the lunch room should be on the top floor, and if the larger recreation place is out of doors, the lunch room should be placed accordingly. Modern ventilation should take care of lunch room odors, so that the argument for placing the lunch room in the attic to prevent the odors from entering the building, does not have any weight.

STORING FOOD IN QUANTITIES Adequate storage is absolutely necessary if a lunch is to be conducted at a reasonable price. Very careful consideration should be given to the storage room for general supplies, with separate cellar storage for potatoes and other vegetables, and refrigerator space for meats, butter, and milk, and a separate space for perishable fruits and vegetables. Most vegetables should be kept in a cool, moist place, similar to cellar conditions. Carrots, beets, turnips, and all other root crops will keep best if buried in sand. Apples should be kept in cold storage ranging from 36 to 38 degrees above zero. Meats require the same

take considerable experimenting before we are able to say positively that it is or is not profitable to use the entire carcass, even though we were attempting to serve a low priced lunch.

DRYING AND CANNING

During the war many schools made the experiment of drying vegetables, but in most cases it was a serious disappointment as compared with fresh stock, sweet potatoes being probably the only exception. The making of pickles, such as dill pickles, or the using of cabbage, that would otherwise spoil, in the making of kraut, is profitable, and furnishes a variety of food that is liked by a majority of the pupils. The advisability of canning fruits in season depends entirely upon whether or not you can afford to serve fruits at the price received for the lunch. The canning of vegetables would be profitable only where the lunch service is very large, and the domestic science pupils, as a part of their training, study commercial canning with the

steam pressure canning outfits. Tomatoes are probably an exception to this rule, for it is profitable to can tomatoes, even in the two quart Mason jars, if any great amount is to be used during the year. The United States Government and most of the state governments, will, on request, send bulletins giving detailed information on canning and drying fruits and vegetables.

BUYING DIRECT FROM THE PRODUCER

If the quantity of supplies and vegetables used is great, it has been found profitable to contract with the growers to furnish the desired amount. A contract entered into in the spring, guaranteeing the grower a market for his product, will often secure a very advantageous price.

FINANCE

It is assumed that the only object of conducting a school lunch is to provide a wholesome and substantial lunch at the lowest possible cost. It is, therefore, necessary that lunch room funds should not be used to subsidize any other school activities. For the sake of economy in buying there should be a reserve fund of at least $1,000.00 for a lunch service providing for from five hundred to one thousand persons, and an additional reserve of at least $1,000.00 for each additional one thousand persons or fraction thereof.

In serving a low priced lunch, many things must be taken into consideration. In a school of one thousand pupils the changing of the plate service by as little as a penny, will make a difference of from five to seven dollars a day in the income. However, raising the price of food does not always increase the income. The following is the experience of a large school with regard to the increase in the cost of milk: at three cents a glass, an average of twenty gallons a day was used; when it became necessary to advance milk to four cents, with the same student body the quantity dropped to twelve gallons and when the price was forced up to five cents,

the milk used dropped to seven gallons a day, showing conclusively that there can easily be reached a price beyond which most of the pupils cannot or will not afford to go.

MENU

It is not the intention to try to make out a menu that could be served for a school lunch, but some things should be borne in mind if we are going to keep the pupils satisfied and serve a considerable variety at a low cost. Salads, canned fruits, and imported fruits do not go with a cheap lunch, nor can there be served each day a general variety of food. After years of experience it has been found in the larger school lunch rooms that to serve a good soup, good milk, with a plate consisting of a meat, potatoes, and gravy, and occasionally another vegetable, varying the service irregularly, will keep pupils satisfied indefinitely. It does not in any way do to have a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday menu. Pupils must not know that Monday is corn beef and cabbage, Tuesday is roast beef, Wednesday is stew, and Friday is veal loaf; the very sameness spoils the appetite.

THE SALE OF CONFECTIONS

Whether or not we should sell confections with the school lunch has been decided, not by the lunch room management, but by the fact that if we do not sell a limited variety of confections, the children will leave the building and buy more and inferior candy outside. However, if confections are served, they should not be given a prominent place on the counter, nor should there be any particularly tempting display. In one large school the sale of confections and pastries has been reduced by as much as fifty per cent by specializing in apples. Apples are bought in the fall, direct from the orchard and placed in cold storage, so that they can be sold at very reasonable prices.

Box apples range from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and sixty to the box.

Apples in bulk or in barrels range from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and ninety per bushel. Ordinarily the amount a child can spend, or should spend on fruits, is not over five cent per day. With one hundred and thirty apples per box, the apples could be sold at three cents apiece, or two for five cents, which would bring a net of at least $3.25 per bushel. With one hundred and fifty apples to the bushel, at two and one-half cents each, a bushel would net $3.75.

As stated above, bulk and barrel apples will run even higher than that, so that only on rare occasions would it be necessary to charge as much as two and one-half cents for an apple if we do not want to make excessive profits.

This little detail is entered into here simply to emphasize the fact that by careful planning many things can be done that

ordinarily do not seem possible. Also, it is hoped that lunch room managers will study the problem of reducing the amount of confections sold and increasing the consumption of fruits.

CONCLUSION

In

School lunches have come to stay in technical schools; and in trade schools lunch room service can be made the training ground for institutional cookery, for caterers, for chefs, and for stewards. the regular high school, it can supplement the work of the domestic science department, and in every school it can furnish not only a good meal at a reasonable price, but the tendency is more and more to keep the lunch room so that surroundings will be furnished which will give the student a good social hour as well as a good noonday lunch.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1921

2:00 P. M.-Orchestra Hall

"Our Sense of Values," Marion L. Burton, President of the University of Michigan. "Co-operative Means in Carrying Out the School Program," Arthur H. Chamberlain, Editor Sierra Educational News and Secretary of the California Teachers' Council, San Francisco, California.

Report of Committee on Appointment and Tenure of Office of Teachers, Mrs. Bessie Leach Priddy, Michigan State Normal College, Ypsilanti.

Report of Committee on Reorganization and Amendment, Edwin L. Miller, Principal Northern High School, Detroit.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1921

8:00 P. M.-Arcadia Hall

W. L. Harding, Ex-Governor of Iowa, Des
Moines, Iowa.

"Botany as a National Asset," John M. Coulter, Professor of Botany, University of Chicago.

Report of Committee on Salaries, L. A. Butler, Superintendent of Schools, Ann Arbor.

Report of Committee on Rating Scales for Teachers, E. H. Drake, Superintendent of Schools, Kalamazoo.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1921

8:30 A. M.-Arcadia Hall

"Schools as Leaders and Servants," Henry Suzzallo, President of the University of Washington, Seattle.

"Science in Education," Elliot R. Downing, Department of Natural Science, University of Chicago.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1921

2:00 P. M.-Arcadia Hall

"Some Anglo-Saxon Ideals for American Education," Henry Suzzallo, President of the University of Washington, Seattle. "The Psychopathic Child, Characteristics and Treatment," Henry H. Goddard, Bureau of Juvenile Research, Columbus, Ohio.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1921

8:00 P. M.-North Woodward M. E.

Tabernacle

"The School's Responsibility for Delinquency," Henry H. Goddard, Bureau of Juvenile Research, Columbus, Ohio.

WHAT are the activities involved in

efficient silent reading? The answer

to this question is conditioned largely by two factors: (1) the subject matter, and (2) the purpose for which it is being read. No teacher of English, to whom is assigned the task of making children efficient in their reading habits, can afford to be ignorant of what these activities are, and how to develop them. However, since their use is dependent upon what is being read, it is equally important that she give consideration to the type of subject matter which calls forth each of these abilities.

We are rather generally agreed that every person's reading calls for certain types of activity. These may be summed up as follows: (1) the choice and use of books, which include the use of an index, keys, reference tables, graphs, judgment of the worth of a book and the use of the library; (2) remembrance; (3) comprehension; (4) scanning; (5) appreciation or interpretation; and (6) organization, which involves outlining, analyzing, solving problems or answering questions, selecting data, judging, summarizing, and evaluating what is read. We are not concerned here with the method of developing these skills. Excellent bibliographies on the subject are to be found in the Eighteenth and Twentieth Yearbooks of the National Society for the Study of Education, while a publication of recent date contains an exhaustive reference list. With the help of this wealth of material and of that which is constantly appearing in almost every issue of our educational magazines, no teacher needs remain long in ignorance of successful methods of increas

*All rights reserved.

tO'Brien, Silent Reading (Macmillan).

ing these abilities. The problem to be considered here is rather what type of subject matter are children to use in acquiring these reading skills?

To the most casual observers, it is evident that any reading one does may call forth the first three of these activities and under certain conditions, the fourth. But it is equally clear that the reading one does for the mere joy of appreciation or interpretation is of a very different sort from that which requires careful analyzing and organization in an attempt to solve a problem. If our literature, our classics, are to be used in the first of these two, appreciation and interpretation (and there is surely no question there), what then shall be the subject matter read when developing the latter, the ability to organize and analyze?

There is now very little controversy over the theory that the subject matter which the child studies should be such as gives him an understanding of and control over life. situations. That is, it should meet the same needs in his life which similar subject matter meets in life outside the school. If this is true of geography or arithmetic or science or art, why is it not equally true of reading? There are certain specific reading abilities which we wish to train the child to acquire. What type of reading material shall we use in giving him this training? There would seem to be but one sane way of answering such a query. In an actual life situation, where reading is done, what is the sort of material read which calls forth this particular ability? To illustrate, let us imagine a situation calling for reading of such a type.

A citizen becomes interested in making

his grounds more beautiful. He talks with friends, looks around at grounds which have been beautified, considers the possibility of shrubs, trees, or flowers. Finally his interest is enough aroused to turn his attention to reading about it. Where will he secure the desired information? Will he read Wordsworth's "Daffodils" or perhaps Anderson's "Legend of the Fir Tree," or Tennyson's "Flower in the Crannied Wall"? However much of inspiration these may have for him at some time, however great a contribution they may make to his enjoyment of life, it is not to these that he now turns for help. It is obvious that what he does read will be material of an informational type. For purposes of further reference, we may call this factual subject matter. It is neither recreational nor inspirational in kind, although it may be both in effect.

To one who has ever attempted to solve even the simplest problem through reading, it is most evident that many types of reading ability, outside of merely comprehending what is read, will be employed here, such as skimming, using contents and index tables, reading topical headings, etc. The reader will endeavor to bring into the environment of his experience any facts. which will add to his comprehension of what is read. He may even add several words to his vocabulary and, incidentally, refer a few times to the dictionary. But chiefly, after he has found material which bears on his subject, he will be concerned with analyzing and organizing what he reads to solve his several problems.

Quite a similar procedure would characterize the following up of any problem such as where shall I spend my vacation? would it be profitable to invest my money in a certain enterprise? how do I stand on the Irish question? or any of the many problems which we may face from time to time. The kind of material which the ordinary reader would use in solving these problems is surely not a subject of con

troversy. It would in no case be what we call our classics, what is commonly underWithout a stood by the term literature. doubt, the subject matter read would be factual in nature, however literary it might be in quality. If, as is seen here, subject matter of an informational type is used when solving a problem involving organization, would it not seem the sensible thing to use that type of reading matter when teaching children how to acquire this ability?

Let us now transfer our case to the school room to see what is done there. We choose a group of children from almost any grade or class. We give them a problem to solve similar to the one which confronted this man in life, as we find it outside of school. Suppose they are all at sea as to how to proceed, where to find material, how to find it and how to make it serve their purpose after it is found. In other words, they lack in reading skills.

What teacher, be her field that of history, mathematics, geography, civics, science, or any of the other school subjects, is not ready to corroborate the statement that a great per cent of the failures of children to meet the requirements of the course has been due to their inability to read? In making a diagnosis of the case, we decide that the group needs a three-fold training: first, in using a library or in finding material; second, in choosing and evaluating subject matter; and third, in organizing, comprehending, and analyzing what is selected. Important as the first two of these problems are, it is evident that they are not concerned with the subject of our discussion. The subject matter to be used in giving training in the last of these skills is our consideration. Without doubt, there must be carefully planned laboratory exercises. The schools decree that the reading period is the time for the application of these exercises. What is more natural than that the teacher should turn to the reader or whatever is being used for reading in the literature classes for the subject