who belong pledge themselves to maintain, in so far as they are able, proper conditions on the streets with respect to play, to abstain from the illegal use of tobacco or other narcotics, and to be responsible for the correct handling of garbage, especially to see that paper, ashes, and other refuse are placed in separate receptacles, and that these receptacles are removed from the street promptly after they are emptied by the department concerned.  In one city with which the writer is acquainted, the children in the upper grades, according to the common testimony of the citizens of their community, have been responsible for the cleaning up of the street cars.  In other cities they have become interested, and have interested their parents, in the question of milk and water supply.  In some cases they have studied many different departments of the city government, and have, in so far as it was possible, lent their cooeperation.  In one case a group of children became very much excited concerning a dead horse that was allowed to remain on a street near the school, and they learned before they were through just whose responsibility it was, and how to secure the action that should have been taken earlier.

Still another type of activity which may have significance for the moral social development of children is found in the study of the life activities in the communities in which they live.  There is no reason why children, especially in the upper grades or in the high school, should not think about working conditions, especially as they involve sweat-shops or work under unsanitary conditions.  They may very properly become interested in the problems of relief, and of the measures taken to eliminate crime.  Indeed, from the standpoint of the development of socially efficient children, it would seem to be more important that some elementary treatment of industrial and social conditions might be found to be more important in the upper grades and in the high school than any single subject which we now teach.

Another attempt to develop a reasonable attitude concerning moral situations is found in the schools which have organized pupils for the participation in school government.  There is no particular value to be attached to any such form of organization.  It may be true that there is considerable advantage in dramatizing the form of government in which the children live, and for that purpose policemen, councilmen or aldermen, mayors, and other officials, together with their election, may help in the understanding of the social obligations which they will have to meet later on.  But the main thing is to have these children come to accept responsibility for each other, and to seek to make the school a place where each respects the rights of others and where every one is working together for the common good.  In this connection it is important to suggest that schemes of self-government have succeeded only where there has been a leader in the position of principal or other supervisory officer concerned.  Children’s judgments are apt to be too severe when they are allowed to discipline members of their group.  There will always be need, whatever attempt we may make to have them accept responsibility, for the guidance and direction of the more mature mind.