Children Are Smarter Than Ever

By Ira Jarrell, Superintendent, Atlanta Public Schools

Whatever parents may think, children are a lot smarter today than they were when most Atlanta mothers and dads were growing up. And they are learning more at school, too.

Many a mother has complained to me that her child sits with his ears glued to the radio--even when he does his "homework." She worries for fear he will spend all of time listening without learning anything from his studies. But actually because of the programs they hear, children in school today are much better informed than we were at their age.

Children listen to everything that comes on the radio while we turn on only those things which appeal to us. They see all the movies and read all the magazines--not just the ones they they think will interest them. And consequently they are better judges of many current things than their parents are.

You would often be amazed if you could travel about through the schools as I do. Not long ago I went into a fifth grade and found a little girl telling the class a story--in French! She is a foreign-born girl who has already taught the boys and girls in her class more French than I knew when I was graduated from Girls high.

In another room I found a horn-rimmed sixth grader giving a lecture on sending rockets to the moon. I got out quick because I was afraid he'd ask me some questions. A man who finished at Georgia Tech back in 1910 couldn't pass some of our high school examinations if he took them now.

Children today are progressing much faster than their parents ever did. And they are going to make both parents and teachers scamper to keep up with them. But that competition is a good thing which will benefit all of us.

Our job in the schools is to stay ahead of the youngsters and to keep classes and studies lively enough to interest them. This has become a major responsibility of the schools and the results of such a program are much more far-reaching than teaching the youngsters to read and write.Our major purpose is still that of teaching the three R's. But we have a new, added task of developing character and building citizens.

Whenever people get together today to talk about juvenile delinquency, they often try to put all the blame on the home. This is not where it belongs at all. Much more often the community itself is at fault.

In the last five or ten years many forces have been pulling at the home so that it is no longer what it once was. The grown-ups are all at work. Movies, athletics events and social affairs are activities which have replaced those things which kept the family closely tied together. The home, which once was united under a single head, has now branched out with its many new interests. It will never be exactly the same again. But we cannot say that these drastic changes alone are the reason for juvenile delinquency.

The school now plays a much greater role than it ever did. It must live up to this new responsibility. And the community itself must be taken into consideration as never before. The fact that our high schools are now community schools will go a long way toward remedying this situation. But neither the school nor the community can stop or lose interest. We must see that the children have something to do not only in the classroom, but after school as well.

Atlanta communities are waking up. You might be amazed at some of the progress we have already made this year. The southwest section has really moved up on this new community idea faster than any other part of Atlanta. There in West End, community recreation centers are being developed not only at Joe Brown High School but at five or six of the elementary schools as well. Each of these is a place where children of all ages can play.

The people of the community have been active, too. Members of the Southwest Community Council are co-operating beautifully with our staff at Brown. And one mother, on her own, has opened up her backyard and entertains about 50 teenagers every Friday night when the weather is good.

All over Atlanta our physical education program is branching out to include sports other than football and basketball so that we can reach more children. Some forms of recreation still cannot be developed in the community. Sid Scarboro, our athletic director, is making arrangements various schools to use the skating rink and bowling alleys. This will be an after-school activity but a teacher will go with the children to act as coach. We already have swimming classes at the YMCA for students down to the sixth grade level.

Atlanta as a whole must offer its youth more from a municipal standpoint. The Atlanta Symphony is a step in this direction--and it is one of the finest things in the city. It is the one opportunity our talented boys and girls have to play in a symphony orchestra, We must have more cultural advantages in all of the arts.

We cannot overemphasize the fact that good communities will make Atlanta a better town.

The new community high schools have been more successful than anyone dreamed possiblewhen they were organized last fall. They are also working all or us harder than ever before. Our teachers now have to go out and serve in the community as well as in he classrooms. Even the school buildings themselves are working overtime. We want these buildings to become community centers which are always open to any agency or group interested in boys and girls. The old buildings, designed primarily as classrooms, don't lend themselves too well to their new role. But as rapidly as possible we are bringing them up to date.

All of our new school buildings, like Murphy now under construction and Sylvan Hills to be built soon, will be designed to meet their new obligations to the community. Our new schools are planned so that certain rooms--libraries, auditoriums and gymnasiums--can be heated and lighted at night without opening up the rest of the building. Here the community can hold civic meetings and people of the neighborhood can take part in the educational activities of the school.

Of course we can't expect to rebuild every school in town--now or ever.We are remodeling the old buildings to save money and still do is good a job as possible And where new structures are added they are carefully planned to serve as many purposes as possible. The next building at Roosevelt, for instance will be an auditorium-gymnasium with lockers and showers for physical education classes, and rooms for the band and the ROTC.

Our share of the bond money is going to be spent developing our schools into community centers which will make the students better citizens. But we are going slow. You have to be careful when you have only $9,000,000 to spend. It seems like an awful lot of money, but there's not a penny to waste.