Page Eighteen
THE UNITED AMERICAN
JUNE 1925
Adult Education as a Better Citizenship Plan in Minnesota
By THEODOR UTNE, Director of Adult Evening Schools, State Department of Education, St. Paul, Minnesota.
(Special for The United American)
'T'HE NEEDS of adult education in America are
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receiving special attention in the commonwealth
of Minnesota where public opinion has created a strong
and responsive sentiment for adequately meeting these
needs and makes possible a higher standard in citizen­
ship among the immigrant people of this state. In forty
cities of this state there have been organized and con­
ducted classes in English and citizenship for foreign-
born during the school year of 1924 - 1925. The cost
of instruction is being shared jointly by the state and
the local communities, each paying approximately one-
half.
A comprehensive bulletin has been issued by the
State Department of Education outlining the three year
curriculum for elementary, non-vocational evening
schools. Copies of this bulletin may be secured from
the State Director of Adult Evening Schools, The
State Department of Education, St. Paul, Minnesota.
A plan of cooperation between the evening school
authorities and the authorities in charge of naturaliza­
tion has also been worked out.
Diplomas showing completion of the three year
evening school course, including citizenship training, is
accepted by the naturalization courts of Minnesota as
proof of fitness for citizenship and the applicant in
possession of such a diploma is thereby exempted from
any examination in the court, being merely required to
appear and take his oath of allegiance.
By this arrangement a touch of prestige and honor
is added to the attendance in the evening schools and
the urge to take the three year course can not be
overestimated.
The present and immediate outlook is favoring a
broad expansion of the Minnesota program of adult
education.
Aiding Adult Education Through the Public Library
By L. L. DICKERSON, Executive Assistant, Commi ssion on the American Library and Adult Education
(Special for The United American)
HE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, thru
a Commission on the Library and Adult Education,
is conducting a study which is intended to establish the
relation of the library to the larger field of adult educa­
tion and to make recommendations concerning the man­
ner in which libraries may aid more effectively work
in this field. This Commission will make its report in
the summer of 1926; in the meantime, preliminary
sectional reports are published thru a bulletin, Adult
Education and the Library. In the report issued De­
cember 25, 1924, as a basis for discussion, this Com­
mission states that “the organized adult education
service in libraries might include three activities:
I. A specialized service of advice to readers.
II. The supplying of information about opportuni­
ties for adult education.
III. Cooperation with other adult education enter­
prises.”
The readers’ advisory service, as distinguished from
ordinary reference service in libraries, is distinctly edu­
cational and will usually take the form of planning for
and recommending to the individual a short course of
reading and study. It requires specially qualified per­
sonnel. This person must have both breadth and depth
of knowledge. He must have the facility of the trained
and experienced librarian for finding and organizing
reading material suited to the reader. He must have
also personality, tact, sympathy, and enthusiasm, and
an understanding of adult learning processes compa­
rable to that of the successful teacher.
Public libraries should cooperate especially with
the various part-time schools which are patronized by
the adult. In fact, since the adult student attending
such a school can obtain only a limited amount of in­
struction each week he needs and must depend upon
books from the public library more than does the
younger student in the full-time school.
A service organized for the purpose of cooordinat-
ing the work of the library with that of other institu­
tions involves close and sympathetic relationship with
all those schools, classes, groups, societies, and organi­
zations which exist in every community. The success
or failure of the educational efforts of many of these
enterprises depends upon adequate library facilities
organized and administered to fit their needs. This is
especially true in the small community where educa­
tional agencies have more limited facilities for instruc­
tion.
This service will aid the work of university exten­
sion divisions, correspondence courses, continuation
schools, night classes, factory classes, labor colleges and
associated work, Sunday schools, study clubs, reading
and public discussion groups, etc.
A library planning to do systematic adult education
work will early find it necessary to collect and keep
readily accessible for the use of the public as well as ,
the library staff, all available information about oppor­
tunities for adult education existing in the community.
This information will enable the librarian to answer in­
quiries of individuals seeking to take advantage of
existing educational opportunties ; it will furnish the
knowledge upon which can be built a system of intel-1
ligent cooperation with other agencies ; and will stimu-1
late the desire for education by placing information I
about opportunities prominently before the community.
THE MYSTERIES OF EXISTENCE
Carlyle
Is anything more wonderful than another, if you consider
it maturely? I have seen no man rise from the dead: I have
seen some thousands rise from nothing. I have not the force
to fly into the sun, hut I have force to lift my hands which
is equally strange.
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