The organized workers of Chicago began a campaign against the policies which are being put into effect in the public schools by the Chicago Board of Education. This campaign deserves the aid and assistance of every right-thinking person, and of every worker whose children attend the public schools.

The controversy is presented by the representatives of the trade unions in the following manner: "Who shall determine the policies of the public schools," they ask; "the parents, or the large business enterprizes represented by the Chamber of Commerce, the Union League Club, the Employers' Association and the Rockefeller Foundation?" At present the parents have no voice in the administration or in the planning of the curriculum of the schools. Even the teachers, who unquestionably have a right to voice their opinion with regard to the system of education, are not permitted to express their views.

Dissatisfaction with the methods and policies of the schools started when the 2big business interests secured the appointment of the present superintendent of schools, who was engaged mainly to suppress the union activities of the teachers, and establish a factory system in the schools.

The new superintendent has succeeded in carrying out these objectivies to such an extent that the teachers have started a campaign against his activities, and have appealed to the city council and to all the unions of Chicago. It is the topic of the day.

What are the grievances of the union teachers against the present system of education, and what is the attitude taken by the new superintendent toward the teachers' union? The teachers, in their criticisms of the superintendent, state that he ignores their organizations; does not recognize their unions; and refuses to deal with their representatives. Furthermore, he does not permit any of the teachers to voice their opinions, to make any suggestions, or to say anything that will lead to the betterment of the system of teaching or of the education of the children.

Whenever a school teacher writes the superintendent regarding educational 3methods, he immediately sends the letter back to the principal of the school stating the name of the teacher who wrote it (in a "stool-pigeon" fashion). He will not accept any advice or any opinion from a teacher.

The first step taken by the superintendent to stop the teachers from "interfering", was to let them know that he will not tolerate any questions about, or opinions of, the schools. Then the teachers' councils, that have been in existence for so many years, were forbidden to meet in the schools, the superintendent claiming that the councils met during school hours. When he wishes to speak to the teachers he sees to it that only those teachers are chosen who will not express their own opinion in his presence. The result is that the views of the organized teachers are not expressed and are not recognized by the superintendent of schools. Questions relative to the school's administrative system are not discussed, because he acknowledges neither the teachers' organizations nor a representative of the teachers' union. The attitude of the superintendent of schools toward the teachers is much the same as the attitude of an employer of a corporation toward his employees: both refuse to recognize any union in their organization and find it unnecessary to listen to the opinion of the organized workers.

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This issue is only one of the many issues over which the organized workers are carrying on their campaign against the superintendent and the board of education, which permits its representative to lord over the schools and over the thousands of teachers like a Mussolini.

The intensity of the campaign increased when the board of education installed the platoon system in the public schools. This system was established in the public schools as an experiment on July 9, 1924. It was said that this system would save the schools money. The children, under the platoon system, are sent from one room to another and are instructed by different teachers during the day. They visit five or six classrooms and have a different teacher in each classroom. As a result, the school administrators claim that all the rooms are used every minute of the day for instruction purposes; for, when one group of children leave a classroom, another group immediately refills the room.

The actual result of this system is, however, that the children do not learn very much. They run from one room to another, and the teachers cannot teach the children as children should be taught. The teachers do not have an 5opportunity to become acquainted with the children. As a result, the personal influence of the teacher is lacking, and the teaching makes no impression upon the children. The rooms are overcrowded with children, and a factory system is established in the schools. Such a system is good for the bosses in the factories but is not good for the children in the schools.

The organized workers are opposed to the junior high school system which, like the platoon system, was installed as an experiment. The administrators put their plan into effect in over a dozen schools without asking the parents, and without listening to the protests of the organized workers. The junior high school system decreases the opportunity of the young children of receiving a higher standard of education in the senior high schools. They are taken out of the elementary schools before they are prepared to leave, and sent to the junior high schools. As a result, the children graduate from the junior high school without possessing a sufficiently balanced education which would enable them to struggle for a living in this industrial world, to be independent, and to have the necessary education to solve the existing problems of life.

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The large business interests, the Chamber of Commerce, the Union League Club, the Employers' Association, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the great capitalistic newspapers realize that the methods of education introduced by the new superintendent are benefical to their interests, since these methods mean reduced taxes, greater economy, and no new school buildings.

The platoon system promotes cogestion in the schools. Children attend only half a day, instead of the customary six hours a day. Moreover, it is a well-known fact that while about six or seven percent of elementary school graduates entered high school twenty years ago, sixty or seventy percent enter high schools today. This fact shows that a large majority of workers' children, as a result of the wishes of their parents who are willing to make the sacrifice in order to secure for their children a better education, have the opportunity of going to high school. Along came the school administrators, cheapened the educational contents of the curriculum, shortened the period Of instruction, and converted the schools into factories--in order to create a supply of cheap help for the industrial magnates and corporations of Chicago.

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The organized workers are aware of the dangers emanating from the new educational system for the workers and their children. Therefore, they have started a campaign among the entire labor movement in Chicago in protest against the persons chosen by the mayor and the board of education. The workers know that the mayor picks only those persons who are recommended by the business interests of the city. When the time came to appoint members of the board of education, the mayor selected three bankers and only one union man, although the Chicago Federation of Labor recommended a well-known, experienced, high school teacher who was a member of the teachers' union. The mayor evaded the recommendation, and appointed persons known for their opposition to unions--especially to the teachers' union.

The vice-president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, who is the chairman of the committee on schools of the city council, introduced a resolution in the city council stating that the board of education should consist of five members who will devote all of their time to public-school matters.

The resolution also proposed that the mayor should appoint these members, subject, however to the approval of the city council.

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Moreover, should any of the members prove to be detrimental to the school system, the city council would have the authority to remove the member by a two-thirds majority vote. This plan would mean that the members of the board would be made responsible to the representatives of the citizens. According to the present system, the board of education is responsible to no one; its members cannot be retired, nor can they be discharged. They are responsible only to the big business interests, with whom they are personally connected.

The organized workers demand a new method for selecting the administrators, and the election of the members of the board of education by the citizens. Those elected should be educated and should be able to represent the great educational institutions possessed by the citizens of Chicago.

The campaign by the Chicago Federation of Labor against the commercialization and industrialization of the Chicago public schools deserves the support of every person who realizes the importance of maintaining the schools in the interest of Chicago's half-a-million children.