary Digest or the 
 Outlook, for instance, supplemented by fifteen or twenty 
 minutes a day with a good morning paper. 
 
 Many hours of reading time are devoted to rather valueless 
 articles or relatively poor stories in magazines. Much of this 
 time could with advantage be transferred to serious consecutive 
 book reading, or to novels of current or standard interest. 
 Much magazine reading is scattered and futile ; the magazines 
 are built to pass time, and succeed admirably. However, not 
 the abandoning of magazines and newspapers and complete 
 devotion to books, but a balanced ration is what is here pleaded 
 for, and more connection in what is read. Upon what one 
 subject is a man better informed after the scattering reading 
 of monthly magazines ? The plea here is that depth is sacrificed 
 to a rather aimless breadth. 
 
 There could, of course, easily be the same lack of relation 
 between the books one reads. How can one unify and balance 
 his more solid reading? The following policy may contain a 
 suggestion. 
 
 2. A Reading Policy for an Association Secretary 
 
 Decide upon the reading you wish to undertake during the 
 coming months and lay out a plan covering the desired ground. 
 Such a plan involves the subject to be studied, the books to be 
 bought or drawn from the library, magazines to be read, and 
 the time of each day or week to be devoted to reading. A 
 clear statement of what you wish to accompHsh, your aim, and 
 the result you seek in each subject chosen will help both in the 
 planning and in the execution of the reading. One clause in 
 
126 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 such a policy should be a statement of the number of books 
 to be read during the year. One book a month is little enough ; 
 two a month is a good and desirable standard. Some read a 
 book a week. 
 
 This pre-arranged reading will not prevent the reading of 
 important books as they come out, or the taking up of new 
 subjects or lines of research as special occasions and needs 
 arise. The plan is a guide, not a jailer. 
 
 Experience indicates the desirability of a reading pohcy 
 drawn up along the lines explained below. Typewrite your 
 policy and keep it where you are sure to see it now and again. 
 
 a. Majors 
 
 (i) A "major" subject is one to which the greater part of a 
 student's attention is given during a year or a series of years. 
 The Association secretary will find it desirable to plan major 
 reading along two lines. 
 
 (a) Professional: Under this head are included such books, 
 magazines, reports, and pamphlets as give wider or more in- 
 tensive knowledge of the Association movement, a better under- 
 standing of the aims, purposes, and history of the departments 
 of the work, and increased skill in technical activities. 
 
 (b) Related general knowledge: Under this head is in- 
 cluded reading which gives an understanding of social, eco- 
 nomic, religious, educational, business, and industrial con- 
 ditions, forces, and agencies, in relation to which the Associa- 
 tion must pursue its own activities. Such reading might well 
 deal also with the philosophic and scientific thought of the 
 time. It promotes the professional development of the em- 
 ployed ofHcer, enriches his intellectual life, and widens his 
 outlook. 
 
 (2) Suggested Majors 
 
 (a) Professional: Choose three out of a year's total of 
 twelve books, or five out of twenty-four books. 
 
 Books bearing on the history, principles, and methods of As- 
 sociation work, including convention reports. The assigned 
 reading in the training center secretarial class comes under this 
 head. 
 
READING AND STUDY 127 
 
 The Bible, Bible study covirses, and special religious litera- 
 ture. 
 
 Books bearing on the work of the department in which the 
 employed officer is engaged, as administration, religious work, 
 educational, physical, or boys' work. 
 
 (b) Related general knowledge : Choose three of the year's 
 twelve books, or six of twenty-four books. 
 
 Books on sociology, economics, problems of modern life, 
 missions, educational theory and practice, psychology, religious 
 education, vocational guidance, management and administra- 
 tion. 
 
 b. Minors 
 
 (r) "Minor" subjects are those to which a student decides 
 to give some, but minor, attention. Such subjects are mainly 
 for cultural purposes. They may be read at intervals during 
 the year, or each minor subject may be taken up seriously for 
 a few weeks or months and then given no further attention that 
 year. Possibly five such subjects might be studied during a 
 year. Two books may be read in each minor. 
 
 These minors, hobbies they may be, represent one's point of 
 contact with life, the channels through which the riches of the 
 world of thought and experience reach him — the more chan- 
 nels, the more riches. They are the beautiful avenues along 
 which he walks in his leisure time, or created leisure. The 
 fruit he picks and the views he gets rest a tired body and revive 
 a jaded spirit. During these short happy periods the imagina- 
 tion is given reins, the separations of time and distance are for- 
 gotten; the greatest and most interesting of personaHties are 
 one's companions, and the treasures of the world are all about. 
 Each of these approaches to life is a window for the soul; they 
 are the spirit's sources of Hght and air. "May blessings be 
 upon the head of Cadmus, the Phoenicians, or whoever it was 
 that invented books." 
 
 (2) Suggested minors. Choose six of twelve or thirteen of 
 twenty-four books ; at least one in each of four minors. 
 
 (a) Literature, including essays, poetry, the classics in Eng- 
 lish translations, and current fiction. 
 
128 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 (b) Biography. All doors are open to him who reads 
 
 biography. 
 
 (c) Travel. Organize a private "travel at home" club, and 
 visit many strange countries. Such tours, though personally 
 conducted, are inexpensive. 
 
 (d) Science. The field is wide and books and magazines 
 are plentiful. 
 
 (e) History, particularly that of modern times. We live in 
 the greatest of all historical periods. 
 
 (f) Music. A good book and a few phonograph records 
 open this window. 
 
 (g) Art, including architecture. What makes a painting a 
 good painting? When is a church pure Gothic? 
 
 (h) Philosophy. Look up "pragmatism" as a modern view 
 of things. 
 
 (i) Missions. The word has new meaning since the war. 
 
 (j) International relations. America is entering new phases 
 of foreign policy. 
 
 (k) Theology. What have the great thinkers thought about 
 God? 
 
 (1) Biblical research. An intellectual recreation now fairly 
 "safe." 
 
 c. Browsing 
 
 Systematic reading does not preclude browsing through 
 books and doing a certain amount of random reading, especially 
 of such books as appear from time to time and win large, if but 
 temporary, attention. 
 
 d. Magazines 
 
 In addition to majors and minors in systematic reading, the 
 executive officer should do some reading in the higher grade 
 magazines, along the following lines. There is no need of read- 
 ing the whole magazine. 
 
 (i) Technical, relating to the work a man is doing. 
 
 (2) News and interpretation, such a magazine as the 
 Outlook, the Literary Digest, or the New Republic. 
 
 (3) Religious, such as the Congregationalist or the Continent, 
 
 (4) Fiction, such as Scribner's. 
 
READING AND STUDY 129 
 
 (5) Scientific, such as the National Geographic. 
 
 (6) Miscellaneous articles, such as the Atlantic Monthly and 
 the American Magazine. 
 
 (7) Do you enjoy Life ? Many do. You may quote Living- 
 stone of Africa as your sanction for such reading. 
 
 e. A Sample List 
 
 A list built on the lines suggested here would look like the 
 one below. This is merely an illustration and is in no sense a 
 recommended list of books. It should not be taken as such. 
 Books are mentioned simply to make the suggestion concrete. 
 
 Reading List for ip20-2i — At Least Two Books a Month 
 I. Majors. 
 
 1. Professional: 
 
 a. Association history, principles, and methods. 
 
 Training center courses. 
 
 b. Bible. 
 
 "The Religious Experience of Israel," Hutchins. 
 "The Jesus of History," Glover. 
 
 c. Theory of Education. 
 "Methods of Teaching," Charters. 
 "What Is Education?" Moore. 
 
 "The Project Method in Education," Branom. 
 
 2. Related general knowledge : 
 
 a. "Religion among American Men," The Commit- 
 tee on the War and the Religious Outlook. 
 "Social Control," Ross. 
 
 "The Missionary Outlook in the Light of the War," 
 The Committee on the War and the Religious 
 Outlook. 
 IL Minors. 
 
 I. Literature: 
 
 a. The classics in English translations. Homer's 
 
 "Iliad" or "Odyssey." 
 
 b. Current fiction. Four a year. 
 "Blacksheep, Blacksheep," Nicholson. 
 "Whirligigs," O. Henry. 
 
 "The Great Impersonation," Oppenheim. 
 "The Wisdom of Father Brown," Chesterton. 
 
I30 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 c. Poetry and essays. 
 
 John Masefield's "Everlasting Mercy." 
 Alfred Noyes's poems. 
 
 A couple of Emerson's essays, such as "Friendship" 
 and "Self-Reliance." 
 
 2. Biography: 
 
 "Marse Henry," Henry Watterson. 
 "Lincoln, Master of Men," Rothschild. 
 
 3. History: "Modern China," Sih-Gung Cheng. 
 
 4. Architecture: "The Appreciation of Architecture," 
 
 Sturgis. 
 
 5. Philosophy: 
 "Pragmatism," William James. 
 
 "Five Great Philosophies of Life," W. D. Hyde. 
 
 ni. Magazines. 
 
 1. Technical, Association Men. 
 
 2. News, Outlook. 
 
 3. Religious, Continent. 
 
 4. Fiction and miscellaneous, Scribner's. 
 
 5. Scientific, National Geographic. 
 
 J. Sources of Information about Books 
 
 "How do you decide what to read? Where do you get 
 your information about books?" There are several good 
 sources of such information. 
 
 a. Book reviews 
 
 The magazines that have been previously mentioned print 
 excellent book reviews which are a feature of every issue. 
 Such reviews should be read if only to know what subjects are 
 being treated and what the tendencies are in book publication, 
 which means in the taste of the book-buying public ; for books 
 are not printed just for conscience' sake. The book review 
 section of the New York Times is worth subscribing for. It 
 comes out every Sunday. 
 
 b. "Helpful Reading" 
 
 A pamphlet which bears this title and which contains 
 books under more than 150 subjects is published by Associa- 
 tion Press, 347 Madison Ave., New York, and sells for 
 twenty-five cents. It was prepared by Jay A. Urice for the 
 
READING AND STUDY 131 
 
 use of Association employed officers. Each book listed is 
 described and priced. The list represents all publishers. 
 
 c. Libraries 
 
 When one wishes to read up on any particular subject 
 and does not know what books to secure, let him consult the 
 city librarian, to whom the giving of such information is a 
 pleasure, his form of golf. Further, it is advisable to note the 
 lists of books added to the libraries from time to time, and to 
 consult the special shelves or racks made most accessible to 
 the public as suggested reading. 
 
 d. Bibliographies 
 
 Most serious books give lists of other books to be read on the 
 same subject. 
 
 e. Advertisements 
 
 Note what books are being pushed by the publishers. Draw 
 them from the library. 
 
 f. Conversation 
 
 Ask your friends what they are reading. One learns about 
 books as he talks books. 
 
 g. Book stores 
 
 Go in and look around. There is no obligation to buy. 
 
 4. How to Secure Books 
 
 a. Chiefly, draw them from the library 
 
 One cannot afford to buy all the books he wishes to read, 
 nor, even if he could, would such purchasing be desirable. 
 Most books are to be read but once. Those one wishes 
 to keep for further use or reference are few and far between, 
 and the public library is always there. Especially does 
 this apply to current fiction. Let the library do this purchasing. 
 Most libraries have funds for the purchase of new books, and 
 are glad of suggestions as to books the public wants. The 
 Association secretary is a citizen of significance and his request 
 for a certain book, especially a book of character, is likely to 
 be honored. 
 
 b. Borrow them 
 
 We scarcely dare breathe the idea, having sufifered loss. Yet 
 
132 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 it is an ancient custom, and there are still a few folks who 
 return borrowed books. 
 
 c. Buy them 
 
 Having hedged this kind of investment about with the two 
 limitations just suggested, we now have the more courage 
 to urge extensive purchases of books of technical or permanent 
 value. Lawyers, ministers, engineers — all these know they 
 have to put money into books as a basis of their work and 
 profession. Let the Association secretary hold no lower ideal 
 for his calling, and be equally willing to make the necessary 
 investments in vocational foundations. 
 
 This purchased library, built up year by year and never 
 bought at one fell swoop, will be built around three ideas: 
 technical publications, standard literature and reference books, 
 and those minors that represent one's personal tastes and in- 
 terests. Such books, the choice ones, are proper investments. 
 The intention to mark, reread, refer to, and use is the guiding 
 principle. The professional man without a library is loosely 
 anchored in his vocation, and probably regards both it and 
 himself lightly. 
 
 In order to encourage the younger secretaries in the pur- 
 chase of the literature of the vocation and to start their techni- 
 cal libraries, one general secretary presented to each new man 
 as he came to his staff three of the best Association publications 
 dealing with history and methods, a nest-egg to encourage 
 further laying. 
 
 d. Have the Association buy them 
 
 Every Association should develop a reference library of 
 Association literature for the training of the staff, containing 
 all the books listed in Appendix D, and added to from time to 
 time. It will contain in addition many pamphlets, commission 
 and convention reports. Year Books, and files of Association 
 Men. To insure its largest use, it should be so located as to be 
 readily accessible to the members of the staff without too much 
 effort being involved in the securing of a book. Perhaps an 
 open case in the general secretary's office would do in many 
 places. It depends upon the general secretary. 
 
READING AND STUDY 133 
 
 5. Where and When to Read 
 
 Suggestions drawn from many men reveal a variety of 
 places in which reading can be done. The list includes the 
 car or train going to and from work, the train on trips, home, 
 the office, and in bed at night before going to sleep. Inquiries 
 as to time show that secretaries read an hour in the early 
 morning, certain scheduled evenings of the week, occasionally 
 or systematically at the office, Sundays, in vacations, on days 
 off, and at miscellaneous odd times. The scheduled home read- 
 ing planned for certain evenings each week and on days off 
 seems to be the most practical. Secretaries-in-training 
 should have their schedules so planned as to be sure to make 
 proper provision for reading and study. 
 
 Where a whole evening is available, the forty-five minutes 
 following dinner might be used for lighter reading, the best 
 hour and a half used in solid study, and any remaining time 
 before retiring given to fiction, poetry, or other things that get 
 the mind away from too serious affairs. 
 
 III. How TO Get the Most out of Reading 
 
 What are the aids to concentration while reading and to 
 conservation of results? Where no immediate utility spurs 
 the pursuit of knowledge, there must be what one writer calls 
 "the will to learn." It implies the determination to apply one's 
 self and the persuasion of one's self that learn he can and will. 
 It is the will to continue, plus conviction that achievement is 
 within reach — "They can who think they can," added to 
 "Never say die." The heart of the motto of Napoleon's old 
 guard was its phrase, "The Guard does not surrender." 
 
 Here are some aids, "practical as a load of brick" — to use a 
 Rooseveltian phrase. 
 
 I. Have an Aim 
 
 It may be any one of four : 
 
 a. The will to master a subject 
 
 This is a dogged sort of aim without much joy in it. The 
 next one works a lot better. 
 
134 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 b. The desire to solve a problem 
 
 Here there is a motive. We seek the answer to a question, 
 a way out of a difficulty, light upon a subject, help in a task. 
 Pushed on by this real incentive, books or chapters are chosen 
 because they hold something we want and we search until that 
 data, information, or knowledge is found. When you want to 
 read with real zeal, arm yourself with a question or two and 
 seek the answer in the text. Before beginning a book, or as 
 soon as you know what it is all about, frame several questions 
 and consider the matter read in its bearing upon them. After 
 reading the introduction to "The Missionary Outlook in the 
 Light of the War," the following questions were written out, 
 lettered a, b, c, d, e, and all paragraphs containing material on 
 each question were marked with that letter in the margin : 
 
 (a) To what extent are the aims of the war and the aims 
 of missions the same? (b) How far is the missionary cause 
 succeeding? (c) What is the relation of missions to world 
 peace? (d) What obligations do our war professions impose 
 upon us to continue to seek these aims in peace through mis- 
 sions? (e) What world problems can mission.s help solve? 
 
 Of course a score of other questions could have been used, 
 and actually lay more or less active in the mind. This process 
 may seem Hmiting. As a matter of fact, if one reads a chapter 
 just to get Hght on one question, he will get far more out of the 
 chapter than if he reads the chapter to get all there is in it. 
 You succeed at one point instead of faihng at a dozen. At 
 least this is the experience of many students. Try the method. 
 The conditions are simple: a "thought-provoking situation" 
 creating the motive for the study, a book supposed to contain 
 something about it, a clear question as the hook to drag through 
 the book. Many troll through a book with no hooks on their 
 line, and catch accordingly. 
 
 c. The discovery of the author's purpose 
 
 Next to having an aim of your own Hes the value of seeking 
 the author's aim. Try to find out why he wrote, what he 
 sought to prove, expound, or illuminate, and measure his 
 success. 
 
READING AND STUDY 135 
 
 d. The fulfilment of an obligation 
 
 Promise to give an address upon a subject about which you 
 know nothing. This is a splendid method of creating mo- 
 tive and interest in reading. The obligation to speak on 
 the Balkan Wars was once assumed by one who knew prac- 
 tically nothing about them. Maps, magazines, and books were 
 brought into requisition, and three weeks of most profitable 
 and interesting reading resulted. A promise to lead a debate 
 on the subject of divorce led to similar thorough work. It is a 
 good goad to hard study and careful reading. The suggestion 
 was given to a group of young college men by John R. Mott 
 some twenty years ago and followed by at least one of them. 
 When one is reading thus with a definite purpose he will not 
 hesitate to omit irrelevant matter, skip sections or even chap- 
 ters, and quit when he has secured what he sought. 
 
 2. Mark the Book 
 
 There are various methods of marking the pages you read. 
 Some underscore the chief sentence in the best paragraphs, 
 using straight, broken, or wavy lines to indicate different 
 things. Different colored pencils are sometimes used thus. 
 Other times good sections of a paragraph are side-lined with 
 one, two, or three vertical lines. Where one is reading a book 
 for a distinct purpose, a small circle or star opposite pertinent 
 paragraphs is made, and at the end of the reading these are 
 easily found again and used or copied. A book was recently 
 read in search of data on two different topics. Small circles 
 were used to indicate the first and check marks the second. 
 
 Later, when one wishes to recall the impressions and ideas 
 gained from a book, the whole content is quickly brought up by 
 simply reading the marked sections. 
 
 Thoughtful readers at times seek to put the idea of a para- 
 graph into a topic of a few words and write this on the margin. 
 The gains of a chapter are written out at the end. The inside 
 back cover is sometimes used as a place for notes on what is 
 read, what to go back to, and so on. 
 
 The resolution to mark carefully makes one read with added 
 
136 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 attention. Summarizing requires concentration. The whole 
 process, though it slows up progress, adds much to one's inter- 
 est in a book. To reopen a marked book is like meeting an old 
 friend. 
 
 5. Take Notes 
 
 This requires reading at a table, with an armed chair, or at 
 least with pencil and paper handy. Some men carry 3x5 
 paper in a small pocket book and make notes upon it for future 
 filing and use. Surely a careful and thrifty reader will take 
 notes, but there is a danger to be guarded against. In com- 
 mitting something to one's notes for future use, the present 
 impression is likely to be weakened. A deep present impres- 
 sion may be more valuable than a note. Do not let the taking 
 of notes excuse you from careful immediate attention to what 
 is read. 
 
 One takes notes usually for one of four purposes : To file ; 
 to use before filing or without filing; as part of an abstract; 
 for largest immediate practicability, as "things to do." The 
 pocket note paper system here fills a need. 
 
 4. Take Book Tests 
 
 The Examination Council of the International Committee 
 provides a set of questions or review outline for any book any 
 secretary wishes to read. These are sent in advance of the 
 reading, upon request accompanied by twenty-five cents. If 
 a creditable review is written, a certificate is issued. Three of 
 these book tests are supposed to be taken prior to each session 
 of the summer school by all who plan to attend. 
 
 5. Apply Your Findings 
 
 Use them in some way. In an article in the Intercollegian 
 Professor H. H. Home of New York University said: "So 
 the completed cycle of study is, first, problem ; second, solution ; 
 third, action. Edison has made us familiar with 'light, heat, 
 power.' Changing the order somewhat, our problem is heat, 
 our solution is hght, and our action is power ; or in psychologi- 
 
READING AND STUDY 137 
 
 cal terms, our problem is feeling, our solution is thought, and 
 our action is will. This cycle is repeated over and over in life, 
 or should be." 
 
 Let us then complete the cycle of our reading by appropriate 
 action. Use the idea in some way, if only as material for 
 friendly conversation. Tell about what you have read. Dis- 
 cuss it with others. Write an article embodying it. Use it in 
 an address. This much is certain — it is either use or lose. 
 
 6. Retain a Critical Attitude 
 
 All that one reads is not to be taken as true — this book, of 
 course, excepted. Examine carefully to see if each writer 
 makes his case, where he leaves the track, what his sources of 
 error are. Strayer and Norsworthy in "How to Teach'' give 
 four points as fundamental to good habits of study : A clear 
 purpose, a vital interest of some kind, concentrated attention, 
 and a critical attitude. Of course a fifth point, application or 
 use in some life situation, should be added, but the fourth 
 point is the one upon which attention is for the moment being 
 centered ; scientific doubt some call it ; the habit of being from 
 Missouri less classical persons of more rude culture would say. 
 The point at least is clear, and we add only that this genuinely 
 helpful attitude must not be overdone. Scientific doubt and 
 general unbelief are not synonymous ; and of all distasteful 
 creatures, deliver us from the all-round skeptic. 
 
 7. Observe Proper Physical Conditions 
 
 These were summarized above as freedom from interruption 
 and annoyance. The factors to be secured are fresh air, com- 
 fortable chair and table, light from the direction of the left 
 shoulder and in sufficient quantity, an eye-shade, about seventy 
 degrees of heat, quiet, and a body not too tired from other 
 things. Get up and stretch or move about once in a while. 
 
 IV. Getting Reading and Study Assignments 
 
 When these are made — and they should be made — time must 
 be allowed for them, time during working hours, for this 
 
138 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 preparation and training are part of the young secretary's duty 
 and part of his compensation. 
 
 The great key to getting an assignment or lesson is the 
 famous Dewey problem approach. The student may ask him- 
 self these questions : 
 
 1. What is the problem here? What are the issues, ques- 
 tions, difficulties? 
 
 2. What data is given bearing upon this problem, issue, or 
 difficulty ? 
 
 Here, in addition to any text assignment, it may be desirable 
 to consult reference books, the encyclopedia, and the dictionary, 
 to interview people, or to perform experiments. Memory and 
 reason also supply suggestions. 
 
 3. What value have these suggestions? They must be 
 weighed, sifted, examined, evaluated, and accepted or rejected 
 for good reasons. 
 
 4. To what conclusion does all this lead? 
 
 5. Will this conclusion stand all the tests I can bring to bear 
 upon it ? 
 
 6. What action grows out of these considerations? 
 Preparation made along this line will be thorough. It shovild 
 
 be supplemented with the occasional memorizing of important 
 dates (of which there are only a few), names (equally few), 
 and once in a while an important passage. 
 
 A paragraph from "How to Study," a pamphlet by Prof. 
 G. F. Swain of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute 
 of Technology, is worth quoting here: 
 
 "Be systematic. Have set times for your study of each sub- 
 ject, a regular program of work. Gain the habit of being able 
 to start at once on your work without frittering away your time 
 and thinking about beginning. Apply yourself steadily and 
 persistently and do not let your work consist of a series of 
 spasmodic efforts. By systematically doing one thing at a time 
 and passing from study to study, you can finally, after a period 
 of continuous application dependent upon your powers, alter- 
 nate with a period of relaxation or amusement. Your period of 
 continuous study should not be so short as to prevent contin- 
 uous effort, nor so long as to over-fatigue your mind. Some 
 
READING AND STUDY 139 
 
 students are restless, spasmodic, and while they seem to be 
 continually employed, they achieve nothing. Others by a 
 steady, continuous pull, achieve much." 
 
 These suggestions apply not only to the young secretary who 
 has a class to prepare for, but equally well to the general secre- 
 tary who has an important interview, or a committee or 
 directors' meeting for which to prepare. The use of this ap- 
 proach will both save time and increase the sureness of results. 
 
 V. McMurry's Eight Factors in Study 
 
 In 1909, Professor F. M. McMurry of Columbia University 
 issued a book called "How to Study and Teaching How to 
 Study," a work of 324 pages with a good index, and published 
 by Houghton Mifflin Co. It is the most comprehensive work 
 on the subject, the classic in its sphere, and should be read by 
 all who wish to get more out of reading and study. It is writ- 
 ten around eight "factors in study," stated thus: 
 
 1. A specific purpose as a factor in study. 
 
 2. The supplementing of thought as a factor in study. 
 
 3. The organization of ideas as a factor in study. 
 
 4. The judgment of the worth of statements as a factor in 
 study. 
 
 5. Memorizing as a factor in study. 
 
 6. The using of ideas as a factor in study. 
 
 7. The tentative attitude as a factor in study. 
 
 8. Provision for individuality as a factor in study. 
 
 If this chapter leads you to desire further investiga- 
 tion along this line, begin with Professor McMurry's book 
 and then consult such other of the reference books below as are 
 available. 
 
 Not having done so before, one may now properly quote 
 Bacon's famous dictum : "Reading maketh a full man." 
 
 VI. References 
 
 I. How TO Study. F. M. McMurry. 1909. The best general 
 book on the subject. 
 
I40 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 2. Teaching Children to Study. L. B. Earhart. 1909. A 
 fine discussion based on the Dewey problem approach. 
 
 3. Storytelling, Questioning, and Studying. H. H. Home. 
 The third section contains interesting material on this topic. 
 
 4. How to Teach. Strayer and Norsworthy. 1917. Pp. 220- 
 233. One chapter on how to study. 
 
 5. Types of Teaching. L. B. Earhart. Pp. 192-219. Along 
 the line of "Teaching Children to Study," much abridged and not 
 so helpful. 
 
 6. Supervised Study. A. L. Hall-Quest. 1919. Pp. 62-93, 116- 
 126, 161-220. Selected sections from a book of 416 pages. A most 
 detailed study. 
 
 7. How We Think. John Dewey. 1910. A book of 224 pages, 
 giving all the implications of the problem approach. 
 
 8. Democracy and Education. John Dewey. 1916. Pp. 179- 
 192. One chapter devoted to thinking in education. 
 
 9. How TO Study. G. F. Swain. 1917. A 65 page pamphlet 
 that has had a wide circulation. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 STAFF CONFERENCES 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. Introduction 
 
 II. A Study of Local Staff Conferences 
 
 1. Present plans 
 
 2. Nature of the participation 
 
 3. Atmosphere 
 
 4. Problems 
 
 5. Strong and weak points 
 
 6. Object 
 
 7. Theory 
 
 III. The Purposes of Staff Conferences and Their Achieve- 
 ments 
 
 1. Welding all activities into a unified whole 
 
 2. Generation of enthusiasm and esprit de corps 
 
 a. An inspirational talk 
 
 b. Reports of achievements 
 
 c. Elimination of uninteresting matters 
 
 d. Democratic procedure 
 
 e. Avoiding disputes 
 
 f. Unanimous decision 
 
 3. Deepening spiritual life 
 
 4. Hearing reports of recent work 
 
 5. Solution of difficulties 
 
 6. Blocking out plans for committees 
 
 7. Plans for the future 
 
 8. Executive decision 
 
 9. Training the less experienced secretaries 
 
 10. Promotion of personal work 
 
 11. Meeting visitors 
 
 IV. A Staff Conference Program 
 
 1. Monday 
 
 2. Wednesday 
 
 3. Thursday 
 
 141 
 
142 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 V. Arrangements as to Time and Place 
 
 1. Time 
 
 2. Length 
 
 3. Place 
 
 4. Arrangements 
 
 5. Size of group 
 
 VI. Strong and Weak Points 
 
 1. Weak points 
 
 2. Strong points 
 
 3. Suggestions 
 
 VII. Annual Conferences 
 
 1. The annual setting-up conference 
 
 2. The annual directors' and stafif dinner. 
 
 Problem 
 
 How may staff conferences be made an effective part of the 
 process of training Association secretaries? 
 
 I. Introduction 
 
 The trained educator, the man on the street, and those who 
 come in between these two groups are agreed that the most 
 effective method of training men for a vocation is actual par- 
 ticipation in the planning and execution of its activities. A 
 good deal has been said here about participation in productive 
 work; the staff conference is introduced as a training process 
 because of the opportunity it gives the younger men for taking 
 part in planning these programs, and seeing them in the making. 
 
 The material in the body of this chapter will be more helpful 
 if before reading it you take pencil and paper and carefully 
 answer the questions that follow this paragraph. An examina- 
 tion of your own plan and a statement of your difficulties will 
 sharpen your interest in the succeeding suggestions as you find 
 places where they supplement your own thought. Many who 
 read these questions will have had large and successful experi- 
 ence with staff conferences, and the study here outlined in 
 question form will bring valuable matter to the focus of atten- 
 tion. Copies of notes made in answer to these queries would 
 be greatly appreciated by the author; they would aid in the 
 
STAFF CONFERENCES 143 
 
 further study of this important Association feature. As oc- 
 casional reference has been made to lessons we might learn 
 from the experience of business corporations, it may not be 
 amiss to say here that the Association is in this matter of staff 
 conferences probably in a position to teach. There is evidence 
 to support the opinion that the Association uses this tool more 
 effectively than does big business. But to our questions. 
 
 II. A Study of Local Staff Conferences 
 
 J. What Is Your Present Plan of Staff Conferences? 
 
 a. How often do you have them? 
 
 b. Where do they meet? How are the members arranged 
 or seated? 
 
 c. How long do they last? 
 
 d. Who is present? Why? 
 
 e. What is the program and method of procedure? 
 
 f. How are decisions reached? What finally settles a ques- 
 tion? 
 
 g. To what extent are decisions made those of the entire 
 group ? 
 
 2. What Is the Nature of the Participation in the Conference? 
 
 a. What percentage of the men take part in them? 
 
 b. What is the nature of their participation? Report, dis- 
 cussion, suggestion, or what? 
 
 c. What sort of participation is expected from the younger 
 men? 
 
 d. What or how much do they contribute to the discussion? 
 
 e. What part have they in creating plans ? 
 
 3. What Is the Atmosphere of the Staff Gatherings? 
 
 a. How large and serious is the element of dispute? 
 
 b. To what extent are they productive of friendship and 
 cooperation ? 
 
 c. How effective are they in stirring up enthusiasm and cre- 
 ating esprit de corps? 
 
 d. Do they help or hinder morale? Why? 
 
144 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 e. What is the attitude of the staff toward these meetings ? 
 
 f. How much of the matter discussed is of interest to all? 
 
 4. What Do You Regard as the Chief Problems in Connection 
 
 with Your Staff Conferences? 
 
 5. What Are the Strong and the Weak Points in Your 
 
 Conferences? 
 List these in two parallel columns and submit this hst to the 
 staff for revision, or have them make independent lists and 
 compare them. 
 
 6. Why Do You Have Staff Conferences? 
 
 What do you desire to accomplish through them? Write 
 your answers before reading the questions that immediately 
 follow. 
 
 a. What is the nature and purpose of the opening religious 
 exercise ? 
 
 b. What reports of work done do you call for? 
 
 c. What difficulties should be brought into conference? 
 How are they handled? 
 
 d. What effort is made to get a clear idea of the immediate 
 week's work? How are these facts recorded? 
 
 e. When are plans for the next month or the future 
 discussed ? 
 
 f. What provision is made for training value in the con- 
 ference? 
 
 g. How do you stimulate and enthuse the staff at these gath- 
 erings ? 
 
 h. How is loyalty to and love for the Association generated ? 
 
 i. What definite items on your program are calculated to 
 secure each of the aims you seek to achieve? 
 
 j. What opportunity for creative participation is provided 
 for all? 
 
 7. Some Special Questions on Staff Conference Theory 
 
 a. How can staff conferences be related to the doing of per- 
 sonal work by the staff? 
 
STAFF CONFERENCES 145 
 
 b. What is the difference between a staff conference and a 
 staff prayer meeting ? What is the function of each ? 
 
 c. How do the planning activities of the staff conference and 
 of standing or special committees relate to each other? What 
 is the proper place of each ? How can this place be best secured 
 and protected? 
 
 III. The Purposes of Staff Conferences and Their 
 Achievement 
 
 I. Welding the Activities of Each Man and Department into 
 a Unified Whole 
 
 This involves several very important elements in effective 
 cooperation. There must be a basis of information as to what 
 each proposes to do, a coordination of effort and an ehmination 
 of conflicting plans involving give and take on the part of all, 
 the spirit of genuine team work, and cooperation in supplement- 
 ing and reenforcing each other's plans. The staff conference, 
 therefore, must early in the week provide for this interchange 
 o"" proposed plans. To secure this some secretaries call upon 
 each secretary to state his special plans for Monday. If he has 
 nothing outside his regular routine, he makes no report, or may 
 merely remind the others of some important regular feature. 
 After all have reported for Monday, Tuesday and the other 
 days of the week are taken up. Should it develop that two 
 features had been planned for the same room at the same time, 
 this and other conflicts in plans are eliminated by the one mak- 
 ing the change who does so at the least sacrifice. One of the 
 office secretaries keeps a record of the week's events, committee 
 and other meetings, and posts it in the office for reference. 
 This mutual knowledge of each other's plans gives each secre- 
 tary the chance during the week to help promote the other's 
 features as he has opportunity, and also to offer suggestions .in 
 conference. It has been found helpful to confine the Monday 
 conference to the work of the present week or the next week 
 at most, taking up all future events and poHcies at another 
 meeting on Thursday. 
 
146 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 2. Generation of Enthusiasm and Esprit de Corps 
 
 Nothing is more important to the successful working of the 
 staff than this matter of atmosphere, and in no place can in- 
 spiration be imparted, sympathy experienced, and common pur- 
 pose and joy in the work created more effectively than in the 
 regular gatherings of the staff. 
 
 a. Open the meeting with an inspiring Scripture reading, fol- 
 lowed by a short talk of not over five minutes with "lift" in it. 
 The brave words and equally brave deeds of great men, poems 
 of inspirational power, a brief extract from a helpful book, a 
 quotation from a good sermon, an item from an inspiring 
 biography, encouraging news items from the religious world, a 
 report of a helpful conversation — for all these things the gen- 
 eral secretary should be on the lookout that he may use them 
 in his staff meeting to "get the men on their toes." Angela 
 Morgan's poem "Today," "A Friend to Man," by Sam Walter 
 Foss, and selections from Henry van Dyke's "Northwest 
 Passage" meet this need. The Scriptures themselves are full of 
 such material. Take Joshua 1:1-9 as an illustration, I Kings 
 20:13, 14; Isaiah 40:3-5, 28-37, 4^ -9-13. Luke 4:16-19, and the 
 "to him that overcometh'' verses in Revelation. Study and 
 cultivate the inspiring of men. 
 
 b. Call for reports of achievements of the past few days, 
 giving each an opportunity to make his contribution of encour- 
 agement. 
 
 c. EHminate as much as possible material that is not of in- 
 terest to the whole staif. Supplementary group meetings and 
 private conferences should take care of all matters not of quite 
 general value. 
 
 d. Let the formation of plans be democratic. Participation 
 in the formation of plans has a large relation to interest in 
 carrying them out. The man who helps make a policy or plan 
 is thereby committed to it in his own mind. Some very good 
 general secretaries regard the staff conference as a place where 
 they announce their plans, and frankly say these staff gather- 
 ings are meetings, not conferences. They fail to realize that 
 
STAFF CONFERENCES 147 
 
 they can command men's bodies but not their spirits. They are 
 good secretaries ; they would be much better secretaries if they 
 studied the psychology of enlisting men's wills in tasks and 
 applied their findings. The leader should, of course, have 
 ideas and plans ; the group becomes committed to them as they 
 take part in elaborating the germ idea, supplying details, polish- 
 ing up rough places. Does the general secretary lose his leader- 
 ship in this frank confession that he has no monopoly of brains 
 and that he needs and wants the help of his associates? Well, 
 leadership implies a following. The democratic plan of group 
 formation of policies and programs might secure them more 
 hearty acceptance. It is worth trying. 
 
 e. Never allow discussion to degenerate into dispute. All 
 serious crossing of purposes should be avoided. Where a pro- 
 tracted discussion involving rather deep feeling is inevitable, 
 let that item be quietly taken off the program by the presiding 
 officer by telling the men he will meet the parties involved after 
 the staff adjourns and a way out of the difficulty will be found. 
 Keep quarrels out of the general meeting. They depress the 
 whole group and kill enthusiasm for the work. 
 
 f. The plan of unanimous decision. Some leaders make it a 
 point to adopt only those plans that secure unanimous consent. 
 Only one side can be right, and there is value in patient discus- 
 sion and waiting until all agree on some procedure. Majority 
 rule in small groups is very distasteful to some majority lead- 
 ers; they prefer carrying their whole group to carrying their 
 point. 
 
 5. Deepening Spiritual Life 
 
 The inspirational Scripture reading and talk partly serve this 
 purpose. Some prefer to secure this spiritual renewing by 
 means of a staff prayer meeting, apart altogether from the staff 
 conference, and by a first-class staff Bible class once a week. 
 
 A staff prayer meeting is a success in deepening the spiritual 
 life of the secretaries just to the extent that they enter willingly 
 into it. Does the daily staff prayer meeting meet with this 
 degree of success? If so, the joy is carefully concealed. Such 
 
148 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 meetings seem to be routine, perfunctory, and rather a bore as 
 a rule, a "prescribed study," and rarely an "elective." Some- 
 thing better than the daily meeting for prayer needs to be de- 
 vised. The idea is good and the purpose to be commended ; but 
 as a general thing it simply does not work, and we might as 
 well honestly confess it. Experience with a good staff Bible 
 class once a week seems to hold out larger promise of our 
 spiritual enrichment, and the promotion of real prayer. 
 
 Where the daily meeting for prayer is more than half dead, 
 it should be discontinued and another plan tried. The issue is 
 too important, the need too serious a one for a two-thirds 
 failure to block the way of a successful effort. 
 
 4. Hearing Reports of Recent Work 
 
 The Monday morning conference is a good place to learn 
 about the Sunday meeting, the Saturday night basket-ball game, 
 the Saturday hike, and other features of the week-end. Brief 
 reports bring everybody up to date and keep the staff together. 
 This interchange usually comes early in the meeting. The 
 general secretary generally has interesting information about 
 Association affairs, and this is a good place to present it. 
 
 5. Solution of Difficulties 
 
 Early in the meeting there is usually an opportunity to tell 
 about the things that have gone wrong. In response to the 
 general secretary's, "Any special difficulties?" comes the story 
 of the leak in the roof, the boys who use the men's department, 
 the stealing in the locker room, and the trouble with a fellow 
 in the dormitory. Some of these things are handled by the 
 whole group; others are referred to the two or three men in- 
 terested ; and some are handled by special committees of the As- 
 sociation. This part of the meeting can easily be a source of 
 gloom ; its wise handling can make it count in straightening out 
 tangles, preventing friction, and oiling the whole machine. 
 
 6. Blocking Out Plans for Committees 
 
 The great danger here is that the whole committee may be 
 
STAFF CONFERENCES 149 
 
 blocked out. All the arguments for allowing the whole staff to 
 take part in forming plans apply with greatly added force to 
 allowing committees to have a large share in planning. It is 
 very easy for the staff to get on to an interesting event and 
 so enjoy planning it that they do it all, and hand the proper 
 committee an orange with all the juice squeezed out — then 
 wondering why the committee should not enjoy an orange that 
 had tasted so good to the staff. Perhaps the staff has gone as 
 far as it should when it locates a tree bearing fruit, leaving it 
 to the committee to do both the picking and the eating. More 
 interest on the part of the committees is sure to result. Was 
 it not Mr. Towson who said the secretary should be the author, 
 not the finisher, of the committee? A good way of finishing 
 a committee is to deprive it of all the joy of planning. 
 
 ^. Plans for the Future 
 
 One function of the staff conference is to take a look ahead 
 several weeks, months, and years, and see that all the interests 
 of future events and needs are properly taken care of. The 
 Hallowe'en Social comes up in September, the" New Year's 
 Open House in November, the spring evangelistic effort in 
 January, and the new building for the boys' division almost any 
 time. But they come up on days designated for the considera- 
 tion of futures. The plan of using part of a Thursday morning 
 staff meeting for this purpose has worked well. All things that 
 come up on Monday that belong to Thursday are put over. 
 The staff soon learns to play the game that way. 
 
 8. Executive Decision 
 
 Whether they be the arbitrary fiats of an imperial ruler of a 
 staff, or the conclusions of democratic discussion, executive de- 
 cisions on certain matters are necessary, and they are one. of 
 the purposes served in staff conference (or meeting; the czar 
 never confers). Happy is the staff where executive decisions 
 represent the thinking of the group. Now of course this does 
 not imply that the general secretary may not decide what coat 
 he is going to wear ; it is meant to imply, however, that if an- 
 
ISO 
 
 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 other man has to wear the coat, it is a nice and courteous thing 
 to allow him some voice in its selection. 
 
 p. Training the Less Experienced Secretaries 
 
 There is, of course, definite training value for the juniors on 
 the staff in seeing plans made, in learning how difficulties are 
 handled, what problems enter into the life of the Association, 
 how situations are met, and what different secretaries do, and 
 in witnessing every staff operation in its planning stage. To 
 see all this is gain, and the junior who gets this experience, as 
 all should, is getting real value. 
 
 There is, however, another training opportunity in the staff 
 conference. It is the opportunity of taking an actual part in 
 forming the plans, of having his contribution to the discussion 
 recognized as worthy, of seeing his offering go into the finally 
 adopted scheme, of having his creative instincts aroused, his 
 best genius stimulated, and his finest enthusiasm enlisted by the 
 simple fact that he takes part, a responsible part, with his elders 
 in formulating policies and programs and in reaching decisions. 
 These great psychic forces, the very heart of effort, are enlisted 
 or crushed just to the extent that the young secretary is ac- 
 corded standing, pushed quietly into the background, or ig- 
 nored. He may be present but not there. 
 
 The training process must not only create machinery, it must 
 get up steam. Genuine participation in the staff deliberations 
 does both. And then it may well be that the keen young man 
 coming on the staff from high school, business, or college will 
 have a freshness of point of view and an unaffected reaction 
 to suggested plans that will make his opinions of positive value. 
 Further, he is doubtless possessed of ability of some sort, and 
 this should be encouraged to show its modest face in the gather- 
 ing of the elders. He may even be a regular shark at some- 
 thing at which the rest of the staff are mere amateurs. Such 
 things have been. 
 
 10. Promotion of Personal Work 
 
 Secretaries are constantly dealing with men about their 
 
STAFF CONFERENCES 151 
 
 larger religious interests ; one man may greatly help another in 
 his winning of a member to Christ and service by cooperative 
 effort at the right time and of the right kind. On the other 
 hand, he may seriously hinder the man's approach to a decision 
 by doing or saying something he would not have said or done 
 had he realized the circumstances. Further, do we not feel 
 that every man on the staff should be doing real personal work ? 
 To serve these two ends, different plans have been adopted 
 in different Association staffs. The staff of one large city 
 Association pledged itself to the goal of one religious interview 
 a day. There arises the need of an occasion for the interchange 
 of experience in doing personal work and for informing each 
 other as to whom one is working with. For this purpose one 
 Association set aside half of the Thursday morning confer- 
 ence, when each secretary was asked if he had any men he 
 wished to report upon, or any with whom he wished help. No 
 man was in any way forced to do this personal work, but its 
 toning-up effect upon the whole staff was evident. 
 
 II. Meeting Visitors 
 
 The staff conference gives the visiting secretary or other 
 visitor and the staff a chance to meet each other, hear the visit- 
 or's message, and make opportunity for further conversation. 
 The stranger should always be coached as to the part he is 
 expected to take in the meeting, and how much time he should 
 not exceed. If he has anything worth while, he should be 
 given time to present it. Frequently the staff will wish to ask 
 questions ; the program of the meeting should be made up with 
 this in mind and not diverted to a discussion of which con- 
 tractor shall be engaged to repair the roof. That can be at- 
 tended to later, but the visitor passes on, especially if he belongs 
 to that rapidly moving group who are said by Mr. Logan of 
 Detroit to "blow in, blow up, and blow out." 
 
 IV. A Staff Conference Program 
 
 A program that makes provision for these eleven interests 
 would shape up something like this: 
 
IS2 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 I. Monday, 9:00 to 10:30 a. m. This Week's Work. 
 
 a. Opening prayer, devotional reading, and inspirational 
 
 talk by the general secretary or any other man who 
 does it well. Maximum, ten minutes. 
 
 b. Reports from the staff of recent achievements or events. 
 
 c. The adjustment of difficulties and discussion of imme- 
 
 diate problems apart from program of activities. 
 
 d. This week's work, each day's special engagements. 
 
 e. Interesting information the general secretary wishes to 
 
 give out. 
 
 f. That final word of inspiration that makes each man 
 
 leave feeling, 'T surely am glad I'm a Y M C A secre- 
 tary, and particularly glad I'm on this staff." 
 
 2. Wednesday, 9:00 to 10:00 a. m. Staff Bible Class. 
 
 Not a lecture. A group study based on preparation. 
 
 3. Thursday, 9:00 to 10:00 a. m. Personal Evangelism and 
 
 Future Plans. 
 
 a. Brief reports from each secretary as to men with whom 
 
 he is dealing. Thirty minutes. 
 
 b. Future plans, those things several weeks, months, or 
 
 years off. Thirty minutes. 
 
 c. Prayer for these men and these objects. 
 
 V. Arrangements as to Time and Place 
 
 I. Staff Conferences Are Held at a Variety of Times 
 
 a. Every week day at 9 a. m. until finished, the Alonday con- 
 ference being a long one. 
 
 b. Mondays only, 8 :30 to 9 130 a. m. 
 
 c. Mondays and Thursdays, 9:00 to 10:00 a. m. 
 
 d. Monday, 8 :oo to 8 :45, all central branch employes. 
 
 8 :45 till finished, branch executives. 
 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 2:15 till fin- 
 ished, central staff. 
 
 e. Tuesday to Friday, 11:00 to 11 :30 a. m. 
 
 ^. They Vary in Length 
 
 Many are interminable, vi^hich the dictionary says means hav- 
 ing no limit or end ; some are wisely limited to one hour. 
 
 J. The Places Also Vary 
 
 a. The general secretary's office. 
 
STAFF CONFERENCES 153 
 
 b. The directors' room. 
 
 c. A class-room. 
 
 d. The cafeteria. 
 
 4. The Arrangements Differ 
 
 a. Any old chair in any odd position. 
 
 b. Around a table and in a regular place, but not in order of 
 rank. 
 
 c. The general secretary at his desk and in a comfortable 
 chair. The rest most any place and not so comfortable. 
 
 d. Note paper and pencils handy, blackboard prepared and 
 clean, the 'phone taken care of by the stenographer, good light, 
 heat, and ventilation. There are such. 
 
 5. The Size Naturally Varies with the Staff 
 
 Most general secretaries want the whole secretarial staff in 
 to conference. Where, on account of size, the group has to be 
 broken up, it should be seen to that all the eleven values men- 
 tioned above are conserved. On this matter of size, the 
 treasurer of a business corporation says in Factory, "A confer- 
 ence is too large when a large table or a small room is insuffi- 
 cient." The conference then becomes a meeting. 
 
 VI. Strong and Weak Points 
 I. Weak Points 
 
 Secretaries in various cities have made these criticisms of 
 their own conferences : 
 
 a. Lack of common problems. 
 
 b. Lack of promptness in coming together and beginning. 
 
 c. Part-time men cannot meet at nine o'clock in the morning. 
 
 d. Difficulty of finding a convenient time 
 
 e. Irrelevant discussion. 
 
 f. Sameness. A rut. 
 
 g. Not profitable and businesslike use of the time, 
 h. The room is too small. 
 
 i. Physical environment not conducive to effectual group 
 work. 
 
154 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 j. The light is poor. 
 
 k. Reports show insufficient preparation. 
 1. Too much detail and not enough inspiration, 
 m. Men do not come on time, 
 n. Not sufficient brotherly consideration, 
 o. Wearisome details from other departments, 
 p. Lack of a prepared program, 
 q. Lack of record of decisions reached, 
 r. Too much arguing. Minor quarrels, 
 s. Too many stories. 
 t. The general secretary dominates. 
 
 Let it be quickly written that not all these weaknesses were 
 found in any one Association. Human vitality has its limits. 
 
 2. Strong Points 
 
 Not many feU they had solved the problem of a good staff 
 conference. The strong points mentioned are : 
 
 a. Helpful devotional time. 
 
 b. Opportunity for all to report. 
 
 c. Free participation. 
 
 d. Interchange of information. 
 
 e. Friendship and sympathy. 
 
 f. Important Association news available. 
 
 g. Sense of being part of a great movement secured. 
 
 J. Suggestions 
 
 The points presented in sections III and IV are designed to 
 reenforce these strong points and correct some of the weak 
 ones. The mere statement of many of the weak points sug- 
 gests the remedy, for they are largely criticisms of lack, and a 
 lack seldom hard to supply. A few additional points may be 
 helpful. 
 
 a. At the close of the discussion briefly sum up the results 
 that have been secured. 
 
 b. Carefully tie up the loose ends of discussion and delegate 
 responsibiUty for definite tasks. 
 
 c. Prepare for the presentation of a subject in the manner 
 
STAFF CONFERENCES 155 
 
 suggested for teaching a class, and employ the discussion 
 method, using the blackboard. 
 
 d. Begin and adjourn promptly, so that the men can plan 
 the rest of their morning on the basis of a definite conclusion 
 of the meeting. 
 
 e. In a recent book called "The New State," by M. F. Fol- 
 lett, an interesting philosophy of group discussion is presented 
 in the opening chapters. The idea is developed that the result 
 of a group discussion by A, B, C, D, and E should not be the 
 plan A brought to the meeting, nor the sum of each man's con- 
 tribution, but something that did not exist at all before the 
 meeting. Read the chapters and weigh the idea that they 
 bring out. 
 
 f. Two of the biggest groups of ideas in the management 
 and industrial psychology of our day are those gathered about 
 the two phrases so often heard, "creative instincts" and "par- 
 ticipation in management." No plan that does not provide for 
 each of these will solve the present industrial unrest; no em- 
 ployment policy in which they are not expressed will today 
 result in a smoothly running organization; no staff policy that 
 does not recognize these two ideas as lying at the very heart of 
 staff spirit and enthusiasm will call out the best work and effort 
 of the secretaries. 
 
 The whole discussion of "democracy in industry'' has 
 . brought out these two elements as central in the minds of 
 employed men. Deep down they spring from the same human 
 sources as opposition to slavery and "taxation without repre- 
 sentation." As psychic factors in production of any sort, they 
 must be enlisted in our cause. 
 
 Therefore, the secretary who is in touch with the spiritual 
 movements that control men's minds today will, in his policy 
 of staff conferences and in all his staff policies give to the 
 youngest and humblest of his associates opportunity for real 
 participation in the forming of policies and programs, and will 
 strive to create those conditions which release the creative in- 
 stincts of his fellow-workers. Any other attitude is not only 
 an anachronism, it is blindness and folly. 
 
156 
 
 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 VII. Annual Conferences 
 
 Two other conferences that form part of the program of 
 many Associations cut a large figure in introducing young sec- 
 retaries into the Association program and making them ac- 
 quainted with its poHcies. 
 
 I. The Annual Setting-Up Conference 
 
 This is a spring-time event, when the stafiE spends two or 
 three full days just after the close of the fiscal year, sometime 
 in May or early June, discussing the details of the work of the 
 past year. The whole group goes to some hotel, summer 
 resort, or large private residence remote from the city, away 
 from the telephone and other interruptions, and examines the 
 gains and losses of the fall, winter, and spring work. Plans 
 for the coming year are blocked out, and summer activities 
 provided for. 
 
 The Seattle Association holds this gathering in August, and 
 invites in a number of leading committeemen, many of whom 
 attend, adding much to the value of the conference, and get- 
 ting a fine insight into the work. Recreation and fellowship 
 are provided for as well as discussion, and the toning-up effect 
 of the gathering is marked. 
 
 Some Associations refer to this as a "retreat." It is grow- 
 ing in favor and is likely to be even more widely used. Its 
 most effective technique should be studied and reported upon. 
 
 2. The Annual Directors' and Staff Dinner 
 
 This is a fall event, properly held early in September, and is 
 planned to launch the fall and winter program. The directors, 
 trustees, committees, chairmen, and stafif meet for dinner in 
 town and spend the evening listening to the chairmen report 
 , their finished plans. These are presented in short talks and 
 graphic ways, so that much ground is covered in a little time. 
 The effective use of a short period is a matter requiring much 
 study : the eye and ear must both be appealed to ; the stafif and 
 chairmen have here ample opportunity for the exercise of 
 ingenuity in presenting their work. New members of the stafiE 
 
STAFF CONFERENCES 157 
 
 are introduced. The spellbinder of the group takes the closing 
 minutes to give the new plans an effective launching. Nine 
 o'clock is a good time to quit, and 9 130 is the limit. 
 
 The meeting is not one in which either action or discussion 
 has a place. It is a time for short snappy talks, inspiration, 
 and good fellowship. An outside speaker is not needed ; indeed, 
 he would be out of place. This is a family affair, and the 
 business of the evening is itself the attraction. The plan works, 
 and works "big." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 DEPARTMENTAL STUDIES 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. Assignment of Reports 
 II. Proposed Questions, as to 
 
 1. Conditions and needs 
 
 2. Principles and theories 
 
 3. Policies 
 
 4. Program 
 
 5. Ways and means 
 
 6. Success 
 
 7. Improvements 
 
 III. Making the Study 
 
 IV. Submitting the Report 
 V. Further Suggestions 
 
 VI. Annual Thesis 
 
 Problem 
 
 What sort of theses or reports is it profitable to have junior 
 secretaries prepare? How should such work be directed F 
 
 In studying the methods used by corporations in the training 
 of engineering experts and executives, a method was found in 
 one of the most thorough of these corporations that can readily 
 be adopted by any local Association. It is simple and has great 
 value in the training of new men on the staff. Here are some 
 suggestions as to its reproduction in the Association. 
 
 I. Assignment of Reports 
 
 Where only one younger secretary is in training, proceed as 
 follows. Assign him the task of making a study of the work 
 of any one department, for instance, the Boys' Department. 
 
 158 
 
DEPARTMENTAL STUDIES 159 
 
 Allow him one month in which to make the investigation and 
 to prepare his report. If he is assigned the task of investigat- 
 ing the Boys' Department beginning January ist, let him know 
 that his report must be prepared and turned in February ist. 
 It is understood that the preparation of this report is only a 
 part-time task and that most of the secretary's regular duties 
 continue as usual. There will, however, have to be some ad- 
 justment of the schedule to make it possible. 
 
 II. Proposed Questions 
 
 To guide the secretary in his investigation, it is suggested 
 that seven questions be asked, that his investigation be along 
 seven lines, and that his report be prepared in seven corre- 
 sponding sections. The questions are : 
 
 1. What are the conditions and facts in modern life that 
 make this department necessary? What needs does it seek to 
 meet? 
 
 This section should be a detailed analysis with main topics 
 and sub-heads. Mere general statements are valueless. 
 
 2. What are the fundamental principles or theories upon- 
 which this department builds its methods or processes ? 
 
 3. What general policies have been decided upon by the 
 department ? 
 
 4. What program of activities is adopted as expressing these 
 poHcies? Show the activities that are designed to meet each 
 need listed under "i." Every important activity is devised to 
 meet a specific need, proceeds in accordance with some prin- 
 ciple, and is the definite expression of some policy. 
 
 5. What ways and means are necessary to enable the depart- 
 ment to conduct its activities ? Outline them under the follow- 
 ing heads: (a) Organization, or committees; (b) personnel, 
 or employed staff; (c) finance, or budget; (d) material equip- 
 ment. 
 
 6. To what extent do you consider the department is suc- 
 ceeding in meeting the conditions listed under "i"? How wise 
 are the policies Hsted under "3" ? Why do you think so ? How 
 effective are the methods hsted under "4" in carrying out the 
 
i6o TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 policies and meeting the needs? How far are the ways and 
 means Hsted under "5" effective and sufficient? 
 
 7. What improvements would you suggest in the policies, 
 methods, and organization of this department? 
 
 III. Making the Study 
 
 To secure the data for his report, the secretary who is mak- 
 ing the investigation would proceed thus : 
 
 1. Let it be understood that he is making this investigation 
 for his own education, in order that he may get a full under- 
 standing of the theory and methods of the department. Guard 
 against the idea that the investigation is being made with a 
 view to the improvement of the department or in criticism of 
 it. While good suggestions will occasionally come from these 
 studies, let it be clearly understood that the chief purpose and 
 value lies in the training of the younger secretary. Ask the 
 older secretaries to give him the largest possible cooperation. 
 The younger secretary will then carry out the following 
 instructions : 
 
 2. Interview the secretary of the department for material 
 under the heads "i," "2," "3," "4," and "5" above. 
 
 3. Attend as many of the classes, meetings, or features of 
 the department as possible. 
 
 4. Attend one or more committee meetings of the depart- 
 ment. 
 
 5. Talk with the members that use the department. 
 
 6. Read the standard literature on the department, and as 
 much related material as there is time for. 
 
 IV. Submitting the Report 
 
 This report is submitted to the general secretary, who will 
 study it and then discuss it with the secretary-in-training, cor- 
 recting his misconceptions and discussing questions upon which 
 there is a difference of opinion. Where there is a secretarial 
 class, the whole group might well hear the report and discuss it. 
 
 V. Further Suggestions 
 
 I. Where there are several new men on the staff, two or 
 
DEPARTMENTAL STUDIES i6i 
 
 three such investigations could be under way at the same time. 
 They should be carefully coordinated with current class-room 
 work and projects. 
 
 2. It will probably not be possible to have more than two or 
 three such investigations made by any secretary during the 
 busy season. 
 
 3. This question outhne of an investigation can be used in 
 other ways. The peripatetic class in China uses it as a basis of 
 its studies and investigations in visiting city Associations. 
 Foreign secretaries traveling in America have found it a con- 
 venient guide. It would be helpful on an inspection trip. It 
 could be used in preparing a convention or conference paper. 
 The same questions reduced to topic form might be a handy 
 outline for an annual report or newspaper article. 
 
 VI. Annual Thesis 
 
 The matter of these departmental studies suggests the ques- 
 tion of an annual thesis as a feature in the training of fellow- 
 ship secretaries and other young men on the staff. The plan 
 has been used and successfully. In one case a secretary-in- 
 training took as his thesis a study of all the Associations of 
 about 1,500 members, the size of the Association in which he 
 was working. He chose some twenty items in Association 
 statistics and collected the data for each of these items from 
 the latest Year Book. The items chosen included the size of 
 the city, the exact membership of all the Associations, the value 
 of their buildings, the number of men on committees, and so on. 
 Averaging these up and studying the result gave him an in- 
 teresting line on his own Association. He was a scientifically 
 trained man and worked out a number of valuable conclusions. 
 
 On another occasion a young engineering graduate connected 
 with a city Association as a fellowship man made a study of 
 the methods used by large engineering corporations in the 
 training of executives. His fifty page thesis was a gold mine 
 for his general secretary. 
 
 The value of getting the younger secretaries started in this 
 sort of thing is at once apparent. For an organization of its 
 
i62 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 size, development, and history the Young Men's Christian 
 Association has but a scant hterature and has made few con- 
 tributions to the bibliography of administration, religious 
 education, or other subjects. There is a wealth of data avail- 
 able in the daily work of the Association for a wide range of 
 truly valuable studies. Our secretaries, however, have become 
 motor-minded rather than students, promoters rather than 
 thinkers. But the Association has reached a forward stage in 
 the matter of promotion and needs to consolidate its gains, and 
 make good on its promises of character, education, and health. 
 To achieve this result more men will have to turn their atten- 
 tion to real study. We have built a big house; it needs to be 
 furnished. Better methods must be devised, more significant 
 courses of study prepared, relationships better adjusted, our 
 own work and its possibilities more thoroughly understood. 
 There is need of a generation of secretaries who are creative 
 thinkers. The starting of the younger men in real investiga- 
 tion and study as suggested here, and even more seriously, will 
 be one step toward the providing of the new and needed type. 
 Incidentally, the fact that such work is encouraged will add to 
 the attractiveness of the secretaryship to men who are well 
 worth attracting, and give new visions of opportunity to men 
 who want to grow. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 INSPECTION TRIPS 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. The Value of Inspection Trips 
 
 1. An Association experience 
 
 2. Corporation practice 
 
 3. Universities use them 
 
 4. Foreign Associations use them 
 
 5. And our own local Associations? 
 
 II. Inspection Trips through the Home Association Building 
 
 III. Trips about the City 
 
 IV. Inspection Trips to Other Cities 
 
 1. Kinds of trips 
 
 a. General investigation 
 
 b. Specific investigation 
 
 2. Preparation for the trip 
 
 a. Decision as to what to study 
 
 b. Itinerary 
 
 3. Processes on the trip 
 
 4. Reporting the trip 
 
 5. Using the results 
 
 6. Cost, frequency, etc. 
 
 7. An appeal 
 
 V. Visits to Other Countries 
 
 1. Americans going abroad 
 
 2. Foreigners visiting America 
 
 VI. Summary 
 
 Problem 
 
 What inspection trips should be included in a secretary's 
 trainingf How may they be given large educational value? 
 
 163 
 
i64 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 I. The Value of Inspection Trips 
 
 1. An Association Experience 
 
 A local Association received a gift of $50,000 as the initial 
 contribution toward a $150,000 building. The directors de- 
 cided it would be a good thing to send their secretary on a 
 tour of inspection to learn what features other Associations 
 were incorporating into their buildings, and how the money for 
 their construction was usually raised. 
 
 He traveled 11,500 miles, spent twelve weeks and $500 on 
 the trip, and picked up a wealth of ideas as to money-raising 
 and building-construction. With no outside help, a record- 
 making campaign was pushed through, the town united in a 
 big enterprise for the first time in its history, and a $240,000 
 building was built and dedicated debt-free. 
 
 That experience convinced that board of the value of in- 
 spection trips, so that thereafter (that was in 1909) one or 
 two men were given such trips each year. They were usually 
 two or three months long, and one of them cost, over $700. 
 The board found that educating its staff was good business, 
 and has since invested hundreds of dollars in the field of its 
 successful experiment. 
 
 2. Corporation Practice 
 
 Business corporations have made the same discovery, and 
 these inspection trips are now one of the standard training 
 processes in common use in the training of men for responsible 
 positions. The agency that represents the cooperative effort 
 of 130 of the largest American corporations, the National As- 
 sociation of Corporation Training, said in its 1919 report on 
 Methods of Instruction : "The obvious importance of the In- 
 spection Trip Method has been quickly recognized by the in- 
 dustrial world. Very few corporations of any importance are 
 without this means of imparting knowledge to their employees. 
 Such trips constitute, therefore, not only a method of teaching 
 in themselves, but form a necessary adjunct of any method of 
 teaching." They are a necessary adjunct of any method of 
 teaching because of the importance of having the student see 
 
INSPECTION TRIPS 165 
 
 in operation the plan, feature, or condition lie had read about, 
 discussed in class, heard lectured about, or been introduced 
 to in any other manner. 
 
 Among the corporations that have made large educational 
 use of inspection trips may be mentioned the Western Electric 
 Company, American Steel and Wire Company, Consolidated 
 Gas Company of Baltimore, and the American Locomotive 
 Company. 
 
 Eight years ago the American Steel and Wire Company 
 inaugurated a plan of inspection trips splendidly organized to 
 secure educational values. It developed into a regular course of 
 six and a half weeks for men fairly well along in their training 
 and experience. A group of twelve visited the plants main- 
 tained by the corporation in three different districts — Cleve- 
 land, Pittsburgh, and Worcester. One group followed another 
 until scores of men had taken the course. The fine organiza- 
 tion of these inspection trips is revealed in the following quota- • 
 tions from articles by Mr. C. R. Sturdevant, the educational 
 director of the trips. The paragraphs are taken from the 1916 
 report of the National Association of Corporation Training and 
 the June, 1915, issue of their Bulletin: 
 
 "The work is so laid out that each succeeding day covers a 
 new topic, and each day's work is handled in much the same 
 manner. On Monday forenoon of each week a written ex- 
 amination is held, covering the work of the previous week. On 
 every other working day, the whole forenoon is largely oc- 
 cupied by mill inspection under the direction of competent 
 guides and instructors. After the midday lunch, furnished 
 each day at the Works' dining room, the superintendent, or 
 some expert appointed by him, thoroughly reviews the work 
 of the morning, during which the students are encouraged to 
 discuss freely all matters involved. 
 
 "Following the discussion the students meet the Director of 
 the Training Course in an appointed assembly room for a 
 thorough quiz covering the work of the day. This occupies 
 two hours. This period, recurring daily, has developed into 
 one of the most important and most interesting features of the 
 course. It is here that every phase of the subject is developed 
 largely by the students themselves and viewed from all possible 
 angles. Questions are asked in such manner and of such nature 
 
i66 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 as to draw the students out, set them thinking, and induce them 
 to use their imagination and reasoning powers. It is here, too, 
 that scientific principles involved are discussed and explained. 
 While due consideration is given the how concerning processes 
 and operations, even more is given the why. This excites a 
 keen interest in the work, and creates a desire on the part of 
 each man to make a good showing among his fellows, hence, an 
 added incentive to harder work and closer application. The 
 man who thoroughly knows and understands the reasons why 
 a certain specific material is used or required in a given set of 
 conditions, or who knows why certain operations or processes 
 have to be conducted in a certain manner, will possess a much 
 broader and more useful working knowledge than he who has 
 learned only how certain things are done. The one involves 
 knowledge and thinking powers, the other may and usually does 
 require only a superficial knowledge. 
 
 "At the close of each day's quiz, a small specially prepared 
 booklet covering the work of the following day is given to each 
 man, and these are studied during the evening. These booklets, 
 thirty-three in number, cover different phases of our business 
 and they include all the reading matter of the training course. 
 They have been written by men of our own Company, and 
 edited by our Educational Committee appointed to look after 
 the educational work. Taken collectively, the books read into 
 each other and they develop the whole story in a concise and 
 consecutive manner. 
 
 "In the preparation of these special articles, and in the de- 
 velopment of the course, every effort has been made to secure 
 maximum economy in both time and effort on the part of the 
 student, since these are his two greatest assets. In the study of 
 any particular subject, the student first reads a carefully pre- 
 pared article devoted to that particular topic, he next witnesses 
 all the processes and operations in the mill, he then discusses 
 the subject with an experienced operating man, after which he 
 is required to tell the story himself before others, going quite 
 fully into descriptions and reasonings, and finally he is given a 
 written examination on the subject. It is surprising how much 
 knowledge a man can acquire in one day when he concentrates 
 his whole attention in the foregoing manner on a single phase 
 of the business. 
 
 "The training course teaches the men much concerning their 
 own work, and their efficiency is correspondingly increased. 
 This constitutes an immediate return well worth the cost. 
 Their minds become enlarged and more active, their visions are 
 
INSPECTION TRIPS 167 
 
 broadened, their imaginations are quickened, and their powers 
 of perception, observation, and expression are Hkewise de- 
 veloped. During the course they touch upon many subjects 
 that are new and of special interest. Many of the men are 
 stimulated and encouraged to follow up these new lines when 
 they return home. The men acquire a fuller and much more 
 accurate conception of the work the Company is doing, and of 
 its general policies and ideals, and they feel under obligation to 
 the Company for having offered them such an exceptional 
 opportunity to add to their previous knowledge. They become 
 more loyal and more ambitious to improve their records and 
 to advance." 
 
 5. Universities Use Them 
 
 Trips of this sort are regular features in the training of men 
 in engineering colleges and in our own Association Colleges. 
 The University of Cincinnati, one of the best engineering col- 
 leges in the world, makes extensive use of inspection trips and 
 has put them on a thorough educational basis. They are made 
 to coordinate with the study of subjects under way in the class- 
 rooms. Their plan is illustrated by the following schedule and 
 quotation, taken from U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin 
 Number 37, 1916: 
 
 Dec. 1st. General foundry methods. 
 
 Dec. 3rd. Description of foundry to be visited. 
 
 Dec. 4th. Inspection Trip No. 2. Foundry, Laidlaw Dunn 
 Gordon Co. 
 
 Dec. 8th. Discussion of foundry trip. 
 
 "Inspection trips. Apart from the varied forms of shop 
 experience, an opportunity to learn by observation is provided 
 by the inspection trips, which are made by all students during 
 the school periods. These visits to representative engineering 
 industries are carefully planned and graded with reference to 
 the student's course and his progress. During the first year the 
 trips include only the larger and more general phases of in- 
 dustry, and are made under the direction of the department of 
 coordination. A typical list of plants visited in the first year 
 is as follows: (i) The Cincinnati Water Works (pumping 
 and filtration plants) ; (2) the Andrews Steel Co. (rolling 
 mills) ; (3) the Jarecki Chemical Co. (sulphuric acid, com- 
 mercial fertilizers, and alum) ; (4) the Hopple Street Viaduct 
 
i68 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 (under construction) ; (s) the Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. 
 
 (machine tools) ; (6) the Bullock Electrical Co. (electrical 
 machinery). 
 
 "Each trip is preceded by lectures on the type of plant to be 
 visited, its layout, and its special engineering features. Wher- 
 ever possible the trip is brought into relation with the student's 
 regular class work. For example, the visit to the Jarecki 
 Chemical Co.'s plant is made in connection with the discussion 
 of the manufacture of sulphuric acid in the class in chemistry. 
 A report of from five to ten pages, including a sketch, is re- 
 quired of each student. All reports are written under the 
 joint direction of the department of English and the technical 
 department concerned. The inspection trips made by the 
 upper-class men differ mainly in that they deal with more 
 specific phases of industry, and that they are in charge of the 
 several engineering departments." 
 
 In addition to these local visits, trips to typical works of 
 various kinds in other cities are a part of every engineer's 
 training. 
 
 4. Foreign Associations Use Them 
 
 The National Council of the Associations in China, under 
 the direction of Dr. D. W. Lyon, has organized this policy of 
 inspection trips as a definite part of the training policy for 
 China. The group of secretaries in training taking such a trip 
 is called a "peripatetic class," and goes about visiting important 
 city Associations under the direction of an experienced secre- 
 tary, with definite questions to ask, investigations to make, and 
 reports to submit. 
 
 Recently a similar group of six Chinese secretaries made 
 just such a trip through America under the direction of Mr. 
 Newton Hayes, and three French secretaries, the first of five 
 parties to be so trained, are at this writing on a three months' 
 tour of American Associations; other countries are planning 
 similar experiences for men of promise. 
 
 5. And Our Own Local Associations? ■ 
 
 Strangely enough, the plan has not been extensively used by 
 our own American Associations. To be sure, inspections of 
 
INSPECTION TRIPS 169 
 
 good buildings are made prior to the erection of each new one, 
 and men drop in while going to and from conventions, confer- 
 ences, and summer schools. This great tool, however, is not 
 being used as it might be. It requires time, money, and fore- 
 thought, and these three facts seem to have limited the applica- 
 tion of a good plan. Nevertheless, what "big business" proves 
 to be "good business" soon finds its way into our policies, and 
 in anticipation of a wider application of the idea a study of 
 the whole subject will be timely. Giving the words the broad- 
 est possible interpretation, we will study inspection trips as 
 trips through our own local buildings, through the city, to other 
 cities, and to other countries. 
 
 II. Inspection Trips through the Home Association 
 Building 
 
 A senior secretary should take the new men on his staf? on 
 inspection trips through their own building for the following 
 purposes : 
 
 1. To learn the general layout of the plant, its theory, and 
 the reasons underlying the size, location, and arrangement of 
 the different rooms and features. 
 
 2. To observe the program of the Association in actual 
 operation as a basis for discussion of Association theory and 
 practice, and to become familiar with all the activities as they 
 are regularly conducted. This would include gym, educational 
 and Bible classes, meetings, and socials of all kinds. 
 
 3. To get points on building construction and upkeep. 
 
 4. To learn how to inspect the plant as to cleanliness, sanita- 
 tion, order, and repairs, cultivating a nose and an eye for dirt, 
 and studying the whole question of janitorial efficiency. It is 
 well to go over the whole building room by room and together 
 to study the condition and needs of each. 
 
 5. To become acquainted with the safety appliances, fire 
 exits, hoses, and extinguishers. 
 
 6. To learn how to show the building to visitors. 
 
 No great amount of preparation need be made for these 
 trips, nor need they be planned very far in advance. 
 
170 
 
 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 III. Trips about the City 
 
 1. To learn the geography of the city and the location of 
 points of interest, important buildings, offices, institutions, and 
 commercial and industrial enterprises. Without a knowledge 
 of these things, the young secretary is not only unable to direct 
 inquirers at the building properly, but he is in no wise qualified 
 to take an intelligent part in planning the work of the Associa- 
 tion in its relation to local destructive and constructive forces, 
 or in executing the plans others have devised and set up. 
 
 2. To study important institutions, their theory and practice. 
 These trips would include visits to social settlements, play- 
 grounds, the local courts, and other agencies having a bearing 
 upon the problems of the modern city. Such visits should be 
 annual events. A full list of places to be visited should be 
 prepared at the beginning of the year, and the visits definitely 
 scheduled. Some time before each trip the men who are going 
 should be called together, told their destination and the purpose 
 of the visit, given a description of what they will see, advised as 
 to what to observe most particularly, and informed that a re- 
 port will be expected after the visit. The group might work 
 out a list of questions they wish to have answered during and 
 by the visit. Preliminary and supplementary reading on the 
 subject, such as social settlements, juvenile courts, etc., might 
 be assigned. Preparatory visits might be made during a man's 
 first year, and the more serious studies made the second year, 
 in coordination with the course on Problems of the Modern 
 City. 
 
 A quotation from page 533 of The Survey for February 7, 
 1920, is illustrative here : 
 
 "The most important bit of observation work that we did 
 was on our trip to Salem, sixty miles away, where the state 
 institutions are located. Before going we had studied and de- 
 bated many questions involving the problems of these institu- 
 tions. Immediately upon our arrival at each institution the 
 superintendent would give us a short, pointed lecture upon the 
 problems confronting him, and would tell us what to look for. 
 Then he would usher us through. At the end of our inspection 
 the superintendent would talk to us again, answering questions 
 
INSPECTION TRIPS 171 
 
 and following up his first lecture. It seemed to me at the time 
 that if every high school graduate in our state could see and 
 hear what we saw and heard on that trip through the institu- 
 tions for the Wind, the insane, adult delinquents, juvenile de- 
 linquents, the feebleminded and the tubercular, a widespread 
 reform in our social conditions could be brought about within a 
 few years." 
 
 3. For those whose tastes can be directed that way, visits to 
 art galleries, museums, libraries, and important architectural 
 structures are very much worth while and contribute to the 
 making of a good citizen as well as a cultivated man. Have 
 Association secretaries paid sufficient attention to this side of 
 life? 
 
 4. Where the Association has work going on outside the 
 building — street meetings, shop meetings, extension work, and 
 other branches — these should be visited, not casually, but as a 
 serious part of instruction in the secretaryship. 
 
 IV. Inspection Trips to Other Cities 
 I. Kinds of Trips 
 
 a. General investigation 
 
 These trips will be of two kinds: First, trips of a general 
 nature, to give the secretary a broad knowledge of the whole 
 Association Movement, an insight into many of its processes, 
 and an acquaintance with its leaders. Such trips are profitable 
 to both younger and older men in the work. They are not of 
 very much educational value if taken too early in a man's ex- 
 perience. If taken before he goes into the work, they are of 
 little value indeed. He does not know what questions to ask, 
 what to look for, what things to investigate. After a year or 
 two's experience, however, the young secretary has a lot of 
 pigeon-holes into which he is gathering data and material, ques- 
 tions he wants to ask, lines of work he wants to investigate, 
 things he wants to know how to do, pegs upon which to hang 
 what he learns. The broad general trip is then timely. 
 
 b. Specific investigation 
 
 The second sort of trip is the one taken to investigate a 
 
172 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 particular subject, such as building arrangement and construc- 
 tion, educational work, business management, or religious in- 
 terviews. Such trips are in the line of the work of older 
 secretaries, or men who have had an initial general experience 
 and are about to specialize or have recently begun to do so. 
 
 2. Preparation for the Trip 
 
 a. Decision as to what to study 
 
 When the opportunity for such a trip presents itself to a 
 secretary, his first decision should be as to the subjects he 
 wants to investigate. Guidance from his seniors will be of help. 
 He will prepare a list of things he wants to know about, de- 
 partments with whose methods he wishes to become better ac- 
 quainted, problems upon which he wants light, movements with 
 which he wishes to become familiar, features he desires to 
 observe, men he would like to meet. 
 
 It is helpful to put each of these subjects of investigation into 
 question form and write it at the head of a page in a loose-leaf 
 note-book of pocket size. As he moves from place to place, he 
 will gather information in answer to his questions, and when 
 he arrives home will have it all carefully classified under sub- 
 ject heads. Such questions as "By what methods are you 
 securing members ?" "How are you promoting religious inter- 
 views ?" would each head a page, and what different secretaries 
 had to say would be all in one place. 
 
 A list of "things to do" in each city will also be prepared and 
 checked off as accomplished. 
 
 The broadest cultural value of the trip will be furthered by 
 careful reading of tourist guides and encyclopedia articles upon 
 the places to be visited or passed en route. Brief notes under 
 each city will bring these things to mind at the proper time. 
 
 Where the trip is a group trip, group discussions should be 
 held in preparation for the visits. 
 
 b. Itinerary 
 
 Where to go to get the information or education desired is 
 the next thing to be decided. In this it may be necessary to 
 supplement the assistance of the local general secretary by data 
 
INSPECTION TRIPS 173 
 
 secured from the State or International headquarters of the 
 Association Movement. An International secretary of the In- 
 dustrial Department would give advice as to which cities to 
 visit to see cotton mill Associations, for instance. 
 
 The visitor must then find out if his proposed visit would be 
 timely, whether the Association he wishes to visit is willing to 
 give him a Httle attention and help. It may be necessary to 
 omit one city and choose another because of some local con- 
 ditions that make it impossible to give the help wanted at the 
 time designated. 
 
 The host must be put to no expense or bother in entertaining. 
 The visitor will put up at a hotel or stay in the dormitory as a 
 paying guest, and be a financial burden to no one. Experience 
 shows the value of having room reservations made at least four 
 or five days in advance, based on exact statement as to price of 
 room desired and the probable time of arrival. 
 
 The time of year at which the trip is to be made is an im- 
 portant consideration. Men are on vacation or at summer 
 school from June to September, and September and October 
 are very busy months. Perhaps on the whole the middle of 
 November to the first of May is the best time if the best results 
 are to be secured. However, summer trips are of great value, 
 as leisurely attention is then usually to be secured. 
 
 J. Processes on the Trip 
 
 The general plan of the American Steel and Wire Company 
 is excellent. Note its elements. 
 
 a. Concentrated attention on a certain subject or department 
 for each day. 
 
 b. Preparatory reading and discussion, resulting in a list of 
 questions or things to observe. 
 
 c. Observation and interviews for a period of hours under 
 supervision or with an instructor, taking notes and making dia- 
 grams and sketches. 
 
 d. Review of the day's work and results. 
 
 e. A quiz by the leader of the party, with more attention 
 given to why than how. 
 
174 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 f. A written examination or report. 
 
 g. A culling of suggestions for actual application, made at 
 the close of each day and at the end of the trip, a "things to do" 
 list. It is highly important that the secretary be constantly 
 alert for situations resembling those at home, conditions paral- 
 leling those in his own Association, arrangements, features, and 
 plans he can use upon his return. Let him constantly ask him- 
 self, "What application has this to my own work or situation?" 
 The other great question, to be asked both of himself and 
 others, is "Why?" 
 
 The suggested method and questions developed in Chapter 
 VIII, "Departmental Studies," might easily be adapted to this 
 purpose, and were so used in the fall of 1919 when H. A. Wil- 
 bur took a group of young Chinese secretaries on a study tour 
 to several of the large Associations of China. 
 
 Frequently the traveler can be of some service to the As- 
 sociation visited, giving talks at religious meetings, speaking at 
 shop meetings, conferring with committees, or giving educa- 
 tional talks on some subject upon which he is prepared. 
 Lantern slides, though troublesome to carry, come in handy. 
 Talks outlined in advance are often good things to fall back 
 upon in emergency calls. 
 
 /j-. Reporting the Trip 
 
 Upon his return, or the return of the group, the widest educa- 
 tional use should be made of the material gathered. A variety 
 of committees will be glad to hear how their work is being done 
 in other places. The directors will want an interesting state- 
 ment of things seen and learned. Newspaper articles or inter- 
 views should be prepared, different ones for different papers. 
 The staff will want to spend some hours hearing the secretary 
 report and discussing his findings. The gist of the whole in- 
 vestigation should be typewritten and saved for reference. 
 
 5. Using the Results 
 
 Unless something happens as a result of it, the trip was a 
 failure from the point of view of the Association. The "things 
 
INSPECTION TRIPS 175 
 
 to do" should be submitted to the proper committees and, so 
 far as they are approved, done. Improved processes and 
 obvious forward steps convince the Association officers of the 
 worth- whileness of their investment and pave the way for 
 similar trips for other men until they become an established and 
 scheduled feature of the training plan of the Association. Re- 
 turns commensurate with the investment must be forthcoming. 
 
 6. Cost and Frequency 
 
 The Association for which the secretary works should pay 
 the full cost of the trip, or give a stated generous amount and 
 allow the secretary to add to it as he chooses, keeping within a 
 limit of time. Naturally the Association will, under such cir- 
 cumstances, expect the man to devote himself seriously to study 
 on the trip and not make it a vacation or a junket. 
 
 The frequency with which such trips should be taken is not 
 easily determined. Short trips may be made at irregular inter- 
 vals, but the more extended journeys should come at least at 
 the end of a two-year period of training in a local Association, 
 or near the first of the third year. In most cases the secretary 
 will have worked on a small salary and has in a real sense 
 earned this opportunity. From another angle, the Association 
 will profit by the trip and can afiford it as good policy. At all 
 events, such a trip should come early in the experience of every 
 man who plans to make the Association secretaryship his voca- 
 tion for a period of years, occurring, say, within the first three 
 years. 
 
 Having taken such a trip at the expense of an Association, a 
 secretary is under heavy moral obligation not to use his travel- 
 ing, as an opportunity for hunting a better job. It should be 
 clearly understood that the trip is to be followed by at least a 
 year of service, and the secretary should feel himself bound 
 not to listen to the tempter who would offer him a position else- 
 where. Let him make this a matter of honor as well as of 
 financial obligation. 
 
 How much time should a man take for such a trip? One 
 Association gives two and sometimes three months on full 
 
176 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 salary. Where distances are not great, very much can be done 
 in four weeks. 
 
 The amount of money to be allowed in addition to full salary 
 will naturally vary widely. One Association allows from $ioo 
 to $500, varying with the different men and the trip they are 
 to take. The Association will reap in proportion as it sows. 
 
 •J. An Appeal 
 
 Certain Associations will be visited more frequently than 
 others. These can save themselves from undue interference 
 with their work by training different members of the staff to 
 handle those visitors, by having certain information and data 
 readily available in printed or typewritten form, and by regu- 
 lating the number of such visitors they will receive for training. 
 However, the strong and successful Associations will in most 
 cases feel this is a contribution they are glad to make to the 
 whole Brotherhood and to the cause of the Kingdom, and will 
 put up with some inconvenience for the cause, "for the good 
 of the order," as the strong bearing the burdens of the weak 
 and as hastening the day when the Brotherhood will in truth 
 have a trained secretarial leadership. 
 
 V. Visits to Other Countries 
 I. Americans Going Abroad 
 
 In recent years, especially since Mr. L. W. Messer of Chicago 
 made his tour of the world in 1913-14, leading American and 
 Canadian secretaries have visited the Associations of the 
 Orient. These foreign Associations have been greatly helped 
 by visits from such men as Mr. Messer, Mr. C. S. Bishop of 
 Kansas City, Mr. G. A. Warburton of Toronto, and Dr. F. H. 
 Burt of Chicago Association College. It is also true that the 
 trips were of large educational value to these North American 
 secretaries. Such trips are in the nature of graduate work in 
 Association polity and method, and should be taken more fre- 
 quently by our leading secretaries. No secretary's training is 
 fully rounded while a visit to the foreign Associations is a thing 
 of the future. The resulting broadening of vision, knowledge. 
 
INSPECTION TRIPS 177 
 
 and prestige makes it a positive value to the local Association as 
 well as a fitting reward for ten, fifteen, or twenty years of faith- 
 ful local service. 
 
 Where such journeys to the Orient or Europe are to be taken, 
 matters in addition to Association questions must be attended 
 to in preparation. The season of the year during which certain 
 foreign cities and countries are visited has a vital bearing upon 
 the health of the visitor and the value of the visit. The matter 
 of clothing must be given careful consideration. To be in 
 Japan or China in winter without woolen underwear is a dis- 
 comfort to be avoided. Steamship schedules must be con- 
 sulted and bookings for accommodations placed well in ad- 
 vance. Books bearing on the countries en route should be 
 secured, read, marked, and taken along. Little hints about how 
 to travel abroad need to be gathered. The foreign city must be 
 advised of the proposed coming, so as to make provision both 
 for the use and for the accommodation of the traveler. The 
 Overseas Division of the International Committee is always 
 glad to assist and advise in these matters, and to cooperate in 
 helping all concerned get the most out of the trip. 
 
 2. F oreigners Visiting America 
 
 It will increasingly be the policy of the Associations in Asia, 
 Europe, and Latin America to send single secretaries and small 
 groups on educational tours through America. Association 
 men in this country can render a large service to the difficult 
 work abroad by opening their Associations to these men and 
 giving their stay here the largest educational content. While 
 not easily arranged, it is highly desirable that the foreign dele- 
 gates get a real insight into the work of local Associations and 
 some actual participation in their activities. Their process of 
 investigation will closely resemble that outlined in this chapter, 
 with the additional need of getting an insight into American 
 life, customs, and institutions, and the handicap of a strange or 
 Httle-known language. The material in Chapter VIII will 
 suggest methods to be used by the visitors in making their 
 investigations. 
 
178 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 VI. Summary 
 
 Inspection trips are an important feature in the preparation 
 of strong men for executive leadership and high-grade profes- 
 sional service. This fact is recognized by great corporations 
 and professional colleges, and is gaining recognition in the 
 Young Men's Christian Association. 
 
 Such trips are of three kinds: through the local plant, to 
 local institutions, and to other cities. They should be regularly 
 scheduled, faithfully prepared for, systematically conducted, 
 carefully reported, and their findings- used. Costs are borne by 
 the local Association, and a liberal policy brings commensurate 
 results. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 SPECIAL HELP FROM LOCAL EXPERTS 
 
 Analysis 
 I. The Plan 
 
 1. The need of varied knowledge 
 
 2. How to get this instruction 
 
 n. Suggested Topics for Presentation 
 
 III. Getting the Most Out of the Hour 
 
 IV. Outside Help- 
 
 Problem 
 
 How can the Association avail itself of local talent in sup- 
 plying specialised instruction needed along certain lines? 
 
 I. The Plan 
 
 I. The Need of Varied Knowledge 
 
 The Association secretaryship is a composite vocation. It 
 not only has a technique of its own, but it draws important 
 elements from the various kinds of skill that make up other 
 callings. The secretary has contact with life at many points. 
 He must respond helpfully to a variety of calls and possess 
 knowledge of many sorts. There is scarcely a week in which 
 he is not salesman, advertiser, promoter, educator, and adviser 
 on social or civic problems, as well as religious leader and 
 Association expert. 
 
 How is the young secretary to be inducted into the mysteries 
 of all these functions? Much of his acquisition along these 
 lines must be self-secured. We can, however, get him a good 
 introduction into a number of them by calling upon local men 
 engaged in these vocations. It is a poor city indeed that cannot 
 supply a first-class representative of almost every sort of sup- 
 
 179 
 
i8o TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 plementary instruction the Association staff needs. He may 
 not be a teacher, but he has the skill of his trade, and we can 
 devise plans to supplement his pedagogical deficiencies. 
 
 2. How to Get This Instruction 
 
 Have these local expert advertisers, salesmen, educators, and 
 so on meet the staff for one or two periods of instruction in 
 their specialty. Time for these special classes may be arranged 
 at hours mutually agreed upon by the stafif. The Thursday 
 morning conference may be omitted once in a while, so as to 
 use that period for this purpose, or one of the secretarial class 
 hours could be so used. This, however, breaks into other im- 
 portant work and should be only a last resort. A far better 
 method than any of these is to plan a regular course of this 
 supplementary instruction, and meet once or twice a month at 
 a scheduled time, the second and fourth Tuesday, from two to 
 three p. m., for instance. 
 
 II. Suggested Topics for Presentation 
 
 1. Effective methods of pubHcity. By an advertising expert. 
 
 2. Preparing copy for a display ad. Same man, or the set- 
 up man from a good newspaper. 
 
 3. How to promote an enterprise. Use a well-known local 
 promoter of either financial or entertainment functions, such as 
 fairs, carnivals, and social events. 
 
 4. Modern office methods. By a good office man or the head 
 of an office supply house. 
 
 5. Proved efficiency methods. By some one with a reputa- 
 tion along this Hne. 
 
 6. Good and bad checks. By a banker, who will advise the 
 staff how to draw' and examine checks. 
 
 7. What social settlements do. By a settlement worker. 
 
 8. What the charity organization society does. By its super- 
 intendent or a paid worker. 
 
 9. Some advanced methods in religious education. By the 
 director of religious education in a local church. 
 
HELPS FROM LOCAL EXPERTS i8i 
 
 10. How to write newspaper stories. By the city editor, who 
 will tell you the kind of copy his paper wants, showing samples 
 of good articles. 
 
 11. Some fundamentals in selling. By a good salesman. 
 
 12. The local playground situation. By the playground 
 director or some other expert outside the Association. 
 
 13. The early days of this Association. By an old-timer. 
 
 14. Prominent local families, their interests and achieve- 
 ments. By a well-informed resident. 
 
 15. What a business man expects of an Association secre- 
 tary. By one of your directors. 
 
 16. Labor unions. By a local labor leader. 
 
 17. Social movements of the day. By one in sympathy with 
 them or unprejudiced in the matter. 
 
 18. The public school situation. By a member of the Board 
 of Education. 
 
 19. Municipal administration. By the mayor. 
 
 20. A modern police department. By the chief of police or 
 police commissioner. 
 
 21. What is expected of a good clerk. By the manager of 
 the best local hotel. 
 
 22. How to meet the public. By a sales manager, hotel man, 
 or store manager. 
 
 23. Special needs develop from time to time, for which a 
 local specialist can usually be found. 
 
 24. A prominent local man has just been to some important 
 gathering, a report of which would help the stafif. Call him in. 
 Or he may have recently visited some foreign country in which 
 the staff is interested, such as China, Russia, or Japan. 
 
 in. Getting the Most Out of the Hour 
 
 1. Meet in a thoroughly comfortable and attractive place. 
 
 2. Begin exactly on time with the whole group there, giving 
 a demonstration of promptness and efficiency. 
 
 3. Coach your speaker carefully as to what you wish him 
 to do, the ground you wish covered, the sOrt of talk you want 
 him to give. Even sit down with him and together work out 
 
i82 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 the points he is to make. He will appreciate your cooperation. 
 He is not a mind-reader. 
 
 4. Use half of the hour for his presentation and half of it 
 for questions and discussion. 
 
 5. Sometimes plan the hour as a group interview. The staff 
 works up a hst of questions it wants to ask, and the visitor 
 keeps to these rails. He may have been given the questions in 
 advance. Where the staff knows what it wants, where it needs 
 help, this is a fine method. 
 
 6. Set the speech or discussion up carefully, or it will result 
 in disappointment. 
 
 7. Correlate these periods, if convenient, with courses you 
 are studying or work you are doing. 
 
 8. Relate minor projects to the period if possible. If the 
 men are to learn how to draw checks, have them draw them 
 right there, and let the banker criticize their work. When the 
 city editor comes up, have some samples of your own men's 
 work for him to pass judgment upon. 
 
 9. Have demonstrations where possible. Have something 
 made in the meeting, brought to and operated before the 
 group, or shown as a sample. Let the eye aid the ear in the 
 educational process, and the hand take part wherever it is 
 possible. 
 
 IV. Outside Help 
 
 The machinery of this process will sometimes be used with 
 men from other places. They will be men from other Associa- 
 tions who have been developing a special phase or feature of 
 work, and are invited in to explain their new development to 
 the staff and to the directors or committeemen. Or another 
 local general secretary, a State or International secretary may 
 be called in to discuss tendencies and problems in the Associa- 
 tion Movement, to give special help on some local difficulty, or 
 to inspire the staff with a new vision and outlook. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 RELATIONS TO CITY INSTITUTIONS 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. Important Institutions 
 
 1. Church 
 
 2. Sunday school 
 
 3. Social settlements 
 
 4. Boy Scouts 
 
 5. Advertising club 
 
 6. Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs 
 
 7. Commercial Club 
 
 8. University Club 
 
 9. City Club 
 
 10. Discussion clubs 
 
 11. Athletic clubs 
 
 12. National Guard 
 
 13. State clubs 
 
 14. Political clubs 
 
 15. Cosmopolitan Club 
 
 16. Fraternal organizations 
 
 II. Training Values 
 
 III. Arrangements 
 
 1. Schedule 
 
 2. Money 
 
 3. Distribution 
 
 4. Generosity 
 
 5. Invitations 
 
 6. Counsel 
 
 7. Report 
 
 IV. Summary 
 
 Problem 
 
 To what institutions should young secretaries be related as 
 part of their training? What are the training values growing 
 out of these relationships? 
 
 183 
 
i84 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 I. Important Institutions 
 
 The general secretaryship is a vocation of many and complex 
 relationships. Consequently, the training of the young secre- 
 tary should from the very beginning include definite experi- 
 ence with those institutions which ordinarily come within the 
 scope of a secretary's normal work. Relation to these institu- 
 tions is not based entirely on the fact that a man is a secretary 
 of the Association. They grow out of the fact that, in addition 
 to being a secretary of the Association, he is a Christian, a 
 church member, a citizen, a business man, and a social unit. The 
 institutions to which he will have relations because of this com- 
 plexity in his life are not all listed below; it may even be that 
 important ones are omitted. Generally speaking, however, a 
 secretary in the normal course of his experience should be 
 actively participating in the work of a number of the agencies 
 here considered. 
 
 J. Church 
 
 The young secretary should within a few weeks of his arrival 
 in the city connect himself with the church that represents his 
 denominational choice. If this is not done, he is likely to be- 
 come a church gadabout, a sermon-taster, or ev'en to find the 
 very sense of his connection with the church weakening. It is 
 quite likely that he should visit a number of the churches and 
 seek to become acquainted with the pastors and young people 
 of different denominations and in different parts of the city. 
 But this visiting might better be done in the evening. The 
 morning hours should be definitely dedicated to faithful attend- 
 ance upon the services of his home church and work in con- 
 nection with its activities. His work with the church would 
 express itself in such forms as ushering, singing in the choir, 
 helping in financial campaigns, and, in the case of men some- 
 what older, some such official connection as elder, steward, or 
 deacon. It not only helps the man himself but materially helps 
 the Association, when this permanent and helpful relationship 
 to a local church is a generally understood matter. It em- 
 phasizes the Association's status as a church agency. 
 
RELATIONS TO CITY INSTITUTIONS 185 
 
 The training values are obvious, for the young secretary- 
 learns a great deal about the nature and function of the church, 
 its methods and responsibihties, and frequently gets valuable 
 experience from the handling of the church's affairs, a real 
 foundation for his future duties as general secretary. 
 
 2. Sunday School 
 
 The Association has an important function in relation to 
 religious education. The Sunday school is an agency in v^rhich 
 the secretary can secure vital experience with the processes of 
 religious education. The Sunday school affords him an oppor- 
 tunity of studying the religious nature and needs of boys and 
 young men, and a chance to devise and experiment with proc- 
 esses meeting these spiritual needs. He learns the content of the 
 courses of study offered by the Sunday schools and thus be- 
 comes familiar with some of the chief materials of religious 
 education. Surely a man is not qualified for leadership in meet- 
 ing the religious needs of men and boys if he is not familiar 
 with the work that is being done in the Sunday schools, the 
 courses they follow, the methods they use, and the degree of 
 their success. The wise young secretary will, therefore, not only 
 seek the opportunity to attend a good Bible class and serve as a 
 "booster" thereof, but will eventually undertake to lead classes 
 himself and gain experience as a teacher and an officer. He 
 also has opportunity for securing good experience as a song- 
 leader if he has any talent along that line, though he would, of 
 course, not use the rather informal methods of the army camp. 
 
 J. Social Settlements 
 
 The needs of the under-privileged members of society and 
 the methods used by the social settlements in meeting these 
 needs are matters with which the secretary-in-training should 
 secure experience. Faithful work in a settlement in some of 
 his off-time — leading a club, or teaching a class, or helping in 
 minor vv^ays — will give him an insight into the functions and 
 processes of the social service agencies of his city and incident- 
 
i86 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 ally demonstrate the sympathy of the Association with local 
 social service and welfare movements. 
 
 4. Boy Scouts 
 
 The Boy Scout Movement is one of the greatest agencies 
 ever devised for the culture of manly qualities in boys. While 
 it lacks religious emphasis in many instances, its aims and 
 methods are well worth knowing. Not only are the processes 
 of a great movement to be learned by service as a Scoutmaster 
 or as an assistant, but in addition knowledge of boy life and 
 tendencies is to be gained from this experience. 
 
 5. Advertising Club 
 
 This club usually includes many of the livest young men in the 
 city. Membership in the club gives the young secretary valu- 
 able personal contacts with a group of progressive men and 
 furnishes many suggestions concerning methods of promotion 
 and the conduct of meetings. 
 
 6. Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs 
 
 The nature of the training in connection with these is very 
 similar to that secured in the Ad Club. Both connections are 
 not necessary on the part of the same man, but each young 
 secretary should have a chance to belong either to the Ad Club, 
 the Rotary Club, or the Kiwanis Club. 
 
 7. Commercial Club 
 
 As a rule, membership in this organization would be an op- 
 portunity available only to older men. From the point of view 
 of the Association, however, one of its staff should be con- 
 nected with this institution. It is a training opportunity for 
 a departmental head or general secretary rather than for a 
 beginner. 
 
 8. University Club 
 
 College men on the staff will secure valuable social experi- 
 ence and helpful contact with growing men through member- 
 
RELATIONS TO CITY INSTITUTIONS 187 
 
 ship in this institution. They will not use their membership as 
 a means of promoting the Association, however, but will seek 
 in the club the intellectual stimulus of meeting with men of 
 affairs and the general educational value of taking part in its 
 activities. 
 
 p. City Club 
 
 Boston and other cities furnish in their city clubs wonderful 
 opportunities for young men to hear and meet leaders in all 
 sorts of enterprises and in productive thinking. As a training 
 feature in a man's experience they are invaluable. 
 
 10. Discussion Clubs 
 
 In many cities there are to be found groups of thoughtful 
 men who like to come together for the discussion of science, of 
 public questions, and of special lines of research. Clubs of this 
 sort bearing such names as Public Question Club, Outlook 
 Club, Social Science Club, and Scolia Club, afford oppor- 
 tunities which should be seized when they are available. 
 
 11. Athletic Clubs 
 
 Golf, tramping, swimming, and athletic clubs of other sorts 
 furnish training in a different realm and relate a man to the 
 outdoor physical activities of his city. 
 
 12. National Guard 
 
 Experience with this agency as a means of contacts and of 
 training has not been uniformly successful. In some cases, 
 however, secretaries have found it genuinely beneficial to be 
 members of the National Guard. 
 
 13. State Clubs 
 
 Not infrequently worth-while experience is secured through 
 membership in clubs composed of people frorn the same state, 
 such as the Ohio Club, or "Native Sons." 
 
i88 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 14. Political Clubs 
 
 The secretary is not only a Christian leader; he is a citizen, 
 and much of his citizenship has to find its expression through 
 connection with the political party. It is not necessary that 
 the young secretary should make speeches on the street corner, 
 and it is not desirable that he should become a ward-heeler. 
 But quite apart from stump-speaking and personal canvassing, 
 there are experiences to be secured in connection with political 
 clubs that are worth while. 
 
 15. Cosmopolitan Club 
 
 One of the finest training experiences that a young man can 
 secure is the contact with men of other races. This can fre- 
 quently be secured by membership in a cosmopolitan club com- 
 posed of the nationals of many nations living in the city. 
 
 7(5. Fraternal Organizations 
 
 The important place that these occupy in the lives of many 
 men makes it desirable that at least some members of the local 
 stafif be in touch with them and understand their workings. 
 
 II. Training Values 
 
 The particular kinds of training that a young man can secure 
 through connection with these various city institutions need 
 only to be mentioned to be recognized. Among the most im- 
 portant are the following: 
 
 1. Knowledge of affairs, of what is going on in the world 
 and in the city, and how the work of the world is done. 
 
 2. Acquaintance with leaders, the opportunity of studying 
 their personaHties and methods of work as well as of gaining 
 inspiration from their ideas and ideals. 
 
 3. Business and promotion methods, and ways of doing many 
 kinds of things. 
 
 4. Contact with growing men. 
 
 5. Experience in the normal processes and duties of citizen- 
 ship. 
 
RELATIONS TO CITY INSTITUTIONS 189 
 
 6. Identification with real life. It is easy for a secretary, 
 because of his being in a religious calling, to feel a sense of de- 
 tachment from affairs and of separation from other men. Par- 
 ticipation in the club and institutional life of a city serves as 
 a check on this tendency to detachment. 
 
 7. A chance to study and practice the art of leadership, of 
 getting measures before men, securing their adoption, and 
 carrying them to completion. 
 
 8. Opportunity to plan work and work plans. 
 
 9. A chance to measure one's self with other men and thereby 
 reahze both personal deficiencies and efficiencies. 
 
 10. Experience in creating and managing or participating in 
 city-wide movements of a civic, social, poHtical, religious, or 
 educational nature. 
 
 11. The seeing of other sides of life than that of prosperous 
 and successful men, afforded by active connection with settle- 
 ments and other social welfare agencies. 
 
 12. Experience in teaching, especially in Sunday school, 
 settlements, and the Scout Movement. 
 
 III. Arrangements 
 
 In order to make it possible for every member of the staff 
 to secure experience with a sufficient number of these organiza- 
 tions to make him famihar with all the relationships involved 
 in the secretaryship of the Association, it will be necessary for 
 the staff and directors to make careful arrangements whereby 
 such broad participation can be made possible. The following 
 elements will be considered : 
 
 I. Schedule 
 
 The man working on a schedule of more than forty-eight 
 hours a week is not likely to have much energy left for agencies 
 other than the one that pays his salary, and this is very unfor- 
 tunate. Schedules, therefore, will be considered from two 
 angles. First, to see that the demands of the Association upon 
 the man's time are reasonable; and second, to see that the 
 claims of outside agencies upon his time are equally wisely 
 restrained. 
 
190 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 2. Money 
 
 Many of the young secretaries will not be able to pay the 
 dues involved in belonging to these organizations. It is cus- 
 tomary in some Associations to pay secretaries' membership 
 fees in such organizations as the Ad Club and the University 
 Club, on the ground that both the training value of membership 
 and the contacts with the men of the city justify the expendi- 
 ture. This membership in a number of organizations might be 
 secured in some instances for other members of the staff by 
 the general secretary's forgoing some of the club connections 
 which are paid for by the Association and transferring them 
 to the junior members. It is better to have a number of men 
 in different organizations than to have one man in all of them. 
 
 3. Distribution 
 
 The younger secretaries should be distributed among 
 the different agencies of the city. In order to give each 
 man experience with a variety of organizations, these connec- 
 tions might rotate or be interchanged in the middle or at the 
 end of the year, according as it is convenient for the man and 
 the organization. 
 
 4. Generosity 
 
 It will be a very easy matter for a general secretary to be- 
 come jealous of the growing influence, civic standing, and gen- 
 eral popularity of other members of his staff. The man of 
 broad, kind, and true Christian spirit, however, will rejoice that 
 these men are increasing, even though he may think that in 
 some respects he is decreasing. In the long run, the general 
 secretary who takes a broad and generous view of things and 
 finds happiness in the growing strength and influence of other 
 members of his staff will find himself most happily situated in 
 his own self-respect, in the affection of his men, and in the 
 esteem of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 5. Invitations 
 
 While it will be quite proper for the young secretary to take 
 the initiative in joining many of these organizations, there are 
 others in which the initiative had better come from someone 
 else, or which are joined only upon invitation. The tactful work 
 
RELATIONS TO CITY INSTITUTIONS 191 
 
 of the general secretary can ease the situation by seeing that 
 the proper invitations are extended to the members of his staff 
 to become afifihated with such clubs and organizations as it is 
 desirable for them to join. 
 
 6. Counsel 
 
 The younger men and the general secretary will frequently 
 counsel together concerning the amount of work they should 
 do outside the Association and the nature of their activities; 
 the younger men will also seek the general secretary's aid and 
 advice in connection with duties they have assumed and plans 
 they are forming. 
 
 7. Report 
 
 The secretaries-in-training should from time to time report 
 to the general secretary the progress they are making, the 
 ground they are gaining, and the difficulties they are encounter- 
 ing. 
 
 IV. Summary 
 
 The training values to be secured from connection with the 
 various clubs, institutions, and organizations of a city are so 
 closely related to a man's task as a secretary that the oppor- 
 tunity for these experiences should be provided for every 
 younger man on the staff and continued through his connection 
 with the Association. These contacts should be permanent in 
 their connection with the church and Sunday school, and varied 
 as regards many of the institutions that make up civic life. 
 The general secretary should take the initiative in seeing that 
 these connections are formed and in getting out of them the 
 largest possible value. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. The Case for Graduate Study 
 
 1. A scientific basis required 
 
 2. Light on problems desired 
 
 3. More scholars needed 
 
 4. The appeal of an intellectual calling 
 
 5. Research gives standing 
 
 6. Study and leadership 
 
 7. Study produces mental alertness 
 
 8. Such study is being done 
 
 II. Plans at Present in Operation 
 
 1. Montreal 
 
 2. New Haven 
 
 3. Columbus 
 
 4. New York City 
 
 5. Philadelphia 
 
 6. International Committee 
 
 7. Summer schools 
 
 III. Possible Arrangements 
 
 1. Work for A.M. degree 
 
 2. Special work 
 
 3. Sabbatical year 
 
 4. University summer school 
 
 5. Release after two years 
 
 6. Thesis work 
 
 7. Teaching 
 
 8. Possible cities 
 
 IV. The Association Colleges 
 V. Summary 
 
 Problem 
 
 What arrangements can be made whereby our secretaries 
 may take courses in near-by colleges and universities? 
 
 192 
 
UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 193 
 
 Thirty-four large American and Canadian City Associations 
 are located within one hour's ride of important universities or 
 first-class colleges. The resources of these institutions could 
 easily be related to our Associations and used in the training of 
 secretaries for more thorough work. Men who have had col- 
 lege training should be encouraged to do graduate study related 
 to their tasks, and to those who have not received the bachelor's 
 degree this door to wider intellectual preparation should be 
 thus opened. 
 
 1. The Case foe Graduate Study 
 /. A Scientific Basis Required 
 
 The Associations, present and future, require a more 
 scientific basis. When an institution is small, its processes 
 may go quietly along without much thought as to whether it is 
 on the right track or not; not many men are affected by its 
 activities, and when tke net result is some good, criticism that 
 its results are not all that could be desired do not arise. The 
 Association, however, has become so large, has attracted so 
 much public attention, has been given such large funds, reaches 
 so many thousands of men and boys, and promises so much for 
 the future that its errors and inefficiencies become matters of 
 public concern. Its processes must be examined to see if they 
 are on a soHd foundation, its policies scrutinized to discover 
 whether or not they square with the best thought available ; its 
 plans, courses, and methods must be elevated from the stage of 
 haphazard and hit-or-miss to scientific procedure and assured 
 achievement. To attain these ends, the employed officers of 
 the present and future must be men trained in the scientific 
 method and possessed of the results of speciahzed investiga- 
 tion. To go ahead without this expert counsel within our ranks 
 is to court inefficiency and failure, not to say contempt and 
 ridicule. 
 
 2. Light on Problems Desired 
 
 The Association needs more light on the problems in the 
 following and related fields: religious education, vocational 
 
194 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 education, industrial relations, Americanization, psychology, 
 business administration, statistics, biblical pedagogy, the Bible, 
 missionary theory and practice, physical education, recreation, 
 sex hygiene, elementary and secondary school method, adoles- 
 cence, labor problems, economics, charities and correction, and 
 the social problems of the modern city and the rural com- 
 munity. The way to this needed light lies through graduate 
 study, field work, and experimentation conducted under the 
 supervision of real experts. 
 
 J. More Scholars Needed 
 
 The Brotherhood needs more scholars, says John R. Mott. 
 Too few secretaries are studying. We have too few students 
 who think, constructive and productive thinkers, men who 
 know, who are authorities. Not enough men are contributing 
 new ideas, enlarging the method and scope of the Association, 
 devising new tools with which to work, enriching the vocation. 
 
 4. The Appeal of an Intellectual Calling 
 
 The opportunity for graduate study and encouragement of it 
 would attract to the ranks of the secretaryship men to whom 
 it does not now appeal, men who wish to enter a vocation in 
 which brains have rank at least equal to that of "steam." 
 There is a type of man who combines both motor-mindedness 
 and intellectuality; we need such men, and the Association 
 calling should be made a congenial one for them. 
 
 5. Research Gives Standing 
 
 The results of advanced study and research applied to the 
 problems of the Association would so count to elevate the whole 
 tone of the work as to give the employed officer more standing, 
 and the vocation status as a profession. 
 
 6. Study and Leadership 
 
 On this subject of the need of Association secretaries for 
 advanced study, John Bradford of Montreal writes, "So far as 
 my experience goes there is no difficulty in any man giving at 
 
UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 195 
 
 least one hour a week to courses in this way. Last year three 
 of our men took work in this hne, while over 200 workers with 
 the various social agencies in the city took courses. The 
 response frorn the other agencies such as settlements, nursing 
 orders, clubs, etc., was far greater than from our own men, 
 which leads me to feel that this is a serious situation and one 
 which demands attention. Certainly if workers in other fields 
 of social and religious efifort are willing to put in one or two 
 hours a week in study in accredited universities and our work- 
 ers cannot find time to do this, it is obviously only a question of 
 time when from the standpoint of leadership in a community 
 we shall be relegated to the rear." 
 
 7. Study Produces Mental Alertness 
 
 From the point of view of the secretary himself, he needs 
 and often craves the opportunity for study to keep himself 
 mentally alert. One of the most highly educated general sec- 
 retaries in the movement writes : "I find that I do very much 
 better work and do it a great deal more thoroughly if I take 
 advantage of class-room work, if that can be secured. The 
 older I grow the more I feel the need of the mental gymnastics 
 of the school room.'' Another local general secretary writes 
 thus of the work done at Columbia and at Harvard in the 
 midst of a busy secretaryship : "Both of these courses were in 
 the department of economics, and I feel that the broader view 
 obtained and the cultural value of these courses was distinctly 
 worth all they cost in both money and time." 
 
 8. Such Study Is Being Done 
 
 Now it is encouraging to be able to report that one finds both 
 a conscience on this subject and a cordial response to the sug- 
 gestion that more graduate study should be done by men active 
 in the secretaryship. Further, it is good to be able to say that 
 a few men here and there are now doing such study or have 
 had successful experience with it. One general secretary who 
 has carried university courses says he is going to do more next 
 year. Several physical directors report work they have done at 
 
196 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Harvard, and a number have studied in the universities located 
 in New York City. 
 
 One man reports thus : "When I was at Auburn, N. Y., both 
 the general secretary and myself put in at least two hours a 
 week in taking courses in religious education, psychology, and 
 other subjects at the theological seminary in that city. It was 
 simply a question of the arrangement of hours in our three- 
 man Association." 
 
 More data on this point will come out in the next section; 
 this one merely reports a wholesome and encouraging senti- 
 ment on the subject; the next will reenforce this optimism. 
 
 II. Plans at Present in Operation 
 
 1. Montreal 
 
 A member of the Montreal staff teaches a course in McGill 
 University called "The Social Development of a Community," 
 and members of the staff take the course and other work in the 
 McGill University Department of Social Service. 
 
 2. New Haven 
 
 Each man on the staff is urged to take a regular two-hour 
 course in Yale University. Of the regular secretaries, "eight 
 are either teaching or taking work or doing both at the uni- 
 versity." The whole Brotherhood knows how this Association 
 has been growing under the present administration. 
 
 J. Columbus 
 
 Young college graduates coming on to the Columbus staff 
 enter Ohio State University as graduate students and take a 
 course designated as Sociology 115-116, which is hsted in the 
 catalogue as a field course. This course gives eight hours' 
 credit for two years' work. The supervisor of this course 
 simply tells the Association secretary to carry out his regular 
 work at the Association under the direction of his senior secre- 
 tary. Clifford K. Brown, who directed the training of the men 
 at Columbus, says: 
 
UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 197 
 
 "We expect our men to take three two-hour periods per week 
 at the University, in addition to the three forty-five minute 
 periods in our building. The courses undertaken by our men 
 this year have all been in the field of Psychology, Sociology, 
 Economics, and Political Science. They have included courses 
 on the negro problem, on community recreation, on recreation 
 and leisure, and also theories of social practice. Next year the 
 two men who remain with us as second year men will write 
 their master's thesis along some line of work definitely a part 
 of their Association duties here. It is more than likely that one 
 of the men will make a survey of certain industrial conditions, 
 which survey will be very valuable to us a little later on when 
 we undertake work in those communities where the survey was 
 made. I, personally, am positively convinced that we have run 
 across a very happy solution of the training problem. We at- 
 tempt hereafter to take no men but college graduates, and to 
 sign them up for two years. We insist that the men look upon 
 these two years in exactly the same way as any professional 
 student would look upon graduate work in preparation for his 
 profession. 
 
 "I am very glad to say that our men have done very credit- 
 able work at the University. The University seems to be en- 
 tirely satisfied." 
 
 Three men were taking the university course as part of their 
 Association training. Thirty hours of credits are required for 
 the master's degree at the Ohio State University, usually cov- 
 ered in two years' work. As indicated above, the Association 
 men receive eight hours' credit for work done in the Associa- 
 tion building and take courses at the University giving them 
 twenty-two hours' credit. Mr. Brown further comments, "This 
 enables a student to secure his master's degree at the end of 
 the second year without seriously interfering with the work 
 which he does in our building. This means that our Fellowship 
 men will be bigger men and better men than they otherwise 
 would be." 
 
 4. New York City 
 
 The poHcy in New York City provides that full-time secre- 
 taries may carry one course in a college or university. One 
 man secured his master's degree by giving two and three hours 
 
198 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 a week to university work for three years. Mr. Walter T. 
 Diack, the general secretary of the New York City Association, 
 favors the men's carrying university work where this is part 
 of a man's training for the secretaryship and where the As- 
 sociation work is clearly the man's first interest. Mr. Diack 
 writes, "When a man has asked about study, I have recom- 
 mended that he take as much as he can drive but not so much 
 that it drives him. When an Association secretary's work 
 drives him, he is liable, to neglect either his study or the As- 
 sociation activities and to find satisfaction in neither." 
 
 The man referred to above who took his master's degree 
 says, "I found that I could carry two or three hours a week 
 for the three years that I studied without any interference with 
 my regular work ; in fact the diversion was a help. In my case 
 I made the Association work the main objective and the educa- 
 tional advantages secondary." 
 
 5. Philadelphia 
 
 W. O. Easton, secretary at Philadelphia Central, writes : 
 
 "Usually each season several of our men take up work at 
 the University of Pennsylvania or Temple College or elsewhere, 
 looking toward further training for improved service within the 
 Association. ... In all the cases we have had we have felt 
 that the courses taken, selected usually after counsel, have con- 
 tributed to the efficiency of the man in his immediate task. 
 Sometimes the men have overloaded in courses and have been 
 obliged to discontinue some of them so that their Association 
 duties should not suffer. As nearly as we have summarized our 
 experience, our men have not been able to take more than four 
 hours' class work and carry a full schedule of Association 
 duties. When they attempt more than this, either one or the 
 other suffers. I do not think we have had ill effects from 
 encouraging our men to do college work while carrying their 
 full schedule." 
 
 6. International Committee 
 
 The International Committee home department has fre- 
 quently found it desirable to have members of its staff take 
 work in Columbia University, New York Universityj a,n>d riear- 
 
UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 199 
 
 by seminaries. Such specialization, relating to work the man 
 was doing, has been along the lines of religious education, busi- 
 ness administration, statistics, teaching, and other subjects. 
 The Committee has no doubt that it pays. 
 
 The Foreign Department has long followed the policy of 
 having its men here on furlough do graduate work in first-class 
 seminaries and universities. Secretaries for Japan, a country 
 which is in the midst of a great industrial development with 
 almost overwhelming problems, have this year taken most valu- 
 able work on industrial and labor questions. The keen business 
 men back of the Foreign Department know that this is a wise 
 policy. One is reminded of Dr. Mott's phrase, "Time spent in 
 sharpening the sickle is not lost in the harvest." 
 
 'J. Summer Schools 
 
 Many of the large universities conduct very high-grade sum- 
 mer schools for periods of six weeks. Different secretaries 
 have been given leave of absence and taken these courses with 
 great profit. They ofifer tempting programs. 
 
 III. Possible Arrangements 
 
 On the basis of what is now being done in a few places, what 
 has been done in scattered instances, and conversations and cor- 
 respondence with employed officers, the following suggestions 
 are offered as to ways in which provision may be made for the 
 opportunity for graduate study by employed officers : 
 
 /. Work for A.M. Degree 
 
 On this arrangement, a young man just out of college is re- 
 cruited to the Association staff with the understanding that he 
 is to give about six hours of time a day to scheduled duties with 
 the Association and to be allowed to carry four hours a week 
 at the university counting toward a master's degree, which is 
 to be secured in two or at most three years. Perhaps, as at 
 Columbus, the university may consent to give academic credit 
 for training-center courses taught in the Association and for 
 
200 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 experimental work in the Association, making the securing of 
 the A.M degree easily possible in two years. 
 
 Where this is the plan, it should be clearly understood that 
 preparation for the Association vocation is the end sought, and 
 not the securing of a degree. The job at the Association is not 
 a pot-boiler to make school work possible ; it is not a means of 
 paying expenses while taking an A.M. The man goes to 
 that Association to receive training for the secretaryship, and 
 his daily work, his training-center classes, and his university 
 studies are of coordinate importance to that end. All this 
 should be clearly understood in advance by both parties to the 
 arrangement. Naturally the man in training does not receive 
 as much salary as he would get for eight hours a day of un- 
 divided Association work. He should, however, receive enough 
 to make decent living possible, to provide a margin of savings 
 upon which to get married, and to make the situation attractive. 
 
 This policy might necessitate a slightly larger junior staff. 
 Three instead of two young college men might be required to 
 cover the fifteen hour a day front-office schedule. But the 
 extra salary will be fully compensated for by the improvement 
 in the quality of work done, by the better type of man drawn 
 to the position, the improved standing of the Association as 
 an employer, more scientific work by the staff, and a finer lead- 
 ership for the Association Movement. 
 
 The general secretary who sees the power of this plan will 
 personally go to colleges near his city or in his state and get in 
 touch with prospective candidates, not a few weeks but a year 
 in advance. He will fish in certain ponds year by year until 
 it becomes a recognized thing in that institution that one of the 
 best students in the senior class is to be chosen for an attractive 
 Fellowship in a certain large city Association, with opportunity 
 for speciahzed graduate work in preparation for the Associa- 
 tion secretaryship. Is such a tradition an asset to that Associa- 
 tion ? It is a regular endowment ! 
 
 2. Special Work 
 
 This plan, the one followed at McGill, Yale, and by the In- 
 
UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 201 
 
 ternational Committee, does not contemplate the winning of a 
 degree, though that is desirable, if possible. The end sought is 
 the preparation of the secretary for high-grade work along 
 some important line related to his duties. This might require 
 one, two, or three periods a week of college work, and such 
 opportunities should be open to any man on the staff. 
 
 5. Sabbatical Year 
 
 One of the Association's highly respected intellectual leaders. 
 Prof. H. H. Home of New York University, has suggested the 
 advisability of granting to strong secretaries a sabbatical year, 
 or part of a year, of absence for this sort of study. The As- 
 sociations that institute such a plan will reap a reward of better 
 work, higher local and general standing, fewer stafiE changes, 
 and more general satisfaction or morale, with a growing place 
 of constructive leadership in the Brotherhood. Such study is 
 sure to result in an important new departure in forms of service 
 to the men and boys of the city, a more resultful religious 
 education, and higher productiveness generally. 
 
 Naturally, all or a large part of the secretary's salary must 
 go right on while he is away. It may be that eventually the 
 Association Movement will possess scholarships that will be 
 available for such men — real scholarships in four figures, for 
 nothing else will count. 
 
 4. University Summer School 
 
 More men should avail themselves of the work oflfered in six 
 weeks' courses by the large universities. These courses cover 
 almost every hne of Association interest — physical, educational, 
 religious, industrial, administrative, and others. Some of us 
 will be moved to object at once that these men should be in the 
 regular Association summer schools at that time. Two points 
 should be borne in mind. First, the Association should avoid 
 too much inbreeding, and should go into other fields to gather 
 its fruits. Second, the Association summer schools were made 
 for the secretaries and not the secretaries for the summer 
 schools. When a secretary can find something better some- 
 
202 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 where else, the good must not be the enemy of the best. One 
 summer out of three or four in a university summer school 
 will be an immediate gain for the secretary and an ultimate 
 gain for the whole Movement. 
 
 5. Release after Two Years 
 
 It frequently develops that in the course of two years of 
 service with the Association a bright young secretary finds a 
 field in which he wishes to specialize. Perhaps he discovers a 
 clear gift in educational work. However, his college training 
 has been only general and he knows little or nothing about the 
 theory of education. As a result, he wabbles and wanders in 
 a field in which with a year of study in Teachers' College, he 
 could walk with force and directness. Yet time after time such 
 men fail to secure this greatly needed initial preparation, and 
 twenty years of subsequent service are far less effective than 
 they might have been ; and the Association has a lot of pseudo- 
 specialists, men of much earnestness and practical skill but de- 
 flected by fundamental errors of procedure and hampered by 
 lack of good tools. 
 
 All this can be changed if we will cease our hand-to-mouth 
 existence and give our promising young secretaries a chance to 
 get some fundamental preparation for specialized departments 
 such as educational, religious, and boys' work. A year of study 
 after two years of service will often direct men to principles 
 and paths to be followed for many succeeding years, to the 
 great gain of the Association. Men leaving on such an errand 
 will naturally assume certain obligations as to returning. 
 
 6. Thesis Work 
 
 Activities carried on by the secretary can often be the basis 
 of work on a thesis directed by a university expert and count- 
 ing for academic credit. We have opportunities for experi- 
 mentation in religious, general, vocational, and physical educa- 
 tion, for instance, to name only a few, equalled by no other 
 experiment-station. Survey, plan, experiment, report, use — 
 what a chance if we ever see and seize it ! 
 
UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 203 
 
 •j. Teaching 
 
 At some universities a few secretaries have done regular 
 teaching along Association lines. McGill and Yale and the 
 Pacific School of Religion are cases in point. It is a stimulus 
 for the teacher and helps to prepare men for Association work. 
 There are plenty of secretaries qualified for such teaching, we 
 are proud to report. 
 
 8. Possible Cities 
 
 The hst of places where this plan could be worked is good 
 to look at. If there were but few such possibilities it would 
 hardly be worth suggesting to the Brotherhood as a whole. But 
 think of Boston and Cambridge, with Harvard, Boston Univer- 
 sity, and M. I. T. ; New Haven with Yale ; Hartford with the 
 Hartford School of Religion; New York and Brooklyn with 
 Columbia, New York University, and Union; Montreal with 
 McGill; Toronto with the University; Philadelphia with the 
 University of Pennsylvania; Chicago with the University; St. 
 Louis with Washington University; Nashville with Vanderbilt 
 and Peabody ; Pittsburgh with the University ; Columbus, Cin- 
 cinnati, Providence, Rochester, Baltimore, Minneapolis, St. 
 Paul, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Lincoln, 
 Denver, Seattle, Madison, Atlanta, and Syracuse — to name only 
 some of the outstanding cities where in most cases the Associa- 
 tions employ a large staff. 
 
 IV. The Association Colleges 
 
 The opinion is held that ways can easily be worked out 
 whereby the Association colleges can play a more important 
 part than has thus far been arranged in the training of secre- 
 taries in the secretaryship. The function of the college has 
 been conceived as a rule as that of training men for the secre- 
 taryship, and general secretaries here and there who realize the 
 importance of these institutions have sent them new recruits 
 for one or another phase of the Association vocation. But 
 it is possible to make a much larger use of the facilities af- 
 forded by the colleges. After conferring with some of the 
 
204 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 Association college authorities, the following suggestions were 
 offered as ways in which local Associations can secure profitable 
 training relations with the colleges : 
 
 1. Go to the Association colleges for shorter or longer terms 
 to make use of the research facilities of these institutions in 
 studying questions bearing on local Association problems. The 
 libraries and laboratories of the colleges are available for such 
 work, where proper arrangements are made, and the experience 
 of the members of the faculties in scientific research should be 
 drawn upon more largely than has heretofore been the case. 
 
 2. Men frequently enter the Association secretaryship with- 
 out special training, who do not find in a particular field the 
 proper means and facilities for their self-education. After 
 these men have demonstrated their likelihood of success in the 
 secretaryship to a degree justifying the spending of time and 
 money on further preparation, they should be encouraged to 
 take work in the Association colleges, with a view to learning 
 proper methods of study and getting a broader foundation for 
 a professional career with the Association. 
 
 3. Members of the faculty of the Association colleges will 
 in certain cases make syllabi of courses covering nine months' 
 reading and study, including suggestions concerning the 
 preparation of special papers. 
 
 4. All the colleges have expressed a willingness to have 
 members of their faculties visit local Associations and help in 
 setting up certain phases of training for members of the staff. 
 
 Developments of this kind will be in line with the tendencies 
 in our state universities during the past ten years. Formerly 
 the great resources of these institutions appeared to be open 
 only to those men who could completely cut away from other 
 duties and enter the universities as full and regular students. 
 Latterly the university has conceived itself as owing a duty 
 not only to those students who come on to its campus but to a 
 large number of men and women throughout the state for 
 whom study in residence was out of the question. As a result, 
 extension courses, institutes, special service, advice and counsel, 
 and visitation service were instituted by the university until it 
 
UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 205 
 
 was said of one state — Wisconsin — that one person in every 
 ten was receiving direct benefit from the State University at 
 Madison. A similar development within the Young Men's 
 Christian Association would be both timely and welcome. The 
 relation of the field to the colleges has been largely that of 
 supplying students and money, a few of the former and not too 
 much of the latter. Doubtless our Association colleges will in 
 time parallel the field service of our state universities and will 
 devise definite means whereby they can have a relation to the 
 training of men in, as well as for, the Association vocation. To 
 make this possible and effective, it will of course be necessary 
 for the field to render the colleges more hearty, and effective 
 financial support, in order that the faculties may be strength- 
 ened sufficiently to make visitation and extension work possible. 
 
 V. Summary 
 
 Seven reasons are urged for the Association secretary to avail 
 himself of the opportunities for graduate study to be found 
 in over thirty large American and Canadian cities. Sufficient 
 experimentation has been done along this line by secretaries 
 in large cities to justify the recommendation that much more 
 of this sort of thing should be done. Its results would prob- 
 ably be seen not only in better trained men but in the increased 
 attractiveness of the Association secretaryship to men seeking 
 a vocation in which they will have full opportunity for the use 
 not only of their physical energies but of their intellectual re- 
 sources, and in which study and research are encouraged. It 
 might result in developing that desired type of secretary desig- 
 nated by one of the state secretaries of New York as "the 
 thinking executive." 
 
 No one form of university relations is recommended for 
 every city. Experimentation, not standardization, is the word 
 for this stage of the development of the plan. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 
 Analysis 
 
 I. Scope of This Chapter 
 II. Purposes of the Summer School 
 
 1. Continuous training 
 
 2. Hasty preparation 
 
 3. Training in fundamentals 
 
 4. Interchange of experience and opinion 
 
 5. Advanced work 
 
 6. Contacts 
 
 7. Inspiration 
 
 8. Incentive to study at home 
 
 9. Professor Home quoted 
 
 10. Which of these? 
 
 11. Educational aim 
 
 12. Have we erred? 
 
 III. Processes in Relation to Function 
 
 1. Class-room work 
 
 2. Supervised study 
 
 3. Private study 
 
 4. Interviews 
 
 5. Chapel 
 
 6. Examinations 
 
 7. Book tests 
 
 8. Social distractions 
 
 9. Faculty meetings 
 
 10. Exhibits 
 
 11. Mode of enrolling 
 
 12. Advertising and promotion 
 
 IV. Equipment in Relation to Function 
 
 1. Rooms 
 
 2. Chairs and tables 
 
 3. Blackboards 
 
 4. Study facilities 
 
 5. Library 
 
 206 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 207 
 
 V. Curriculum in Relation to Function 
 
 1. English Bible 
 
 2. Association history and principles 
 
 3. Religious work principles and methods 
 
 4. Educational processes 
 
 5. Association methods 
 
 6. Project units 
 
 7. Related general knowledge 
 
 8. World work and outlook 
 
 9. Problems of the modern city 
 
 10. Church history 
 
 11. The personal life of the secretary 
 
 12. Leadership, group and personal 
 
 13. Boys' work 
 
 14. Industrial work 
 
 15. Fundamentals of Christian faith and teaching 
 
 16. Courses for secretaries' wives 
 
 17. Three general problems 
 
 VI. Teachers in Relation to Function 
 VII. Summary 
 
 Problem 
 
 What arrangements in regard to processes, equipment, cur- 
 riculum, and teachers will make the summer schools contribute 
 most in the training of secretaries? 
 
 I. Scope of This Chapter 
 
 This discussion is limited to the distinctly educational as- 
 pects of summer schools, as they appear to a general secretary 
 who is seeking to give his staff training advantages and to 
 further his own growth. A number of phases of the summer 
 school question that are discussed in the Conference on Pro- 
 fessional Training are not touched upon here. This is not 
 meant to be a treatment of the whole summer school problem. 
 The point of view of the local general secretary and his staff 
 is the basis of selection of topics. National aspects of the sub- 
 ject are not considered, nor are managerial questions, apart 
 from their relation to good teaching, for this is a book on staff 
 training and not on Association theory as a whole. The needs 
 of the student, not the needs of the school, constitute our theme. 
 
2o8 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 The presentation is at some points not so full as it would be 
 had not these been so well covered in Mr. Urice's monograph, 
 "The Silver Bay Experiment of 1919," pubHshed by Associa- 
 tion Press. The educational theory underlying each treatment 
 is the same, and the monograph should be read with this chap- 
 ter. Its thirty-six pages report an important effort to bring the 
 Association summer schools into harmony with the best modern 
 educational thought. 
 
 Our procedure will be to consider the function of the sum- 
 mer school and then the relation of processes, equipment, and 
 curriculum to securing this end. 
 
 II. The Purposes of the Summer School 
 I. Continuous Training 
 
 The summer schools grow out of a realization on the part 
 of progressive secretaries that their training is a continuous 
 matter, and not a thing ever completed. They rest on the con- 
 viction of Association employed officers that they must take a 
 period of time every year for special study of their work and 
 preparation for more effective service. The schools are a popu- 
 lar democratic institution developed by the secretaries them- 
 selves to meet their own needs, and are consequently designed 
 to train further men who are already in the secretaryship. 
 
 These schools should not be thought of as a short-cut to 
 training for the Association vocation. Experience shows that 
 they are not especially effective in getting men ready for the 
 secretaryship. Their largest effectiveness is with men who 
 come to them with a background of actual experience and real 
 problems upon which they want light. Of course they are of 
 value to the inexperienced beginner, but an examination of the 
 achievements of the summer schools shows that they serve best 
 that end for which they were designed — the further training of 
 men having some secretarial experience. The psychology of 
 the apperceptive basis is the scientific explanation of this fact. 
 
 This function clearly recognized, it is evident that the sum- 
 mer school is in no sense a rival of nor substitute for the train- 
 ing center or the Association college, the standard agencies for 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 209 
 
 the training primarily of inexperienced men. The summer 
 school cannot take the place of either of these agencies, nor can 
 either training center or Association college fill the place of the 
 summer school. It has its own function, and is the only agency 
 in that field. 
 
 2. Hasty Preparation 
 
 Emergency situations frequently lead to the use of the sum- 
 mer school as a means of getting a man ready quickly for a 
 position he is to take in the fall. New men frequently enter 
 the work through the open door of the summer school. We 
 fool ourselves, however, if we think this is good preparation, 
 or a real function of the institution. It is a hasty makeshift, a 
 life-buoy to keep a man from drowning; indeed, it has just 
 about the same desirability as a preliminary training agency as 
 a life-preserver has as a means of navigation ; it keeps the man 
 afloat until someone rescues him. 
 
 This is not said in derogation of the summer school. It is a 
 protest against misusing it, and expecting it to do things it 
 cannot do well. Men cannot be effectively trained for a voca- 
 tion away from the scenes of that vocation. The school-teacher 
 is trained in a practice school, the engineer in a mill, shop, or 
 engineering project, the lawyer in his moot court, and the doc- 
 tor in a clinic and hospital. After he has had actual experience, 
 the doctor can go apart from the scene of his work for confer- 
 ence with other doctors about his problems. Such conferences 
 would be valueless to him before his laboratory and hospital 
 days. Just so with the secretary. The conference and class- 
 room processes have their largest value after or in the midst 
 of experience. For this reason the summer school is a valuable 
 training for experienced secretaries, and of minor value (we 
 do not say no value) to the inexperienced beginner. For him 
 it is at best hasty, makeshift training, and this should not be 
 forgotten or overlooked. 
 
 J. Training in Fundamentals 
 
 One of the purposes of the summer schools is well stated in 
 
2IO TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 a conference report as "to furnish training in fundamental As- 
 sociation objectives, principles, and current developments." 
 They serve these three purposes well, as all secretaries of ex- 
 perience will testify. Men are every year conscious of the cor- 
 rective of deflection received in them, of a brightening up of 
 an obscured objective, a new grasp of principles already 
 learned, and a view of principles not previously recognized. 
 
 4. Interchange of Experience and Opinion 
 
 It is a great thing to go to the summer schools, tell about 
 one's difficulties, and learn how others have met the same situa- 
 tion. This value is especially characteristic of those classes in 
 which discussion is a feature, and to which all make their con- 
 tribution. But, even where class-room work is at its best, per- 
 haps the best education consummated at the summer schools 
 takes place when two or three men pull up their chairs and talk 
 it over. These small conferences and conversations are among 
 the chief prizes. 
 
 5. Advanced Work 
 
 Frequently summer schools offer courses having a relation to 
 Association work, but not part of its own technique — courses 
 in social theory, economics, biography, and other related general 
 knowledge. These opportunities for specialized study or 
 glimpses into interesting fields are in full harmony with the 
 purposes of the institution, and are one of its proper functions. 
 
 6. Contacts 
 
 The social and professional contacts with fellow-secretaries 
 and the leaders of the movement are of real training value. 
 This opportunity for fellowship in the vocation and for study- 
 ing the personality of men in the same work is a feature not 
 to be lowly appraised. It helps to make a great movement 
 becoine a real brotherhood and elevates the conception of what 
 a secretary should be. 
 
 y. Inspiration 
 This function is well served. It would be a cold man indeed 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 211 
 
 who could go through the usual two weeks and not feel the 
 thrill of his calling, receive inspiration to better living and more 
 effective service, experience the very presence of God, and have 
 his whole vision enlarged. There is also the inspiration of in- 
 creased ability. There is truth in the statement that "the skill- 
 ful man is the inspired man." Knowledge that we can now do 
 the thing better makes us impatient to begin the task. 
 
 8. Incentive to Study at Home 
 
 This two weeks' experience in study frequ'^ntly makes men 
 want to do more study. Lines of investigation are suggested, 
 avenues of research occur to one, good books are mentioned, 
 and the whole value of study is made clear. Mental machinery 
 gets oiled, intellectual joints and muscles are stretched, and 
 study takes on new attractiveness. This function, now some- 
 what incidental, might well receive more attention. 
 
 p. Professor Home Quoted 
 
 ■ "The aim of the summer school is the cultivation of effective 
 personality. It involves certain information as to principles 
 and applications, directions to sources of help, training in ac- 
 complishment of tasks, vision, and imaginative grasp." This 
 was said extemporaneously in conference, so all that it involves 
 may not have been mentioned. As it is, the statement is worth 
 studying. 
 
 10. Which of These? 
 
 Two entirely different ideas of the function of the summer 
 school are held by summer school leaders. Some say the 
 students want to be told how to do things, and what to do ; that 
 they come to get their notebooks filled with good outlines and 
 suggestions. They come to "tank up," so to speak. The other 
 group thinks quite differently. They admit that this tanking-up 
 process may be what the students come for, but think a better 
 thing can be done for them. Teach them to dig wells. The 
 tank runs dry or leaks. The man who can dig wells never lacks 
 water. Instead of teaching men solutions, teach them how to 
 
212 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 solve. Instead of telling them what to think, teach them how 
 to think. To quote Dewey again, help them to acquire "skill 
 in methods of attack and solution." Shall we aim to produce 
 obedient doers or "thinking executives" ? Shall we tank them 
 up or teach them how to dig wells ? Is a man's mind a tank or 
 is it a tool? The answer determines the teaching process to be 
 used. 
 
 11. Educational Aim 
 
 The educational aim of the summer school should include the 
 ideas of personal growth, larger ability to find a way out of 
 difficulties, increased initiative and resourcefulness, outlook, 
 and high character. The processes used should be carefully 
 tested to see if they further these aims and measure up to the 
 educational tests in section I of Chapter III. 
 
 12. Have We Erred? 
 
 Have we made a mistake in trying to combine school and 
 vacation in a single two weeks' feature? Some think so. We 
 have so presented attendance upon summer school that men 
 have come to look upon it as one way of spending a vacation. 
 The out-of-door features have been so played up that educa- 
 tional elements are not getting due recognition. The baneful 
 results of combining summer school and vacation, study and 
 outing, are now becoming evident. They are these : 
 
 a. Directors grant a Irwo weeks' period as a vacation, with 
 the expectation that the secretary will use it for summer school 
 purposes. The secretary himself is father of the heresy. Let 
 him repent and tell the directors that school is not a vacation 
 activity, and that he wants two weeks for vacation, or a month 
 if that is his allowance, and then two weeks for summer school 
 in addition. Our employed officers will do well to separate 
 vacation time and summer school time in their own and in their 
 Board's thinking. Each object is a worthy one; each end 
 should be properly served — school plus vacation, not school 
 while on vacation. The sending of men to summer school 
 should be regarded by directors and by stafif as an important 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 213 
 
 part of a year's work, and provided for both as to time and as 
 to money entirely apart from all vacation plans. 
 
 b. Attention v^rhile at the school is divided between a sense of 
 duty to study and a sense of duty to get a rest. As a result, 
 school work is but indifferently done in many cases, and vaca- 
 tion interests do not get their due either. Men should come 
 to the schools with the single duty of school work. Exercise 
 and recreation will then be planned to further, not to frustrate, 
 study. 
 
 c. The equipment is both located and built as a vacation re- 
 sort, with the result that the equipment is in almost all cases 
 poorly adapted to class work or study. With the exception of 
 Lake Geneva, not one of the schools is really well equipped 
 for class-room work for a large number of men ; and the ar- 
 rangements for private study are poor in all the schools. They 
 are all good vacation resorts, some of them excellent in that 
 respect. As schools they are rather poorly provided with the 
 necessary comforts and conveniences that make real study 
 possible. 
 
 The Association is now probably so thoroughly committed to 
 these localities and buildings that a change is out of the ques- 
 tion. The situation can be saved partly, however, by improving 
 the class-room and study arrangements of our summer schools. 
 
 III. Processes in Relation to Function 
 /. Class-Room Work 
 
 The detailed treatment of class-room procedure in chapters 
 III and IV and Mr. Urice's monograph makes it unnecessary 
 to discuss this at length here. Let us merely remind ourselves 
 of a few of the fundamental considerations. 
 
 The student is the center of class-room work. The per- 
 sonality of the teacher and the material in his notebook or text- 
 book are both of value in a school only' as they meet the needs 
 of the student. The student is the item of central importance. 
 All procedure, then, should be based on meeting his needs. It is 
 a recognized fact among educators that of all ways of meeting 
 
214 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 these needs the lecture is the least effective. We must use a 
 process that first discovers what a student needs and that then 
 helps him to secure it. To deliver a lecture the first day is to 
 build without a foundation. Begin with a discussion that lo- 
 cates the problems of the men, and proceed with discussions as 
 to how to solve these problems ; and remember that no one ever 
 learned to skate by being told how. He had to put on the skates 
 and skate. The "gym and swim" instruction, as Professor 
 Home pointed out, are based on sound pedagogy. Our process 
 must be based on the largest possible participation of the 
 student. Next to sleeping, listening to a lecture represents his 
 least participation, and some even sleep. 
 
 Instruction in class-room methods should be made available 
 for those teachers who need it, and the class-room work of all 
 teachers should ht supervised by experts. Summer school 
 teaching must progress beyond its present amateur status. 
 
 For certain kinds of work, a forty-five minute period is en- 
 tirely inadequate. Schedules should be so adjusted as to make 
 it possible for certain groups to work together for a time 
 equal to two of the usual periods. Two consecutive periods 
 can often be used to better advantage than two periods a day 
 apart. 
 
 Whatever the content of a course, it should lead to some sort 
 of conclusions and a definite program of action. At the least 
 extreme, this conclusion might be that more study is needed, 
 and the program of action might be a plan of study and re- 
 search. At the other extreme will be found clear-cut, definite 
 decisions and well-set-up detailed plans. Both extremes, the 
 extreme least and the extreme most, are worthy; the essential 
 thing is that the impression result in expression. 
 
 2. Supervised Study 
 
 Most men, college graduates included, have not learned to 
 study — more is the pity. This deficiency in the education of 
 all of us the summer schools can help to make up, for during 
 the last ten years the subject of how to study has been itself 
 studied and good methods are now available. An evening study 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 215 
 
 period of an hour or an hour and a half should be scheduled, 
 a good room, well hghted and mosquito-proof, should be pro- 
 vided, tables arranged, and teachers present to guide where 
 guidance is needed. The art of assignment and study super- 
 vision should be taught the teachers, and this great educational 
 advance of the past decade incorporated into our summer 
 school plans. Literature on the subject is available, and ex- 
 perienced men can be secured to handle the work. 
 
 J. Private Study 
 
 Faithful and earnest class preparation is made by many of 
 the summer school students, as all who have studied or taught 
 there know. The expectation of study on the part of both 
 teachers and students, however, is often not large. Many 
 courses proceed with the clear understanding that no one is 
 going to do any or much study, and the students sink to the 
 level of the teachers' standard and their own ease. Study 
 should, of course, be a central element in any school. To secure 
 it several adjustments will be necessary. First, the require- 
 ment of study by the teachers; second, time for study in the 
 schedule, brought about by a reduction in the number of class 
 periods to not over four a day and preferably three ; third, con- 
 veniences for study; fourth, the atmosphere and tradition of 
 study as a feature of the school ; fifth, instruction as to how to 
 study. 
 
 4. Interviews 
 
 Three kinds of interviews are possible at the summer school. 
 The first is the private personal interview, where one man 
 seeks out the student or leader with whom he wishes to talk. 
 It is made more effective if before coming together the inter- 
 viewer thinks out the questions he wishes to ask, writes each 
 at the head of a slip of paper, and takes notes as the material 
 comes under these questions. Note-taking stimulates the man 
 being interviewed. It assures him of the serious purpose of his 
 interviewer and of the worth-whileness of giving his best. The 
 knowledge that what he says is being taken down makes him 
 
2i6 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 careful to say something worth taking down, and encourages 
 him to supply details he would not mention in casual conversa- 
 tion knowing they would be missed or forgotten. This sort of 
 interview is a valuable educational tool, and its use should be 
 encouraged as one of the regular advantages of the institution. 
 
 The second sort of interview is the group interview as part 
 of a class period, where the class prepares its questions in 
 advance and has the man from whom it wishes data or informa- 
 tion meet it during the class hour. It has possibilities far 
 beyond its present use. Indeed, as an organized process it is 
 not much used in the summer school, though a few teachers 
 have employed it successfully. It is a simple plan. 
 
 Like unto it is the third interview, in which a group of in- 
 terested men plan to meet one from whom they wish informa- 
 tion and for which meeting the preparation mentioned above is 
 also made. 
 
 The ethics of faithfulness in meeting appointments need only 
 to be mentioned to be recognized and adopted. It has occasion- 
 ally been suggested that teachers observe office hours for the 
 benefit of their students. This is rather formal and may not 
 be a good thing. Certain it is, however, that each teacher 
 should have a genuine personal interview with each man in his 
 class as early in the course as possible. 
 
 5. Chapel 
 
 The function of the chapel period is inspiration and the en- 
 riching of the spiritual life. It is most effective when short, 
 quiet, and free from announcements ; the physical arra"ngements 
 should secure a compact and comfortable audience ; the leader 
 should not be too far from his group; the songs should be 
 carefully selected and well led. Above all, the talk should be 
 a gem of faithful preparation. 
 
 6. Examinations 
 
 The maxim that the best examination is a use is not so easily 
 applied in summer school as in a training center, yet the 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 217 
 
 illustration printed as Appendix B shows that it is applicable. 
 If examinations are drawn up to test skill, ability, resourceful- 
 ness, and initiative, they have far more educational value than 
 if they are mere tests of memory or cramming. In a methods 
 course the matter is simple. The examination in a course of 
 religious work methods could be the drawing up of a policy for 
 the field in which each man works. Such an examination is 
 announced early in the course, and each man is allowed to use 
 all the reference books and interviews he chooses. The paper 
 is prepared outside of class hours, so none of the twelve 
 precious periods are consumed in this work. If the paper re- 
 produces in detail and without adaptation the plans discussed 
 in class, it is a poor paper. Its worth is found in evidence of 
 personal thought, skillful adaptation, resourcefulness, and 
 ability to solve local problems. 
 
 J. Book Tests 
 
 Most of the summer schools require the reading of three 
 books each year and the passing of a book test on each as a 
 condition of receiving a certificate at the end of a three years' 
 course. The plan has the unfortunate result of leading the 
 beginner to think that this reading is in some way a preparation 
 for the course he is to take. When he discovers that the books 
 he has reviewed bear no relation to his class work, he feels 
 either that he has been fooled or that the school plan is not 
 well administered. It is a fine thing for the summer schools 
 to encourage the reading of good books; but either an effort 
 should be made to gear this reading into the school courses, or 
 it should be eliminated as a requirement for a certificate. 
 
 For the encouragement of reading apart from that related to 
 class-room work, it would be very helpful if each school ar- 
 ranged a presentation of good books in brief review during an- 
 hour when all students would be present. Men could easily be 
 secured to tell what current books are of most importance, what 
 lines of reading would be found helpful in relation to certain 
 problems, and how to go about such reading. Small group dis- 
 cussions with prepared leaders might be even more helpful. 
 
2i8 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 8. Social Distractions 
 
 The social event, fellowship meeting, picnic, group outing, 
 and departmental dinner — all these are recognized as legiti- 
 mate features of the summer school as at present organized, 
 be it written with sorrow; for they seriously break into solid 
 school work and interfere with needed study periods. Shall 
 they be ruled out as illegitimate ? They should be confined to 
 certain recognized periods and recreation hours. The evening 
 affair should come off the calendar, and social features be 
 limited to the afternoon. A time-limit needs to be placed upon 
 social dinners, so as to enable the students to observe the 
 regular evening study period. 
 
 Let a committee study all the good features in the present 
 distractions, and then plan events that conserve these and 
 eliminate the elements that make against efficient school work. 
 Teachers who try to do good honest teaching are utterly dis- 
 couraged in their efforts by the present conflict between the 
 two school features of work and play, and the serious students 
 are held back by the unfaithfulness of their frolicking fellows. 
 These same frolics can be made an asset, whereas they are now 
 a dead liability to the school. "The Silver Bay Experiment of 
 1919" made the issue clear. It is an issue in every school. 
 
 9. Faculty Meetings 
 
 Here is a process that has a vital relation to educational 
 functions. There is room for a lot of improvement. The 
 school leaders need to recognize the fact that many of the 
 teachers are in fact not teachers but executives, and are fre- 
 quently poorly equipped to teach. At the opening faculty 
 meeting the leader sometimes says he recognizes the fact that 
 the men who are going to do the teaching are all experts, so 
 each man is given full freedom to conduct his course as he 
 pleases. Experts in their own work, yes ; in teaching, as a rule, 
 no. Furthermore, many a man whose regular vocation is that 
 of teacher knows little about the teaching process, especially if 
 he is a teacher in a college ; and this fact is receiving increasing 
 recognition in educational circles. A recent important work. 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 219 
 
 "College Teaching," by Professor Paul Klapper of the College 
 of the City of New York, is based on this very idea. There- 
 fore we are not disrespectful to secretaries when we say that 
 most of them are not good teachers. 
 
 The function of the faculty meeting should be to set teach- 
 ing standards and ideals, work out teaching processes, confer 
 on teaching difficulties, and improve teaching methods. Where 
 the summer school executive is himself not an expert teacher, 
 he should secure someone for the purpose who is. Several 
 meetings should be held each session — one before the course 
 begins, one at the end of the first week, and one at the end of 
 the session, and educational practice should be a major topic of 
 discussion. 
 
 10. Exhibits 
 
 Not enough use has been made of the educational exhibit as 
 a feature of the summer school. Samples of printed matter, 
 written policies, photographs of groups and features, organiza- 
 tion charts, graphs, outlines of plans — these and other exhibit 
 material have large educational value. A committee of secre- 
 taries could organize this feature and make much of it. Such 
 exhibits would be carefully studied by the students and highly 
 appreciated. 
 
 11. Mode of Enrolling 
 
 The summer school leaders try to get each man into the 
 courses that will help him most. Perhaps more could be done 
 along the line of considering more carefully the attainments and 
 needs of each student as he applies for enrolment. Many need 
 and frankly want guidance in their choice of studies. In giv- 
 ing this counsel the man's own situation should weigh more 
 heavily than certain school rules as to courses required. Now 
 just this careful investigation of the man's needs will often 
 send him into that same required work, but it will be because 
 he needs it and not because it is a rule that he shall take it. 
 
 Two ends should be served — the student's fundamental 
 preparation and future growth, and his preparation for the task 
 
220 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 just ahead. These ends sometimes seem to be in conflict. Just 
 here is where the occasion arises for careful investigation and 
 counsel. Perhaps a committee sitting for this purpose might 
 lighten the burden of the work involved in such advice, each 
 member of the committee acting separately but according to 
 well-recognized procedure, with the man, not the system, as 
 his center of thought. 
 
 12. Advertising and Promotion 
 
 Students would be helped in their choice of subjects and 
 more students would be attracted to the schools if the an- 
 nouncements were more fully descriptive. Full directions are 
 given as to how to reach the schools, and the scenic beauties of 
 the location are well advertised. The studies themselves are 
 not well presented. There needs to be more full description 
 along two lines. 
 
 a. What is this course about? Paragraphs of five or six 
 lines might well be devoted to each subject. 
 
 b. Who is going to teach it? What has he done that he 
 should be asked to teach this course? A mere name and title 
 may mean little to that often-mentioned secretary at Podunk. 
 
 IV. Equipment in Relation to Function 
 
 Something has already been said on this subject. The chief 
 criticisms of the schools' equipment center around four 
 features. Not all of the schools are sinners in all these re- 
 spects, but each gets a fairly high score. 
 
 1. Rooms 
 
 Are the class-rooms light enough and sufficiently ventilated ? 
 Silver Bay has all the light and air one can ask for. Some 
 of the Blue Ridge rooms are quite dark and poorly ventilated. 
 Each school can easily find its own grade in this subject. 
 
 2. Chairs and Tables 
 
 Are the chairs comfortable? Those in the class-room and 
 those in the rooms where men have to study? Are the study 
 tables solid or wobbly? Or are they absent altogether? 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 221 
 
 5. Blackboards 
 
 A good blackboard is a teacher's joy. Lake Geneva is fairly 
 well equipped in this respect, but the other schools should 
 repent and do much better. 
 
 4. Study Facilities 
 
 Can students study in their rooms with pleasure and com- 
 fort? Are the lights good? Are the mosquitoes and moths 
 screened out? Or if fixing up the rooms for study is out of 
 the question, is a good study hall provided, with screens, lights, 
 tables, and good chairs ? 
 
 5. Library 
 
 Just what library a summer school should have, is an un- 
 answered question. If the study hall and library could be com- 
 bined and ample reference books on the Bible, religious educa- 
 tion. Association history and methods, and related subjects 
 could be available in sufficient quantities to make their use in 
 the preparation of lessons practicable, it would be a great aid to 
 good teaching. 
 
 No one feature of the summer schools is so open to criticism 
 as this absolute failure to provide the facilities necessary to 
 real study and class-room work. Mark Hopkins on one end of 
 a log and a student on the other may constitute education ; but 
 there are so few such teachers that most of the logs might bet- 
 ter be worked up into equipment to make up some of the 
 deficiencies of most of us as teachers. That Hopkins log story 
 is worked overtime to excuse a lot of indifference and neglect. 
 The picture of Lincoln doing arithmetic problems on the back 
 of a shovel by fire-light is also brought up ; but there are few 
 Lincolns. If the summer schools are to measure up to their 
 really wonderful opportunities and serve their functions well, 
 we must see that they are better equipped for their work. 
 
 V. Curriculum in Relation to Function 
 
 A good deal can be said in praise of the choice of subjects 
 taught in Association summer schools. The curriculum is as a 
 
222 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 rule first-class; criticism centers chiefly around the teaching 
 methods and equipment. The areas covered by the courses 
 are worth while, pertinent to the work, well-balanced in propor- 
 tion, pretty well graded, and the courses are farseeing in their 
 outlook. This is due to the fact that they have been arranged 
 by men expert in the secretaryship and well informed as to its 
 content, demands, and processes. What are the important 
 studies that should be provided for in the general course for 
 city secretaries, the trunk course from which others branch 
 out farther along? 
 
 I. English Bible, the New and the Old Testaments 
 
 Happily, the Association summer schools are moving away 
 from courses of lectures about the Bible and proceeding with 
 sure steps to courses of actual study of the Bible by the 
 students. The student summer conferences were the first, 
 strangely enough, to see that the summer school must give the 
 student the type of study and leadership that the student can 
 and should reproduce in his home Association. The summer 
 school can set the whole type and standard of the Association 
 in the matter of Bible study. 
 
 How vital it is then, that both the content and the process 
 be well chosen. The new policy of having secretaries who are 
 students lead groups of their fellow-students in the first-year 
 work will eventually be generally accepted, because of the con- 
 vincing evidence of the success of this process in getting the 
 students interested in the Bible, in teaching them how to study, 
 in preparing them to lead classes, and in demonstrating a 
 method whereby a city Association can get all the Bible teach- 
 ers it needs and help the Sunday schools to solve the same 
 problem. 
 
 This plan was first worked out in the Student Department by 
 Harrison S. ElHott, then adapted by him to the War Work 
 Schools at Silver Bay, later tried with success in the combined 
 first-year work in the regular session at Silver Bay and re- 
 ported by Jay A. Urice, who worked with him, in "The Silver 
 Bay Experiment of 1919," which should be secured from As- 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 223 
 
 sociation Press and read in this connection. An increasing 
 number of men will acquire skill in this practical method, and 
 Bible study will have a new day in our Associations. At 
 present nothing else holds out such promise of vitalizing our 
 Bible study. It makes the Bible interesting to men, teaches 
 them how to study it, how to teach it, and how to train teach- 
 ers ; and any process that gives any promise of doing those four 
 things is a boon to the movement. 
 
 It may be that later on this method will be applied to the 
 second and third years' work. At present it is based on com- 
 bining all the first year men in one good course, and has not 
 been extended beyond that. Perhaps that is as far as it should 
 be employed. 
 
 2. Association History and Principles 
 
 Every man entering the work should naturally take a course 
 in the history and principles of the Association Movement. 
 This might well be required of all secretaries entering the sum- 
 mer school who have not had it at an Association college or in 
 a well-conducted training center. It can be studied in two 
 ways — by the old academic process in which a chronological 
 outline is followed, or by the newer and more vital process of 
 problem study, in which an Association problem is attacked, 
 and history and principles are brought in as matter helping 
 toward a solution. An outline worked out on this basis with 
 suggestions for teachers would be of great service and helpful- 
 ness, and probably would be adopted by all the schools. The 
 problem treatment will make history increasingly popular, as 
 this brings out its usefulness and disarms the criticism of 
 history as an academic subject. The general application of the 
 method will probably await the appearance of suitable outlines 
 and materials. 
 
 J. Religious Work Principles and Methods 
 
 Of all methods courses, this one is most fundamental and 
 essential. Perhaps it, too, should be required for all men in 
 all departments. The course should be a practical one, begin- 
 
224 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 ning with a study of the groups that make up a field, the needs 
 of the men and boys in these groups, the objectives of rehgious 
 work sought in relation to these men and boys, the methods to 
 be used in reaching the men and boys as individuals, as groups, 
 and by mass efforts, the results to be secured and by which a 
 year's success should be tested. Here discussion is the obvious 
 teaching method. Advanced work in this subject would consist 
 of a study of religious education and pedagogy and of special- 
 ized religious work methods, such as religious interviews, Bible 
 study, and forums. Our programs seem a little weak here and 
 the work in the local Association reflects the weakness in the 
 summer school. The summer school programs of 1920 show 
 some improvement over previous years, due to a realization of 
 this very weakness. 
 
 4. Educational Processes 
 
 Salesmanship and promotion processes have made the As- 
 sociation large. Only educational processes in all departments 
 — social, religious, educational, physical, membership, financial, 
 foreign, and others — can make' the Association as solid as it is 
 big. There are many places where, when tapped, the Associa- 
 tion sounds hollow. Secretaries have been earnest students of 
 selling processes. The great need now is an understanding 
 of the fundamentals of education, and their application to the 
 whole secretarial task. Some school will see this, devise a 
 practical course for all secretaries, and usher in a new move- 
 ment greatly needed. 
 
 5. Association Methods 
 
 The summer school methods courses are popular ones. They 
 are of great importance, especially when taught in relation to 
 the known needs of the students and not as lecture courses. 
 The plan presented in Chapter IV, Section V, 4, is one way of 
 conducting such a course. See page 91. 
 
 6. Project Units 
 
 One wonders if we shall soon be able to apply to our summer 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 225 
 
 schools the developments in project teaching now being worked 
 out in the Lincoln School in New York City by the Rockefeller 
 Foundation and in the Horace Mann School by Columbia 
 University. This process discards the old analysis of subject- 
 matter into sharply defined branches of study and abandons 
 the formal methods of the schoolroom for a treatment of life 
 situations as a unit, as a whole, drawing from any art or subject 
 the material needed for the solution of a real problem in actual 
 life. It is a fascinating speculation. The Silver Bay Boys' 
 School has seen the vision. Maybe some day the Association 
 will. It is not a game for amateurs, however. Highly trained 
 teachers, with grasp and imagination, are needed. 
 
 7. Related General Knowledge 
 
 Under this head are included social theory, economics, theory 
 of education, advertising, and knowledge in any field from 
 which the Association secretary draws in the pursuit of his 
 vocation. Some might apply the term cultural subjects to these 
 studies. They have a place in the course of study for secre- 
 taries, increasing in proportion to other subjects as the secre- 
 tary advances in his experience and study. 
 
 8. World Work and Outlook 
 
 The subject of the Foreign Work of the Association has been 
 given six periods in all standard summer schools, and the Over- 
 seas Division of the International Committee is making a 
 serious effort to give these periods genuine educational value. 
 A special conference was held at Lakehurst, N. J., in April, 
 1920, to work out the content of this course and the method by 
 which it should be taught, the teachers of the course spending 
 four days in this preliminary preparation. This is taking sum- 
 mer school-teaching seriously, as it should be taken. 
 
 p. Problems of the Modern City 
 
 Occasionally a course with this title is offered. It seems that 
 such matter is so fundamental that it should be given to second 
 or third year men every year. It would very Hkely lead men 
 
226 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 to reproduce the course in their own Associations, for either 
 secretaries or laymen, and would promote personal study of 
 city problems. 
 
 10. Church History 
 
 This is best studied as a course in religious problems, or the 
 nature of modern religious movements. A chronological sur- 
 vey of church history has no place in the summer school, but 
 there is a real need for a better understanding of the religious 
 sects and movements of the day and the problems of which 
 these are proposed or tried solutions. 
 
 11. The Personal Life of the Secretary 
 
 This course includes the maintaining of his spiritual life, his 
 intellectual life, physical health, social and home problems, per- 
 sonal efficiency, and many helpful things not properly placed 
 anywhere else. 
 
 12. Leadership, Group and Personal 
 
 Several schools have given good courses in the psychology of 
 leadership. The study is well worth a secretary's time, if he 
 purposes to be a real leader of men and of movements. 
 
 jj. Boys' Work 
 
 The Association is a boy, as well as a man, movement. The 
 principles and methods of boys' work should receive the atten- 
 tion and study of all secretaries at some time during their 
 training. 
 
 14. Industrial Work 
 
 The city Association is always in danger of becoming a clerk, 
 or white-collar, group. The problems and needs of working 
 men should enter into the course of study for all men in city 
 work. The fulfilling of our complete mission requires it, and 
 the study teems with interest. This course should include data 
 on the economic situation and social and labor movements. 
 
 15. Fundamentals of Christian Faith and Teaching 
 Secretaries are not meant to be theologians, but they should 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 227 
 
 know the grounds of Christian faith if they are to be religious 
 leaders in truth. 
 
 16. Courses for Secretaries' Wives 
 
 What an opportunity the summer schools miss of undergird- 
 ing the secretaryship with a group of wives who understand 
 their husbands' tasks and know their problems ! It is more and 
 more the custom for secretaries to bring their wives to the sum- 
 mer schools. The schools should provide something more for 
 them than porches and rocking-chairs. 
 
 Three courses suggest themselves — one in Association prob- 
 lems, one in the problems of a secretary's wife, and one in the 
 outdoor life of the camp or school region, taught by a man 
 who knows God's out of doors. What a new aspect the sum- 
 mer school and the secretaryship would both take on ! 
 
 The provision of a kindergartner and story-teller for the 
 children is also a suggestion worth considering. 
 
 17. Three General Problems 
 
 There are three curriculum problems which have not an 
 obvious solution : 
 
 a. Should all first-year men take a general course and 
 specialize later on? The consideration in favor of this is that 
 "in the introduction to their summer school training, students 
 should come to see the Association as a whole and to recognize 
 certain problems and principles as existing throughout the 
 movement, and that the tendency toward departmentalization 
 should not unduly grip men at a time when they need a vision 
 of the entire scope of the work." The consideration against 
 this course is the second question of the three, namely, 
 
 b. How big can a class be and do good work? Some public 
 schools say thirty-five. Some of the best private and experi- 
 mental schools limit a group to twenty, fifteen, or twelve. If 
 the general course class is broken up into small working groups, 
 such generalization and such small groups are highly to be 
 desired. 
 
228 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 c. How many subjects should a man carry at once? War 
 practice led us all astray on this point. We simply delude our- 
 selves if we think men can do good work in more than four 
 subjects. Four periods a day gives a student twenty-four 
 periods a week, a pace no college in America will allow. It is 
 far better to carry fewer subjects and get real results. The 
 school that gets up its courage and limits work to three class 
 periods a day, three courses, each one each day, will soon set a 
 new high standard of work and prove the wisdom of its 
 decision. 
 
 Before this day can arrive, however, knowledge of how much 
 good work the human mind is capable of will have to be more 
 widely disseminated than it is now. For there are those who 
 think that six periods a day is just about right — for the other 
 fellow, be it noted. Three class-room periods a day with time 
 for. the study of each subject should be our standard if we are 
 going to conduct real schools and achieve the fundamental 
 purposes of the educational process. 
 
 VI. Teachers in Relation to Function 
 
 Who are the teachers upon whom we have to rely to make 
 the summer schools serve their functions? Largely executive- 
 minded secretaries. This is good, because it will keep the 
 schools practical and in touch with real Association conditions. 
 This fact saves the school from the man who lives apart from 
 real life in a realm of theory not based on constant experience. 
 But it has its disadvantages also. Enough has already been 
 said on the subject of the teacher's needing to know how to 
 teach as well as knowing his subject. Many secretaries have 
 paid little attention to this matter. Among our teachers we 
 will find these : 
 
 1. The inspired teacher with a bad method. 
 
 2. The average teacher with an average method. 
 
 3. The man with method and no inspiration. 
 
 Can we not pay more attention to this problem of summer 
 school teachers, and gradually build up a teaching staff of men 
 who, filled with fire and enthusiasm, also know how to teach? 
 
ASSOCIATION SUMMER SCHOOLS 229 
 
 The problem is one that can be solved; but it will not solve 
 itself. There must be a plan and its application. 
 
 VII. Summary 
 
 The Association summer school is one of the greatest assets 
 of the Movement. No other national organization has any 
 agency that equals or corresponds to it. These schools have a 
 definite function that gives them a mission all their own and 
 keeps them from being a rival of any other training agency. 
 While at the present time about one-third of the secretaries 
 of the American Associations attend them, their value justifies 
 a larger and more regular attendance. Their functions are so 
 important that every effort should be made to provide processes, 
 equipment, courses of study, and teachers equal to the splendid 
 opportunity the schools afford. The provision of these four 
 factors of successful school work is not a simple matter, but the 
 movement should be ever forward as the direction of progress 
 becomes clear. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 CONVENTIONS AND CONFERENCES 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. The Objects of Conventions 
 II. What Are the Training Values of Conventions ? 
 
 III. How Can We Give Conventions Larger Training Value? 
 
 IV. Essentials in This New Type of Convention 
 V. Insuring Training Results 
 
 VI. Conferences 
 VII. Summary 
 
 Problem 
 
 What convention procedure will make the sessions count in 
 the training of secretaries? 
 
 I. The Objects of Conventions 
 
 At the outset we frankly recognize that the training of secre- 
 taries is not the primary reason for the holding of State and 
 International conventions. At least five other objects are prob- 
 ably more vital in the opinion of those responsible for the pro- 
 gram and procedure. These are, first, the hearing of reports 
 and the planning of new work; second, the enactment of needed 
 legislation ; third, the unification of the movement and the crea- 
 tion of a feeling of brotherhood ; fourth, the interchange of ex- 
 perience with the presentation of methods and the solution of 
 problems ; fifth, the encouragement and inspiration of workers 
 and the arousing of enthusiasm. Then comes the training mo- 
 tive, including laymen first and secretaries last. While em- 
 ployed officers often form the bulk of Association conventions, 
 the program is built for the layman and with his needs and 
 interest in mind; and that is perfectly right and proper. 
 
 But what if we can serve all these other interests at least as 
 
 230 
 
CONVENTIONS AND CONFERENCES 231 
 
 well as they are now served and at the same time give the con- 
 vention more training value for the secretary ? And then what 
 if we can devise a plan that will both train secretaries and also 
 secure even improved results along the Hnes of the primary 
 objects of the convention? Let us see if it can be done. 
 
 II. What Are the Training Values of Conventions? 
 
 Let us first select the already considerable opportunities for 
 training presented by conventions. These constitute valid rea- 
 sons for sending to them all the young secretaries possible. 
 They are the opportunity of 
 
 1. Meeting other secretaries, studying their personalities, 
 learning their elements of strength and weakness, measuring 
 one's self alongside of them, getting their ideas about things. 
 
 2. Meeting and knowing the laymen who make up the move- 
 ment, especially the leaders. 
 
 3. Interchanging plans and experiences. 
 
 4. Learning new methods. 
 
 5. Solving problems. 
 
 6. Taking part in state and international affairs, helping to 
 create legislation, learning the large problems of the 
 Association. 
 
 7. Studying the convention method. 
 
 8. Hearing reports of progress or failure. 
 
 9. Seeing exhibits of policies, printed matter, photographs, 
 charts, and appliances. 
 
 10. Listening to great speakers. 
 
 11. Getting wider vision and more inspiration. 
 
 12. Deepening one's attachment to the work and feeling the 
 pressure of a divine call. 
 
 All these are not to be lightly considered, and all these 
 values inhere in the present convention method. And yet a 
 more excellent way is being shown unto us. 
 
 III. How Can We Give Conventions Larger Training 
 
 Value ? 
 
 In general, provide for more genuine discussion of live issues. 
 
232 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 participated in by a larger number of men, meeting in small 
 groups, and with more time available. 
 
 Suppose the convention is going to meet Thursday night, 
 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Use the mornings for smaller 
 group discussions, the afternoons for larger forums in which 
 are gathered up the results of the small morning meetings, and 
 the evenings for the inspirational and informational addresses. 
 Use Sunday as at present. 
 
 That would give two days for very thorough discussion of 
 two important phases of Association work. Instead of trying 
 to cover the whole range of the Association's now vast list of 
 activities, choose two things of vital interest and center upon 
 them. Just for illustration, suppose the Ohio leaders decided 
 that the two things they wished to center upon at the next 
 State Convention were the securing of more service by mem- 
 bers and the promotion of effective personal work by members. 
 The achieving of these two ends is worth two days of any 
 convention's time. 
 
 Some time in advance of the convention have a group of men 
 take each of these problems, study them thoroughly, and pre- 
 pare a question outline like those in Chapters II, III, and IV, 
 bringing out all the issues, considering all the difficulties, gath- 
 ering data, and leading to some, but not predetermined, 
 conclusion. 
 
 It is anticipated that there will be 250 delegates at the con- 
 vention. These are to spend the last two hours of Friday and 
 Saturday morning in groups of ten or fifteen, discussing the 
 problem for the day, guided by the outline of questions in the 
 hands of a leader. These twenty-iive or so leaders are brought 
 together in advance of the others and trained in the sort of 
 discussion they are to conduct. Thursday afternoon would be 
 soon enough, Thursday morning better. 
 
 In the afternoon all these groups come together in a forum, 
 where the question is again discussed and speakers from each 
 group present the findings of their discussion, leading to a 
 general decision, policy, or program. This would require two 
 hours of the afternoon period. 
 
CONVENTIONS AND CONFERENCES 233 
 
 A convention of this sort is a working convention. What 
 ordinarily constitutes the routine business of the convention 
 could be taken care of at one of the three night sessions. It 
 need not be a public session in the sense of being a popular 
 meeting. There are three other nights available for these. 
 
 The usual devotional or Bible hour would come at 9:00 or 
 9 130 a. m., followed by these group discussions. 
 
 Printed reports containing data and opinions upon the sub- 
 jects to be discussed could be prepared by commissions in ad- 
 vance and sent to all delegates before the convention. 
 
 IV. Essentials in This New Type of Convention 
 
 1. Discussion group leaders trained to conduct pertinent dis- 
 cussion, such as is described in Chapters III and IV. 
 
 2. Two hours or an hour and a half at least of time actually 
 spent in each discussion or forum. 
 
 3. A forum leader who would understand the art of getting 
 results out of discussion, who would not repress or ridicule 
 speakers who ofifer ideas or make funny remarks about those 
 who participate ; whose aim would be encouragement plus the 
 group conclusion, not repression plus his own previously 
 reached conclusion, the getting of a worthy decision, not the 
 railroading of a bill. No steam-rollers need apply. 
 
 4. Forum rules, by which the larger meeting is guided, such 
 as limits of time for each speaker, no further remarks after 
 two or three participations without the consent of the house, 
 affirmative and negative speaking alternatively, and so forth. 
 
 5. Blackboard and chalk, so as to keep track of what is said, 
 and hold the immediate issue clearly before the meeting, and 
 summarize conclusions. 
 
 State conventions do not play the part in forwarding the 
 movement that they once did. It may be that the development 
 of a new type of convention, with larger provisions for par- 
 ticipation by all delegates and higher training values would 
 again bring this important agency to the front. The growth 
 of state work during the past five years makes it appropriate 
 that the state convention method also be brought up to date. 
 
234 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 The discussion group and the democratic forum are the proc- 
 esses of the day. 
 
 V. Insuring Training Results 
 
 1. To make sure that each junior secretary gets all out of the 
 convention that is possible, the general secretary should carry 
 out some such plan as is set up in Chapter IX on "Inspection 
 Trips," holding prehminary discussions before the convention 
 on the issues and topics and personalities on the program, meet- 
 ing once or twice during the convention sessions to compare 
 notes, and holding a staff conference upon returning home, to 
 classify conclusions and go over proposed plans. 
 
 2. The new men should also be introduced around and their 
 full enjoyment of the opportunities of the convention insured. 
 
 3. Men in similar work in different places should be brought 
 together, either informally, or at set-up round table meetings 
 on special problems, as is. the case at some commercial and in- 
 dustrial conventions, the annual meeting of the National As- 
 sociation of Corporation Training, for instance. 
 
 VI. Conferences 
 
 The procedure at Association conferences is more in har- 
 mony with educational ideals than the procedure at conventions. 
 The time allowed for each topic is, however, generally all too 
 short, and the conclusions arrived at are often hastily reached 
 and not the result of full discussion. A lecture can be dehvered 
 in forty-five minutes, but anything hke a proper discussion 
 requires an hour and a half or two hours. Few men on leaving 
 the Employed Officers' Conference feel that the decisions or 
 findings represent the best thought and ability of the group. 
 All know that they are the result of hasty and inadequate work, 
 and regard them lightly as a result. The commission reports 
 are often good, the discussion of them rather inferior, and the 
 findings worse. There is no way out except to Hmit the num- 
 ber of topics to a few important issues and really get some- 
 where with these. 
 
CONVENTIONS AND CONFERENCES 235 
 
 VII. Summary 
 
 These, then, are the things to strive for : conventions and con- 
 ferences modified in their methods to embody some of the 
 recent developments in educational theory and practice, notably 
 the use of group discussion ; the limiting of the number of 
 topics so as to get more time for each and do more worthy 
 work; a large attendance of young secretaries at state and 
 national gatherings, with attention given these younger men by 
 their general secretaries to insure their getting the most train- 
 ing possible out of the convention. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 A NEW MAN'S FIRST WEEK 
 
 Analysis 
 I. A Typical Experience 
 
 11. Plan the First Week 
 
 1. Report at a stated time 
 
 2. Board and room 
 
 3. Tour of the city 
 
 4. Tour of the building 
 
 5. Printed matter 
 
 6. Reading 
 
 7. Introductions 
 
 8. Vocabulary 
 
 9. Conferences 
 10. Evenings 
 ri. Sunday 
 
 12. Results 
 
 Problem 
 
 Hozv can a new secretary's first week with an Association be 
 so organized as to get him properly started and give him a good 
 impression of the Association and its leadership? 
 
 I. A Typical Experience 
 
 Some eighteen years ago one of the present executives in a 
 large New York corporation was told to report to the New 
 York office to begin work. He had just graduated frorn an 
 engineering college, and came to New York filled with en- 
 thusiasm for his new position. The man who had recruited 
 him in college had told him how great was the need for trained 
 engineers in this corporation, and he had come to New York 
 full of the idea that he was going to a place where he was 
 needed and that he was entering a work where his services 
 would genuinely count. 
 
 236 
 
A NEW MAN'S FIRST WEEK 237 
 
 When he reported the latter part of the week, he was told by 
 the executive to whom he reported that he, the executive, was 
 too busy to see him at that time and that he should call on 
 Monday. It was a disheartening experience, and he has never 
 forgotten the flat disappointment of that reception. It seemed 
 to turn all his cake to dough, and to take all the joy out of the 
 new enterprise. 
 
 Later this man, as one of the officers of that corporation, was 
 given the responsibility of organizing and conducting the train- 
 ing of scores of college men who entered its employ. He re- 
 membered his own unhappy beginning and set about to devise 
 plans which would make any such initiation into this corpora- 
 tion for other college men an impossibility. He organized the 
 first week of every newcomer so that each man would get the 
 happiest kind of an introduction to his new duties and environ- 
 ment and find in his new job not only a full realization of the 
 situation that had been pictured to him by the recruiting officer 
 who visited his college, but so much more than this that he 
 would write back to his college friends that the half had not 
 been told. 
 
 His plan, a splendidly analyzed typewritten copy of which is 
 in view as this is written, organizes a man's time during the 
 first four days of his employment, tells the new employe to 
 whom to report, and schedules the time of these first four days 
 to include inspection trips through the building, talks from cor- 
 poration officials, introductions to department heads, reading 
 of interesting magazine articles and books on the products 
 manufactured in the shops, and definite plans for the use of 
 the first noon hour. 
 
 Many a young secretary, upon reporting to the Association 
 which has engaged him, has had the disheartening initial ex- 
 perience of the New York executive. He was told the Associa- 
 tion was greatly in need of men, that the vocation was one 
 calling for the highest type of manhood, and that he was enter- 
 ing a task in which all his powers would find opportunity for 
 their fullest expression. Filled with these ideas, his first few 
 days have often been periods of disillusionment. The general 
 
238 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 secretary has been too busy to see him or pay much attention 
 to him ; he has been turned over to others who were indifferent 
 as to the nature of his start, and instead of finding an occupa- 
 tion demanding his very best he has found it difficult to find 
 something to occupy his time between rising and bedtime. The 
 resuh is a great loss of idealism, enthusiasm, and morale ; and 
 a disillusioned man writes back to his friends that the Associa- 
 tion secretaryship is not much of a job. 
 
 II. Plan the First Week 
 
 All this can be changed by each Association having a care- 
 fully set-up plan for the reception and introduction of new men 
 on the staff. Such a plan would include the following elements : 
 
 1. Report at a Stated Time 
 
 The new man should be told to report at a certain hour on a 
 certain day and find the general or executive secretary expect- 
 ing him and with plans for occupying his time immediately. 
 
 2. Board and Room 
 
 A man's mind should be relieved by early attention to the 
 matter of getting him well located with proper rooming accom- 
 modations and satisfactory arrangements for his meals. 
 
 J. Tour of the City 
 
 In an automobile, on the street car, or afoot, he should be 
 taken about the city to get at once an idea of the environment 
 in which he is to work, the lay-out of the city, some of its 
 general features and characteristics, and a few of the principal 
 streets. Upon his return to the building, if he has not done so 
 previously or while making the tour, he should study the map 
 to coordinate what he has seen with the plan of the city streets. 
 
 4. Tour of the Building 
 
 His first day should include a tour of the building, in charge 
 of a senior secretary, in which the general lay-out of the plant 
 and the theory of the use of the different rooms are introduced ; 
 he will thus learn what to find on the different floors. 
 
A NEW MAN'S FIRST WEEK 239 
 
 5. Printed Matter 
 
 Reports and printed matter on the work of the local Associa- 
 tion should be put into his hands for study during the first few 
 days, to help him famiharize himself with its work, activities, 
 and schedules. 
 
 6. Reading 
 
 It might be well to take advantage of this psychological time 
 to have the man begin the reading of some good book on the 
 Association, such as the "Life of Sir George WiUiams" or the 
 "Life of Robert R. McBurney," that he may begin to construct 
 an Association background. 
 
 7. Introductions 
 
 The new secretary should be taken to call upon certain offi- 
 cers and directors of the Association and committeemen with 
 whom he is likely to have early contact, and a definite beginning 
 should thus be made in the securing of that valuable secretarial 
 asset, a wide acquaintance. These calls dignify both the As- 
 sociation and the new secretary and add somewhat to the sense 
 of importance of the director or committeeman called upon. 
 
 8. Vocabulary 
 
 The corporation referred to above has found it advisable to 
 instruct its newcomers in the vocabulary of the business. The 
 Association vocabulary is not extensive, and there are not a 
 large number of words with the use of which the new man 
 needs to be at once made acquainted. However, a little effort 
 along this line will be worth while. 
 
 p. Conferences 
 
 These first few days should include conferences with the 
 different executive officers of the Association, the physical 
 director and the boys' work secretary for instance, in which 
 each of these men has an opportunity to tell the newcomer a 
 little about the work of his department. These friendly talks 
 with the other secretaries also lay a basis for future cooperation. 
 
240 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 10. Evenings 
 
 The evening hours might well be employed in visiting the 
 different parts of the building and observing the classes, meet- 
 ings, and other groups in operation. The period around the 
 supper hour could well be spent in the lobby and occupied with 
 informal introductions to incoming members. 
 
 11. Sunday 
 
 The first Sunday morning should be the occasion of attending 
 the church and Sunday school which the secretary will be most 
 likely to choose as his church home. Here introductions are 
 also in place — the pastor, superintendent of the Sunday school, 
 and certain young people being met in this way. 
 
 12. Results 
 
 Where this sort of care is given to the introduction of the 
 new man on the staff, the first few days will be a period of 
 pleasure and interest instead of disappointment and gloom. 
 The Association and its officers will gain the high regard of the 
 new man, his loyalty will be won, and all the benefits of a good 
 start secured. 
 
 One turns back to college days and remembers what a great 
 impression an older student made upon a lonely Freshman 
 when this man took occasion to take him to the registrar's office, 
 get him properly entered, show him to his room, and introduce 
 him about a little bit. While subsequent years in college re- 
 vealed the fact that this older man was just a plain ordinary 
 fellow, the memory of his kindness during the early days made 
 him remain a hero and a gentleman in the eyes of the younger 
 student. 
 
 The general secretary, by giving proper attention to the 
 reception and introduction of the young men coming to his 
 staff, can gain their loyalty and affection in just this same way. 
 And the young men will write back to their college friends and 
 report that they have entered the greatest vocation on earth, 
 found the ideal "chief," and become connected with a wonder- 
 ful institution. 
 
PART II 
 
 REASONS 
 
 The theories underlying the processes 
 
PART II 
 
 REASONS 
 
 Analysis 
 
 Introduction: The Place of Theory 
 I. The Aim or End of Education 
 
 1. Education as growth 
 
 2. Its aim as social efficiency 
 
 3. Resulting values 
 
 4. Intellect, character, skill 
 
 5. Education is never finished 
 
 II. The Center of Education 
 
 III. The Nature of Subject-Matter 
 
 1. The modern theory 
 
 2. The application of the theory 
 
 IV. Psychological vs. Logical 
 V. Motive 
 
 VI. The Thought Process 
 VII. Training in the Work Environment 
 
 1. The general theory 
 
 2. Bring the school into the shop 
 
 3. The horse and cart figure 
 
 4. Doing and learning 
 
 5. Swimmirig and water 
 
 VIII. The Group 
 
 IX. The Secretary's Function as Trainer 
 
 1. Preserving the heritage 
 
 2. A normal duty 
 
 3. Improvement 
 
 4. Formulation of the experience 
 
 Introduction: The Place of Theory 
 "Neither theory without practice nor practice without theory 
 
 243 
 
244 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 avails at all," said Protagoras some four hundred years before 
 Christ, quoted by President E. C. Moore, who adds, "Without 
 theory, practice must be a bUnd doing of what somebody else — 
 tradition, authority, or accident — had directed." The preced- 
 ing chapters are an attempt to work out a training program for 
 a local Association, based on sound educational theory, and 
 consistent within itself. That for those who use the program 
 it may not be a "bhnd doing," the theories upon which it rests 
 are here discussed. As a rule, theory is more interesting when 
 its statement follows a presentation of practice than when it 
 precedes it; so this chapter on the reasons for the foregoing 
 methods is placed thus late in the book. Those who do not 
 care for theory are warned to skip it. They will be no worse 
 off. The thoughtful are likely to find something in it worth 
 while, for it is an attempt to state some of the modern educa- 
 tional and psychological ideas that are guiding the best school 
 practice of the day, choosing such as have a bearing upon the 
 task of training Y M C A secretaries both in local Associations 
 and anywhere else. In general, the point of view is that of 
 Dr. John Dewey, than whom there is no greater educator, from 
 whose thinking most of the advanced ideas in education have 
 sprung, and at whose torch many of the lesser lamps in educa- 
 tion have been lighted. 
 
 In 1896 Dr. Dewey started the University Elementary School 
 in Chicago ; in that connection he asked himself four questions. 
 His present-day theories to some extent grew out of his experi- 
 menting and experience in finding their answer. These are the 
 questions. 
 
 1. What can be done, and how can it be done, to bring the 
 school into closer relation with real life? 
 
 2. What can be done in the way of using subject-matter that 
 shall have a positive value and real significance in the child's 
 own Hfe, that shall represent something worthy of attainment 
 in skill and knowledge? 
 
 3. How can the school create motive for the study of the 
 formal subjects? 
 
 4. How can individual attention to the intellectual needs and 
 
REASONS 245 
 
 attainments and physical well-being and growth of each child 
 be secured? 
 
 These same questions arise in our mind in connection with 
 the task of training men for the Association secretaryship. Dr. 
 Dewey's efforts to answer them led him into highly productive 
 lines of practical thinking and experimentation. His con- 
 clusions worked out for general education apply with even 
 greater force to vocational education ; they have largely guided 
 the work back of this book. 
 
 When the task of training secretaries was taken up by the 
 author in his local Association, the need of a sound theoretical 
 basis was felt. The following pages are the views held after 
 eight years of search and testing, reading, experimenting, and 
 interviewing, and it is believed that the practice in secretarial 
 training — local, collegiate, or summer school — must square 
 with these theories. 
 
 I. The Aim or End of Education 
 I. Education as Growth 
 
 Education is frequently and erroneously thought of as a 
 preparation for the future. It is this conception that results 
 in the use of courses of study that make no present appeal to 
 students, the practical value of which they fail to see, and in 
 which they consequently take little or no interest. Therefore 
 interest, the vital essential to motive in the learning process, is 
 missing. There is no fire under the boiler and the engine does 
 not run. 
 
 The theory of education as preparation thus breaks down at 
 the very start. ReaHzation of this sent educators on a search 
 for a more correct view, and a new conception now holds the 
 field. It is the idea that education is growth, "growth in con- 
 structive power of achievement"; not a preparation for the 
 future, but full and fruitful living in the present day. This 
 efficient living in the present, the full realizing of present 
 possibihties, is in itself interesting, worthy, and the best 
 preparation for the future. Education is not a getting ready 
 
246 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 for something, but a something itself, a period and a process 
 having its own present worth. 
 
 Only to the extent that the educative process deals with the 
 problems of a real and significant present can it be in any true 
 sense a preparation for solving the problems of a future day. 
 The best way to get ready to meet the needs of a coming day 
 is to grow in ability by meeting the needs of each day efficiently 
 as it arrives. Where this theory is applied, students do not 
 have to be told they will some day need this or that and should 
 therefore study it carefully; the work of each day has its own 
 interest. 
 
 Now growth is not something that a teacher does to a 
 student; it is something the student does himself. It is an 
 active process, not a passive one ; hence the emphasis on the 
 fact that the student must actively participate in the process, 
 the growing use of projects, and the decrease in lecturing. 
 
 2. Its Aim as Social Efficiency 
 
 This is achieved "by positive use of native individual capaci- 
 ties in occupations having a social meaning.'' (Quotations not 
 otherwise credited are from John Dewey's "Democracy and 
 Education.") 
 
 The word "occupations" means one thing as applied to a 
 child of ten and another to a Y M C A secretary of twenty-two, 
 but its nature is the same for people of all ages and vocations, 
 something having "a social meaning," part of useful life, and 
 useful in a not too utilitarian sense. This social efficiency is the 
 "cultivation of power to join freely and fully in shared or com- 
 mon activities," growing skill at working with others in the 
 work of the world. Included in this efficiency will be certain 
 habits, skills, knowledges, ideals, and attitudes, and the best 
 contents of culture. 
 
 The social efficiency of an Association secretary consists in 
 his being able to interpret the meaning of his day, to enter 
 sympathetically into its best hfe, to understand the needs of his 
 contemporaries, and to apply the technique of the Association 
 in such a way as to meet these needs, thus helping to bring in 
 
REASONS 247 
 
 the Kingdom of God. To be socially efficient means far more 
 than ability to do well that long list of things enumerated in 
 Chapter I, more than skill in running the machinery of the 
 Association. The connotation of social efficiency is something 
 far higher than any mechanical perfection of operation. It 
 implies, as an educational ideal, the use of means and processes 
 for the securing of spiritual and social ends ; it imphes the per- 
 sonal embodiment on the part of the secretary of the ideals of 
 Jesus, the most socially efficient of all persons. Social efficiency 
 in the secretaryship means abiHty to unite with other men of 
 good purpose in getting done with least waste and friction those 
 large tasks that need to be accomplished in order to establish 
 justice and opportunity as each man's .portion, and to make 
 life happy, interesting, and fruitful for all men. 
 
 J. Resulting Values 
 
 School life (or the educative process) should contribute the 
 following five kinds of experience. 
 
 "a. Executive competency in the management of resources 
 and obstacles encountered (efficiency). 
 
 "b. Sociability, or interest in the direct companionship of 
 others. 
 
 "c. Esthetic taste, or capacity to appreciate artistic excel- 
 lence in at least some of its classic forms. 
 
 "d. Trained intellectual method, or interest in some mode of 
 scientific achievement. 
 
 "e. Sensitiveness to the rights and claims of others — con- 
 scientiousness." 
 
 These are characterized as "useful criteria for survey, criti- 
 cism, and better organization of existing methods and subject- 
 matter of instruction." To what extent do they apply to the 
 process of training Y M C A secretaries ? Would you be will- 
 ing to discard any of them as not being within our purpose? 
 
 4. Intellect, Character, Skill 
 
 "It is customary to include under education," says Professor 
 Thorndike in "Education," "the changes in intellect, character, 
 
248 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 and skill." The aims of our educative process will include 
 these three. A scheme that fails to make provision for all three 
 of them is inadequate. Our training program must seek to 
 give full and balanced attention to growth in intellectual power, 
 growth in character, and growth in professional skill. 
 
 5. Education Is Never Finished 
 
 It is a "continuous reconstruction of experience," a process 
 never completed, always going on where there is intellectual 
 Hfe. The methods of the educative process must "create a 
 desire for continued growth, and supply means for making the 
 desire effective in fact." "The aim of education is to enable 
 individuals to continue their education." 
 
 II. The Center of Education 
 
 "In a recitation where there are three factors — pupils, text- 
 book, and teacher — the emphasis may be placed upon any one 
 of the three," says Professor W. W. Charters. "If the em- 
 phasis is placed upon the teacher, and the text and pupils are 
 minimized, we have what is called the lecture method. Most of 
 what the lecturer gives is not understood by the pupils, nor is 
 any need for it felt. If the emphasis is placed on the textbook 
 while the teacher and the pupils follow it, we have the textbook 
 method of teaching. The teacher considers his whole business 
 to consist in seeing if the pupils remember the facts in the 
 lesson. If the emphasis is placed upon the pupil, and the text- 
 book and teacher are viewed as instruments in the proper func- 
 tioning of his activity, we have the developing method." 
 
 This is the better emphasis. The pupil is the important fac- 
 tor in education. He is made neither for listening nor for re- 
 citing, but for action, and the direction of his activity is the 
 real work of the teacher. The student and his activity in the 
 school are the things of chief importance. What goes on in his 
 mind is the school's chief concern. The student must be active, 
 not passive, a searcher, not a receiver. When the student and 
 his activity are treated as the center of education, he is no 
 longer thought of as clay to be modeled or as a bowl to be 
 
REASONS 249 
 
 filled. He must do his own filling, if filling be done at all ; and 
 if there be any modeling, it will take place only as he holds him- 
 self against the modeling influences of life experiences. 
 
 This idea, if accepted, produces revolutionary changes in 
 teaching method. It implies discussion, self-activity, personal 
 study, problems, and projects. But no leading educator today 
 holds any other idea than that the student is the center of 
 education and the most important item in the school catalog. 
 
 III. The Nature of Subject-Matter 
 I. The Modern Theory 
 
 The proper subject-matter in this conception of education is 
 life experience. The unit is a task, a project, a problem, and 
 all the organized material usually classed as subjects is drawn 
 upon — now some of this, now some of that, just as it is needed 
 to help meet some real situation. This is the way it is used in 
 actual grown-up and professional life, and this is the way in 
 which it is best acquired. The very best schools in America 
 are working on this theory, and as it becomes better known and 
 more widely understood it will be the method of all good 
 schools. There should be no difference between the method 
 and content of life and the method and content of the cur- 
 riculum. The way it is used should be the way it is acquired. 
 
 In such a school, the course of study consists of genuine 
 situations in which something needs to be done, or accom- 
 plished, some real thing, and the subject-matter is whatever is 
 needed to accomplish that end. This leads to the student's 
 hunting for and finding portions of knowledge he wishes to 
 use, and thereby gaining experience and skill in the very proc- 
 ess of Hfe itself. Only that is taught which is of immediate 
 importance to the student as he sees it. Subject-matter, 
 whether it be history, arithmetic, physics, geography, or what 
 not, becomes under such circumstances "a way of acting in the 
 attempt to satisfy needs, solve problems, remove dissatisfac- 
 tions, and overcome difficulties," as Professor Charters puts it. 
 The order in which it is introduced or taken up is the order 
 of the student's need, not a textbook order. 
 
250 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 "Study is effective in the degree in which the pupil reaHzes 
 the place of the numerical truth he is dealing with in carrying 
 to fruition activities in which he is concerned." Therefore, as 
 Professor Branom puts it, "the long-recognized divisions 
 among subjects should fade away, and the worth-while ma- 
 terial should be organized about actual situations and prob- 
 lems." Professor Kilpatrick is of the same opinion, holding 
 that the unit of instruction is the problem, or "the purposeful 
 act" or project. He gives three considerations reenforcing this 
 view: 
 
 (i) "The purposeful act is a typical unit of the worthy Hfe." 
 
 (2) The project as the unit of instruction gives education 
 the quality of real life, and not the unreal and future value of 
 preparation for life. Education is life. 
 
 (3) It makes for character. Purposes and their furthering, 
 the choosing of purposes, responding to them, initiating them, 
 bearing the responsibility for them— these things build man- 
 hood. "The purposeful act under wise guidance amid a social 
 environment makes for the building of exactly that strong and 
 resourceful moral character which democracy so much needs." 
 
 He classifies the purposeful acts that constitute projects with 
 educational value under four heads : ( i ) A constructive proj- 
 ect; (2) an esthetic project (to enjoy); (3) an intellectual 
 project (to understand); (4) a skill project (to acquire). 
 
 The steps in a constructive project, the project at its best, 
 Professor Kilpatrick considers to be, first, purposing; second, 
 planning; third, executing; and last, judging; each one of these 
 steps having the highest value when it is self-motivated and 
 proposed. 
 
 2. The Application of the Theory 
 
 a. The project method 
 
 Thus a consideration of subject-matter leads at once 
 into the very heart of problem and project teaching. The 
 progress of thought is something like this. Students 
 have but Httle interest in the unrelated facts of textbooks. 
 These facts, however, can assume both life and meaning when 
 
REASONS 251 
 
 they enter into thinking in connection with solving some prob- 
 lem. Problems are most real when they are encountered in 
 attempting to carry some piece of real work to completion, a 
 piece of work of genuine interest to the student. The project 
 is such a task, a purposeful act, "carried to completion in its 
 natural setting," in the words of Dr. J. A. Stevenson of the 
 University of Illinois. 
 
 This idea of doing something instead of just studying some- 
 thing provides that essential element in education designated as 
 "the motor consequences" of an impression. On this subject 
 Professor Thorndike says: 
 
 "The traditions of education are one-sided in their neglect 
 of the motor consequences of thought. Education must not 
 assume that with the existence of knowledge its work is done. 
 It must test its influence by the increased power to express and 
 use knowledge. Education must arouse, control, and improve 
 motor as well as mental responses. The expression of 
 knowledge is the only sure sign of its possession, and one of 
 the best means of its increase." 
 
 Some words of President Eliot also have a bearing here. 
 He says: 
 
 "As I have seen more and more of education during my pro- 
 fessional career, I have come more and more firmly to the con- 
 clusion that the most effective kind of education is obtained at 
 every stage not by listening or reading, but by observing, com- 
 paring, and doing. The very best kind of education is obtained 
 in doing things one's self, under competent direction and with 
 good guidance." 
 
 b. Educational values in the project method 
 Some of the gains resulting from the use of projects as units 
 of instruction are, in a composite summary of a number of 
 writers: (i) Correct procedure in thinking and in working 
 out problems; (2) the possibility of participation, education 
 through experience; (3) purposeful thinking; (4) initiative; 
 (S) self-direction, self-reliance, and independence; (6) motive 
 for real work and study; (7) exercise of judgment; (8) exer- 
 cise of capacity for organization of ideas and of materials; 
 (9) experience in cooperation, in team projects; (10) personal 
 
252 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 satisfaction; (il) release of creative instincts; (12) provision 
 for individual differences. 
 
 c. The approach to subject-matter 
 
 The project approach to subject-matter is through a practical 
 application; the situation demanding its use arises, and the 
 knowledge of a principle or fact is sought in order to meet the 
 present requirement. This is just the reverse of studying a 
 principle and then hunting an application. C. R. Mann says: 
 "A strong desire to study an elementary principle is excited by 
 bringing the student's labors to a point where he perceives the 
 necessity for it, and its direct application to a useful purpose." 
 
 d. An objection considered 
 
 One fear expressed in regard to project teaching is that the 
 number of things, facts, taught is so much fewer that impor- 
 tant facts are left out. The answer is twofold. First, that 
 those things that are learned in this way stay learned; and 
 second, that if the student, through project teaching, is taught 
 to observe, state his problems, locate his difficulties, use books 
 of reference, organize his facts and data, and apply his 
 knowledge so as to solve problems and attack complex situa- 
 tions, the educative process has fully served its purpose, cre- 
 ated a man well able to do, given him "power equal to his 
 needs as they confront him in life." To avoid possible de- 
 ficiency here the teacher will choose a wide range of projects 
 and see that they include all the essential facts, theories, prin- 
 ciples, and processes, and modify his list or curriculum from 
 year to year as he sees ways of improving it. 
 
 There is, however, a valid objection to an incompleteness in 
 project teaching, in that it fails to give a systematic view of 
 subject-matter. This can be met by providing periods in which 
 the results of learning are checked against a systematic outline 
 of a subject, and the status of one's progress revealed, his 
 deficiencies discovered, and the relations of his acquisitions 
 brought out. 
 
 IV. Psychological vs. Logical 
 
 The growth of any science or body of knowledge proceeds 
 
REASONS 253 
 
 piecemeal. A little is added here and a little there. Then the 
 thinkers in that realm begin to organize the matter available and 
 eventually a logical arrangement of the parts is secured, based 
 on some definite plan. This logical arrangement or organiza- 
 tion of knowledge, the climax of learning in that sphere, is then 
 taken by teachers and used as the beginning of their work in 
 imparting this knowledge to others. History, arithmetic, 
 science, geography, and all other subjects, even down to car- 
 pentry, are arranged thus and taught according to a carefully 
 arranged scheme or outline. This is called the logical method 
 of presentation. 
 
 Investigations of the learning process have led educators to 
 the conclusion that this logical method of presentation is not the 
 best for the learner. They have concluded that he must, in his 
 introduction to a sphere of learning, and his growth in it, fol- 
 low the same method as that by which the body of learning 
 was first built up, and then later put his knowledge into some 
 organized form, as was done by the scholars, getting his out- 
 lines or analysis at the end, not at the beginning of the learning 
 process. This more natural method of presentation is called 
 the psychological method ; it is being increasingly accepted. 
 
 On this plan, the units of instruction come in the order of 
 the student's needs in some real life situation, and not in the 
 order of a scientific and logical analysis. The theory is that the 
 path of the beginner must be the path of the master, though 
 he is saved many of the missteps of the pioneer and the proc- 
 ess is much shortened. It is believed that it is most profitable 
 to take the path followed in producing the subject-matter in the 
 first place, and not the logical arrangement it takes on later in 
 the hands of the finished scholar. 
 
 This seems a strange thing, but it is a conclusion based on 
 long study and experiment growing out of dissatisfaction with 
 the results of the old method. It results in more and better 
 thinking on the part of the student. A discussion of this point 
 of view will be found in many of the more recent textbooks on 
 education. The methods presented in the first fifteen chapters 
 of this book are an attempt to apply the psychological principle 
 
254 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 in the organization of subject-matter. The logical conception 
 of subject-matter is that it is something one must learn in 
 order to be considered educated. The psychological conception 
 is that subject-matter is something that helps solve problems, 
 and it should be introduced just when and in such quantities 
 and in such order as is required by that necessity. Each class 
 and each teacher will follow a different order. The logical 
 summary or arrangement will come later on, as the student 
 organizes what he has learned. Far from being hit or miss, the 
 method scores more hits than any other. The weakness of the 
 logical method of organization is seen when we reflect that it 
 starts the beginner where the scholar finished. Not so does the 
 mind work. "The pupil should work toward an outline and 
 not from one," is Professor Branom's terse statement of the 
 situation. 
 
 V. Motive 
 
 Motive is that which leads one to do something. In educa- 
 tion the something that is desired is thought and action. Many 
 educational processes fail to secure these desired results. The 
 creation. of motive is a live issue with teachers, since motive, 
 based on real interest, is the steam that makes the engine go, 
 the current that runs the motor. 
 
 There are various forms of motive, most of which can be 
 used in education. Many of them are based on such instincts 
 as imitation, play, collecting, construction, rivalry, migrating, 
 sympathy, pride, fear, anger, and curiosity. It will be seen 
 that with few exceptions these instincts, which reside in all 
 persons in greater or less strength, can be directed to the end 
 of study. "In particular," says Professor Charters, "in pres- 
 ent-day school work, appeal is made to five: curiosity, imita- 
 tion, play, constructiveness, and cooperation." He later adds 
 "rivalry, sympathy, fear, and love of approbation." After deal- 
 ing with these instincts as motives in education, Professor 
 Charters, writing in 1912, states that since about 1910 "the 
 problem" has come into prominence as a potent form of motiva- 
 tion. Since that date this theory of motive has held the field 
 
REASONS 255 
 
 against all comers, and teaching today regards the problem 
 growing out of need as the great secret of interesting the pupil 
 in study. It stimulates both thought and action, is more re- 
 liable than an attempt to appeal to any one instinct, more con- 
 tinuous and permanent in its operation, more ethical than such 
 instincts as pride and fear, and more worthy than imitation, 
 curiosity, sympathy, or collecting. 
 
 The theory of the problem as motive set aside the old idea of 
 studying a thing because of its supposed value as discipline, an 
 abandoned psychological fallacy, and sets up the new ideal of 
 studying a unit because it will help in the accomplishment of 
 some worth-while end. It presents the allurement of present 
 achievement instead of a dismal grind for future uncertain vir- 
 tues, with all the power of incentive that resides in an im- 
 mediate certainty as against a future guess. The beauty of it 
 is that it takes care of both the present and the future, by tak- 
 ing efficient care of the present. To use one of Dewey's com- 
 parisons, studies on this theory are not gymnastic appliances 
 for the mind but conditions for the attainment of ends. This 
 theory of motive and interest is one of the considerations in 
 favor of problem and project teaching, and its operation is pro- 
 vided for in the processes presented in our first fifteen chapters. 
 
 VI. The Thought Process 
 
 This has already been rather fully dealt with in Chapters III 
 and VI. The analysis of the operations of the mind in 
 accurate thinking proceeding from problem to solution fur- 
 nishes a basis for all kinds of educational operations, private 
 study, group study, research, class-room work, interviewing, 
 and all other situations in which there is a problem to solve, 
 which includes much of Hfe. It is one of the fundamental 
 theories in harmony with which this book has endeavored to 
 proceed. 
 
 VII. Training in the Work Environment 
 I. The General Theory 
 
 As long ago as 1853, Jonathan B. Turner in his campaign to 
 
256 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 establish an industrial university in Illiniois stated this funda- 
 mental truth about vocational education : "The most natural 
 and effectual mental discipline possible for any man arises from 
 setting him to earnest and constant thought about the things 
 he daily does, sees, and handles, and all their connected rela- 
 tions and interests." Prof. Charles R. Mann, one of the high- 
 est American authorities on vocational education, quotes this 
 in a recent government bulletin and then continues : "The 
 realization of this principle in school work requires first that 
 the student be kept in constant touch with practical industrial 
 work, and second, that his work be used as the source of the 
 problems he solves in the class room and laboratory. Every 
 student should therefore take an active part in productive 
 work." 
 
 These conditions can be fulfilled only where the students are 
 actually employed as regular secretaries at work in a progres- 
 sive Association. The training center fulfils the central con- 
 ditions; the training college must be reorganized so as to meet 
 them also. This is the tendency in engineering education. It 
 is the long-established method of hospital and clinical experi- 
 ence in medical education. 
 
 2. Bring the School into the Shop 
 
 The correctness of this method of training in the work en- 
 vironment has been summed up by Mr. Charles Gingrich, M.E., 
 of Cincinnati, in the following sentence : "The chief criticisms 
 of modern technical education result from the fact that we try 
 to take the shop into the school, whereas we should bring the 
 school into the shop." 
 
 Professor Metcalf, formerly of Tufts College, expresses the 
 idea when he says : "There is no place in the world where so 
 many and such fine opportunities to educate and train people 
 exist as in the work environment." 
 
 "Fortunately," says Dean Schneider, "we are beginning to 
 realize that our carefully designed mechanisms for production 
 . . . are in the truest sense laboratories, whose educational 
 worth it were folly to ignore longer." 
 
REASONS 257 
 
 The past few years have witnessed long steps forward in the 
 realization of the value of the local Association as a place in 
 which to train men for Association work. A strong feature of 
 this system is the fact that the student works under conditions 
 of actual production. He is studying and working and living, 
 as a student, in the same environment and under the same 
 conditions that will obtain when he has finished his training 
 period and become a full secretary. 
 
 Many other educators see things in this same way. Prof. 
 E. C. Moore says, in "What Is Education?": "The school 
 must become a workshop in which students work at definite 
 tasks, and by their own efforts under the master's eye learn to 
 use the great tools with which the race has by the same process 
 learned to do its work." Just substitute "Association" for 
 "race" and the statement is immediately applicable to our work. 
 
 J. The "Horse and Cart" Figure 
 
 Dr. Dewey states the situation in a quaint way: "We need 
 to hitch the horse of concrete experience with the daily occupa- 
 tion, to a cart loaded with specialized scientific knowledge." 
 The Association without organized problem classes and project 
 ■ work educationally organized is not a training center; it is all 
 horse. The school without real experience in the work environ- 
 ment is not a training college; it is all cart. The college in 
 which the students are all doing real Association work and the 
 training center with class work are both educationally sound; 
 the cart and horse are hitched together. The teacher's chief 
 function is not to drive, but to hitch the cart to the horse, to 
 see that experience and science proceed together, the horse (ex- 
 perience) going before the cart (science), but never separated 
 from it. The two proceed together, each in its most efficient 
 relation. This horse and cart figure is a stimulating suggestion 
 and leads to a number of fruitful corollaries which we will not 
 now pause to develop. 
 
 4. Doing and Learning 
 
 Prof. Franklin Bobbitt of Chicago University, in his book 
 "The Curriculum," says : 
 
2s8 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 "Each occupation is to be seen and vitally understood as 
 a group of men at work. One learns the labors of a group by 
 entering into their labors ; by performing them actually ; by per- 
 forming them in play; by entering into them sympathetically 
 through observation; by imaginative participation as they are 
 reconstructed in well-written history, geography, literature, 
 biography, etc. It is not by learning abstract verbal facts about 
 a group, but rather by doing in one way or another what the 
 group does that one comes really to understand it. The doing 
 lays the interest-basis necessary for fact-accumulation and as- 
 similation; and for right valuations and attitudes. Education 
 must proceed by the active route, not because we are aiming at 
 fewer facts than formerly but because we must aim at far 
 more ; and must therefore employ effective methods. 
 
 "It is by putting the workers to work, and by noticing the 
 kinds of shortcomings and mistakes that show themselves 
 where training is absent or deficient that we can discover the 
 curriculum of tasks for directed vocational education." 
 
 In this working together and building the curriculum in the 
 work, the teacher, Professor Bobbitt says, would ask, "What 
 do they do? What knowledge do they use in planning and 
 performing work? At what kinds of judgments must they ar- 
 rive? What types of problems do they have to solve? What 
 habits and skill are demanded by their tasks? What are the 
 attitudes of mind, appreciations, valuations, ambitions, and 
 desires which motivate and exercise general control?" 
 
 All these questions are best answered as teacher and student 
 meet any day, not in academic class rooms, but in actual activi- 
 ties in a real Association doing productive work, where, as Mr. 
 C. R. Dooley, Educational Director for Vocational Instruction 
 in the Army, put it, "The accomphshment of a job is both the 
 end to be attained and the means for instruction." 
 
 This social view of the curriculum makes it, in the words of 
 Professor Coe, "a course of living, not a course in supposed 
 preliminaries to real Hfe." 
 
 5. Swimming and Water 
 
 The figure of learning to swim reveals in a striking way the 
 importance of experience and study in the work environment. 
 
REASONS 259 
 
 Training apart from actual Association experience has about 
 the same relation to success in the vocation that arm and leg 
 exercises on a gymnasium floor have to skill in the water, and 
 no more. There is no learning to swim except in water ; there 
 is no learning to run an Association except by actual experience 
 in one. After a certain amount of experience the learners can 
 go apart and discuss their problems, but education must begin 
 with and return to participation in real activities. From this 
 fact we proceed to clear vision of the value of the training 
 center, of the place of the summer school, and of the proper 
 curriculum basis for an Association college. 
 
 Otherwise, instead of experience the student gets words ; in- 
 stead of things he gets symbols of things; instead of reality he 
 gets sounds. The whole content of his supposed education 
 proves later to be illusory and false. To know about is not to 
 be able to make. One learns to make only by making. The 
 process of education consists chiefly in supplying an environ- 
 ment, and in securing and guiding responses to it. Only the 
 environment itself can produce the appropriate responses. The 
 positive aspect of the situation is stated in terms of a fourfold 
 gain. "By doing his share in the associated activity the in- 
 dividual appropriates the purpose which actuates it, becomes 
 familiar with its methods and subject matter, acquires needed 
 skill, and is saturated with its emotional spirit." 
 
 The officer in charge of the training of young college gradu- 
 ates in locomotive building was asked what he considered the 
 advantages of training the men right there in the Baldwin 
 shops. After naming several, he finally added, "They live in 
 the atmosphere of making locomotives." 
 
 Perhaps the best statement of the reason for using the work 
 itself as the place for training is contained in the observation 
 that "the normal estate of effective learning is that knowledge 
 getting should be an outgrowth of activities having their own 
 end, instead of a school task. The positive principle is main- 
 tained when the young begin with active occupations having a 
 social origin and use, and proceed to a scientific insight in the 
 materials and laws involved, through assimilating into their 
 
26o TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 more direct experience the ideas and facts communicated by 
 others who have had a larger experience." 
 
 It cannot be too earnestly emphasized, however, that these 
 great educational values, while resident in the work environ- 
 ment, are not realized unless real and definite efforts are made 
 to see that they shall be realized. Without a clear-cut program 
 involving such processes as are described in Chapters I to XV, 
 the local Association is in no sense a training center. There is 
 much gold in this mine, but the mine must be worked to get it. 
 
 VIII. The Group 
 
 Underlying some of the processes presented here is a feeling 
 or theory that in many instances the product of group thought 
 is superior to that of any of the individuals composing the 
 group. This is especially true when a problem is up for solu- 
 tion and the efforts of several minds, seeing the problem from 
 a variety of -angles and possessed of different data, are brought 
 to bear upon it. The values that are thought to reside in the 
 group discussion are these: 
 
 1. It is democratic : The autocrat meets the group and tells 
 his plan; perhaps they modify it and decide upon procedure. 
 It is not their plan and they do not feel committed to it. The 
 group discussion of a problem, however, where each makes a 
 contribution and a plan grows up in their midst which all have 
 helped to form is a democratic process, and in harmony with 
 the tenor of the day. 
 
 2. It enlists the efforts of all the group: Having had a part 
 in making the plan or in reaching the decision, the efforts of 
 each man are enlisted in the resulting enterprise. It is his, as 
 truly as it is anybody's, and he cares for his own child. 
 
 3. All are carried along: Having faced the original prob- 
 lem, heard all the facts bearing upon it, weighed all the argu- 
 ments pro and con, each man fully understands and sym- 
 pathizes with the final decision, or at least knows its basis. 
 They have at least been consulted from the very first and are 
 satisfied. 
 
 4. The group opinion is different from and superior to that 
 
REASONS 261 
 
 of anyone entering it: The stimulation of each other's pres- 
 ence and ideas produces a quickening of the facuhies and a 
 modifying of thought that issue in a social conclusion which 
 would not have been reached by anyone alone, and, having been 
 subjected to more checks and balances, is more likely to prove 
 to be wise. 
 
 Any plan of reaching decisions that is democratic, that en- 
 Hsts the best efforts of the group in making the decision ef- 
 fective, that carries along even those who do not fully agree, 
 and that results in superior conclusions has a place in Associa- 
 tion theory and practice. 
 
 IX. The Secretary's Function as Trainer 
 I. Preserving the Heritage 
 
 In the opening chapter of "Democracy and Education," Dr. 
 Dewey develops the idea that education is the means whereby 
 a society secures the continuance of its social and intellectual 
 heritage and life. When this broader idea is applied to the 
 Association and its professional leadership, one is filled with 
 the sense of the responsibility resting upon the older secretaries 
 in our movement to pass on to the younger men all that their 
 years of experience have accumulated. Borrowing the idea and 
 using many of the words of that first chapter, there is, on the 
 one hand the contrast between the immature newly elected 
 members of the secretarial group, its future sole representa- 
 tives, and the majority of the older members who possess the 
 knowledge and customs of the group. On the other hand, 
 there is the necessity that these immature members be initiated 
 into the interests, purposes, information, skill, and practices 
 of the mature members; otherwise the group will cease its 
 characteristic life. With the growth of the content of the sec- 
 retaryship the gap between the older secretary and the be- 
 ginner widens, so far as preparation for efficient service in the 
 Association is concerned. 
 
 "Education and education alone spans the gap." A great 
 burden of responsibihty rests upon every man of experience to 
 pass on this professional heritage; it must not die with him, 
 
262 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 "Society exists through a process of transmissions quite as 
 much as biological life." This transmission occurs by means 
 of communication of habits of doing, thinking, and feeling 
 from the older to the younger. "Without this communication 
 of ideals, hopes, expectations, standards, opinions, from those 
 members of society who are passing out of the group Hfe to 
 those who are coming into it, social life could not survive." 
 Nor can the Association. Here is material for thought for our 
 serious-minded secretaries who are too busy to train their 
 juniors. Have you provided adequate processes for this com- 
 munication? These pages hope to be a means to the securing 
 of that end. The colleges will do part of the work, but the 
 vocation will long continue itself chiefly through local training. 
 The conviction of the importance of this local training is grow- 
 ing, as witness the five hundred secretaries in training-center 
 classes during 1919-1920. But this number, though large, 
 represents only thirty-six Associations. What of the hundreds 
 of others? 
 
 2. A Normal Duty 
 
 This training process, instead of being a thing apart, some- 
 thing nice to do when not too busy, is not only essential to the 
 continued life of the group, but it is a normal part of its very 
 present, its daily duty. It is the chief means to "likeminded- 
 ness," the very basis of associated life. The training process, 
 more than any other instrumentality, promotes and guarantees 
 full mutual understanding, community of interest, and har- 
 mony of procedure. It reduces friction, eliminates misunder- 
 standings, furthers democracy, produces the best working re- 
 sults, and "effects a sharing of purpose" essential to progress 
 and joy in work. Therefore, far from being something added 
 to a general secretary's duties, the duty of training his staff is 
 a veritable part of the secretarial task itself, a part of his 
 regular work. 
 
 ?. Improvement 
 However, there must be more than a mere passing on of 
 
REASONS 263 
 
 present method and achievement. Improvement must be se- 
 cured, which requires that the training process make due pro- 
 vision for elasticity in that which is taught, and for thought, 
 initiative, and invention on the part of the student. Training 
 and education, while conservative, must also be progressive. 
 This stimulation of productive thinking with its consequent 
 enlargement of the content of the vocation is. part of the 
 privilege of the older secretary in the training relation. Pro- 
 gressive secretaries "endeavor to shape the experiences of the 
 young so that instead of reproducing current habits, better 
 habits shall be formed," and thus the future secretary be an 
 improvement on themselves. 
 
 </. Formulation of the Experience 
 
 This living the secretaryship together and passing it on to the 
 younger members of the group requires careful study of the 
 vocation by the general secretary — a study, by the way, greatly 
 to his own profit as well as to that of his juniors. He must 
 "reflect upon his past experience to extract its net meaning," a 
 most profitable occupation. He must, in order to pass it on, 
 first analyze it and put it into communicable shape. "The ex- 
 perience has to be formulated in order to be communicated." 
 
 The formulation and communication of the secretarial ex- 
 perience seem to involve the following steps and acquisitions 
 on the part of the general secretary. It is great gain to him 
 that he should take the steps and seek the acquisitions : 
 
 a. An analysis of his art into its elements, with a Hsting of 
 his knowledges, skills, habits, attitudes, and ideals. 
 
 b. A consideration of how he himself learned or acquired 
 the vocation. 
 
 c. A consideration of the method of solving problems, apart 
 from the solutions. 
 
 d. An arranging of the elements of the vocation into some 
 pedagogical sequence or order of instruction, psychological 
 rather than logical. 
 
 e. Study as to how to plan and teach a lesson. 
 
 f . Thought on giving educational value to experience. 
 
264 TRAININIG A STAFF 
 
 g. A learning of coaching as an educational process. 
 
 h. Study of how to develop, not repress, untrained power in 
 his juniors. 
 
 i. A democratic philosophy of life. 
 
 j. Unselfishness. 
 
 The matter may be put briefly by saying that the secretary- 
 ship has for some years been taking the direction of promotion 
 and salesmanship. To fulfil the mission of transmission, the 
 bringing up of a new generation of secretaries, it must take 
 the direction of education. The secretary of the present is 
 strong on production ; the secretary of the future must be strong 
 on instruction. He has mastered the method of developing 
 movements; he must master the method of developing men, 
 and that is fundamentally a method of education ; in it lies the 
 secret of the largest and most permanent development of the 
 movement. The new Association day awaits this new 
 secretary. 
 
 References 
 
 Section I. Democracy and Education. John Dewey. Pp. 49- 
 93, 1 17-145, 271-292. 
 
 Section II. Methods of Teaching. W. W. Charters. Pp. 268- 
 270. 
 
 Section III. Methods of Teaching. W. W. Charters. Pp. 26- 
 92, 112. 
 Democracy and Education. John Dewey. 
 Pp. 212-227. 
 
 Section IV. Methods of Teaching. W. W. Charters. Pp. 208- 
 
 245- 
 Democracy and Education. John Dewey. 
 
 Pp. 256-261. 
 How We Think. John Dewey. Pp. 56-67. 
 Teaching by Projects. F. M. McMurry. P. 184. 
 The Project Method in Education. 
 
 M. E. Branom. Pp. 239-254. 
 
 Section V. Methods of Teaching. W. W. Charters. Pp. 146- 
 184 
 The Project Method in Education. 
 M. E. Branom. P. 59. 
 
REASONS 265 
 
 Section VI. How We Think. John Dewey. Pp. 68-78. 
 Democracy and Education. John Dewey. 
 
 Pp. 169-177, 179-192. 
 How TO Study. Pp. 31-84, 135-160. 
 Teaching Children to Study. L. B. Earhart. 
 
 Section VH. What Is Education? E. C. Moore. Pp. 104-141, 
 170-194. 
 How We Think. John Dewey. Pp. 176-178. 
 Democracy and Education. John Dewey. 
 Pp. 12-27. 
 Section VIII. 
 
 Section IX. Democracy and Education. John Dewey. Pp. 
 i-ii, 92. 
 
 Note : One who wishes to read a full presentation of the modern 
 educational point of view in connection with the working out of a 
 concrete problem will follow with great interest the argument in 
 Professor George Albert Coe's "A Social Theory of Religious 
 Education," 1917. 
 
PART III 
 THE CONTENT OF THE SECRETARYSHIP 
 
PART III 
 THE CONTENT OF THE SECRETARYSHIP 
 
 Analysis 
 
 I. The Importance of an Analysis of the Content of the 
 Secretaryship 
 
 II. The Importance of Experiencing This Content While in 
 Training 
 
 III. The Scope of the Analysis Here Given 
 
 IV. The Vocational Content of the Secretaryship 
 
 1. Religious leadership 
 
 2. The education of men and boys 
 
 3. Social engineering 
 
 4. Physical education and recreation 
 
 5. Vocational guidance and placement 
 
 6. Promotion 
 
 7. Executive direction 
 
 8. Business management 
 
 9. Expertness in Association technique 
 
 10. Hospitahty 
 
 11. Friendship 
 
 12. Writing 
 
 13. Public speaking 
 
 14. Studying 
 
 15. Representation 
 
 I. The Importance of an Analysis of the Content of 
 THE Secretaryship 
 This presentation of the training of an Association staff has 
 proceeded upon the theory that the most helpful preparation 
 for the secretaryship is the actual living of the secretaryship, 
 and that this living of the secretaryship consists in entering 
 fully into the experiences that make up the life of a secretary. 
 
 269 
 
270 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 The man who is at home in these life situations, who knows 
 what to do, why to do it, and to what end, and who so acts in 
 each of them as to use the opportunities they present to secure 
 the spiritual and social aims of the Association, is the man 
 who has the desired results of training. To produce such a 
 man the first step is a full analysis of the work or functions of 
 the secretary, after which comes the actual participation in 
 these characteristic acts of the vocation, with such coaching, 
 supervision, discussion, reading, investigation, inspection, con- 
 ference, study, and wider relations, as will aid in the growth 
 of the man in training. 
 
 An analysis of the sort suggested was begun in an introduc- 
 tory way in Chapter I, when the question, "What does a secre- 
 tary do?" was asked and partly answered. To arrive at a 
 satisfactory conclusion as to the content of the secretaryship, 
 however, a much more thorough study of the life situations of 
 the secretary must be made. The following pages indicate one 
 way of going at this. A study of this kind may be built up 
 and elaborated in two ways: either by an analysis of the 
 functions, of which fifteen are here suggested, until all that 
 these functions imply has been thoroughly dissected out into 
 its component Hfe situations; or, by beginning at the other 
 end of the task and grouping the details such as make up the 
 column of life situations. That is, we can get a full picture 
 either by breaking up the functions or by grouping the situa- 
 tions, by employing either a process of analysis or a process of 
 synthesis. 
 
 When this study of content has been made, two other tasks 
 present themselves: first, the devising of a scheme or system 
 whereby the men to be trained shall experience these situations ; 
 and second, decision as to what material can profitably be read 
 and studied to throw light upon these tasks and aid in their 
 performance. The complete analysis becomes the curriculum 
 of activities for all men who would efficiently enter the secre- 
 taryship either through the door of the Association college or 
 through experience in a training center ; the related study also 
 appHes to both systems of training. The great tasks before the 
 
THE CONTENT OF THE SECRETARYSHIP 271 
 
 training centers of this and other countries are the choosing and 
 ordering of these experiences, their effective educational ad- 
 ministration, and the faithful mastery of the material presented 
 as helpful subject-matter. 
 
 The following analysis is by no means complete. It merely 
 suggests a method. It can best be elaborated by men in the 
 local secretaryship, and will be different for various fields. The 
 secretary who proceeds thus to build a curriculum of experi- 
 ence and study will lift his training-center work to a high 
 plane; without something of this sort, the work will be more 
 or less haphazard. 
 
 II. The Importance of Experiencing This Content 
 While in Training 
 
 By entering into these Hfe situations one after another, and 
 actually carrying the responsibilities involved in each, the 
 student grows in at least three ways : 
 
 1. He becomes aware of the problems of the secretaryship 
 in a vivid but natural manner. He feels them. They come into 
 his experience as facts demanding that something be done about 
 them, and soon. They are not cold, inanimate things to be 
 merely studied and remembered. They have both temperature 
 and pressure. 
 
 2. He knows their exact nature, with experimental — the only 
 real — knowing. 
 
 3. He acts, does something about and with the real ma- 
 terials of life, does things that make a difference. In this he 
 acquires ability to bring to bear data secured from various 
 sources, goes in search of other data of a useful nature, and 
 builds up his intellectual equipment around uses. 
 
 Knowledge, using the word broadly, is of four degrees : 
 
 1. The knowledge of existence. To know about a thing, 
 that it exists. 
 
 2. The knowledge of recognition. To know a thing well 
 enough to recognize and identify it when seen or heard. 
 
 3. The knowledge of description. To be able to describe it 
 accurately. 
 
272 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 4. The knowledge of construction. To be able to make it. 
 
 It is this last sort of knowledge which we seek for our secre- 
 taries-in-training. It comes only from experience. Any other 
 sort of knowledge is academic and impractical from the voca- 
 tional point of view. 
 
 III. The Scope of the Analysis Here Given 
 
 There is always present the possibility that one who con- 
 siders this list of activities will think of the secretaryship as 
 composed merely of a lot of things to do. This is only its 
 middle section. On one side are the reasons for these tasks, 
 and on the other their objective or goal, while through it all 
 there runs a spirit and attitude that give each purpose and act 
 its true value and character. It cannot be too often said that 
 this vocation is more than technique. The analysis that fol- 
 lows is, therefore, incomplete in this respect also. The 
 genuinely successful Association leader possesses a fourfold 
 equipment : 
 
 1. That which he is able to do: skill. 
 
 2. That which he knows and understands : knowledge. 
 
 3. That which he is: character. 
 
 4. The way he looks at the things that make up life : attitude. 
 
 Training, to be comprehensive, must make provision for all 
 four of these elements. As a general thing, it will tend to be 
 well conducted on the side of skill, or knowledge, and decrease 
 in quality and quantity in producing character and attitude. 
 Some of the important elements of character are found in all 
 good men; others must be consciously cultivated. For this 
 there is a place in the curriculum, aiming at such qualities as 
 perseverance, faithfulness, and rehability. The same is true of 
 attitude, but the development of a truly Christian attitude is no 
 simple undertaking. The Hst of desirable traits of character 
 and attitude is a long one, and the making of it will not be 
 essayed here. 
 
 The aim of this chapter is to examine our vocation on its 
 professional, rather than on its personal, side. These few para- 
 
THE CONTENT OF THE SECRETARYSHIP 273 
 
 graphs are written only for the purpose of calling attention to 
 the fact that the chart which is given on pages 274-283 is an 
 analysis of functions, and to state the equally great importance 
 of the spiritual elements in the secretaryship. 
 
274 
 
 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 IV. The Vocational Content of the Secretaryship 
 
 The Functions of a An analysis of these functions. 
 
 Y M C A Secretary. Life situations of the secretary. 
 
 I. Rehgious Leadership. I. i. Securing knowledge of condi- 
 tions, needs, and problems of 
 individuals and of groups. 
 
 2. The consideration of these 
 
 data and of data bearing upon 
 the solution of the problems. 
 
 3. The planning of measures to 
 
 solve these problems and 
 meet these needs. 
 
 4. The planning, promotion, and 
 
 supervision of the religious 
 education of men and boys, 
 their growth in Christian 
 character. 
 
 5. Conducting Bible discussion 
 groups. 
 
 6. The recruiting of a force of 
 
 volunteer and paid workers. 
 The relating of men to tasks. 
 
 7. The training of this force for 
 
 their tasks. 
 
 8. The inspiring and leading of 
 these men and boys. 
 
 9. Winning men to Christ 
 
 through personal work. 
 
 10. Cooperating with churches 
 and other religious and social 
 agencies. 
 
 11. The world-wide extension of 
 
 Christ's Kingdom. 
 
 12. Productive thinking on re- 
 ligious problems. 
 
THE CONTENT OF THE SECRETARYSHIP 275 
 
 Subject-matter that has a relation to successful work in these 
 functions. 
 
 I. I. The process of gathering information, data. 
 The survey method. 
 Present-day social and religious problems. 
 
 2. Religious and social organization, methods, and move- 
 
 ments. Religious problems, and solutions tried. 
 Scientific thought processes and method. 
 Economic and industrial history. 
 
 3. The purposes, plans, and methods of religious and social 
 
 movements, including all sorts of welfare work. 
 The religious spirit and ideals of the age. 
 The approach through individuals, groups, and masses. 
 
 4. The objective, educational processes, organization, and 
 
 promotion methods of present-day religious work with 
 men and boys. 
 
 Educational aims and methods. 
 
 The operation of the human mind, including the psy- 
 chology of adolescence. 
 
 5. Class-room methods. 
 
 The Old and New Testaments. 
 
 The pedagogy and practice of discussion. 
 
 6. The art of leadership. Motives that move men. 
 The selection of workers for various tasks. 
 
 7. The problems of the educative process. 
 Training methods. 
 
 8. A study of human motives and responses. 
 Inspirational elements in poetry, art, history, Hterature, 
 
 and science. 
 
 9. Men's needs and difficulties. 
 
 The resources of the Christian religion, God, Christ, the 
 Bible, etc., and their relation to man's needs. 
 
 10. The origin and peculiarities of the chief denominations 
 
 and societies. 
 Courses of study, objectives, and methods of the Sunday 
 school. 
 
 11. The countries not yet evangelized. History of missions. 
 
 Missionary principles and practice. Problems grow- 
 ing out of the ideals, growth, and contacts of nations. 
 
 12. The best modern thought on rehgious problems. 
 The status of modern biblical criticism. 
 Philosophy, to get "a set of pigeon-holes." 
 
276 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 The Functions of a An analysis of these functions. 
 
 Y M C A Secretary. Life situations of the secretary. 
 
 II. The Education of II. i. The study of men's and boys' 
 
 Men and Boys, vocational needs and of their 
 
 with Emphasis educational needs in relation to 
 
 on Vocation. a well-rounded life. 
 
 2. The planning of courses of 
 study.- 
 
 3. The promotion and super- 
 vision of educational features, 
 including class-work, clubs, 
 lectures, reading room and 
 library. 
 
 III. Social Engineer- III. i. The study of social conditions 
 
 ing. and problems to learn the 
 
 social needs of the day. 
 
 2. Participation and leadership in 
 social welfare movements, 
 charities and correction, re- 
 construction work. 
 
 3. Relation to the industrial prob- 
 lem. 
 
 4. Relation to other social 
 agencies. 
 
 5. Applying the teachings of 
 Jesus to modern life. 
 
 6. Constructive work to improve 
 modern life. 
 
 IV. Physical Educa- IV. i. Giving men and boys a physical 
 
 tion, and Rec- equipment equal to the de- 
 
 reation. mands of hfe. 
 
 2. Providing recreation for men 
 and boys. 
 
 V. Vocational Guid- V. i. Advising men and boys con- 
 ance, and cerning different vocations. 
 
 Placement. and their adaptability to them. 
 
 2. Finding jobs for them. 
 
THE CONTENT OF THE SECRETARYSHIP 277 
 
 Subject-matter that has a relation to successful work in these 
 functions. 
 
 II. I. The process of gathering data and studying a situation. 
 
 The survey method. 
 The qualifications for, requirements of, and processes 
 
 of preparation for, the vocations open to men and 
 
 boys. 
 The aims and processes of education. 
 
 2. The problems and solutions of education. 
 The most successful teaching methods. 
 
 3. The standard principles and methods of Association 
 
 educational work. 
 Advertising. Salesmanship. 
 
 III. I. The survey method. 
 
 2. Modern charity and correction methods. 
 Movements for social betterment. 
 Problems of national development. 
 The history of social institutions. 
 Current problems and events. 
 
 3. The incentives and problems of production, distribu- 
 
 tion, and consumption. 
 
 4. Welfare agencies of today. Their aims, methods, and 
 
 programs. 
 
 5. The teachings of Jesus as to individual and social life. 
 
 6. The fundamental laws of life and the organic concep- 
 
 tion of life. 
 
 IV. I. The theory and practice of systematic and recreative 
 exercise. 
 Health education. Hygiene. 
 Sex education. 
 2. Games and plays. 
 
 V. I. A knowledge of the vocations and their requirements, 
 and how to size up men in relation to them. 
 Vocational guidance. 
 
278 
 
 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 The Functions of a 
 YMCA Secretary. 
 
 VI. Promotion. 
 
 An analysis of these functions. 
 Life situations of the secretary. 
 
 VI. I. The devising and promotion of 
 plans and agencies to carry 
 out the purposes of the As- 
 sociation. 
 
 Enlisting men in these. 
 2. Leadership in various enter- 
 prises. 
 
 VII. Executive Di- 
 rection. 
 
 VIII. Business Man- 
 agement. 
 
 IX. Expertness in 
 Association 
 Technique. 
 
 VII. I. The organizing of a working 
 force. 
 
 2. The deputizing and super- 
 vision of work. 
 
 3. Conducting staff and group 
 conferences. 
 
 VIII. I. Administration of property 
 and funds. 
 
 2. Accounting for funds re- 
 ceived and disbursed. 
 
 3. The protection of the Asso- 
 ciation from fraud, theft, li- 
 ability, etc. 
 
 4. The performance and super- 
 vision of office work. 
 
 5. Managing a dormitory and 
 cafeteria. 
 
 6. Operating and caring for a 
 building. 
 
 7. Erection of Association 
 buildings. 
 
 IX. I. Planning Association fea- 
 tures and activities, includ- 
 ing all departments. 
 Conferring with committees 
 and secretaries as to policies 
 and methods. 
 
 2. Constructing, arranging, and 
 using an Association build- 
 ing. 
 
 3. Relating the Association to 
 
 the whole community. 
 
THE CONTENT OF THE SECRETARYSHIP 279 
 
 Subject-matter that has a relation to successful work in these 
 functions. 
 
 VI. I. How to plan and further wise enterprises. 
 Financial organization and promotion. 
 Preparation of prospect Hsts. 
 Salesmanship. Advertising. 
 
 2. Whom men follow and why. Psychology of lead- 
 ership. 
 Public speaking. 
 
 VII. I. Association, corporation, and other forms of organi- 
 zation. 
 
 2. Methods of handling work. 
 
 3. The art of conferring. 
 
 VIII. I. Taxation, insurance, contracts, agency, corporations, 
 business methods, property, budgets. 
 
 2. Double entry bookkeeping. 
 
 3. Indemnity insurance. Business practice. 
 
 4. General and Association office practice. 
 
 5. Hotel and cafeteria management. 
 
 6. Janitorial methods, care and cleaning. Association 
 
 equipment. 
 
 7. Building materials and plans. 
 
 IX. I. Association history, principles, methods, and Htera- 
 ture, including special programs, as thrift, the high 
 school movement, and C. C. T. P. 
 
 2. Construction, arrangement, and use of Association 
 
 buildings. 
 
 3. The community point of view. 
 
280 
 
 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 The Functions of a 
 YMCA Secretary. 
 
 An analysis of these functions. 
 Life situations of the secretary. 
 
 4. Contact with local, state, na- 
 tional, and world Association 
 leaders. 
 
 5. Promoting the Association 
 idea, function, and message. 
 
 6. Leadership in local and 
 wider Association work. 
 
 7. Acquaintance with all phases 
 of Association work. 
 
 X. Hospitality. 
 
 X. I. 
 
 2. 
 
 3- 
 
 Sociability as host to visitors 
 and members, daily and on 
 public occasions. 
 Providing and promoting 
 social features and programs. 
 Meeting men of all sorts and 
 classes, entertaining them, 
 and being entertained by 
 them. 
 
 XL Friendship. 
 
 XII. Writing. 
 
 XI. I. Occasions that call for kindly 
 interest in many kinds of 
 men and boys, and for help- 
 fulness. 
 
 2. Deep friendship with some. 
 
 3. Personal evangelism through 
 friendship. 
 
 4. Advising men and boys on 
 personal matters. 
 
 XII. I. Writing newspaper accounts 
 of events and articles on 
 various subjects. 
 
 2. Publishing reports of work 
 done. 
 
 3. Preparing a prospectus. 
 
 4. Preparing conference papers 
 and reports, and technical 
 publications. 
 
THE CONTENT OF THE SECRETARYSHIP 281 
 
 Subject-matter that has a relation to successful work in these 
 functions. 
 
 4. Current Association publications. 
 Biographies of present and past leaders. 
 
 5. Association principles and practice. 
 Salesmanship. Advertising. Public speaking. 
 
 6. All of the above. 
 
 7. Railroad, college, industrial, rural work, etc. 
 
 The problems of different groups of men and the As- 
 sociation contribution to their solution. 
 
 X. 1. Etiquette. Social customs and the manners of polite 
 society. 
 
 2. Social programs and entertainments. Bowling, bil- 
 
 liards, checkers, chess, etc. 
 
 3. Broad "general culture," including art, literature, his- 
 
 tory, science, travel, and music. 
 Wide reading and travel. 
 The news of the day. 
 
 XL I. Biblical selections on service and brotherhood. 
 
 Christian literature with inspiration and service con- 
 tent. 
 
 2. Literature on a mutual interest or hobby. 
 
 3. The spirit and method of personal work. 
 
 4. Biography. 
 
 Xn. I. How to write newspaper stories. 
 
 Elements of narrative, descriptive, and expository 
 writing. Composition. 
 
 2. Samples of good reports. 
 
 Graphic methods of presenting facts. 
 
 3. The facts about getting attention, decision, and 
 
 action. 
 Sample prospectuses. 
 
 4. The art of exposition. 
 
282 
 
 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 The Functions of a 
 YMCA Secretary. 
 
 XIII. Public 
 ing. 
 
 Speak- 
 
 XIV. Studying. 
 
 An analysis of these functions. 
 Life situations of the secretary. 
 
 5. Writing letters. 
 
 6. Preparing addresses. 
 
 XIII. I. Speaking of all sorts, at din- 
 
 ners, in church, at meetings, 
 in shops, etc. 
 
 2. Bible and other religious 
 talks. 
 
 3. Participation in public dis- 
 cussion. 
 
 XIV. I. Studying to understand situa- 
 
 tions and needs, analyzing 
 them. Locating and defining 
 problems, gathering and 
 weighing data, devising and 
 testing solutions. 
 2. Studying for general person- 
 al growth. 
 
 XV. Representation. XV. 
 
 1. Representing, expressing, and 
 embodying the ideals of the 
 Young Men's Christian As- 
 sociation. 
 
 2. Embodying all-round Chris- 
 tian manhood. A twentieth 
 century Christian gentleman 
 in physique, dress, religion, 
 education, social life, eco- 
 nomic life, and citizenship. 
 
THE CONTENT OF THE SECRETARYSHIP 283 
 
 Subject-matter that has a relation to successful work in these 
 functions. 
 
 5. Correspondence, or letter writing, advertising, and 
 
 salesmanship. 
 
 6. General education. 
 
 Xni. I. How to outUne and present ideas in pubhc speech. 
 
 2. The use of the Bible in public address. The Bible. 
 
 3. Parliamentary law. 
 
 XIV. I. How to study, as outlined by Dewey, McMurry, and 
 Miss Earhart. 
 
 2. Book lists, such as "Helpful Reading" and book re- 
 views, such as those in the weekly section of the 
 New York Times. 
 
 XV. I. Association literature. 
 
 The content of general education. 
 
 2. Material on the personal life of the secretary. 
 Rules for living in full health. 
 Modern ethics and religious thought. 
 Cultural subjects. Etiquette. 
 
 American civil government. The principles of 
 democracy. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 A NATIONAL TRAINING POLICY FOR CHINA 
 
 Report of the Commission on the Recruiting and Training of 
 Secretaries^ 
 
 A. M. Guttery, Chairman 
 
 Issued by the Secretarial Training Department of the National 
 Committee of the Young Men's Christian Associations of China 
 
 A. Principles 
 
 In view of the facts that, to a movement like our own, strug- 
 gling to be indigenous, there is no more important question before 
 it than that of training; that trained native leadership in every 
 phase of Association work is needed; and that this need grows 
 ever more insistent as our work develops and expands, therefore : 
 
 It is the judgment of this Commission that we must create this 
 leadership by a comprehensive system of training based on the 
 best principles and usages of the West adapted to local conditions 
 and the genius of the Chinese people. 
 
 We recommend the following principles for training work in 
 China : 
 
 I. The training system should produce a well-balanced secretary. 
 I. Some of the qualities to be sought are: 
 Physical vigor. 
 
 Joyfulness and ease in social relationships. 
 Energy and facility in the performance of various duties. 
 Power of observation. 
 Originality. 
 
 A cultured personality. A trained mind. 
 Knowledge of Association principles, history, and methods. 
 A general religious education. 
 Ability to teach the Bible. 
 Powerful convictions and motives. 
 Passion and ability for winning souls. 
 Church loyalty. 
 
 * This statement is a report presented to the Conference of Employed 
 Officers of the Young Men's Christian Associations of China at Hang- 
 chow in November, 1919, as modified and approved by that Conference. 
 It is not an official expression of the policy of the National Committee. 
 
 287 
 
288 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 2. All secretaries-in-training should receive training in general 
 Association work and methods and in church work. Each secre- 
 tary-in-training specializing in any department should take some 
 training in at least one other department of Association work. 
 
 //. Every secretary {Chinese and foreign) should be a trainer. 
 
 1. He should consciously hold the attitude of trainer toward 
 the staff which he directs. 
 
 2. He should understand the practical principles of effective 
 teaching by the project method. 
 
 3. He should practice tactful, constructive criticism of his staff. 
 
 4. He should himself be master of the things he ought to teach. 
 
 5. In some respects, at least, he should be an example of what 
 the student should become. 
 
 6. He should seek to prepare those under him to take his job. 
 
 7. He should be an inspiration to the members of his staff 
 and their personal friend and adviser. 
 
 ///. All secretaries should be under a continuous system of train- 
 ing. 
 
 1. In order to secure the practical observance of this principle: 
 
 (a) The authorities who direct training should be so identified 
 with the employers of the secretaries that persistent force 
 is given to training plans for secretaries of all grades, 
 and 
 
 (b) All organized groups of secretaries should be on a train- 
 ing basis. 
 
 2. The training system should provide for continuous oppor- 
 tunities for study and advancement. 
 
 3. The continued training of junior and senior secretaries should 
 provide for: 
 
 (a) Physical exercise. 
 
 (b) Mental training, including the reading of current litera- 
 ture — newspapers, magazines, etc. 
 
 (c) Spiritual training. 
 
 (d) Social growth. 
 
 (e) Technical improvement. 
 
 4. Advancement to larger responsibilities should be closely linked 
 with the training system and no secretary however advanced in 
 knowledge and experience should consider his training completed. 
 
 5. We recommend that boards of directors should make such 
 provisions on their budget and in their programs of work as will 
 enable secretaries to gain the inspiration, encouragement, and in- 
 crease of efficiency which are afforded by: A. A regular training 
 
APPENDIX A 289 
 
 program in the local Association; B. Attendance at Association 
 conferences, conventions, and special training events. 
 
 6. We recommend: A. That a yearly inquiry be made of each 
 secretary by the Secretarial Training Department covering the 
 following subjects: i. Physical exercise. 2. Books read. 
 3. Church responsibilities. 4. Other training progress. B. That 
 the main results of this inquiry be compiled and published to the 
 Brotherhood in some detail. 
 
 7. We recommend that the Senior Secretary of the International 
 Committee in China be requested to devise means for checking up 
 the examinations passed locally by men out of language school 
 and planning a five years' course of study for every section of the 
 country. 
 
 IV. The employed staff of the Association should all he trainable. 
 
 1. In general those who are taken into the employment of the 
 Associations should have the possibilities of developing into cap- 
 able secretaries. 
 
 2. Employes should be ambitious to learn and to make lifelong 
 successes as secretaries. 
 
 3. Members of the staff should maintain a teachable attitude of 
 mind. 
 
 V. The problem and project method of training should be extended 
 
 to cover the field of Association activities. 
 Studies of the activities of the Association Movement of China 
 should be prepared, graded, tabulated, and then used in the train- 
 ing system. The project method may be made to cover the field 
 of activities and the best possible method adopted in each particu- 
 lar problem. 
 
 VI. All features of the training processes employed by the Asso- 
 
 ciations in China should be coordinated and harmonised. 
 This will include training work in all city and student Asso- 
 ciations and the national office, national training centers, the Asso- 
 ciation professional school, local, sectional, and national institutes, 
 peripatetic study, fellowships in America, and reading work. 
 
 VII. Recognising that the Association and other Christian agen- 
 
 cies should work unitedly, we recommend : 
 
 A. That the Association place its facilities as far as possible at 
 the service of the churches for the training of specialists in work 
 for men and boys. 
 
 B. That the Association shall not undertake any financial obliga- 
 tion in connection with the training of specialists for the churches. 
 
290 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 VIII. In view of the requests for training from non-Christian 
 agencies and in the desire to serve them we recommend: 
 
 A. That the first emphasis be placed on training Christian lead- 
 ership for the Association and the churches. 
 
 B. That as far as practicable our facilities be utilized for the 
 training of specialists in work for men and boys under other 
 auspices. 
 
 IX. We recommend that as a matter of policy it be considered 
 unwise for the Young Men's Christian Association to grant schol- 
 arships to young men who are prospective secretaries or who are 
 secretaries-in-training to continue their studies or to take a regular 
 course in a mission college or in any other institution for the pur- 
 pose of securing a general or special education. 
 
 B. Training Center Plan 
 
 We recommend that the conference express its indorsement of 
 the action of the Executive of the National Committee at its meet- 
 ing on April 7, 1919, when it provided for the establishment 
 within the immediate future of National Training Centers in five 
 different cities, and that we heartily support the provisions of the 
 program. 
 
 It is the interpretation of this Commission that the Training 
 Center plan is naturally divided into two headings : 
 
 (I) National Training Centers, or those Associations which are 
 approved by and receive aid from the National Committee. 
 
 (II) Local Training Centers, or all other Associations which 
 employ secretaries. 
 
 /. National Training Centers 
 
 1. (a) A National Training Center should offer practical ex- 
 
 perience along general and specialized lines under expert 
 supervision. 
 
 (b) It should provide courses of study which will equip the 
 secretary-in-training for his work. 
 
 i(c) It should offer opportunity for consultation with secre- 
 taries who are specialists in all lines of Association 
 activities and provide opportunities for discussion of As- 
 sociation problems with groups of secretaries. 
 
 1(d) It should stimulate the secretary's habit of reading the 
 best books and magazines on Association work, on re- 
 ligious education, and social work and especially those 
 that will keep him abreast of the times with regard to 
 all national and international questions. 
 
 2. The National Training Centers should be all under the super- 
 
APPENDIX A 291 
 
 vision of one man on the staff of the Secretarial Training De- 
 partment whose duties should be: 
 
 (a) To standardize the work of the different centers through- 
 out the country. 
 
 (b) To be an expert himself so that he can teach the teachers 
 the method of training and demonstrate its use with the 
 students. 
 
 (c) To pass upon candidates for training after consultation 
 with the secretary of the Secretarial Training Depart- 
 ment and the general secretaries of the Training 
 Centers. 
 
 (d) To supervise examinations and the grading of secre- 
 taries-in-training and report to the secretary of the Sec- 
 retarial Training Department. 
 
 (e) To handle all questions of finance relating to the devel- 
 opment of the work, and, 
 
 (f) To be responsible for all matters of business and promo- 
 tion as the executive secretary of this division of the 
 Secretarial Training Department. 
 
 3. The general secretaries or the deans of the Training Centers 
 should meet often enough for discussion of training methods and 
 problems connected with the work to insure a natural and uniform 
 progress with all of the centers naturally fitting into the national 
 scheme. 
 
 4. The following conditions should be considered as essential in 
 any Association where a National Training Center is to be estab- 
 lished: 
 
 (a) In addition to having a general secretary specially quali- 
 fied for training work who is committed to the training 
 program, the staff shall contain specialists on boys' work, 
 student work, and physical work, whose primary responsi- 
 bility is to carry on regular and systematic training of 
 secretaries. These men should have executive responsi- 
 bilities in the local Association. 
 
 (b) In view of the services rendered to the local Associa- 
 tions by the specialists mentioned above, the boards of 
 directors of those Associations should provide enough 
 help on detail work to enable these men adequately to 
 care for their training responsibilities. 
 
 (c) Those men in charge of the training in a National 
 Training Center should conduct their work in such a man- 
 ner as to protect and preserve the efficiency of the staff 
 of that Association, and the local Association should em- 
 ploy a sufficient number of secretaries so that it will 
 
292 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 not depend upon secretaries-in-training, who receive their 
 support through the National Committee or through some 
 other Association, for the conduct of its regular work. 
 
 5. Secretaries-in-training in a National Training Center should 
 be treated as members of the staff of that Association and receive 
 their allowances, whether from the National Committee or from 
 any other source, through the regular channels of that Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 In the case of sending a man for training to a National Training 
 Center or calling a man away, the same courtesies should be ob- 
 served to the authorities of that Association as would hold with 
 respect to the other members of the staff, during the period of his 
 training. 
 
 The Association where the Training Center is being conducted is 
 responsible for the training of each man to the National Committee 
 or to the Association which supports him, and it is understood that 
 when his period of training ceases or when his support is cut 
 off he will pass under the control of the party responsible for his 
 support. 
 
 //. Local Training Centers. 
 
 (a) The general secretary and his associates should avail them- 
 selves of every opportunity to keep up to date on all the 
 systems and methods of training as conducted by the Na- 
 tional Secretarial Training Department, especially that 
 division which deals with the Training Center scheme. 
 
 (b) All junior secretaries and recruits on the staff should be 
 considered as secretaries-in-training and the senior secre- 
 taries should feel it their responsibility to direct their 
 training. 
 
 (c) The general secretaries should so arrange the work of the 
 secretaries-in-training that they will have time free for 
 study, observation of the work, and consultation with older 
 secretaries. 
 
 (d) The boards of directors and general secretaries should al- 
 ways keep in mind the work of the Secretarial Training 
 Department of the National Committee and plan to send 
 their younger secretaries to the Training Institutes, to the 
 Association Professional School, and to the National Train- 
 
 • ing Centers for additional training from time to time, and 
 to take advantage of all opportunities which the National 
 Committee offers for the training of secretaries. 
 
 (e) The National Training Department should give recognition, 
 guidance, and inspiration to the training work in all Asso- 
 
APPENDIX A 293 
 
 ciations, and whenever requested should give examinations 
 and ratings to secretaries in any Association. 
 
 C. Association Professional School 
 
 D. Institutes 
 
 E. Peripatetic Study 
 
 By peripatetic study is meant a study which can be done by one 
 secretary going to several selected cities and making investiga- 
 tions along a prescribed line, reporting regularly to a supervising 
 secretary, or preferably by a class of four or five accompanied by 
 a senior secretary who will confer with them daily on their 
 investigations. 
 
 I. Only secretaries with at least three years' experience should 
 secure peripatetic scholarships, on condition that they be set 
 free by their board for a minimum of three months (in- 
 cluding traveling) to be spent in the study of not more 
 than four or five Associations. 
 II. The Secretarial Training Department, in consultation with the 
 general secretary of the student, should select the Associa- 
 tions to be studied and the method of study. 
 
 F. Fellowships in America 
 
 G. Reading 
 
 H. System of Grades Leading to a Certificate 
 I. Support of the Secretary-in-Training 
 J. Recruiting and Trying Out 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 'AN EXAMINATION IN ASSOCIATION PROGRESS AND 
 
 PRINCIPLES USED BY JAY A. URICE AT THE 
 
 SILVER BAY SUMMER SCHOOL 
 
 AUGUST, 1919 
 
 General Problem 
 
 You have just gone to Salt Lake City to organize a Young Men's 
 Christian Association. Various citizens come to you with the fol- 
 lowing questions, which you are to answer. Write out your 
 replies as fully as you deem necessary to meet the situation. 
 
 1. A man brings the following questions: (a) "Tell me about 
 the first Y M C A. When and where was it started, and how did it 
 happen to be organized?" (b) "What was the purpose in the 
 minds of its organizers ?" Answer fully. 
 
 2. A representative of the Mormon Church asks you, "Can I 
 join your organization?" Make your reply. 
 
 3. The pastors of the Protestant evangelical churches invite you 
 in and say, "We do not need another competing church," and ask 
 you the following questions: (a) "In what way is your organiza- 
 tion different from another church?" (b) "How do you expect 
 to help us make our work more effective?" What would you say 
 to them? 
 
 4. You are asked, "Why do you wish to organize an Association 
 in Salt Lake City, and what is the aim or objective of your work?" 
 Answer fully. 
 
 5. The superintendent of the public day and night schools and 
 the director of public playgrounds say to you, "We do not see 
 just how your work will be related to that which we are doing; in 
 fact, we doubt whether your educational and recreative features 
 are needed at all in this city." What would be your reply? 
 
 6. In the Chamber of Commerce meeting a man rises and says, 
 "A man who joins the Chamber of Commerce agrees to unite in 
 helping to promote the commercial welfare of our city. Your state- 
 ment about the Association sounds all very well, but one of my 
 friends who has seen the Y M C A elsewhere tells me that your 
 organization appears only to run a clubhouse and any man may 
 join who will pay for the privileges. We do not need another 
 clubhouse, but we would welcome an organization which would 
 set our young men to work to make the city better." What would 
 you tell him ? 
 
 294 
 
APPENDIX B 295 
 
 7. A man with whom you have been talking about the purpose 
 of your work asks, "What sort of activities will you conduct? On 
 what basis do you determine what activities are necessary, and 
 how do you determine the value of each?" Make your reply. 
 
 8. The Chamber of Commerce investigates your proposition and 
 asks you the following questions: (a) "Who will have responsibil- 
 ity and authority for determining what the Association shall do in 
 Salt Lake City?" (b) "You say you will have a staff of secre- 
 tarial helpers. What will they do? Just why are secretaries nec- 
 essary?" Make your reply. 
 
 You may refer to any notes you have taken or to any of the text 
 and reference books available in the solution of these problems. 
 Each student will, however, work independently, not consulting 
 with others, and will sign his paper as follows : "The above repre- 
 sents my own individual work" — signed. * * * 
 
APPENDIX C 
 
 SUGGESTIVE PROJECT STUDY OUTLINE— KITCHEN 
 GARDENING* 
 
 Project: Kitchen Gardening 
 
 Object, Scale, and First Steps of Project 
 
 Guiding Questions 
 
 for Planning This 
 
 Project 
 
 I. Shall you grow 
 vegetables ? 
 
 2. Where shall you 
 grow them? 
 
 Guiding Questions 
 
 for Studying and Understanding 
 
 This Project 
 
 (i) What are the advantages of a good 
 home garden? 
 i: 187-188; 5: 325; 13: S-6; 16: 3- 
 6, 8, 11; 25: 335; 27: 10, 12-16; 
 39: 3, 490; 40: Iff. 
 (2) Could you sell part or all of your 
 product outside the family? 
 
 ( 1 ) Where was the home garden last year ? 
 
 A. How well did the vegetables grow 
 
 in it? 
 
 B. Was it large enough to supply the 
 
 family, or were such vegetables 
 as winter squashes and potatoes 
 grown as field crops? 
 
 (2) May it be desirable to change the lo- 
 
 cation of a garden, or of the 
 place of growing certain vege- 
 tables in an old garden? 
 A. What is "rotation," and its signifi- 
 cance for vegetable growing? 
 26: 13; 39: 493; 276: 32-34 
 
 (3) Which way should the garden slope? 
 
 26:7 
 
 (4) What soil is best for a garden? 
 
 i: 188-189; 26; 7-8; 27: 22; 39: 19 
 21 f., 25-26, 27 
 
 ♦Taken from "Vocational Agricultural Education by Home Proj- 
 ects," by R. W. Stimson, pages 119-120, and used by permission of the 
 publishers, the Macmillan Co. 
 
 296 
 
APPENDIX C 297 
 
 (5) May the garden vegetables be part of 
 
 a field crop? How? Advantage? 
 1:188 
 
 (6) Is protection from the wind important? 
 
 Why? 
 
 39:14 
 
 (7) Is good drainage a necessity? Why? 
 
 i: 189; 5: 91-02; 13: 9; 39: 26 
 
 (8) On the whole, what may be considered 
 
 the best location for a garden? 
 i: 188; 5:235; 11:451; 13:6; 27: 
 20; 39: 12-14,491,492-493 
 
 (9) Shall you grow vegetables under 
 
 glass ? 
 A. What are "hotbeds" and "cold- 
 frames" for? Cost of construc- 
 tion and operation? 
 5: 236-237; 11: 483; 13: 12-15; 25: 
 145 ; 39 : 355-356 ; 276 : 44-79 ; 747 : 
 250-253; 876: 94-96 
 
APPENDIX D 
 
 A Suggested Technical Library for a Y M C A Secretary 
 
 Issued by the Secretarial Bureau of the International Committee 
 (Bulletin Number 6 Revised) 
 
 Requests frequently come to the Secretarial Bureau for a list of 
 books which an Association secretary should read. The following 
 list has been compiled to meet this need. We have in mind the 
 requirements of a city Association secretary. The books on 
 departmental methods are chosen as necessary to an understanding 
 of the full scope of the Association's activities. 
 
 We recommend that secretaries secure the books here listed as 
 a technical library for the training of the staff and place them so 
 that they will be available to every member of the employed force. 
 Secretaries who have not created a technical library may well 
 proceed to secure these books, one by one. Any book on the list 
 can be secured from Association Press, 347 Madison Ave., New 
 York City, though many of them are published by other houses. 
 For a carefully prepared list of books on subjects less technically 
 related to the Association than these, send 25c to Association 
 Press for "Helpful Reading," by Jay A. Urice. 
 
 I. History 
 
 1. History of the North American Y M C A. Morse. $1.00 
 
 2. A History of the Y M C A. Vol. I. Doggett. i . 00 
 
 3. Life of R. R. McBurney. Doggett. 1.25 
 
 4. Life of Sir George Williams. Williams. 1.25 
 
 5. An Outline of the History of the North American 
 
 YMCA. Super. .50 
 
 6. Association Data Visualized. Hodge. (Apply to author) 
 
 7. My Life with Young Men. Morse. 3.50 
 
 II. Principles and Organization 
 
 1. Fundamental Principles and Tested Policies. Super. .50 
 
 2. Year Book for the current year. 2.50 
 
 3. Report of the Detroit International Convention 2.50 
 
 4. What Is the YMCA? Ober. .03 
 
 5. Constitution and By-Laws for a City YMCA .10 
 
 6. The Association Secretaryship. Ober. .75 
 
 7. The Secretaryship of the YMCA. Soares, Coulter, 
 
 Ober. .10 
 
 298 
 
APPENDIX D 
 
 299 
 
 8. Personal Qualifications of a Successful Employed Offi- 
 
 cer. Colton. 05 
 
 9. What Is a Secretary? Ober. .03 
 
 III. Methods 
 
 1. Religious Work. 
 
 a. Religious Work for Men and Boys. .75 
 
 b. Religious Interviews. .15 
 
 c. Annual Survey of Religious Work. .35 
 
 d. The Seven Laws of Teaching (Bible Classes). 
 
 Gregory $1.00 
 
 e. Outline Studies in the World Work of the 
 
 Y M C A of the U. S. and Canada. Manley. .35 
 
 f. Using the Bible in Public Address. Davis. 1.25 
 
 g. The Red Triangle in the Changing Nations. 
 
 Wilder nc 
 
 h. The Pupil and the Teacher. Weigle. i.oo 
 
 2. Educational Work. 
 
 a. Association Educational Work. Hodge. i.oo 
 
 b. Courses of Study. Hodge. .25 
 
 c. What Is Education ? Moore 1.40 
 
 d. Methods of Teaching. Charters. 1 . 32 
 
 e. How to Study. McMurry. 1.75 
 
 f. How to Teach. Strayer and Norsworthy. 1.80 
 
 3. Physical Work. 
 
 a Physical Education 1 . 50 
 
 b. The Body Builder. Brink. i.oo 
 
 c. Army and Navy Athletic Handbook .50 
 
 4. Social Work. 
 
 a. Indoor Games and Socials for Boys. Baker. 1.15 
 
 b. Social Activities for Men and Boys. Chesley. 1.25 
 
 5. Boys' Work. 
 
 a. Christian Citizenship Training Program (Pioneers 
 
 and Comrades) — 
 
 Handbook, .75 
 
 Leaders' Manual, 1 . 00 
 
 b. Adolescent Boyhood. Burr. 1. 10 
 
 c. Boyology. Gibson. 1 . 35 
 
 d. Boy Behavior. Burger. 1.25 
 
 e. The Boy and the Sunday School. Alexander. 1.50 
 
 f. Profitable Vacations for Boys. Weaver. i.oo 
 
 g. American Youth. Issued monthly. Per year, 2.00 
 h. The Community and the Y M C A. Ritchie. .90 
 i. The Boy Problem. Forbush. 1 . 00 
 
300 TRAINING A STAFF 
 
 6. Industrial Work. 
 
 a. Among Industrial Workers. 1.25 
 
 b. Special pamphlets on Industrial Work. Address 
 
 Industrial Department International Committee. 
 See list under "Industrial" in Association Press 
 Catalog. Free 
 
 7. Financial. 
 
 Intensive Financial Campaigns. Ward .15 
 
 8. Association Men. Issued monthly. Per year 2.00 
 
 IV. Profitable Professional Reading. 
 
 1. Character Building and Religious Books. 
 
 a. The Jesus of History. Glover. 1.25 
 
 b. Individual Work for Individuals. Trumbull. .90 
 
 c. How to Deal with Temptation. Speer. .25 
 
 d. The Fight for Character. King. .25 
 
 e. The Bible and the Spade. Banks. 1. 00 
 
 f. The Meaning of Prayer. Fosdick. 1. 1 5 
 
 g. The New Testament in Modern Speech. Wey- 
 
 mouth. 1 . 35 
 h. Jesus in the Records. Sharman. 1.15 
 i. The Theology of an Evolutionist. Abbott. 1.75 
 j. The Main Points. Brown. 1. 00 
 k. Christian Life a Normal Experience. Weather- 
 ford. 1. 00 
 1. The New Testament — A New Translation. Mof- 
 
 fatt. 1 . 50 
 
 2. Religion in Social Action. 
 
 a. The City Church and its Social Mission. Trawick. .75 
 
 b. Christianizing the Social Order. Rauschenbusch. 2.00 
 
 c. The Social Creed of the Churches. Ward. .60 
 
 d. The Social Principles of Jesus. Rauschenbusch. 1. 1 5 
 
 3. Bible Reference Library. 
 
 a. One Volume Dictionary of the Bible. Hastings. 7.00 
 
 b. The One Volume Bible Commentary. Dummelow. 3.75 
 
 c. Historical Bible, 6 volumes. Kent. (Per volume 
 
 $1.50) 9.00 
 
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