A Study of the Attitudes of Parent-Teachers Toward Modern Education in the Negro Elementary Schools of Tyler, Texas

It is becoming more and more evident that pupils of the traditional school are not adequately prepared to meet and selve problems involving the child\u27s individual and social needs. Changing civilization, changing concepts of the nature of society, better understanding of the learner, his learning processes, his emotional behavior, all demand the evolution of better teaching-learning situations. The shift from the silent, motionless, memorizing elementary school, is fast being replaced by the newer emphasis, that learning is living, and living involves a process of doing. Thus, the problem arises, to what extent parent-teachers of the elementary schools of Tyler, Texas are making use of the newer trends in Modern Education. The problem may be considered from the following points of view: 1. What is modern education? 2. To what extent is modern education functioning in the elementary schools of Tyler, Texas? 3. What attitudes do parent-teachers have toward the program or practices of modern education? 4. What are the tendencies toward a departure from traditional education? 5. What efforts are being made to retain what is good in traditional education? The purpose of the study is to determine by a survey of modern educational procedures as advocated by accepted authorities, what techniques and procedures are used in promoting modern education. It is hoped that an outcome of the study will assist parent-teachers to see, to what extent, the life at school actually prepares the child for higher creative living. The study proposes further to show that the school is not all of life for the child, that he lives in the home and the community, as well. The elementary school has commonly been conceived to be essentially that of training children rather than to educate them. If the elementary school is to function as it should, with the cooperation of the parent-teachers, it should foster a program of meaningful experiences, stimulate and improve abilities, and assist pupils in acquiring useful skills and knowledge that are functional