B 3 bEO bm I ,>^P5# M^^ S££^ EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO. ILLINOIS THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY NEW TOBK THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, 8BNDAI THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY SHANGHAI Education for Social Work By JESSE FREDERICK STEINER, Ph.D. Professor of Social Technology ^ Um-venity of North Carolina THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 74 ^^'' Sg Copyright 1921 By The University of Chicago All Rights Reserved Published June 192 1 Composed and Printed By The University of Chicago Press Chicago. Illinois. U.S.A. PREFACE The unusual demand for social workers during the past few years, together with the increasing recognition of the importance of professional standards in social work, has directed attention to the necessity for more widely extended training facilities, that would be easily accessible to workers in all sections of the country. The need for workers during the war was met by the establish- ment of emergency training courses usually under the auspices of departments of sociology in colleges and universities. In a number of instances these brief training courses have developed into a more extended program of training for social work, which is gradually taking its place as a permanent feature of the university curriculum. This new development in the field of training for social work inevitably called into question the adequacy of prevailing standards and methods of training and at the same time aroused serious doubts as to the advisability of bringing professional training under the control of university leadership. The fundamental question at issue was whether professional education is a professional or educational matter. Other professions have faced this same issue and their attitude toward it has largely determined their degree of success in attaining adequate standards of training. It is to throw light on this problem in the field of social work that this study was undertaken. And however inadequate the discussion may be from other points of view, its main purpose will have been achieved if it helps to bring about a growing recognition of the scientific basis upon which the structure of social work must be built. This study was undertaken by the writer during his period of employment by the American Red Cross as National Director of Educational Service. In connection with his duties in that position fefli vi PREFACE unusual opportunities were presented for studying at first hand the work of the different training schools, as well as the varied nature of the positions the trained social worker would be called upon to fill. Acknowledgment is here made of the many courtesies extended and help given to the writer both by his colleagues in the Red Cross and by the leaders in training for social work in the universities and professional schools throughout the country. J. F. Steiner Chapel Hill, North Carolina April, 192 1 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Nature of Social Work i II. How Preparation for Social Work Has Been Secured . 6 III. The Proper Basis of Education for Social Work ... 30 IV. Technical Courses of Instruction 41 V. The Case Method of Instruction 52 VI. The Place of Field Work in the Course of Study . . 59 VII. The S0CLA.L-W0RK Laboratory 71 VIII. The Social-Work Clinic 78 IX. Recent Developments in Preparation for Rural Social Work 86 Index 97 CHAPTER I THE NATURE OF SOCIAL WORK The term social work which has come to be the accepted designa- tion for a large group of specialized activities in the field of social betterment was not in general use at the opening of the present century. Two or three decades ago such terms as philanthropy, charity, correction, outdoor reUef, care of dependents, defectives, and deHnquents, were commonly employed by those at work in these fields. This is at once evident in the names of leading organi- zations estabhshed during those early years — the Charity Organi- zation Society, Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, National Conference of Charities and Correction. When Miss Mary E. Richmond, in 1897, made her plea for professional training she urged the establishment of a "Training School in Applied Phil- anthropy." The training class which was organized in New York the following year developed later into the New York School of Philanthropy, and this name persisted until very recently when it was changed to the New York School of Social Work. This early terminology is significant, for it indicates clearly the nature of the field from which modern social work has developed. The social workers of a generation ago were frankly engaged in the work of charity or philanthropy. Their efforts were concentrated upon the disadvantaged and handicapped and represented a grow- ing attempt to understand their problems and solve them through the application of scientific methods. Just because their work was permeated with the scientific spirit it was inevitable that their attention should be increasingly directed to the forces that were dragging men down and making the work of relief such a difficult task. 2 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK Thus there developed very naturally a keen interest in what is frequently called the preventive side of social work. Those whose work was commonly thought of as being in the field of relief began to interest themselves in social legislation and in the improvement of social and industrial conditions. From the ranks of philanthropic workers there arose those who took up the fight against the adverse conditions of life instead of in behalf of the unfortunate who were disabled by those conditions. Investigations of the standards of living and housing conditions, social surveys of various kinds, pro- motion of recreational activities, organization of communities for the purposes of social betterment, arousing public sentiment against the evils of child labor, and organized efforts to give the general public a social point of view — all these and many other activities of a similar nature became a recognized part of the field of social work. This change of emphasis in social work from remedial meas- ures to those that strike at the root of social problems caused the whole field under consideration to lose its early definiteness of boundary lines. As long as social work was regarded as the adjustment of the dependent and handicapped to their environ- ment, its activities could be grouped together in a field that was peculiar to itself. Just as soon, however, as it attempted to accompUsh its purpose by bringing about modifications of the en- vironment, it allied itself with forward looking movements in many lines of work. In this sense, social work may be regarded as almost identical with the promotion of common welfare and the social worker is the individual of any occupation or profession whose life is actuated by a definite social purpose. Devine's Spirit of Social Work is dedicated to social workers, that is to say, to every man and woman, who, in any relation of life, professional, industrial, political, educational or domestic; whether on salary or as a volunteer; whether on his own individual account or as part of an organized movement, is working consciously, according to his light intelli- gently, and according to his strength persistently, for the promotion of the EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 3 common welfare — the common welfare as distinct from that of a party or a class or a sect or a business interest or a particular institution or a family or an individual. It is at once evident that while such a broad conception of social work may be logical, it leads us far beyond its distinctively tech- nical aspects. An analogy may be found in education which has both its popular and its professional sides. In one sense a large part of our activities may be looked upon as educational, but never- theless it is well understood that there is a very clearly defined field for those w^ho have to do with formal education. Social work, because it touches life in so many intimate ways and includes activities that are commonplace and informal in nature, must have its popular side that can be participated in by people of every vo- cation. This is in fact the purpose of that part of social work which lays emphasis upon the spread of sociahzed intelligence. The more intelligent people become about social duties and problems, the more active will they be in the promotion of the common wel- fare. One of the most hopeful signs of the times is the active interest of such agencies and institutions as the school, the church, chambers of commerce, farmers' organizations, etc., in social pro- grams designed to bring about a solution of social problems. But, however legitimate it may be to speak of social work in this broad sense as merging into many different fields, there is without doubt a point beyond which popular effort cannot go and main- tain a high efficiency. It is evident, for instance, that social inves- tigation involves processes for which is required a technique of its own. It is even more clear that technical equipment is needed to deal with the situations that arise in connection with the care of the dependent and handicapped. No one can doubt that the adjust- ment of the social forces of communities requires the sure touch of a hand trained for its task. These and other similar activities in the general field of social welfare stand out in a well-defined group, not primarily because of what they attempt to do, but because they 4 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK can be carried on successfully only by those who possess the proper technical training and experience. The social worker may be work- ing hand in hand with many people interested in the same general problems but he is distinguished from them because he is qualified through special training to accomphsh well certain tasks that only incidentally come to the attention of those in other fields. Social work defined in this way loses something of the indefiniteness that comes from its close relation to efforts to improve the common welfare. While its results are accomplished through the aid of many allies, it has its distinctively technical aspects which, taken together, form a group of highly specialized activities that may very well be regarded as the beginning of a new profession. But the confusion in regard to the proper limits of the field of social work has not resulted entirely from its far-reaching ten- dencies. Complications also arise from the domination of certain types of social work which more or less consciously regard themselves as occupying a fundamental position in the field of social welfare. This is especially true of the Charity Organization Society move- ment which must be recognized as the beginning of scientific social work in this country and which has maintained its place of leader- ship ever since its establishment more than a generation ago. Within this movement has been developed the technique of family case-work which was one of the first examples of the application of scientific methods to social work. The family welfare group has long been prominent in state and national conferences of social workers, and has made very significant contributions to the litera- ture dealing with social problems. It is not surprising, therefore, that family case-work should sometimes be used as synonymous with social work, and that there should be a tendency in some quarters to judge the standing of social workers by training and skill in this particular field. The natural confusion that results from this point of view can be easily seen. Social work is frequently identified with social pathol- EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 5 ogy in spite of the efforts, led in many instances by family case- workers themselves, in the wider fields of social investigation and community work. There is no clear recognition that social work has progressed to the point where remedial work represents only a part of its field. Instead of placing family case- work in its » legitimate position as one of the most important of the special activities of social work, there is a tendency to continue to regard it as the center from which all phases of social work naturally develop. A scientific interpretation of social work, upon which can be based an adequate plan for professional education, must place in the right perspective the activities that make up its technical field. Unquestionably its remedial and amehorative activities come first in importance. The problem of dealing with the subnorm al and \ handicapped presses upon us from all sides. Many generations of social neglect, of toleration of indecent conditions of Hfe, of wilful choice of the things that degrade, have produced their evil results. The proper care of dependent families, of orphaned and neglected children, of anti-social and subnormal individuals, requires skill, and no social worker, whatever his specialized form of work, dare be ignorant of the technique needed in this field. On the other hand due importance must be given to methods of social investigation, analysis of community life, construction of community programs, the technique of organized recreation, and problems of social work administration. These are aspects of social work that are now demanding many skilled leaders, and unfor- tunately there is no general agreement as to the technique involved or as to the way workers in these fields should be prepared. No system of education for social work can be regarded as adequate until the methods of training in social investigation and social organization are as carefully worked out as is the technique of instruction for the remedial side of social work. CHAPTER II HOW PREPARATION FOR SOCIAL WORK HAS BEEN SECURED It is a matter of common knowledge that the professional schools of law, medicine, teaching, and engineering began as a supplement to the apprenticeship system which was the original method of preparation for technical tasks. The difficulties these schools ex- perienced in establishing themselves in competition with what were regarded as more practical methods of training can be understood without detailed reference to the past, for in some of these fields, at least, the apprenticeship system is still an active competitor and exerts a restraining influence upon efforts to raise standards of professional education. A study of the methods of preparation for social work shows no exception to this experience of the well-established professions. The only difference worthy of mention is that social work is a more recent development, and therefore the apprenticeship system is still in vogue to an extent that would hardly be permitted today in other professions. The apprentice method as it has been developed in the social- work field has been simply a means employed by organizations to train their new workers. The employee in training sometimes re- ceives formal instruction from his superior through assigned read- ings and conferences, but the training consists chiefly of practical work carried on under supervision. Such an apprenticeship there- fore cannot be called training for social work for it gives the worker no well-rounded view of the whole field but prepares him merely for specific tasks within a single organization. The organization that conducts the training often safeguards its own interests by requiring the new worker to remain in its em- ploy for a stated period of time. In 1898 the Boston Associated 6 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 7 Charities requested its agents in training to agree in advance to remain for three years in the service of that Society. The United Charities of Chicago in 1915 demanded a two-year period of service of those whom it undertook to train. This rule, which was quite generally followed, makes it clear that the well-estabhshed social work organizations in the larger cities have not desired to accept responsibility for the training of workers not in their employ. In a report read at the National Conference of Charities and Correction at Topeka, Kansas, in 1900, it was stated that there is but one Society which is making a special effort to train agents and secretaries for positions in newly organized societies and so spreading the gospel of organized charities in other cities. This has no reference to the New York Society which is conducting an excellent six weeks' mid-summer course for those who wish to take advanced work. Eight years later Mrs. John M. Glenn discussed this same subject in a paper read at the National Conference of Charities and Correction in Richmond, and quoted a field secretary as follows: I do not know whether large societies feel a responsibility toward small societies or not. The engagement of a field secretary for Charities and the Commons would seem to be an indirect evidence that they do. I don't think we are ready to train workers sent us from other cities, expecting them to go back to work in other cities. An apprenticeship system that was limited to the large organi- zations of a few cities, and admitted to training only a number sufl&cient to take care of their labor turnover, could never meet the demand for trained workers in a line of work that was constantly expanding. The first public evidence of recognition of this fact in this country was a paper read by Miss Anna Dawes, in 1893, at the International Congress of Charities in Chicago. In this paper, which had as its subject "The Need of Training Schools for a New Profession," Miss Dawes pointed out the desperate situation in which the Charity Organization Society found itself because new societies were springing up more rapidly than trained workers could 8 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK be supplied. As a result of this lack of skilled leadership an undue proportion of these organizations were either failing utterly or were carrying on their work in a feeble and inefficient manner. In com- menting on this situation, Miss Dawes said: I am convinced that it is not so much lack of willing individuals as entire lack of opportunity for training that is the real trouble. For no matter how much a man may wish to go into this work there is no place where he can learn its duties What is needed, it seems to me, is some course of study where an inteUigent young person can add to an ordinary education such branches as may be necessary for this purpose, with a general view of those special studies in political and social science which are most closely connected with the problem of poverty, and where both he and his associate already learned in the study of books can be taught what is now the alphabet of charitable science — some knowledge of its underlying ideas, its tried and trusted methods, and some acquaintance with the various devices employed for the upbuilding of the needy, so that no philanthropic undertaking, from a model tenement house to a kindergarten or a sand heap, will be altogether strange to his mind. .... It seems to me that the time has come when either through a course in some established institution or in an institution by itself, or by the old- fashioned method never yet improved upon for actual development — the method of experimental training as the personal assistant of some skilled worker — it ought to be possible for those who would take up this work to find some place for studying it as a profession ^ This appeal for a training school did not lead to immediate action. However clearly a few leaders might see the need of trained workers, there was very little recognition of this need on the part of the pubHc. The ninety-two charity organization societies in existence at that time represented an important and growing move- ment, but they were supported by a limited clientele, and their methods were not fully understood or approved. Even when we add to this Hst of charity organization societies the organizations that were springing up in related kinds of social work, the field was still too Hmited in scope to offer many inducements to trained workers. It must not be forgotten also that the public did not regard philanthropic work as a technical activity that required 1 Charities Review, III, 49-51. EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK g Special skill and so quite readily employed as workers in this field those who lacked proper training and experience. This was brought out very strikingly by Miss Mary E. Richmond in an address made at Philadelphia, in 1897, in the course of which she cited the fol- lowing incidents: "You ask me," wrote a clergyman, "what qualifications Miss has for the position of agent in the Charity Organization Society. She is a most estimable lady and the sole support of a widowed mother. It would be a real charity to give her the place." Another applicant for the same position when asked whether she had any experience in charity work, replied that she had had a good deal — she had sold tickets for church fairs. Though those par- ticular ladies were not employed, is it not still a very common thing to find charity agents who have been engaged for no better reason? — like the one who was employed to distribute relief because he had failed in the grocery business.' The National Conference of Charities and Correction, which had been bringing together the leading social workers of the country in annual conference since 1873, gave its first extended consideration to the problem of professional training at its session in Toronto in 1897. At that meeting Miss Richmond read a paper on the sub- ject ''The Need of a Training School in Applied Philanthropy," in which she stated her belief that professional standards could not be attained until a training school had been provided. With admir- i able clearness she pointed out the confusion that existed because I the different types of philanthropic workers were not famihar with j the common ground of knowledge that underHes all charitable work.f She says. If an agent of a relief society has occasion to confer with the head of a foundling asylum, is it not likely that the ends they have in view, that the principles underlying their work, that the very meanings which they attach to our technical terms, will prove to be quite at variance? What an incalculable gain to humanity when those who are doctoring social diseases in many depart- ments of charitable work shall have found a common ground of agreement and be forced to recognize certain established principles as underlying all effective service! Not immediately, of course, but strongly and steadily such a common ground could be established, I believe, by a training school for our professional workers. ^Ibid. (June, 1897), p. 308. lo, EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK Miss Richmond's plan for the school did not go into details, but included recommendations that it be located in a large city where students could have direct access to the work of pubKc and private charitable agencies, that its afhhation with an educational institu- tion should not prevent the placing of emphasis upon practical work rather than upon academic requirements, and that a considerable part of the instruction be given by specialists in the different fields who could be engaged to give their lectures during the less busy months of the year. At the same meeting another plan was brought forward by Miss Frances R. Morse, which contemplated the development of co-operative normal- training by the larger charity organization centers. In the opinion of Miss Morse, satisfactory training could be provided by setting up a responsible group of advisers who would assign students in training to different organizations for definite periods and exercise general supervision over the students* instruction so as to make sure that it would cover a wider field than that of a single agency. It was in fact a sort of centrally directed apprenticeship system whereby a new worker would be assigned at successive periods to different agencies, thus making it possible to secure a well-rounded experience. Miss Morse's plan did not meet with general favor and the time did not seem ripe for the estabHshment of a training school. The following year, however, in the summer of 1898, the New York Charity Organization Society took the first steps in the direction of a professional school by holding a six weeks' training course. In a lengthy editorial on the subject, "A Training School in Charities and Correction," the Charities Review of May, 1898, gave the fol- lowing description of the course to be held that summer: The main feature of this course is that no tiiition is charged, but members of the course are expected to enter the service of the society for six weeks. District work, care of one or more families, investigation of special subjects with one major and one minor report of the results of such investigation are EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK ii to be required. There will be daily sessions for lectures and discussions. An attractive program has been arranged under the following general plan. During the first week the subject of charity organization and general philanthropic work will be considered with visits to the offices in the charities building, industrial agencies of New York and Brooklyn, and other private charitable institutions. The second week will be devoted to the care of dependent and deUnquent children and the philanthropic side of mission enter- prise. In the third week, study will be made of the pubHc charitable insti- tutions with addresses from the several superintendents and from the President of the Board of Charities Commissioners. Attention will be given to the work of the state Charities Aid Association and the state Board of Charities. The fourth week will be devoted to the study of the care of the dependent sick. Visits will be made to various hospitals, dispensaries, etc. Consideration will be given to the care for the aged, and fresh air work. The fifth week will include some study of general sanitary improvements, the divisions of the health departments and visits to the improved tenements in New York and Brooklyn. The first part of the sixth week will be given to the care of delin- quents with visits to the workhouse and penitentiary; the second half to a review of the work of the class, with further study into the functions of charity organization societies in developing the several branches of philanthropic and reform work into unity and precision. It is not expected that a thorough training will be imparted in this period. No diploma or degrees are to be conferred and no promises made concerning future employment of those who avail themselves of the opportunity offered. As an experimental contribution toward the end in view, the results of the present training class will be watched with interest. Dr. Philip W. Ayres was placed in charge of the training class which was attended by twenty-seven students representing fourteen colleges and universities and.eleven states. According to the report of the New York Charity Organization Society for 1897-98, this course was carried on along the lines indicated in a highly satis- factory manner. The report says : The inunediate results of this experimental course are all that was antici- pated. Permanent positions have been secured by some, others have gained valuable material for the university class room, while still others have entered upon special lines of inquiry which will be prosecuted in the future. It is hoped that from this beginning a plan of professional training in applied philanthropy 12 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK may be developed which will raise the standards of qualifications and of use- fulness throughout the entire field of charitable work. ^ This Summer School in Philanthropic Work, as it was called, filled such a real need that it became for a period of seven years a regular feature of the work of the New York Charity Organization Society. Until the year 1903, this summer course represented prac- tically the only organized effort to provide systematic training in the philanthropic field. As its purpose was primarily to increase the efficiency of active workers, its attendance was largely Hmited to those who had at least one year's experience in social work. New workers were supposed to serve a period of apprenticeship with a social agency before becoming eligible to register for the course. The desire for training was so great that it was not difficult to secure students of high grade. Two hundred and fifteen students were enrolled during the period 1898-1904, an average of thirty for each session, which was as large a class as their limited facihties at that time made practicable. Among those who took this six weeks' course are many well-known teachers and specialists in the social- work field. The list of graduates includes: Dr. U. G. Weatherly, professor of sociology. University of Indiana; C. C. Carstens, gen- eral secretary, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children; Kate H. Claghorn, instructor in social research. New York School of Social Work; Dr. Carl Kelsey, professor of sociology, University of Pennsylvania; Dr. E. W. Capen, professor of soci- ology, Hartford Theological Seminary; Eugene T. Lies, formerly general superintendent. United Charities of Chicago; W. Frank Persons, vice-chairman in charge of Domestic Operations, American Red Cross; 'Alexander M. Wilson, formerly director, CiviHan Relief, Atlantic Division, American Red Cross; Lillian Brandt, formerly statistician. New York Charity Organization Society; Mrs. Alice Higgins Lothrop, formerly director, CiviUan Relief, New England Division, American Red Cross; Paul U. Kellogg, editor of Survey; Frances A. Keller, well-known writer and authority on unemploy- EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 13 ment; Porter R. Lee, director, New York School of Social Work; and Howard S. Braucher, general secretary of Community Service, Incorporated. In 1903 the training program of the New York Charity Organi- zation Society was extended to include a six months' winter session which provided weekly lectures at a late afternoon hour so that the course would be available for social workers employed in the city. One hundred and forty-seven registered for this course, but the attendance was irregular on account of the heavy work of the charitable societies caused by an unusually severe winter. The following year these experimental training classes developed into the New York School of Philanthropy under the direction of the Committee on Philanthropic Education of the New York Charity Organization Society. The first director of the school was Dr. Edward T. Devine, who served in this capacity in connection with his duties as general secretary of the New York Charity Organiza- tion Society. A full year's course of training was estabHshed which was planned primarily for students without experience in social work. The first year fifty-seven students registered, twelve of whom completed the year's work and received the certificate of the school. In the fall of the same year, 1904, a similar school was estab- lished in Boston under the title "School for Social Workers, Main- tained by Simmons College and Harvard University." Its first published announcement stated that it was a school for the study of charity, correction, neighborhood upUft, and kindred forms of social service, whether under private management or public adminis- tration. Its purpose is to give opportunities to men and women to study social problems by practical methods, particularly to those who would become oflficials of institutions and agencies or would prepare themselves for service as volunteers in this field of work. The school opened with one classroom and a small ofiice in Hamilton Place, Boston, with an enrolment of twenty-six students. 14 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK Dr. Jeffrey R. Brackett, the President of the Department of Charities and Correction of Baltimore, was appointed director and remained in active charge of the school for a period of sixteen years. This demand for trained social workers which resulted in the establishment of these schools in New York and Boston was felt also in other cities of the country where social work was being carried on aggressively. In Chicago the movement to secure trained workers was led by Graham Taylor of Chicago Commons, who took a prominent part in the development of the Chicago Institute of Social Science which was established in 1903 as a part of the Extension Division of the University of Chicago. In the January, 1904, issue of The Commons Graham Taylor wrote as follows concerning this new training course : At the initiative of a settlement worker, heartily supported by the repre- sentatives of practically all the private and public charity and correctional institutions of the city, the University of Chicago will furnish the great facilities of its Extension Department for the establishment of training centers and correspondence courses. Dr. Taylor was appointed director of the Institute which held its first sessions in the rooms of the University College in the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue. The students were enrolled chiefly from the ranks of those employed by the Chicago social agencies and institutions. The new training course proved so successful that the Russell Sage Foundation, which was one of the most active supporters of the movement to develop professional training for social work, enlarged the Institute by establishing in 1907 a depart- ment of Research, with Julia C. Lathrop and Sophonisba P. Breck- inridge in charge. The following year the Trustees of Chicago Commons Association, which had, since 1906, assumed responsi- bility for the administrative expenses of the Institute, transferred the management of the school to a new board organized for that purpose. Steps were immediately taken to establish the school EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 15 on an independent basis and it was incorporated in 1908 undeo the name of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. /The object of the school as stated at that time was "to promote through instruction, training, investigation, and pubUcation, the efficiency of civic, philanthropic and social work and the improvement of living and working conditions." Graham Taylor still continued to hold his place of leadership in the school and had among his co-workers, Sophonisba P. Breckenridge, Edith Abbott and Allen T. Bums. Still farther west, in the city of St. Louis, this movement to provide formal instruction in social work appeared almost con- temporaneously with its rise in the eastern cities. The interest in social work training in St. Louis first found expression, in the winter of 1901-2, in a series of round-table meetings of the workers in the St. Louis Provident Association under the direction of the General Manager, W. H. McClain. From this beginning there developed a series of fortnightly conferences of the social workers in the city, followed a little later by fortnightly public lectures given by persons prominent in different fields of social work. Regular classroom work was not begun until/i907, when a course was held in the Y.M.C.A. building, for a period of fifteen weeks, at which twenty- three regular students were enrolled. The first full year's course was begun in the autumn of 1908. While the school was started by the social workers in the city in order to provide training facilities for themselves, it was not developed on an independent basis. Through the efforts of Professor C. A. Ell- wood, of the department of sociology of the University of Missouri, and Mr. W. H. McClain, manager of the St. Louis Provident Association, the school was in 1906 closely affiliated with the Uni- versity of Missouri. In accordance with the plan agreed upon Dr. Thomas J. Riley of the department of sociology in the uni- versity became the first director of the school, thus insuring a vital relationship with the university in spite of the latter's location l6 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK at a considerable distance from St. Louis. As first organized the school was known as the St. Louis School of Philanthropy. In 1909 its name was changed to the St. Louis School of Social Economy, which remained its title until 1916 when it was re- christened the Missouri School of Social Economy. The success of the schools of social work in New York and Boston stimulated the social agencies in Philadelphia to provide a training course in that city for the training of their own workers. In 1908 a special training class was held, which was organized the following year as the Philadelphia Training School for Social Work. In the 1910 report of the Philadelphia Society for Organizing Charity, its general secretary, Porter R. Lee, made the following statement in regard to the origin of this school: In many ways the most important step to which the Society has lent its influence has been the estabHshment of the Philadelphia Training School for Social Work. Believing that it would be a distinct service to the community to offer training in social work in Philadelphia to Philadelphia people who might thereby be encouraged to remain in the city for their permanent work, the Children's Bureau two years ago established a course of lectures on the practical problems and methods of social work, a large number of which were given by experts from outside the city. The lack of opportunities for field work in connection with the lectures and the difficulty of holding the students to definite requirements were obstacles to the success of the plan as a training school. This course has now been expanded into a definitely organized school with a curriculum providing for both class work and field work and for definite tests for graduations. This has been made possible through the co-operation of a large number of the city's agencies for social work of which this Society is one. The enrolment of the school for the first year was fifty-two. Mr. W. 0. Easton, director of instruction of the Philadelphia Y.M.C.A., had personal charge of the administration of the school in the capacity of executive secretary, during the first few years of its existence. The teaching staff was composed of leading specialists in social work in that city. In 1916 the school was EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 17 incorporated as the Pennsylvania School for Social Service, and under the direction of Dr. Bernard J. Newman, and later of Dr. Frank D. Watson, developed an extensive course of study designed to prepare students for all the more important types of social work. This movement to develop training centers for social work made its first ventures in the South in 1916 with the establishment of the Richmond School of Social Economy at Richmond, Virginia, and the Texas School of Civics and Philanthropy at Houston, Texas. The former is now known as the Richmond School of Social Work and Public Health and has as its director. Dr. H. H. Hibbs, Jr., under whose leadership the school was organized. The Texas School of Civics and Philanthropy, which was organized by the social agencies of Houston as an independent school, was taken over by Rice Institute in 1918, when its director, Dr. Stuart A. Queen, resigned to enter the military service. These seven schools fall very conveniently into one group, not merely because they represent similar methods of instruction, but because they are to a large extent the outcome of the efforts of social workers to provide training facihties and have been built up in accordance with the ideals of practical workers rather than with those of university teachers. The schools in this group are usually spoken of as the independent schools, to distinguish them from the departments and schools of social work that have been established within recent years by colleges and universities. As a matter of fact, only one of these seven schools enjoys the distinction of having been entirely free from academic connections during its entire history. The New York School of Social Work has from its earUest be- ginnings been under the direction of the Charity Organization So- ciety of New York and affiliated with Columbia University. In a communication of John S. Kennedy to the president of the New York Charity Organization Society in October, 1904, notifying 1 8 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK them of his gift to that organization of securities yielding an annual income of $10,000 for this new school, he said: I have also considered the possible desirability of establishing the School as a department of some university, but have decided it should preferably be connected directly with the practical charity work of the city in analogy rather to training schools for nurses which are connected with hospitals, than to any separate university department. He desired, however, the school to be affihated with Columbia University and arranged for the president of the university to be a member of the committee in charge of the school. What this affiliation with Columbia involved is stated in the Handbook of the New York School of Philanthropy for the year 1905-6 as follows: The students of the School of Philanthropy are admitted to any course in Columbia for which they may be qualified without charge of tuition fees, the selection of courses being subject in each instance to the approval of the Director of the School and of the instructor in the University whose course is chosen. Students of Columbia University are given reciprocal privileges in the School of Philanthropy and the work of the School is accepted by the University as the equivalent of one minor subject for an advanced degree. During the early years of the school's existence this affiliation was strengthened by the fact that Dr. Edward T. Devine and Dr. Samuel M. Lindsay, the first directors of the school, were also mem- bers of the faculty of Columbia University. Within the past two years the relation of the school to the university has been modified by a discontinuance of the plan of reciprocal fee privileges. The School for Social Workers in Boston was organized in response to the requests of the social workers in that city, but was from the first maintained by Simmons College and Harvard University. Later the connection with Harvard was discontinued and at present this school is conducted as a regular department of Simmons College. The Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy grew out of the Chicago Institute of Social Science which was conducted under the EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 19 auspices of the Extension Department of the University of Chicago. In 1908 the school became an independent corporation and main- tained that status until 1920, when its work was taken over by the University of Chicago. The Missouri School of Social Economy was affliated with the University of Missouri at the time of its first organization. In 1909 this aflaliation was transferred to Washington University at St. Louis and the school was conducted as one of the University de- partments until 1915, when the University severed its relationship with the school because of the withdrawal of the financial support of the Russell Sage Foundation. For one year the school was con- ducted as an independent enterprise and then was taken over by the University of Missouri which still conducts it under the direc- tion of its Extension Department. The Pennsylvania School for Social Service has maintained its independent status from its first organization until the present time. The Richmond School of Social Work and Public Health was established independently, but in 1920 was affiliated with William and Mary College^ While all but one of these schools have had at some time in their history, college or university connections, none of their affilia- tions, prior to the transfer of the Chicago School to the University of Chicago, has been of such a nature that the university has had an active part in determining the policies and standards of the professional school. These schools, whatever their academic affiha- tions, have been largely under the control of social workers and throughout their whole development have laid their emphasis upon l^^gractical training for specific kinds of social w ork.j Another characteristic of this group of professional schools is the striking similarity in their curricula and methods of instruction. The terminology used in the announcement of courses may vary in different schools but there is little variation in the field they attempt to cover. During the first years of the New York School of >/' 20 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK Philanthropy, its courses of instruction were arranged under the fol- lowing groups: (1) survey of the field, principles, theories, and methods of general application; (2) the state in relation to charity; (3) racial traits in the population; (4) constructive social work; (5) the care of needy families in their homes; (6) child-helping agencies; (7) treatment of the criminal. In the announcement of the Boston School in 1905, the topics included in the course of studies were (1) aim of social service; (2) improvement of general conditions of liv- ing; (3) neighborhood improvement in city and country; (4) scope of charity; (5) the needy family; (6) persons out of their own fami- Hes; (7) the criminal. At about the same time the Chicago school announced courses in (1) introduction to the study of philanthropic and social work; (2) personal, institutional, and public effort for dependents; (3) preoccup3dng and preventive policy, agencies, and methods. The course of study during those early years was centered around the problem of poverty and methods of work with the handicapped and dependent. This was still further emphasized by the require- ment of field work which was carried on largely under the direction of agencies doing case-work with families. This emphasis, which may now seem somewhat one-sided, was then entirely natural and proper because the students' best opportunities for employment were in the case-work field, and few other agencies were prepared to give field work training of any value. This situation, which influenced the early development of these schools, still persists, although to a lesser degree. /We are not surprised therefore to find that while the courses of study have been widened to include social investigation, community organization, industrial welfare, mental hygiene, etc., the plan of field-work training has experienced great difficulty in keeping pace with all the newer developments in the field of social work. However much this group of profes- sional schools may differ as to particular courses they offer, they find a common bond of agreement in their emphasis upon their EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 21 case-work departments and in their insistence that case-work must form a very considerable part of the training of all their students, no matter in which field they intend to specialize. It thus appears that professional training for social work owes its origin and early development to the initiative of groups of social workers rather than to any leadership given to it by the universities. Even in those instances where university affiliations were made, the movement was led by the social workers and the curriculum was shaped to meet the needs of social agencies rather than made to conform to the usual requirements of a graduate school. It is difficult to conceive how this could have been otherwise when we recall that at the time of the establishment of the first summer course in New York for philanthropic workers, sociology had made a very small beginning as a university study, and that for the next ten or fifteen years sociologists were occupied so largely with debates about method, that their work seemed very remote from the problems in which social workers were interested. Nevertheless the sociologists were not altogether indifferent to their opportunities in the practical field and in some instances took active steps to correlate their work with that of social agencies. One of the earliest efforts of this kind was a co-operative plan of study worked out in 1894 between the University of Wisconsin and the Associated Charities of Cincinnati. As a result of a series of lectures given the preceding year at the University of Wisconsin by Dr. P. W. Ayers, secretary of the Cincinnati Associated Chari- ties, and another series given at Cincinnati by Dr. Richard T. Ely, of the University of Wisconsin, on "Sociahsm and Social Reform," two scholarships in the University of Wisconsin in practical soci- ology were estabhshed which entitled the holders to spend the summer vacation in Cincinnati in practical social work under the direction of Dr. Ayers. These two scholarship holders were joined the first summer by eight other college students interested in social science and formed probably the first group of college students 22 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK supplementing their university studies by supervised field work with social agencies. Mr. C. M. Hubbard, writing in the Charities Review of December, 1894, called attention to the fact that this experi- ment demonstrated the value to universities of this type of labora- tory work. The arrangement, however, proved to be only a temporary one, and did not lead at that time to the establishment of regular courses of instruction in applied sociology at the Uni- versity of Wisconsin. Another effort to bring about a vital relation between the study of sociology and the work of social agencies was made during that same year (1894) by the new School of Sociology established in connection with the Hartford Theological Seminary. This school planned a three-year course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Sociology. Specialists from the field of social work were brought in as lecturers and the course included practical field work with social agencies. As early as 1893, the University of Chicago announced courses in practical sociology to be given by Professor C. R. Henderson, which, if properly correlated with field work, would have afforded perhaps the best opportunity for social work training to be found at that time. One of the first significant efforts in the university field to give the courses in practical sociology a vocational trend was made in 1910 by Dr. J. E. Hagerty, Professor of Economics and Sociology at Ohio State University. In a bulletin issued that year by the university announcing courses for the training of students in busi- ness administration and social science, the following statement was made: The Social Science group of courses has been arranged for the training of professional and volunteer social workers. The state of Ohio has thousands of paid and volunteer social workers, most of whom are untrained for their work. If it is the duty of the state university to train its students for efl&cient citizenship, it should offer facilities for the training of professional and volun- EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 23 teer social workers. The new ideas of philanthropy, if put in practice, would reduce the number of dependents and criminals, and make more eflScient the state and county institutions and the private charities. The curriculum, which was primarily designed for the last two years of the undergraduate course, included such subjects as charities, criminology, accounting, psychology, labor organization, labor legislation, races, poverty and preventive philanthropy, animal psychology, abnormal psychology, folk psychology, a seminar in social research, and field work under supervision run- ning throughout the last year. The university had already been conducting courses in applied sociology for a period of five years and was well equipped to give the required instruction in this field. This training course differed from the usual courses offered by the independent schools of social work in that it was planned to fit into the undergraduate curriculum, laid a great deal of emphasis upon knowledge of fundamental subjects, and did not give the customary amount of time to field work experience. The demand for training of this kind was sufficient to justify its continuance, and in 1916 social service training became a regular activity of the newly organized College of Conmierce and Journalism. This move- ment at Ohio State University was in a measure typical of what was undertaken in a few other colleges and universities, but in general the technical courses in applied sociology offered by uni- versities prior to the world-war could not be regarded as con- stituting much more than an excellent background for professional study. The need of active university participation in education for social work was set forth in a strildng manner by Professor Felix Frankfurter of the Harvard Law School at the National Conference of Charities and Correction at Baltimore in 1915. After pointing out the successive steps in the development of medical and legal education in this country, Dr. Frankfurter said: 24 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK I submit that what has been found necessary for adequate training for those social activities which we call the profession of law and medicine, is needed for the very definite, if undefined, profession we call social work. I can not beheve that the preliminary training of a lawyer, most of his Hfe spent in the adjustment of controversies between individuals, requires less of a background, less of an understanding of what has gone before in life, less of a rigorous critical discipline, than is needed by those of you who go out to pass judgment on the social conditions of whole communities; by those of you who administer laws like the minimum-wage laws, and the other social legis- lation now administered in great numbers by social workers. Secondly, I can not believe that a training fit to discipline people who shall guide and deal with the social forces of the day, can be done in less time than the time found necessary for the training of lawyers. Thirdly, I can not believe that the experience of medicine anji .law as to the quality of teachers to train men in those professions, applies less in regard to teachers of social work. I believe social workers, to reach the professional level, must be guided by teachers who give their whole t^me and thought to it. The time has gone by when the teaching of any profession can be entrusted to persons who from their exacting outside work of practice ortidministration, give ^o teaching tl^eir tired leavings. Finally, and at the center of it all, is complete ^s$5cfe,tion with a university. The schools for social work have sprung up, of course, in 6ur large industrial cities. Is not their evolution destmed to become an integral part of the uni- versities in those cities to which they are now, in most cases, somewhat platoni- cally attached? For the university is the workshop of our democracy. If it is not that, it has no excuse for being. The university should be the laboratory of this great new mass of scientific and social facts, and the co-ordinator of these facts for legislation, for administration, for courts, for pubHc opmion. The nineteenth century necessarily was a period of specialization, even over- specialization. Our task is to unify and correct the partial facts of the all too scattered social sciences. Mr. Flexner truly pictured the character of social work in showing its close interrelation with medicine and law, and sanitation, and the other applied social sciences. In a scattered way these professional studies are now pursued by the university. The function of the university, however, is to accommodate these various social sciences, to unite in a whole all these facts of life. The schools for social work must be intimate parts of the university, because they must have contact with the other branches of the university's work. I suspect that by a careful scheme of co-ordination our great universities could estabUsh schools of applied social science with very little addition to their existing plant or personnel. These schools need the EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 2$ university. But the university needs the school for social work. Just as the medical school can not do its job well without a connected hospital, so the medical school, and the law school, and other branches of the university, need the experience and the experimentation which a school for social work should produce. These various aspects, necessarily specializations of one common endeavor, shotdd be parts of a single intellectual community. At the time when this statement was made, only a few of the universities were at all conscious of the important service they could render in this field of professional education. The social workers on their part were not incHned to urge universities to develop their curricula in this direction. As a matter of fact, the belief was quite generally held among social workers that training could be given much more advantageously in an independent school unhampered by academic traditions. The university courses, it was felt, would give an inadequate place to field work and would turn out theorists instead of persons equipped along practical lines. Without doubt, the prevaiHng type of instruction in university departments of sociology gave considerable ground for the attitude of the social workers. Graduate students in sociology preparing for teaching positions were seldom required to supplement their university instruction with clinical experience in the social work field. Their acquaintance with social agencies was usually hmited to what could be gained through observational visits or assignment for research based on the data available in their files. It was not uncommon for sociologists equipped in this way to underestimate what is involved in learning the technique of social work. Their attitude toward the social agency was not similar to that of the medical instructor toward the hospital clinic. They were not accustomed to regard participation in the work of a social agency as a valuable means of acquiring scientific knowledge of social problems. To the extent that the foregoing justly characterized the usual attitude of sociological instructors, it is clear that they were not 26 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK fitted for leadership in training for social work. But what must not be overlooked was the growing tendency in all the social sciences toward active participation in practical affairs. The psychologists and economists as well as the sociologists were rapidly making a place for themselves outside their customary academic r61es. Undoubtedly this movement which had been gaining momentum for a considerable time was greatly accelerated during the world- war. Men in academic positions suddenly found themselves called upon to aid in organizing and conducting the network of industrial and social agencies that sprang into activity because of the military situation. The experience gained in this way could not fail to have a profound effect upon their attitude toward practical work. Moreover, the experience of the universities in modifying their courses of study so as to provide practical training along lines of war work must not be forgotten. Of special significance for depart- ments of sociology were the emergency training courses in home service, which these departments were asked to give in co-operation with the American Red Cross. These training courses were held during and immediately following the war in fifteen universities where, previously, practical training for social work had not been undertaken. In order that these courses might be as nearly as possible uniform in quaHty and content, the Red Cross outlined the subject-matter, prescribed the standards of the course, supple- mented the teaching personnel of the university and usually as- sumed responsibility for the field work of the students. Through these home service institutes there was demonstrated the need of training faciHties for social work in wide sections of the country where schools of that kind had not existed. By actual experience the university men who participated in these courses came to a proper appreciation of the requirements in this field of professional education. Without doubt the efforts of the Red Cross to estabhsh EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 27 these training courses were an important factor in stimulating the interest of universities in education for social work. At the time of the organization of the Association of Training Schools for Professional Social Work in 1919, it was found that nine colleges and universities were doing work of a sufficiently high grade in this field to warrant their enrolment as members of this Associa- tion. This Kst comprised Bryn Mawr College, Carnegie Institute of Technology, Smith College, University of Chicago, University of Minnesota, Ohio State University, University of Pittsburgh, Univer- sity of Toronto, and Western Reserve University. This group by no means includes all the colleges and universities now actively at work in this field. Other institutions that are offering this year pro- fessional courses in social work are the following: Berea College, Kentucky, University of CaHfornia, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Indiana, University of North Carolina, University of Oklahoma, University of Oregon, Uni- versity of Washington, McGill University, Tulane University, and University of Wisconsin. In addition to these, brief training courses were given during the past year in Cornell University, New Jersey State College of Agriculture, University of West Virginia, University of Virginia, Converse College, University of Kentucky, University of Iowa, University of Texas, University of Colorado, Syracuse University, University of Nebraska, University of Missouri, and Iowa State College of Agriculture. While the experience of these institutions in this field of pro- fessional education has covered a very brief period, there are already evident certain outstanding tendencies that are exercis- ing a profound influence upon methods of education for social work. In the first place their curriculum is built up to meet the needs of college students and graduates. The usual university standards of admission discourage the attendance of those whose qualifications are based on practical experience rather than upon attainments 28 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK along academic lines. Students with inadequate academic prepara- tion may gain admission as special students but their inability to get university credit tends to restrict attendance to people of college grade. It is reasonable to expect that the university schools of social work will follow the example of the older professional schools in the universities and gradually raise the entrance requirements until students ineligible to work for a degree will be denied ad- mission. A second characteristic of their work is their insistence on pre- requisite studies in the social sciences as a basis for professional instruction. This of course does not represent so much a new departure as a change of emphasis. The older schools of social work have always recognized the value of knowledge of the social sciences, but with few exceptions they have not insisted upon a thorough- going study in this field as preliminary to a professional course. The attitude of the universities, on the other hand, is seen in their attempt to build up a four- or five-year course in which students would, from the beginning of their undergraduate work, specialize in the social sciences. Again a majority of the university schools of social work have given chief emphasis to courses in small town and rural community problems. The universities have been stimulated to enter this field of community organization largely because of the recent wide- spread demand on the part of the Red Cross for community workers. The location also of many of these university schools in compara- tively small towns has made it natural for them to study the social problems nearest at hand. At present courses in community studies, community organization, recreation, and similar courses dealing with preventive and constructive rather than remedial social work, are receiving increasing attention in most of the universities' schools of social work. In order to provide suitable field work for these courses dealing with small town and open country problems, it has been necessary EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 29 to depart widely from the usual methods. Instead of turning students over to a well-equipped agency for practical training, it has been necessary to give them much of their experience in com- munities where social work had not been well organized. Family case-work has not been neglected but in adapting its methods to small towns and rural situations, the university schools of social work have faced a difficult problem. Of equal importance with this family work is field work with communities and with groups within these communities. This involves experience in com- munity studies, development of community programs, community recreation, and the building up of a public interest in social prob- lems. The university schools of social work located in small towns have had to concentrate their efforts on the development of training facilities in unorganized communities, instead of relying upon social agencies to provide practical training for their students. The colleges and universities therefore have not only entered the field of education for social work but are already beginning to place their stamp upon standards and methods of instruction. At least twenty-one colleges and universities in this country and in Canada have definitely undertaken to develop schools of social work as a regular part of their activities. The effect of this in taking the control of instruction in social work away from the practical workers and placing it in the hands of educational special- ists is already being seen. CHAPTER III THE PROPER BASIS OF EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK The history of professional education reveals a long struggle to determine the proper basis upon which technical instruction should build. As long as professional standards were low and of Uttle influence, not much importance was attached to the problem of the proper relationship of general to professional education. During the early stages of the development of professional schools of law, education, and medicine, the student entered upon his professional studies without very serious consideration of his previous prepara- tion for that particular field. Within recent years marked changes have occurred in the stand- ards of admission to professional schools. In 1904 there were only four medical schools in this country that required any college work for admission; in 1917 the number that required one or, two years of such work had increased to eighty-three, which was 92 per cent of the total nmnber of medical schools. This same tendency to lay greater stress upon a high standard of general education char- acterizes also the schools of law, education, and engineering. The inadvisability of specialization without a broad foundation is now generally recognized. In all the well-established professions it is taken for granted that general culture, breadth of view, and a common knowledge of fundamental subjects must go along with technical skill and knowledge, if high professional standing is to be attained. But even more significant is the growing insistence upon pre- professional studies as a prerequisite to vocational courses. A general education as represented by a high-school or college course has a varying content and therefore cannot be regarded as pos- sessing uniform value as a preparation for the professional schools. 30 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 31 Each profession has its fundamental sciences upon which its tech- nical instruction must be based. The student of medicine is soon out of his depth unless he is well grounded in biology and chemistry and is famiHar with the laboratory technique of the natural sciences. The engineering student's task is hopeless without an adequate knowledge of mathematics and physics. The legal student should bring to his professional studies a mind well-informed along hues of political and economic science. The instructor in a school of education ought to be able to take for granted that his students are famiHar with the principles of psychology and sociology. As a matter of fact there is as yet no uniform agreement on the part of these professions as to the amount and quaHty of the strictly preprofessional studies that should be made a requirement of ad- mission to their professional schools. The schools of medicine and engineering which must look to the natural sciences as a basis for their work, have, as might be expected, taken the greatest strides forward in their insistence upon prerequisite studies. On the other hand the professions that find their basis in the broad field of the social sciences find difficulty in setting up similar standards for prerequisites in that field. Social science from its very nature cannot be as exact as natural science and seems less indispensable perhaps because it is so intimately connected with facts and prin- ciples that are more or less matters of common knowledge. But in spite of the lack of uniform insistence by all the pro- fessions on prerequisite studies the tendency in that direction is clear and its correctness unquestioned. Professional schools can- not attain a high standard unless they can assume that their students are properly equipped for technical instruction. The best medical schools recognize this by their encouragement of pre- medical courses designed for the college student who desires a college degree, and at the same time is endeavoring to prepare himself for the study of medicine. While it may be a long time before pro- fessional schools are placed on a thoroughgoing graduate basis, the 32 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK nature of their task and the increasing demands that are made upon them are steadily raising their standards of admission. In the newer field of professional education for social work efforts to approximate the standards set up by the best professional schools have been hampered by the undeveloped state of social work itself and by the failure of the pubHc to appreciate the value of thoroughly trained workers. Much more than in other profes- sions the apprenticeship system of training for social work is an active competitor with the professional school. Such a large num- ber of people still find employment in social work without the technical equipment that a professional school is expected to furnish that insistence upon high standards of professional education does not yet seem very practicable. For this reason professional schools of social work have usually followed the custom of admitting stu- dents to their courses without rigid insistence upon academic requirements. Even though high standards of admission may seem- ingly be set up, these are likely to be offset by quaUfying phrases or alternatives which result in the admission of any student who would be passed upon favorably by a social agency seeking an ap- prentice worker. That this is not an overstatement seems evident from the pub- lished statements of the entrance requirements of the professional schools of social work. The New York School of Social Work, which stands among the first in its teaching equipment and high standards of work, states that the standard of instruction is that of a graduate school. A college edu- cation, therefore, or equivalent preparation is essential in order to do the work of the school satisfactorily and profitably. Familiarity with the following subjects is recommended as a foundation for the course: Economics, Biology, History (Industrial and Social), Psychology and Political Science. The School for Social Workers in Boston requires its applicants to have had either a college education or a high-school education supplemented by sufficient subsequent experience. Their Bulletin states: EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 33 As a desirable preparation for the school and social work, students in col- leges are advised to study the following subjects: physiology bearing on hygiene, psychology, economics, the structure of society, the family, state and local government, one laboratory course in science. The Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy gave in its last Bulletin the following as its entrance requirements: All candidates for admission must have a general education equivalent to that of a good secondary school and in addition, either (a) must have taken a considerable part of a college or imiversity course, or (6) must have shown abiUty in practical work. Satisfactory evidence of good health, good character, capacity for practical work and earnestness of endeavor must be presented. Students who are graduates of colleges and universities of recognized standing will be admitted to the regular second year courses of the School as candidates for the diploma of the School. Such students must, however, show, during the first quarter of the School, ability to do work of a high grade. Otherwise they will be required with the opening of the second quarter to register in the first year courses. The first year course is ofifered to meet the need of a large group of persons who wish training for social work, but who have not had the advantage of the pre-professional courses now offered in colleges and universities. It is assumed that those who complete satisfactorily this introductory course wiU remain a second year. To those who remain and complete a curriculum composed of second year courses arranged by the Registrar and approved by the Dean, a certificate of the School will be granted. Mature persons who have had practical experience testing in some measure their fitness for social work, trained nurses, teachers, church workers, and others who feel that it is too late for them now to undertake college or univer- sity work, will be admitted to this introductory course. Younger persons applying for admission are advised to prepare themselves for the second year at a good college or university. 1 In the Bulletin of the Pennsylvania School for Social Service it is stated that candidates for admission to the School must have sufficient inteUigence and maturity to deal with social problems. They must be able to express themselves in oral and written English. They must also have studied sys- tematically some of those branches on which a knowledge of society is based, such as history, economics, biology, psychology and sociology. Some laboratory training is deemed essential to insure a scientific approach to social problems. 34 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK The Missouri School of Social Economy states that its candi- dates for admission must fulfill one of the following requirements: (1) The completion of a college course. (2) Graduation from a recognized secondary school. (3) Definite social service experience in which they have shown special aptitude. Among the general subjects in which proficiency is desirable are economics, sociology, psychology and English. The Richmond School of Social Work and PubHc Health re- quires a high-school education or its equivalent for admission to its courses. The standards of admission as quoted above indicate the unwill- ingness of these schools to place themselves on a thoroughgoing graduate basis. Even if it is granted, as they maintain, that their standard of instruction is that of a graduate school, students are admitted to their courses who according to the usual tests would not be eligible for graduate work. The Pennsylvania school makes no academic requirements that can be definitely measured in terms of secondary school or college work. The Missouri school gives three alternatives arranged in descending scale from the point of view of academic standards. The Chicago school opened its first-year course to those who have a general education equivalent to that of a secondary school, while college graduates were admitted at once to their second-year courses. The Richmond school sets up a similar standard with the exception that the way is left open for mature persons of practical experience to enter the second-year course along with college gradu- ates. The New York school modifies its requirements of a college education with the statement that it will accept " equivalent prepa- ration" the nature of which is not defined. The Boston school sets up practically the same alternative but defines its ^'equiva- lent" to mean secondary school education supplemented by prac- tical experience. When these entrance requirements are subjected to another test of a graduate school, namely, insistence upon preprofessional studies EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 35 that would give the students a knowledge of the sciences related to their field of work, an equally unsatisfactory showing is made. In general the value of preliminary instruction in the social sciences is recognized but such instruction is not made an absolute require- ment. In their references to these subjects the Bulletins usually adopt such phrases as "famiharity is recommended" or a "desir- able preparation," instead of a recognizing that technical instruction in social work must be based on a knowledge of the social sciences. Even the Pennsylvania school, which requires candidates to have *' studied systematically some of these branches on which a knowl- edge of society is based," does not enforce this rigidly, for it offers a course called "Scientific Bases of Social Work" which is intended "to provide a background of certain fundamental concepts in biol- ogy, psychology, economics, and sociology for those who have not had these subjects in college." The Richmond school makes no reference at all to the desir- ability of knowledge of the social sciences. It is worthy of mention that the New York, Boston, and Chicago schools do not include sociology in the list of studies mentioned as desirable preparation for their training courses. Lack of uniform agreement in standards of admission is found also in the departments of social work maintained by the nine colleges and universities that have membership in the Association of Training Schools for Professional Social Work, but in the case of these institutions, the differences are of another nature. These colleges and universities may be conveniently divided into two groups, each representing a distinct point of view in its methods of providing professional training. The first group includes the institutions that place their departments of social work on a graduate basis and limit attendance to those who hold a bachelor's degree. Strong emphasis is placed on the satisfactory completion of undergraduate courses in the social sciences and in most cases such courses are an absolute requirement for admission to the technical courses of 36 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK instruction. This group includes Bryn Mawr College, Smith Col- lege, Western Reserve University, and University of Toronto. In the second group are those institutions that place their chief emphasis upon a four-year undergraduate course of instruction in social work leading to a Bachelor's degree. A year or more of graduate work is also provided but even this, it is urged, should follow the specialized undergraduate course instead of being re- garded as giving adequate professional training to any college graduate. It is obvious that the requirements of a secondary-school education for admission to a four-year undergraduate course spe- cializing in preparation for social work cannot be compared with a similar requirement for admission to a so-called graduate school of social work. The institutions that make up this group are the University of Chicago, University of Minnesota, Ohio State Uni- versity, University of Pittsburgh, and the Carnegie Institute of Technology. The foregoing analysis of the present actual basis of education for social work as is shown by the standards of admission of pro- fessional schools indicates the wide divergence of opinion among those at work in this field. It reveals on the one hand the tendency of the independent schools to distrust the value of college courses in the social sciences and to make concessions to candidates for ad- mission who have had approved kinds of practical experience. On the other hand the movement in the universities to set up a course of instruction that would begin early in the undergraduate school and cover a period of four to five years, has grown out of their feeling that the social-work student needs a more thorough founda- tion in the social sciences than is usually obtained in the college course. In the field of education for social work we find therefore not merely varying standards of admission to the professional schools but important differences in regard to what should constitute the basis of their technical instruction. Should a college education be EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 37 made a requirement of admission to a school of social work regard- less of the subjects included in the college course? In view of the varying content of the subject-matter of the courses in the social sciences in different institutions, as well as the differences in the quality of instruction, is it practicable at the present time to set up a high standard of attainment in these sciences as a prerequisite to a professional school? Since social work from its very nature makes such heavy demands upon soundness of judgment, strong person- ahty, and practical experience, should not factors of this kind rather than academic requirements be given chief consideration? Is it wise at this stage of development of social work to set up academic standards of admission to professional schools that cannot be at- tained by many who otherwise seem admirably fitted to become useful social workers? It is of help in trying to answer these questions to remind our- selves that the heart of the difficulty lies, in the last analysis, in the chaotic state of social work itself. As long as there is in the wide field of social work no professional organization that concerns itself with standards and gives real unity to the profession it is to be ex- pected that each type of social work will set up its own standards based upon its own experience and point of view. In such a stage of development of social work, science has no assured place. Scien- tific studies seem far removed from practical work and therefore any alHance with them that places restrictions upon the entrance to social work is regarded as inconsistent with its proper development. It is nothing more or less than the age-long misunderstanding be- tween the practical worker and the man of science. The former was first in the field and is inclined to regard the scientist as an intruder until science has outstripped practice and gained the right of leadership. In the medical profession the confusion between medical prac- tice and medical science existed until the latter was able in com- paratively recent years to demonstrate its proper place in the 38 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK determination of professional standards. While the social sciences have not advanced as far as the natural sciences they are sufficiently well developed to justify their claim that they must be taken into account in efforts to solve social problems. Any difference of opin- ion about this must be regarded as due to ignorance of the present status of the social sciences or failure to appreciate the place of science in modern progress. If technical instruction in social work is to be based on the social sciences, what is the extent of the foundation that should be required? Certainly the minimum requirement would seem to be the usual undergraduate courses in sociology, economics, history, political science, psychology, and biology. It is difficult to see how anything less could give the student a scientific equipment com- parable to that which is expected of the medical student. In the four-year undergraduate course in social work offered by several of the Universities this equipment in social sciences comes as a matter of course. The graduate schools of social work, however, will not find it easy to require their candidates for admission to be thor- oughly familiar with the social sciences. Taking the country as a whole the majority of those seeking training in social work are deficient in these subjects. Maybe the graduate schools could meet the situation by estabHshing a prehminary year for the benefit of students who need a better foundation for their technical studies. A better solution perhaps would be to increase the number of universities that give an undergraduate course in social work. The graduate schools then could maintain a real graduate status and would no longer need to give their attention to elementary courses of instruction. During a period of adjustment it might be necessary to make provision for special courses to meet the extraordinary demand for social workers.* This would be especially true in those sections of the country where few colleges and universities give adequate attention to the social sciences. But in a reasonably brief time a EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 39 sufficient number of students could be found properly prepared for their professional studies. The number that would be lost by the setting of higher standards would be at least partially offset by those who would not have been attracted to the professional school under its present system of instruction. This emphasis upon academic attainments as a basis of educa- tion for social work must not force unduly into the background the personal quaHfications that should be possessed by those seeking training in this particular field. While in all the professions the highest success cannot be won unless technical equipment is sup- plemented by a high grade of personal quahties, in social work this is pre-eminently true. The social worker's stock in trade seems much less tangible than that of the engineer, physician, lawyer, or teacher. His services to individuals and communities may be vital and based on expert knowledge, but they do not always stand out in such a clear-cut and definite manner that they are easily imderstood and readily acceptable. For this reason technical knowledge alone is not sufficient. The social worker must be a salesman, a promoter, an organizer. His personality should be such as would command respect and win confidence. He must be a community leader and at the same time possess those qualities of tact, and sympathy, and common sense, and power of will that give him personal influence over those whom he is trying to help. Personal quaHfications, therefore, must also be regarded as necessary prerequisites for technical training in social work. Ac- curate means of measuring these quahties in applicants for admis- sion to a professional school do not exist. A careful study of a candidate's references often proves insufficient. In order to arrive at a correct judgment, this should be supplemented by personal observation qi the student during his period of training. In the undergraduate school of social work a decision about the student's qualifications can be made after the first two years' work before the specialization has gone far enough to make it difficult for the 40 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK student to change his line of study. In the graduate school, an accurate decision ought to be made about the student's personal qualifications before he enters upon the course. Efforts to raise the standards of education for social work must include due atten- tion to an accurate measurement of personal qualities as well as of academic attainments. CHAPTER IV TECHNICAL COURSES OF INSTRUCTION In the discussion of the historical development of schools of social work it has already been pointed out that their courses of instruction were from the beginning of a most practical nature. The instructors in almost all instances were persons engaged in social work who were more interested in imparting to their students their technique than in following the usual academic type of instruction. Just because the schools of social work were organized in this way they escaped some of the shortcomings that have hampered the progress of other fields of professional education. The first engineering schools were manned by university instructors who carried their university teaching methods into the professional school and as a consequence failed for a long time to adjust them- selves to the real needs of engineering students. Medical educa- tion also passed through its didactic method of instruction and only gradually built up courses growing out of a scientific handhng of experience. The schools of social work on the other hand began with training classes held by social work organizations for the benefit of their own employees. They were interested in technique rather than in research and sought their teaching material in daily experience instead of in textbooks. The graduates of these schools there- fore were usually acceptable to the social agencies, and fitted into available positions without the necessity of making radical adjust- ments. But while these results were fortunate it must not be overlooked that schools of this kind have a tendency to place emphasis upon immediate needs rather than upon the thorough- going scientific foundation demanded by the best professional standards. It thus happened that the schools of social work, in avoiding the mistakes of academic instruction, went to the opposite 41 42 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK extreme of depreciating the value of the scientific studies carried on by the universities. As a natural result the professional schools lost in academic standing and were generally given the same rating as normal schools of the older type. The universities on their part failed for many years to receive the impetus to the development of their work in the social sciences which would have resulted from a frank recognition of the value of laboratory and cHnical work in this field. Within the past few years this traditional gulf between the social scientist in the university and the social worker seems in a fair way of being bridged. Both are finding that they have much to learn from each other and that through a union of effort their common goal can more easily be attained. The social worker is not merely a practitioner but also a social scientist. He must therefore be equipped in the use of scientific methods as well as in the practical \ technique of his daily work. This new attitude cannot fail to have a marked effect upon the curriculum of the schools of social work. It at once makes it evident as has already been pointed out that this curriculum must be built upon the foundation of scientific studies rather than upon the foundation of general education and practical experience. It is difficult to see how instruction in schools of social work can be of graduate quahty if their curriculum is adapted equally well to the needs of college graduates who have speciaKzed in the social sciences and of other students with either less or a different type of pre- liminary education. As long as students are permitted to plunge into technical courses of social work, as is now frequently the case, without careful study of those sciences that deal with the social order, it is useless to attempt to standardize these courses and maintain them at the high level required dn other professions. But while this insistence upon a proper scientinc foundation represents a real step forward, it would be unfortunate if the social scientists in the universities attempted to make radical changes in the courses EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 43 of instruction in social work without an appreciation of the value of the methods that have been followed. In working out the curricula of schools of social work the custom has generally been to have the courses follow very closely the different types of work carried on by the various agencies. For example the courses given by the New York School of Social Work are grouped under eight departments: case-work, child welfare, industry, social research, community work, mental hygiene, crimi- nology, and medical social service. In some of the courses certain processes characteristic of the different kinds of social work are singled out and the technique of carrying on these processes is made the subject of instruction. Examples of such courses are those deahng with the technique of case- work, the technique of social research, the technique of community organization, and the technique of record keeping. Other courses deal directly with types of social work carried on by the more important social agencies. In this group we find such courses as family welfare, child welfare, recreation, juvenile delinquency, housing investigation, psychiatric social work, and medical social service. While some of these courses are similar in title to those offered by a well-equipped university department of appUed sociology, their distinguishing characteristic is their emphasis upon technique. The point of view is action, not contemplation and reflection. The students do not stand off and study the problem in a detached manner but are made to feel that they are actively participating in all the processes connected with its solution. They find them- selves surrounded by the atmosphere of social work rather than that of social research. As a result they do not learn merely about social problems; they learn how to deal with them. A typical university course in the administration of charities may make quite clear the problems in this field A student in such a course may with great profit to himself make a study of different types of administration and secure results of value as social research.^ It is 44 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK an entirely different matter to present this course in such a way that the student assumes the attitude of the participator rather than that of the observer and thus is made to feel as living realities the different methods and points of view of those at work in this field. This t3^e of technical instruction represents one of the great contributions of the schools of social work to the field of applied sociology. Without courses of this nature a high tj^e of profes- sional instruction cannot be given. A great mistake will be made by the universities that have recently become interested in edu- cation for social work if they believe that the addition of a field- work course to their traditional courses in social science will equip them for professional instruction. Nothing will more quickly discredit the recent efforts of universities to enter this field. It would represent a backward step in professional education in which the social scientist will have failed to take advantage of the painful experiences through which the technical schools of other profes- sions have passed. If the universities are to succeed in this field of instruction it is essential that they clearly recognize the difference between the course that lays emphasis upon knowledge through research and the course that is interested in technique. At present the tendency in a few universities is to combine these two types of courses under the direction of an instructor who may know something about technique, but has himself never mastered it. Such a situation would not be tolerated in a medical school for there it is taken for granted that an instructor in therapeutics must himself at some time have acquired experience in that field through successful practice. Just here is the great difficulty the universities face in developing professional instruction in social work. Men of aca- demic standing with experience in practical work are not easily available for teaching purposes. The bearing of this fact upon the problem under discussion should be recognized. Nothing can be EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 45 more fatal to the influence of the university in this field of pro- fessional education than to assume that courses can be made voca- tional by a change in name and a sHght modification of content. Vocational courses worthy of consideration in professional circles must be conducted by instructors whose minimum participation in practical work is sufficient to enable them to create the atmos- phere of the social agency under discussion and to impart to the students its point of view. The influence therefore of the university on the curriculum of schools of social work may not necessarily be in the line of progress. Their methods of instruction and attitude toward practical work will in many instances need considerable modification before they are equipped for effective leadership in this field. If, however, the necessary adjustments are successfully made, there is reason to beheve that the universities' entrance into professional education for social work will exert an influence upon its standards similar to that brought about by their participation in other fields of pro- fessional education. Where their iitfuence is particularly needed is in giving greater emphasis to intellectual standards. The curriculum of schools of social work has been built up almost entirely by practical workers whose emphasis has chiefly been laid on the side of experience. The courses of study have been designed to teach how particular processes should be carried on and definite situations met. Along with this emphasis upon the value of training by doing there has grown up, if not a distrust of intellectual studies, at least a failure to appreciate their proper place in a scheme of professional educa- tion. This tendency is by no means new for it has characterized the early stages of legal, engineering, and medical education. It is an inheritance from the apprenticeship system of training and must be outgrown as standards of education are raised. It would be unfair to leave the impression that present courses of instruction in schools of social work pay no attention to academic 46 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK standards. Much progress has been made during the past two decades since the organization of the first training classes. Courses of instruction usually incorporate the best results of social research and carry with them the customary quota of assigned readings. The chief difficulty is that the requirements in practical work are placed first throughout the whole course and are in some cases so heavy that time for study is reduced to a minimum. In one in- stance, the students in a school of social work spent their mornings in practical work with a social agency, their afternoons in classes at the school, and their evenings in participating in the varied activities of social settlements. The usual amount of readings supplementary to the courses were assigned to the students but it was manifestly impossible to insist upon the outside study necessary to make these courses comparable to a graduate school. While this may be an imusual instance it is fairly typical of the prevailing tendency. What is needed is not merely a recognition of the value of study but an arrangement of the curriculum that would make a proper amount of study possible. It is to be expected that the influence of the universities will be in the direction of increased time for study. Indeed, unless they modify to a certain extent their traditional point of view, they may go too far in their intel- lectual requirements and fail to build up a well-balanced cur- riculmn. Another serious problem of the curriculum has to do with the organization of the courses of instruction. What principles shall de- termine the arrangement of the subject-matter? Can these courses be made to give.a better historical perspective and a wider knowledge of general principles without detracting from the interest that is always aroused by the immediately practical? Here is a problem that is vital to the success of the professional school. If the inde- pendent schools of social work have erred in concentrating too great attention upon practical problems and immediate situations, the university courses in this field have usually gone to the opposite EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 47 extreme. Will it be possible to build up courses that will avoid the shortcomings of both? It would seem that the solution of this problem does not demand a radical change in the general type of professional course that has become most common. In so far as these courses are built up around a study of the problems with which social work has to deal they are essentially right in principle. Courses deahng with problems of the family, the community, child welfare, juvenile delinquency, immigration, housing, recreation, and similar problems, not only cover subjects with which social workers must be familiar but represent the best pedagogical method of approach. Where they frequently need strengthening is in an increased emphasis upon the more general facts and principles that give a comprehensive understanding of the whole situation rather than a definite solution of the immediate problem. The problem itself should continue to be the point of departure and should lead in a natural way to a study of the historical facts bearing upon it. By beginning with the problem instead of the historical introduction so common in university courses, the interest necessary for con- centrated effort is aroused and the interpretative value of the his- torical elements stands out more clearly. But the point where the usual professional course lays itself open to criticism is in its tendency to lead directly toward a consideration of methods and technique. The failure to give sufficient emphasis to the complex factors that enter into the problem under discussion and the causes that underlie it bring about a concentration upon mechanical pro- cesses and an overrefinement of technique, that may be useful to specialists who are to deal with particular situations but does not make them professionally educated in the broadest sense. The ideal in technical courses of instruction is to make everything con- tribute to a thorough knowledge of the whole problem which will as a matter of course include attention to the most approved technique. 48 " EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK If the technical courses of instruction deal in this way with specific problems there would seem to be less necessity for courses in which the entire emphasis is upon technique. The technique of family case-work would not need to be taught as a distinct process because it would be a natural part of the courses dealing with prob- lems of the family, child welfare, juvenile delinquency, etc. In the same way the technique of community organization would be taught in connection with courses in community problems. Such subjects, also, as methods of pubHcity, financing of social agencies, office management and routine, and other aspects of social-work adminis- tration, might be considered more effectively in their immediate application to specific problems than in courses dealing exclusively with the technique of executive management and administration. In this connection it ought to be stated that methods of social- work administration have never been given adequate attention by the professional schools. Courses in social work have usually been designed to prepare technicians rather than executives. Since the graduates of schools of social work have found their most available opportunities of employment with social agencies in large cities where they must serve for a considerable time in a subordinate capacity before being given executive responsibility, there has not been much demand for instruction in administrative methods. But with the recent development of social work in small towns and communities the graduates of a professional school will frequently be called upon to take a position where both executive ability and social-work technique are needed. Even if the executive positions in social agencies in the large cities can be successfully filled by per- sons who have come up through the ranks, this plan will not always be found practicable in the smaller communities. The new situa- tion can only be met by an adjustment of the curriculum of the training schools which will provide the needed instruction along administrative lines. A recent effort to meet this need was the special course the past summer at Ohio State University for organi- EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 49 zers and executives in social work. This course which was given by the university in co-operation with the Association for Com- munity Organization and the American Red Cross was designed primarily for persons of social-work experience who gave promise of capacity for executive leadership. During the eight weeks' simi- mer session the attention of the students was concentrated upon the principles and methods of community organization and the problems connected with the administration of social agencies. This work was carried on through classroom lectures and discus- sions, assigned readings, and a limited amount of observation of the methods of local and state organizations. The remainder of the course, which covered a period of eight months, is being spent by the students as employees of organizations doing conmiunity work where under the supervision of skilled workers they are gaining experience in dealing with actual administrative problems. A course of this kind has real value for a picked group preparing for executive positions of considerable responsibility. Its chief present significance, however, is in calling attention to the value of specific instruction in administrative methods and in demonstrating one way in which this may be given with a fair degree of success. The course will have met more than an immediate need if it results in a greater emphasis by the professional schools upon instruction along administrative Hues. Such a strengthening of the curricula of schools of social work will represent an important step forward in building up a well-balanced professional course of study. This addition to the courses of study, together with the in- creasing number of courses that must be added to the curriculum to keep pace with the rapid development of the many different types of social work, has brought professional schools to the point where they must group their courses under separate departments and direct their students to specialize in certain lines of work. The time is past when students can take a general course of training in social work and then be equipped for a position with any agency 50 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK they may select. The New York School of Social Work is attempt- ing to meet the situation by devoting the first year to fundamental courses that may be regarded as common to all forms of social work, while vocational training in one department makes up the work of the second year. This selection of fundamental courses that should serve as a general introduction to the more highly specialized voca- tional work is a step in the right direction. Too early specialization has been one of the tendencies of the schools of social work which has had the unfortunate result of turning out graduates incapable of seeing beyond their own particular field. Just what should constitute the fundamental courses that should precede the highly specialized vocational studies is doubtless a mat- ter about which general agreement cannot now be reached. It depends to a certain extent upon what is included in the prepro- fessional studies that have been completed before entering the pro- fessional school. Among the first-year courses Hsted by the New York School of Social Work are courses in immigration, labor prob- lems, crime and punishment, methods of social research, American government and administration — topics which are ordinarily cov- ered in a university curriculum. The difficulty is that with the present lack of uniform standards in college requirements in the social sciences it is practically impossible to know where to begin in a course of professional education for social work. Certainly no one would be so bold as to claim that the average college graduate has made such a study of the social sciences as would definitely pre- pare him for the technical studies in this field. The fact that he has taken certain courses may not be of any real significance. The content of the courses and the way they are presented must de- termine whether they are of preprofessional value. The undergraduate course in social work given by a few univer- sities would seem to be better adapted to meet this situation. In a training school of this kind it is not only possible to provide the proper number of preprofessional courses but also to see that they EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 51 are properly correlated and conducted in such a way as to fit into the whole scheme of social-work education. Under this plan the preprofessional courses of the first three years would be followed in the Senior year by the more fundamental technical courses that would give a general knowledge of the field of social work. If then this is followed by one graduate year of specialized vocational training a standard of professional education would have been at- tained which under present conditions cannot generally be realized by the usual two-year graduate course. CHAPTER V THE CASE METHOD OF INSTRUCTION The case method of instruction as it has been developed espe- cially in schools of law and social work stands out as an important contribution to methods of professional education. The case method considered in its broadest sense is of course by no means limited to these two fields. Its underlying principles have long been the dominant factor in all scientific instruction. It is, in fact, simply the method of science which begins with the concrete fact instead of the general principle. In the field of the natural sciences, no other method would now be given serious consideration. With- out the laboratory and the microscope and an opportunity for patient study of specimens and cases, the work of the scientist could not be successfully done. In the social sciences also, this inductive method of instruction has come to be regarded as a matter of course. There must first be the careful study of actual facts and conditions before generalization can begin. In this sense the case method is nothing more or less than the method of induction and as such takes its place in the wider movement of educational reform which in recent years has been so rapidly overthrowing traditional methods of instruction. But in the more specific meaning of this term the case method applies more particularly to the type of instruction most common in schools of law and social work where the point of departure and the chief content of the course consist in the study and analysis of sepa- rate cases. Its origin as far as law schools are concerned goes back to the Harvard Law School in 1871, when Langdell threw aside the traditional textbooks and endeavored to teach the principles of law through a study of selected cases. This method, which at the time seemed so revolutionary, was based on the conviction that law is a science with its own data and body of experience which must be 52 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 53 studied as we do the material of any other science as it develops in concrete situations. In Langdell's opinion the student could be given a more systematic view of the principles of law and a clearer comprehension of their historical development by a study of cases, carefully selected and arranged, than by the customary deductive study of the principles themselves. The central feature of this method of instruction in law is the analysis of separate cases by the students for the purpose of disentangling the facts and bringing out the point of law involved. This task, whether performed independ- ently by the students or carried out under the guidance of the teacher in classroom discussion, results not merely in giving a practical knowledge of law but trains the mind in methods of legal thinking. The success of the case method of teaching law can be judged by the fact that it has become the general mode of instruction in the more prominent law schools in this country. It is indeed largely due to this method of instruction that the study of law in American universities has been placed upon a scientific basis comparable to that of other important fields of professional education. In the schools of social work the case method is less widely known but is of equal importance. Its use in this field has been largely in connection with the teaching of the technique of case work. The apprentice in a case-work agency receives his first initiation to his duties through a study and analysis of case records taken from the files of the organization employing him. This study under the direction of a competent district secretary or supervisor and accompanied by actual work in the field under supervision has long been the central feature of the apprenticeship system of train- ing in this type of social work. The case method of instruction in schools of social work follows essentially the same lines. Carefully selected case histories rather than textbooks are relied upon for teaching material. The in- structor of case work usually selects and edits or secures from some outside source a few records suitable for teaching purposes and 54 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK builds up his course around a class discussion of the facts contained in these records and the points of technique illustrated by them. These records are not usually placed in the hands of the students, at least in the beginning of the course of study. A common method is for the instructor to read them, paragraph by paragraph, in the classroom for the purpose of enabling the students to reconstruct in imagination the actual situation faced by the worker who handled the case and then decide between the alternative courses of action that present themselves at critical points of the record. By thus living through, as it were, the experience of the case worker and step by step working out the proper procedure to be followed, the student not only becomes familiar with the technique of case work, but obtains a real knowledge of the nature of social problems and of the social forces in the community that may be utilized in work- ing out their solution. The advantages of this method over that of a general discussion of social problems are obvious. The stu;dent who has thought through the experiences of a worker in his efforts over a period of months or years to re-establish a dependent family has an intimate insight into the problems of dependency that could not be obtained by any amount of general reading. When this class discussion of a case record under the guidance of a competent instructor is supple- mented by a sufficient amount of field work to give the student actual experience in dealing with the problems under discussion in the classroom, it is difficult to conceive of a method of instruction better adapted to the needs of students preparing for professional work in this field. One of the problems in the successful use of this method of in- struction is that of securing the proper kind of teaching material. Case records, as has already been pointed out by Porter R. Lee,^ have been prepared by organizations for their own use and not with * "Preparation of Teaching Material," New Orleans Conference of Social Work, 1920. EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 55 the needs of students in mind. Their chief concern is with the actual steps that were taken and the results secured, whereas the student is interested primarily in how a particular course of action was de- cided upon and why it was chosen in preference to other alternatives. This calls for an analysis of the processes involved in handling the case which cannot easily be done because of the lack of sufficient data of the right kind in the record itself. Instructors using the case method sometimes overcome this difficulty by depending upon case records with which they have personal knowledge. Another plan is to secure the needed data through a personal conference with the person who handled the case and wrote the record. As long, however, as lack of teaching material compels each instructor to be responsible for finding and editing the case records for his own use, the case method of instruction in social work must be regarded as far behind the achievements of the case method in law which for many years has had available a large number of care- fully selected and well-edited cases. If the case method of teaching social work is to occupy its proper place as a method of professional education, it is of the utmost importance that teaching material of the right kind be made easily accessible. Until very recently Httle attention had been paid to the prepa- ration of teaching records for general use. One of the first and most significant attempts to meet this need was made by Miss Mary E. Richmond of the Charity Organization Department of the Russell Sage Foundation. The records prepared under her direc- tion were edited with great care and have proved invaluable to schools of social work and to supervisors of case work in charity organization societies. It is unfortunate that the records issued under these auspices have been few in number and that the re- strictions placed upon their circulation have made them available to only a limited circle. Another effort to supply this teaching material is being made by the American Red Cross. In order to provide case records suitable 56 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK for use in its training courses, it has undertaken the preparation of a series of records designed to illustrate the most t3rpical problems met with in dealing with disadvantaged individuals and families. Records are being secured from small towns and rural communities as well as from large cities and as far as possible from all sections of the country so that they may be fairly representative of general social conditions. A new feature of these records is the inclusion of all notes and suggestions for the teacher in a separate teacher's manual. In this manual the various steps taken in handling the case are analyzed and every effort is made to supply the data that would be of use to the teacher in classroom work. The great need of teaching material of this kind would seem to justify the preparation of case books in social work that would be comparable to those that have been prepared for the use of law schools. There should be included in these case books not only the customary type of record designed chiefly for use in teaching the technique of case work; there should also be case histories intended to illustrate types of problems and results of treatment. Teachers of social work could very profitably use case records patterned somewhat after medical case histories, that give briefly the facts of diagnosis and treatment; or legal case records, that are used to illustrate principles of law rather than methods of legal procedure. Social case records of this kind may very well take the form of a summary of the history of the case. The essential thing is to have the facts stated in suflS-cient detail to give the stu- dent a clear understanding of the problem in its relation to the particular situation in which it occurs. Sufficient attention has not yet been given to the teaching value of such case summaries. Instructors usually rely upon detailed chronological records, one of which may be made the subject of class discussion for a considerable period of time. One of the dangers in a prolonged study of a few cases is that students may come to look upon them as pointing out the definite way in which particular problems EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 57 should be handled. This danger could be largely overcome if a study of a detailed record dealing for example with the problem of desertion could be followed by a brief discussion of a number of case summaries illustrating the varied forms this problem assumed under different situations, and the kind of treatment given. It would be hard to find a better way in which to give the student a comprehensive grasp of the complex and ever-changing factors involved in social work. Another type of case record for which there is a real need is that which would embody the experiences of those actively engaged in the various aspects of community organization. It is becoming increasingly evident that social workers must understand the tech- nique of deahng with communities as well as with individuals and families. The adjustment of the social forces of a commimity so that the largest possible contribution will be made to the welfare of all its members is a task which requires the services of a skilled leader. If training for this kind of community work is to be carried on effectively it ought to be possible to profit by the experience of community workers just as the experiences of case workers have been made use of in training for family work. Community case records (if we may use that term) should be as valuable in a course in community organization as are family case records in a course in methods of family case work. But here, also, the com- munity record to be of real value for instruction in technique must be more than a chronological statement of work undertaken and results secured; it must analyze the steps that were taken at sig- nificant stages of the community work and indicate why any par- ticular course has been chosen in preference to another. The underlying and not always easily recognized factors that deter- mined the fine of action must be given due attention. The usual type of survey report contains the information necessary to give a picture of the conditions that were studied but it throws only inci- dental Hght on the processes involved in making the survey. The 58 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK student of social conditions is satisfied with the report if facts are secured; the student learning how to make a survey must have a supplemental statement dealing with the machinery that was used in getting the facts and preparing them for presentation. In a simi- lar manner the student of the technique of community organization is interested not merely in the fact that a certain agency was established in a community; he wants to know why this agency in preference to any other was decided upon and the different steps by which its organization was accomplished. The great difficulty at the present time is that few community records of this kind have been prepared and as a consequence it is not possible to compare methods and determine whether the technique in this field can be standardized as it has been in other lines of social work. Until more progress has been made in securing this type of community record, teaching material for courses in the technique of community organization must be regarded as entirely inadequate. The case method of instruction in social work is pedagogically sound, and when a proper amount of teaching material is made available it will doubtless come into still wider use. There is now a tendency in some schools of social work to demand a great deal of class discussion of different types of case records before permitting the students to engage in any field work except that of the simplest t3rpe. While this method of instruction can never take the place of field work, it may be possible when a sufficient amount of teaching material is available to have the study and discussion of written records supplement in a much larger way than is now customary the actual work of the students in the field. CHAPTER VI THE PLACE OF FIELD WORK IN THE COURSE OF STUDY Education for social work, unlike engineering and medical education, has never passed through a didactic stage of instruction with chief emphasis upon theoretical studies. On the contrary, as might be expected in training schools that developed out of the apprentice system, field-work training has always been given a prominent place in the curriculum. Because of the close relationship between the first schools of social work and the social agencies, the latter as a matter of course assumed responsibihty for the field work of the students. While this plan involved the delegation of an important part of the instruction to persons not directly under control of the school it was felt that this was the most practical way of providing this training. Experience soon demonstrated, however, that field work carried on in this way could with great difficulty be made an integral part of the course. Too often it tended to become a kind of extra-mural requirement dominated more by the condi- tions existing in the agency than by the ideals of the school. The pressure of the work in the agency, coupled with the fact that those actually in charge of the practice work of the students were not always skilled or interested in teaching, frequently caused the students' practice to be hmited to meaningless errand-running or to other detached tasks of very little educational value. The existence of this difficulty has long been recognized and many efforts have been made to find a satisfactory solution. In some cases, the social agencies that have been co-operating with schools of social work set aside teaching districts in which they make an effort to have workers specially qualified to supervise the field work of the students. The schools of social work on 59 6o EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK their part frequently give the field-work supervisors a nominal position on their faculty and by periodical conferences with these supervisors endeavor to bring about the proper correlation of the practical work with classroom instruction. In many instances the relationship. between the schools of social work and the social agencies has been so close and cordial that the problem has been much simplified. The results attained by the schools of social work indicate that this traditional method of providing field- work training has in a considerable degree been successful. What- ever its failures, they have not been due to any lack of appreciation of educational ideals on the part of the executive heads of the social agencies. The chief difficulty has been to find members of their staff that have teaching ability and to arrange their work in such a way that they would have sufficient time to give careful supervision to the students. This problem of the proper measure of control over field-work facilities is by no means pecuhar to schools of social work. It is a fundamental problem in the whole field of professional education and has been met by the professional schools in different ways. In the field of medical education it is generally agreed that clinical experience cannot be provided in the most satisfactory way by a hospital or dispensary that is entirely detached from the medical school. If the hospital has the right to limit the wards or the types of cases to which the students may have access, or to determine the hours when clinical instruction may be given, or to set up any other restrictions that would interfere with a sound teaching policy, the medical school cannot build up a well-balanced curriculum that will meet the needs of the students. Experience has demonstrated that the school should have educational control of its clinical facilities, a control that involves not only the decision about teaching arrangements in the hospital, but the power to appoint the hospital staff. Engineering schools, on the other hand, are finding it imprac- ticable to depend upon their own schools for the practice work of EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 6i their students. With their Hmited equipment it is impossible to dupKcate the varied processes carried on in industry and f amiharize the students with actual working conditions. To instal and keep up-to-date the vast and complicated machinery of the engineering world and develop shops that would approximate the conditions as they exist in the varied lines of industry would mean a tremen- dous expense. The solution of their field-work problem that seems to be most successful is the so-called co-operative plan which sends the students into industrial plants on a paid basis for their prac- tical work. This shopwork which alternates with classroom instruction is carefully graded and planned so as to fit into the curriculum, but it is real work that is of value not only to the students but to their employers as well. In order to make sure that the shopwork assigned to the students is being done in a way that would have educational value, shop co-ordinators are sent by the school to the shop where they inspect the work of the students and confer with those in charge of their work. The industrial world thus becomes the students' laboratory while the school assumes the function of interpreting this practical experience in terms of the theories and principles that underlie successful engineering practice. Schools of law have never seriously grappled with the problem of field-work training. Their course of study is intended to acquaint students with the principles of law rather than with the technique of legal practice. Some attention is given to the latter in the moot courts common in some law schools, and law students are sometimes encouraged to get practice work with legal-aid societies or in law offices, but in general the acquirement of skill in the practice of law is regarded as something that should follow instead of form a part of the law course. In the training of teachers, opportunities for students to teach under supervision have come to be regarded as a necessity. In some cases this is carried on by special arrangements with the pubhc schools where the students have the advantage of familiar- izing themselves with the routine of the schoolroom under actual 62 EDUCATION 'FOR SOCIAL WORK working conditions. Another plan usually preferred by profes- sional schools of education is to have these practice schools under the direct control of those responsible for the training of the teachers. It is very evident that this gives greater freedom in working out experimental methods and makes it possible to have the proper control over those who supervise the practice work. The experience, therefore, of professional schools in providing practical training faciHties for their students has by no means followed the same lines. The administrative problems vary with the type of field work to such an extent that it may never be possible to work out uniform methods of procedure that would be appHcable to all professional schools. The important thing as far as schools of social work are con- cerned, is to keep clearly in mind the educational requirements of field-work training and then recognize that methods of fulfilhng these requirements must be determined by local conditions and circumstances. The minimum requirements of field work stand out clearly in the definition formulated by the Committee on Field Work of the Association of Urban Universities at the annual meeting of this Association in New York in 1917. According to this com- mittee, field work "includes the activities of students in the perform- ance of tasks of everyday Kfe under actual conditions which may be accepted and directly related to concurrent class work." The two most fundamental things that determine the educational value of field work are the participation in tasks under actual working conditions and the proper correlation of these tasks so that they fit into a systematic course of training. It is conceivable that these two requirements may be met by different methods of field-work administration. There is no inherent reason why a social agency that has been requested to furnish field-work training for students should not do this in a satisfactory manner. The acceptance of such responsibihty is by no means incompatible with a sound admin- istration of their work. As a matter of fact the giving of such EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 63 training must be regarded as one of the regular duties of a well- equipped organization. If their personnel is sufficient and willing to co-operate with the school, students working under their direction ought to receive training of high quality. On the other hand it should be possible for the schools of social w6rk to build up training facilities under their own management and direction. A school properly equipped with field-work super- visors might very well choose suitably located communities where some phase of social work was needed and develop in those com- munities activities in which the students could participate. The university schools of social work that are located in places where social agencies of high grade do not exist may find that the estab- lishment of these training centers is the best method of providing certain kinds of field work for their students. Under the direction of a field-work supervisor a small group of students could make the first beginning of a training center in an unorganized community by making a study of its social needs and resources preparatory to a determination of the program of work that is to be undertaken. The different projects determined upon would then furnish training opportunities for succeeding classes working under the field super- visor who would accept responsibility for the work that was done. In order to avoid the gaps in the work caused by school vacations and to give the field supervisor necessary assistance in training the students, graduate fellowships could be provided which would carry with them the obligation to serve as assistants in the training center. It is probable that as this community work develops and the interest of the people is aroused the time will come when the community will desire to carry on its activities independent of the university. When this occurs, the university will have lost control of its training center, but will have available a social agency which will still offer opportunities to students for practice work. Such university training centers would only in exceptional instances provide all the field-work training of students. In 64 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK order to provide a well-rounded training the schools of social work ought to make it possible for students to familiarize themselves with the work of the best-equipped social agencies both public and private. The various social agencies would still be needed by the school, but they could be used as supplementary to the university training center. Much of the preliminary and funda- mental training could be given by the school directly under its own auspices, while the different agencies would still be called upon to provide students with experience in specific types of work. At the present time the development of these training centers under the direction of schools of social work is still in the experimental stage. The experience of the Red Cross in its home-service institutes during and especially since the war is a good example of one of the attempts that has been made to give the school control over its field-work training. In several of the institutes held in the largest cities the home-service section pro- vided the institute supervisors with a separate office and permitted them to choose from among the active cases those that seemed most desirable, from a teaching point of view, for the students to handle. For these cases the institute supervisors were given the same responsibiHty that would be given a district secretary and, since they had power to choose suitable cases and to limit the number they would attempt to handle, it was possible to give careful instruction in technique and to insist upon thoroughgoing work in a way that could hardly have been done by the Home Service Section itself with its heavy pressure of work and frequently inadequate staff. In those sections of the country where high social-work standards had not yet been attained a modification of this same method made it possible to give the students good field-work training. During the period of the Institute, the Insti- tute supervisors would be placed practically in charge of one or more Home Service offices in small cities or towns, thus giving them an opportunity personally to give the students good ins true- EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 65 tion in case work and office routine regardless of what may have been the standards of those offices prior to the holding of the training course. While this plan for Home Service training involved obvious administrative problems and owed a considerable measure of its success to the co-operative spirit growing out of the war situation it at least indicates how the school's control of its training faciHties helps to overcome the handicap of lack of access to well-equipped social agencies. If schools of social work are located near com- munities where social problems exist in sufficient variety, and maintain a staff of competent field-work supervisors, there is no reason why they should not be able to develop the training facilities they need. This assumption by the school of social work of greater responsibiHty for the students' field-work training is in accord with sound teaching policy and marks out a method of pro- cedure which seems likely to be more generally followed in the future. Another important problem of field-work training is how to bring about its proper correlation with the classroom instruction. At what time in the course should field work begin? Can field work be carried on satisfactorily by students whose time is partly occupied by classroom lectures and study? Is it possible to plan the practice work with the social agencies so that it will run parallel with the courses of instruction given at the school? The general attitude of the schools of social work to this fundamental problem has been that field work must be carried on concurrently with classroom instruction. The first important chal- lenge to this point of view was made by the Smith College Train- ing School for Social Work which was established in 1918. In a recent bulletin of this School its position in regard to the place of field work in the curriculum is set forth and defended as follows; The Smith CoUege Training School for Social Work is a graduate profes- sional school offering work that falls into three divisions: a summer session of eight weeks of theoretical instruction, combined with clinical observation; a 66 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK training period of nine months' practical instruction carried on in co-operation with hospitals and settlements; and a concluding summer session of eight weeks of advanced study The method of continuous practice is believed by the sponsors of the school to afford the best practical training. To become completely assimilated into the organization, the student must give full time to the work. To obtain the richest possible experience, the student should be on duty regularly and with- out interruption. In our opinion, practice work with social cases and social conditions can not be carried on satisfactorily with intensive instruction, since it is not possible to regulate human problems, §o that experience will nm parallel with theoretical instruction. There is great value for drill and discipline as well as depth of experience in the uninterrupted practice and in the continuity of theoretical study which the present plan provides. While this abrupt departure from traditional methods was doubtless influenced somewhat by the fact that the location of the school in a small town made the usual type of field work not readily accessible, the experiment is of sufficient significance to deserve careful attention. Whatever one may think of the solu- tion arrived at, it represents an effort to escape the difficulties faced by those who insist that field-work and classroom instruction must always go hand in hand. Because of the complex nature of the social problems dealt with, it is by no means easy to assign the students definite tasks that will illustrate step by step the subjects discussed in the different courses. And unless correlation of the field work and classroom work is achieved to this extent there is a tendency to regard them as two separate activities, each invaluable but only in a limited measure fitting into a unified program. As a matter of fact, since field work brings the students face to face with social problems of absorbing interest that demand an immediate solution and that direct attention to methods appli- cable to a particular situation, students are more Hkely to under- estimate the value of wider study of the whole problem than to regard this field work as an interpretation of the problems that have already been discussed in the classroom. EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 67 Furthermore, the ten or fifteen hours a week that it is possible to give to field work when carried on concurrently with class work are hardly sufficient to enable the student to do much constructive work. The agency in which the student is working is compelled to assign tasks that can be completed in the limited time available. Very important types of field work may need to be omitted entirely because they require consecutive effort which the student cannot give. When the student's time is divided between field work and classroom lectures and assigned readings, it becomes a diffi- cult problem for him to feel himself a part of the social agency to which he is assigned and to have a sense of responsibility for the work undertaken. The existence of these difficulties in the way of concurrent field and class work has been recognized by the schools of social work, but thus far the Smith College Training School is the only one that has attempted such a radical solution. Several schools of social work have gone to the length of marking out definite blocks of time covering one or more weeks which are devoted to uninter- rupted field work. Such an arrangement is of real value in learn- ing techm'que, and provision ought always to be made for such practice periods during the course of study. The Smith College plan, however, goes much farther than this and is open to the serious criticism that it places classroom instruction and field work in separate compartments which have only in a remote way any vital relation to each other. Field work of certain kinds may be incompatible with class instruction and intensive study if carried on concurrently, and field work designed for certain pur- poses may very well be segregated in a way that will give an opportunity for continuous practice, but this does not justify the failure to accompany the class instruction with appropriate kinds of field work that would give the students first-hand knowl- edge of social problems and of the methods most commonly used in dealing with them. 68 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK It will probably take a great deal more careful study and experimentation before a satisfactory decision is reached in regard to these fundamental field-work problems. Doubtless consider- able confusion has been caused by the tendency to regard field work as primarily practice work with a social agency for the purpose of learning technique, instead of thinking of it in its broader meaning as including, in addition to the practice work, par- ticipation in social research and investigation and working on prob- lems designed to illustrate the principles discussed in the classroom. Technical courses of instruction ought always to be accompanied by their appropriate field work, regarded as an inseparable part of the course and supervised by those who are familiar with the con- tent of the class instruction. Field work of this kind carried on concurrently with class instruction need not have as its chief pur- pose the acquirement of skill through work experience. It may even be questioned whether students ought to be expected to gain their technique in this piecemeal fashion. This part of their train- ing may possibly be carried out more satisfactorily by uninterrupted practice work under conditions that would familiarize them with office routine and compel them to accept responsibiUty for the work assigned them. The field work that should accompany class instruc- tion should be planned with direct reference to the content of the course. Its purpose is similar to that of the field work in a course in botany or geology or any other scientific study. To be of edu- cational value it must fit step by step into the subject-matter of the course and for this reason cannot readily be relegated to a social agency. It has been the failure to work out this close correlation between the class instruction and the field work that has brought about the unfortunate and illogical distinction between theoretical courses and practical work. Courses of study worthy of a place in a professional school ought to be theoretical only in the sense that all work whether done in class or in the field seeks to test out theories and formulate princi- EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 69 pies and devise methods for the purpose of attaining increasingly- better results. Field work is one part of the process by which these results are achieved. Its contribution, however, cannot be best made by simply delegating to it the burden of providing the prac- tical side of the training of social workers. As long as we hold to this idea of field work, we have made little progress beyond the apprenticeship stage of training. Education for social work should be carried on by means of courses that include field work designed to make their subject-matter vital and concrete and of such a nature that this field work is not inconsistent with intensive and thorough study. In this connection it is well to remind ourselves that the gradu- ates of a school for social work cannot be expected to have ac- quired the technical skill that comes only through long practice. Much of the confusion in regard to the place of field work in the curriculum has been caused by the tendency to give technique an emphasis inconsistent with adequate attention to other aspects of professional training. A study of the curriculum of schools of social work leaves the impression that in spite of the advance made within recent years, they still follow out closely the methods of apprentice training. The field work that is given a central place in the cur- riculum from the beginning to the end of the course of study is primarily practice work with social agencies for the purpose of gaining familiarity with their technique and methods of work. In arriving at a critical estimate of this method of training, help can be gained by reference to the procedure in medical education which has so much in common with education for social work. The medical school arranges its courses of study in four main divisions and gives them in the following order: (1) physiology, (2) pa- thology, (3) therapeutics, (4) hospital experience. In the first part of the course emphasis is placed upon a knowledge of the structure and functions of the human body, followed by a study of its diseases and abnormahties. In order to do this adequately, the appropriate 70 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK sciences are called into requisition and the laboratory is exten- sively used. It is only in the latter part of the course that the student is expected to devote much time to clinical experience. By means of this clinical stiidy and practice the student gains famili- arity with the methods followed in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and with the procedure of the operating room, but this is not regarded as sufficient equipment for successful practice. His graduation from the medical school is supposed to be followed by a year of hospital experience where, under the most favorable aus- pices, he can devote his whole time to the practice of his profession. Education in social work should also proceed in this orderly and logical way. Beginning with a study of the structure and functions of society, with emphasis upon social research, the students should be led gradually into the field of social pathology, where they will study the methods of dealing with problems arising out of social maladjustments and abnormal conditions. Here the clinical field work may well begin, and no more should be expected of it than is expected of the clinics attended by the medical student. Famili- arity should be gained with methods of social diagnosis and treat- ment and there should be opportunity for a Hmited amount of practice with the routine work of different kinds of social agencies. But the acquirement of skill that comes through considerable work experience must be left to the social-work interneship that should follow the course of study offered by a school of social work. Only in exceptional cases should the graduate of a school of social work be considered ready for a position of independent responsibility. It should become as common as it now is in the medical profession for the social-work graduate to undergo an apprenticeship of varying length in his chosen field where under favorable conditions he can acquire professional skill. When this comes to be regarded as the accepted procedure to follow, it will be possible to give field work its proper place in the course of study and to plan a more thor- oughgoing training course than can now be done. CHAPTER VII THE SOCIAL-WORK LABORATORY The practice work with social agencies, which has been the dominating type of field work in training courses for social workers, is sometimes compared with the clinical experience of medical students. If this analogy is permissible (and it certainly is in a general way) the question at once arises as to the advisability of using this type of field work in the early part of the training course. Is it sound educational procedure to launch students out on their training course in social work by giving them field work with a social agency where they will almost at once become involved in problems of social treatment? On the other hand where can students get an introduction to social problems that surpasses that gained through work with so- cial agencies? There can be no social-work laboratory comparable to the bacteriological or physiological laboratory where social prob- lems and conditions can be segregated, apart from real life, and made the subject of various experiments. In studying the social effects of bad housing or of unwholesome family hfe we cannot use methods comparable to those employed in studying a tumor removed from a diseased body. Data concerning these social problems can be gathered together and utilized for the purposes of social research, but even this may not be of great value as a preparation for clinical instruction if these problems are dealt with in an abstract way apart from their original setting. The laboratory of the student of social work cannot be built up in the seclusion of academic walls. It must be found where people are actively engaged in trying to find a solution to the problems of human association. Since social agencies represent organized efforts to deal with the problems in which social workers are chiefly interested we are right in looking to them for a large part of the field work that enters into the training program. 71 72 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK But this conclusion by no means justifies the too-common failure to realize the necessity for field-work activities that would constitute a logical preparation for more difficult tasks of social organization and treatment. While it is not possible because of the nature of social work to have an experimental social-work labora- tory where beginning students could get their first experience with- out elements of social risk, the situation could at least be partly met by differentiating between field work in which the emphasis is primarily upon social facts and the field work that is chiefly inter- ested in changing social conditions. Broadly speaking, social re- search and social treatment represent two types of field work that might be for practical purposes assigned respectively to the social- work laboratory and the social-work clinic. In the former, em- phasis is upon field work which involves the collection, tabulation, and interpretation of social data. This of course is by no means limited to an analysis of second-hand facts. The material for study should be secured as far as possible by actual work in the field which would give a first-hand acquaintance with social conditions. The social work clinic, on the other hand, has to do with social adjustments. Clinical experience involves diagnosis and treat- ment. Its emphasis is upon people and the solution of their social problems rather than upon knowledge of social facts. While as a matter of course it must continually make use of the tools of social research and therefore overlaps somewhat this field, its purpose is sufficiently distinct to make field-work activities of this type stand out as a separate group. It will no doubt be generally agreed that the social-work labora- tory as thus defined has its logical beginning in the field work that accompanies the undergraduate courses in sociology. Its simpler activities, designed for students getting their first introduction to this field, should illustrate normal social relationships and social institutions instead of drawing attention to the more striking facts EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 73 of social pathology. Even fairly mature students may have diffi- culty in visualizing social relationships and for this reason laboratory work may very well begin with the use of such simple devices as diagrams drawn by students illustrating their social contacts, the sources of food supply of a city, and the social forces of a com- munity. Carefully directed visits should be made to the most common social institutions that have to do with the daily normal life of the community. Students' knowledge of these institutions is Kkely to be very superficial and they can secure in this way training in methods of observation and study of social institutions which students should possess before being brought into contact with agencies deahng with abnormal conditions. Illustrative ma- terial should be collected from the available written sources so that students become familiar with methods of finding and utilizing the data in this field. Especially valuable are the tabulation and the graphical presentation of material that form the laboratory work of courses in statistics. As soon as courses in social pathology are taken up there will be need for investigation involving field study of the social problems discussed in the classroom. This to a certain extent can be carried on in connection with social agencies but it need not be hmited to the facilities they have to offer. The uni- versity ought to maintain independently its own arrangements for different types of field studies adapted to the needs of students in the various courses that are presented. In this way the university is not only making available properly correlated field work for its undergraduate students in sociology, but is laying a secure foundation for the work of the graduate students in the field of social research. Graduate schools of social work ought to be lable to take for granted that the students who apply for admission have been trained in laboratory work of the t3^es that have just been outlined. Un- fortunately by no means all of them have been so trained. College graduates who decide to enter schools of social work have not always made social science their major subject or they may have studied 74 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK in institutions where the equipment in this field was very meager. When we include also those who for one reason or another are admitted Jto graduate schools of social work without a college degree, it is evident that a considerable proportion of their students have not had even elementary laboratory experience in the field in which they wish to specialize. It certainly is not in accord with the best educational procedure to plunge students who lack this prehminary training into field work with social agencies where the students' attention is directed at once to problems of social treatment. Miss Edith Abbott in a recent discussion of the field work of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy describes in the following manner the difficult tasks that confront students who are assigned field work with family welfare agencies: I have already pointed out that "case-work" is the backbone of all our field work training. In this work the student is brought face to face with the deep, inevitable, heart-searching and heart-breaking problems of human life — the problem of the deserting husband and the deserted wife, the feeble-minded child, the problem of parents immoral and degenerate beyond any thinking, the problem of homes so degraded in their filth that they can hardly be discussed. Not only must these problems of low living be dealt with, but there remain the even more difficult questions of what to do with the kindly and affectionate but weak-willed and drunken father, the well-meaning but incompetent and subnormal mother; the social worker must face them all, "hunger, drunken- ness, brutality, and crime" and all the manifold problems of depravity and distress.^ Miss Abbott arrives at the very sound conclusion that field work of this t3^e is not suitable for the immature undergraduate who can give only a few hours of his time a week to the social agency direct- ing his work. In view of the complex nature of the social problems described it would seem justifiable to go a step farther and conclude that such field work does not constitute the most logical beginning of the training course of even the professional student. This con- ^ Miss Edith Abbott, Field Work Training with Social Agencies. In report of Committee on Field Work of the Association of Urban Universities, at New York, 1917. EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 75 elusion of course is directly contrary to the traditional procedure of the schools of social work which have not only made case work the ^'backbone" of their field-work training, but have regarded it as the first step toward an understanding of social problems. The Pennsylvania School for Social Service has recently decided to give even more than usual emphasis to this field work in the beginning of their training course. According to their plan the course begins with a seven weeks' field-work period with the Society for Organ- izing Charity in which the full time of the student is divided between field work (including group and individual conferences with the supervisors of field work) and the class in social case work. To take the place of this early emphasis upon clinical work, the suggestion is here made that following the custom in medical schools, field work of the laboratory type should be utilized as the introductory, practical work of the training course. It is not con- tended that the usual laboratory work in connection with the undergraduate courses in sociology, is adapted to the needs of students beginning their professional course. The exact nature of the field-work activities that should be included within this social- work laboratory would be determined partly by the location of the school and the branches of social work in which it desired to specialize. In general the use of social data found in pamphlets, reports, and periodicals would constitute the first part of such laboratory work. Material bearing upon a definite problem can be collected from avail- able written sources, tabulated and illustrated by means of graphs, diagrams, or maps. Family case records and records of community work can be studied and analyzed for the purpose of throwing light on the social problems with which they deal. The social-work laboratory should have its own collection of case records, but these ought to be supplemented if possible by getting access to the files of social agencies where thoroughgoing studies can be made of specific problems. 76 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK As a next step the students can carry on similar studies of material secured through their own field work. In making these field studies the emphasis should be upon acquiring a knowledge of the community rather than upon the discovery of means for its improvement. Furthermore, the knowledge sought is not merely facts that easily lend themselves to statistical tabulation. Students should be trained to analyze a community from the standpoint of the habits and customs of the people, their mental attitudes and sentiments, and their reactions to their environment. Out of such study should come not merely a fundamental knowledge of com- munity problems; the student should also acquire a mind trained to see and appraise properly the essential facts that determine the nature and quahty of community fife. The question may be raised as to the possibihty of using a com- munity for such a purpose year after year. The school located in a large city would not be seriously troubled by this problem because of the immense number of neighborhoods within the city and adjacent territory. Even in the smaller communities there ought to be no serious difficulty because the field studies are by no means thoroughgoing surveys designed to expose the weaknesses of com- munity life. The studies need not always involve a house to house canvas or the securing of information from public officials. The important thing is to have a proper approach to the community either through an understanding with the people or through an assignment of work to the students that is recognized as necessary by the pubHc. The Massachusetts State College of Agriculture secured field work for its students by frankly telKng the farmers in the vicinity that the students needed practical field-work train- ing and by asking them to consider their communities as a part of the college laboratory. The students in the School of PubHc Welfare of the University of North CaroHna gained access to the communi- ties they wished to study by being appointed school enumerators. If care and tact are used, this part of the social-work laboratory EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 77 ought to offer increased facilities for field work as experience is gained in making them available. The amount of time that should be given to field work of this kind must depend to a large extent upon the length of the training course and the intellectual and practical equipment of the students. It would seem hardly possible to give the average student even elementary training in social research in less than three or four months of classroom study and field work. In this period of time he ought to have acquired a point of view and a habit of mind that would enable him to grasp more quickly the technique needed in his cHnical work. His experience in social research would of course not cease at this point. It would be inextricably bound up with all his later field work no matter in which branch of social work he decides to specialize. And because of the emphasis upon training in methods of social research at the beginning of his course he is in a better position to gain a clear insight into the social problems with which he must deal in his clinical field work. CHAPTER VIII THE SOCIAL- WORK CLINIC It has already been indicated that the usual types of field work carried on in connection with social agencies may very properly be compared with the clinical experience of medical students. This practice work in dealing with actual problems is of fundamental importance in professional education. It is a commonplace in education that training is secured, not by looking on, but by doing. Education for social work requires adequate clinical facilities where students closely supervised can engage in tasks under conditions that approximate those they will face when they have entered upon their professional career. The emphasis upon academic attain- ments or upon abihty in social research must not be at the expense of the clinical side of the training course. Schools of social work should not turn out graduates whose approach to social problems is primarily academic. Social workers are expected not only to understand conditions, but to practice an art. Their training must be regarded as entirely inadequate if it has not given them famiHarity with the technique of dealing with social problems. A high degree of technical skill, of course, cannot be insisted upon. This can come only through a much longer ex- perience than can be gained within the limits of a training course. But the graduates must have a more thorough equipment in technique than can be acquired by a passive acquaintance with the work of social agencies. CUnical experience, which involves the active participation of students in organized efforts to deal with social problems and bring about their solution is a fundamental part of any training course in social work. In order to enable students to engage in this practice work, a social-work clinic must be available. While this chnic may, of course, vary greatly in the type of activity that is undertaken, case 78 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 79 work has quite generally been looked upon as the most appropriate and fundamental practice work for students of social work. Tlie reasons for this are quite obvious. At the time of the organization of the first schools of social work, the charity organization societies represented one of the most aggressive movements in the social- work field, and had developed a case-work technique that was re- garded as fundamental in dealing with individual and family social problems. Moreover, graduates of schools of social work found their most available opportunities for employment with case- work agencies and naturally felt the need of specialization in this field. But the emphasis upon clinical experience of this kind cannot be attributed entirely to its accessibility or to the demand for workers skilled in case work. Its prominent place in the curricu- lum has been assured by the fact that it affords a ready means of teaching concretely the scientific method of approach to social problems. Through the steps that must be taken in the diagnosis of a family situation, and the following out of the plan of treatment decided upon, students are enabled to see the complex nature of social problems and learn how to deal with them in an orderly and systematic way. No other type of social work deals with a greater variety of social problems, so intermingled and compli- cated that they resist routine classification and compel individual study and treatment. Intensive training with a family welfare agency not only acquaints students with a technique fundamental in social work, but brings them into intimate touch with the social forces, both constructive and destructive, that enter into the fabric of our social life. To such an extent is this true, that students are likely to find themselves out of their depth if this clinical experience comes too early in their course. As a matter of fact, past experience has shown that immature students in the case- work field frequently fail to adjust themselves to the unfamiliar conditions they must face, and, as a consequence, do work so inferior in quahty that it is 8o EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK detrimental, both to their clients and to the agency with which they are working. This brings up the question as to the advisa- biHty of making case work the first introduction to clinical experi- ence. It has already been pointed out that clinical instruction should ordinarily be preceded by social research. Is it possible to go a step farther and differentiate between types of cKnical work, in a way that would be helpful in arranging them in logical sequence? Besides the case- work type of clinical experience which has just been discussed, the social-work clinic should include at least two additional types of activities — social work with groups and social work with communities. Social work with groups is a type of field work that has been very commonly furnished by social settlements or by agencies in the recreational field. It in- cludes such activities as organizing and conducting boys' and girls' clubs, experience in playground supervision, work with immigrant groups involving the teaching of classes in English and civics, participation in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association, Young Women's Christian Association, Boy Scouts, and similar organizations that specialize in group activities; special work with institutional groups in hospitals, asylums, reformatories, etc. ; and certain phases of industrial welfare work. The third type of clinical work — social work with communities, or community organization — has to do with the social welfare of the community as a whole, instead of with that of particular families or groups within the community. While coinmunity work in accordance with customary usage may, and frequently does, include activities for groups, as is seen in the work of social settlements, playground associations, and community centers, the two types of work employ different techniques and in a training course should be considered separately. The looseness with which the term "community" is now used makes it inevitable that community work should have a varied meaning. On the one hand, EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 8i in the large cities, it may designate the work of settlements and neighborhood associations; or it may be appKed to the work of federations of social agencies that are co-ordinating the various activities of separate agencies so that they may serve best the needs of the whole community or city; or again it may take the form of the social unit organization, with its special machinery designed to utilize the abiHty and resources of the people them- selves in meeting their own problems. These city types of community work are usually quite complex and involve difficult problems of organization and administration. On the other hand, the community w^ork, that within recent years has been rapidly developing in small towns and rural com- munities, deals with a comparatively small social imit and is more simple in character. In some cases, a single organization, such as the Young Men's Christian Association or the Red Cross, adopts a wide community program and furnishes the leadership for the work. A more common plan is to form a communit}^ council composed of representative people who study the situation from the community point of view and endeavor to organize the various social forces so that they may be utilized to the greatest advantage. In any event, an essential thing in community work is a study of the resources and problems of the community in order to ascertain facts upon which to build a satisfactory program of work. The program itself may be simple, but it must have a long look ahead and include all the vital interests of the community. Of these three general types of cHnical activities that have been mentioned, social work with groups is the most elementary. It demands sufficient skill to justify the requirement of practice work under supervision, but it approximates so closely the non-professional activities in the social-work field with which students are usually famihar, that they find Httle difficulty in adjusting themselves to the group work assigned them. From this point of view, it would seem that social work with groups constitutes an appropriate 82 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK activity with which to begin clinical experience. The experience of schools of social work, however, indicates that group work possesses too little educational value to be given much emphasis. The more simple group activities may very properly be carried on as field work in the undergraduate curriculum. With few exceptions, clini- cal work with groups will have a very small place in a professional training course, except in so far as it fits into activities in connec- tion with training in community organization. The question then to be decided is whether clinical practice should begin with community work or case work. Certainly all would agree that the more difficult problems of community organi- zation should be postponed until the latter part of the course. Likewise, case work with families involving compHcated situations is field work suitable only for more mature students. Whichever precedes in the course, it is important that the beginning be made with comparatively simple situations that do not compel the student to shoulder heavy responsibihty. Since case-work with families cannot be carried on without a great deal of knowledge of com- munity resources and underlying social forces, the case-work student is compelled to study his community in connection with his special work with family problems. As a matter of fact, the usual conten- tion is that, through this family work, the student gains a more intelligent grasp of community problems than in any other way. On the other hand, it may be said that the study and analysis of the resources and problems of a small community (and, upon the basis of the facts secured, the development of a community program) comprise field work that will give a better perspective to students of family welfare, as well as furnish them with knowledge that will faciUtate their deaHng with family problems. It may still further be argued that community work should precede because it deals chiefly with the normal elements of the community, whereas case work directs attention to the abnormal and pathological. EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 83 In any event, the recent development of social work in small communities has made available for cHnical instruction a simple unit, which presents to students an unexcelled opportunity to see at work in more simple form the social forces that are hard to dis- entangle in the complex Hfe of the city. The fact that this com- munity work is not now generally accessible does not justify the little attention that is paid to it in schools of social work. Its use- fulness has already been demonstrated, and later experience will undoubtedly point out its proper place in the curriculum. The activities of the social-work clinic have been divided into three general groups, which, broadly speaking, cover the tech- niques most fundamental in social work. In the different schools of social work, there will be considerable variation in the activities of their clinics, depending upon the availability of social agencies or the abihty of the school to provide its own chnical work. Any school, however, that desires to give a well-rounded training in social work must be able to give the students practical experience in family, group, and community work. A working knowledge of the techniques in these three fields should be required for gradua- tion. If this is made the minimum requirement of clinical work, the curriculum must be arranged with this in view. Because of the time consumed by field work, it is impracticable to have students carry two field-work courses during one term. When we take into consideration the additional time needed for the field work in social research, the necessity for at least a two-year course is apparent. Even in that period of time, the ground could not be adequately covered unless much preliminary work had been completed during the regular college course. The best solution seems to be the five- year undergraduate and graduate course which will make feasible the completion of the academic and practical work in a thorough manner. 84 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK But even in the best-arranged curriculum, there cannot be sufficient chnical experience to give students a high degree of skill in the special field they choose. Graduates of schools of social work, just as graduates of other professional schools, must plan to gain skill and experience by serving first in subordinate positions. The school should attempt to give only fundamental training. Otherwise the curriculum becomes so heavily weighted with clinical experience that the training course can offer few advantages beyond that of a well-planned apprenticeship. In a preceding section, attention was called to the possibiKty of a school's having control over its field-work facihties. As far as the clinical side of the field work is concerned, it will in many cases be found more convenient to utilize the established social agencies. Whatever arrangement may be made for clinical prac- tice, it is essential that the school should have entire^ direction of the clinical instruction. The traditional method of securing the chnical staff has been to rely largely upon the services of workers employed by social agencies. This has been justified by the fact that students have the advantage of learning their technique from persons in intimate touch with the methods followed in social work. Directly opposed to this point of view is the statement of Dr. Frankfurter, quoted above in another connection, in which he said: ^'The time has gone by when the teaching of any profession can be entrusted to persons who, from their exacting outside work of practice or administration, give to teaching their tired leavings." In the introduction to the report on medical education in Europe, issued by the Carnegie Foundation, Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, Presi- dent of the Foundation, emphasizes this same point as it applies to the instruction of medical students. Says Dr. Pritchett: It has come to be generally conceded that not only must the basic sciences of chemistry, physics, and biology be taught by those who are primarily teachers and who give their whole time to teaching and to research, but also that the EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 85 more definitely medical sciences of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and bacteriology must be represented by specialists. It has not been so generally granted that the clinical teacher must also be primarily a man who devotes his life to teaching and to research. This reform is the next great step to be taken in the improvement of medical education in the United States and Great Britain. In Germany only has it heretofore found recognition, and to this fact, next to the development of an orderly and efl&cient system of secondary schools, is to be attributed the high level of German medical science and medical teaching. With the more general acceptation of the view that medical education is education, not a professional incident, the conception of the clinical teacher must undergo the change here alluded to. The teaching of clinical medicine and surgery will then cease to be a side issue in the life of a busy prac- titioner; it will propose to itself the same objects and conform to the same standards and ideals as the teaching of any other subject of equal importance. In the field of education for social work, only a small beginning has been made in providing an adequate permanent staff to have charge of the clinical instruction. Usually the responsibility for the supervision of field work is placed upon one person, who, un- aided by assistants, is compelled to turn over a large part of the practical training of the students to members of the staffs of social agencies. If the field work is a fundamental part of the course, as is generally claimed, it would seem that its actual supervision should not be delegated to persons who are only indirectly under the control of the school. In several of the newer university schools of social work located in places where skilled social workers are not employed, it has been found necessary to maintain their own staff of field-work supervisors. While this is a new departure in schools of social work, it is a step in Kne with the best procedure in other fields of professional education. CHAPTER IX RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN PREPARATION FOR RURAL SOCIAL WORK The country-life movement during recent years has been char- acterized by a growing tendency to lay stress upon the social aspects of life in rural communities. It is no longer believed that rural programs are serving their full purpose when they are dealing with the problem of increased production. There has come about, partly as an aftermath of the war, a more general recognition of the social ills of the countryside which are retarding its steps toward economic progress. The rural leader must know more than how to make the farm more productive; he must know how to make community life more wholesome and attractive. This new emphasis upon rural social problems has necessarily drawn attention to the need of supplementing the usual equipment of rural workers such as farm bureau and home demonstration agents, rural school teachers and rural pubKc health nurses, so that they will enter their work with a vision of its social possibilities and be famiHar with the methods common to social work. More- over, the recent experience of the Red Cross, the county work of the Young Men's Christian Association, the county welfare work in North Carolina, as well as that of other agencies, both pubhc and private, have demonstrated that there is a real opportum'ty in rural communities for leaders who are prepared to give their whole time to problems of rural organization and social work. The movement to provide the training facilities adapted to these needs has already begun to take definite shape. Universities and agricultural colleges are offering courses in applied sociology in which special emphasis is given to methods of meeting rural social problems. The Springfield Young Men's Christian Association Training School has an arrangement with the Massachusetts State 86 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 87 College of Agriculture, whereby students in preparation for county work spend one year in the study of rural subjects at the latter institution. The Boston School of Social Work is endeavoring to work out a similar co-operative plan of study for its students who desire to prepare for rural social work. Several colleges and uni- versities located in small towns are co-operating with the Red Cross in developing training courses specially designed for social workers in small towns and rural communities. It is but natural that these efforts to carry on training courses outside of large cities should be regarded with considerable mis- giving by those accustomed to look to the city for field-work facilities. A legitimate question to ask is whether rural and village life with its small population, its difficulty of access from the train- ing center, the small number of cases that can be available in any particular locality, and its lack of well-equipped social agencies, can be made to furnish a satisfactory training ground for social workers. While the burden of proof must rest upon those who have departed from th*e traditional methods, it must be remembered that experimental work of this kind requires considerable time be- fore its results can be adequately tested. It is too early now to draw anything more than tentative conclusions from the compara- tively few significant efforts that have been made to train for rural social work. Without doubt the recent efforts to develop rural training cen- ters have grown out of a recognition of the different environments faced by rural and city social workers. These differences in envi- ronment of course affect other professional groups, although not as profoundly as they do those whose work is concerned with problems that are so intimately bound up with the social and economic Hfe of the people. The rural physician will not have convenient access to hospitals and speciaKsts and to this extent he will be handi- capped in his work, but the technique of the treatment of disease or injury does not need to be modified in accord with social customs 88 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK or conditions of living. In the teaching profession the value of special training for rural teachers is more apparent and fortunately is now quite generally recognized. The rural school cannot attain its highest efhciency unless its curriculum and methods are deter- mined by the needs of the country rather than by those of the city. Especially significant are the recent efforts to provide training courses adapted to the needs of the rural ministry. In this case the purpose in view is not merely to give the minister a practical knowledge of rural problems and a sympathetic understanding of the habits of life and thought of rural people; it is also to develop a love for the country and to give such a vision of opportunities for far-reaching rural service that it would not be regarded as a stepping-stone to a city pastorate. The dearth of professional men and women in small towns and rural communities who look upon their work there as an end in itself and not as a means of advancement to a city, has been one of the great hindrances to rural progress. For this attitude of mind the professional schools in the cities are largely responsible, for, either consciously or unconsciously, the rural students acquire the city point of view and find themselves out of sympathy with the more conservative and slow-moving community from which they came and where they had expected to return to work. In the city schools of social work this acquirement by the students of city ideals seems inevitable and is especially disastrous from the point of view of the development of rural social agencies. Social workers who have been trained in a city where well-equipped agencies are readily accessible have reason to feel lost when later they accept a position where social work is not highly organized. If they do not soon become discouraged by the conditions con- fronting them and feel too keenly their isolation from other social workers, they are likely to urge the adoption of methods more applicable to the city than to the small town and thus aUenate the support of their constituency. EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 89 For these reasons many have concluded that the successful development of rural social work is dependent upon the possibility of establishing rural training courses that will definitely prepare for social work in small communities and give such a vision of the opportunities in this field that people of real abihty will regard it worth while to become rural specialists. Possibly the first serious attempt to train social workers in a small town and rural environment was made at Berea College, Kentucky, in 1919. This course, which was six months in length, was carried on by the College in co-operation with the Red Cross and was intended to prepare home-service workers for the Red Cross chapters in the mountain counties of Kentucky. For this experimental training course in rural social work Berea College was admirably adapted. Located in a small village on the edge of the foothills that lead back into the isolated mountain regions, it had within easy reach communities that presented rural problems of a serious and compUcated nature. From these moun- tain communities came the majority of the student body whose dominating desire, fostered by the College, was to carry back to their homes the knowledge that would increase the welfare of their own people. The College, as a matter of fact, was engaged in social work although its activities were not carried on under that name. On its teaching staff were men experienced in group and com- munity work in sparsely settled rural sections. The establishment of the training course was, therefore, a much more feasible undertaking than it might at first glance seem to be. The College furnished the proper setting for the course, as well as a considerable amount of instruction admirably suited to the needs of the students. With the assistance of the personnel of the Lake Division of the Red Cross, it was possible to plan a well-rounded training course designed particularly for workers in places where social work was not yet well organized. 90 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK The classroom work was given under these headings: principles of social work in the home, public-health problems and adminis- tration, child-welfare problems of rural communities, social- service resources and how to use them, organization and admin- istration of Red Cross work. The field work to accompany these courses was carried on within the jurisdiction of the Berea Red Cross Chapter. Through an arrangement with the chapter its home-service ojfice became the headquarters of the students. One of their first field-work activities was to equip this office for work. Desks, files, and all the necessary office furniture and supplies were installed and properly arranged. State and local maps show- ing matters of interest to social workers were prepared. A directory of the Berea community was compiled which gave information about churches, schools, lodges, community clubs, places of business, public ojS&cials, and professional people, such as doctors, lawyers, nurses, ministers, and teachers. The two well- equipped hospitals gave the students practical training in rendering some of the simple services needed by mountain families in time of sickness. The home-service work among soldiers' famihes gave opportunity for experience in family case- work. The community field work was carried on in eight neighborhoods or communities which are included within the Berea Chapter. To each of these communities two students were assigned for study and service. The methods used varied in the different neighborhoods. In Scaffold Cane and Narrow Gap well-organized community work was in progress and offered opportunities to the students to participate in their activities. Two other districts were approached through the Sunday schools. The students organized and taught Sunday-school classes and through the contacts made in this way found a ready access to the homes of the people. This enabled them to make a study of local conditions upon the basis of which they worked out plans for community betterment. The experiment of family case work without any attempt at neighborhood organization was made in EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 91 one district. One of the most successful pieces of work was done in Bobtown where, according to the report of Professor E. L. Dix, the supervisor of field work, sickaess in the home was used as an entering wedge and a basis for beginning service and acquaintance. Contacts and friendly relationships continued after sickness had disappeared. Especially in the homes where there was an evident need for further service, this relationship was continued as a means of develop- ing a constructive plan to bring about the necessary change in the situation. Through this family and friends of the family, students became friends easily with many other families in the neighborhood, working wdth them always according to comprehensive programs, as soon as they had sufficient time to develop them. When they were thus on a soUd footing of confidence and friendship with most of the families of the neighborhood, it was easy to proceed to a commimity organization and to work out for their own guidance a com- munity plan. In commenting on the results of this field work experience Professor Dix adds: No attempt will be made to enumerate individual results obtained but a few instances may be mentioned as examples: Many truant children were placed in school and kept there; people who never went to church became regular attendants; at least two persons unable to walk at all were provided with crutches and taught to use them to their great satisfaction; several. adult iUiterates were taught to read and write and two of these became students in the foundation school of Berea College; several pairs of eyes were saved by surgical operations; some Sunday Schools and community organizations were started; some families were taught the use of a budget of household expenses; an officer was appointed by the county court to act as guardian or adviser for a family of children whose mother was not deemed entirely the proper person to look after them; medical examination was introduced into rural schools; soldiers and sailors and their famiUes were assisted in regard to their war-time and post-war-time difficulties. Many other interesting things were done but lack of space forbids mentioning them here. The experience gained through this course seemed to demon- strate the possibihty of giving practical training in social work in rural surroundings. It was found that students could render to small communities services of real value and do this work in such a 92 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK way that their presence would be welcomed. Contrary to what had been previously the prevailing opinion, a sufficient number of cases was available for practice in case work. The difficulties in handling them, while many, were not insuperable. The only essential modifications in technique were those which naturally suggested themselves to workers dealing with family problems where very few organized agencies can be called upon to give assistance and where the neighborhood Kfe is such that impersonal or anonymous service is impossible. Another significant effort to train rural social workers was made this past summer by the new School of PubKc Welfare at the Uni- versity of North CaroKna. The territory adjacent to the village of Chapel Hill in which the university is located presented both the opportunities and hindrances of a typically rural and unworked environment and therefore seemed an appropriate setting for rural field-work training. Orange county has a population of about 15,000 all of which is classed by the census as rural. The three small hamlets which can be reached by railroads are very similar to those found in most rural counties in the South. Paid social work was hmited to what could be done by a home- demonstration agent, about to be dismissed; a county farm agent, who spent part of his time on his farm; a county superintendent of pubb'c welfare, who performed his duties in this position in addition to his work as county superintendent of schools; 'and a Red Cross nurse in Chapel Hill who came just before the course started and left while it was in progress. In the adjoining county of Durham, which was also used for field work, there were farm-and-home- demonstration agents as well as a full-time county welfare superin- tendent. . The training course was attended by two different sets of students, county welfare superintendents and Red Cross students. The former were already employed and actively at work and could find time for only a six weeks' course. One of their most pressing EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 93 problems was in connection with the cases on their county pauper lists. The supervisor of field work spent six weeks prior to the opening of the course as nominal assistant to a county superin- tendent of public welfare in order to obtain an intimate acquaint- ance with the conditions encountered in handHng these problems. The field work of the public welfare students was carried on in connection with the office of the Durham County Welfare Super- intendent. Each student was required to investigate and work out under supervision im'tial plans for treatment of two or three dis- advantaged families. To help the students gain a better apprecia- tion of the problems of institutional care, visits of observation were made to a large orphanage and to the state hospital. Prior to these visits the methods of such institutions were discussed and definite subjects were assigned for special observation and report. In view of the brevity of the course, no attempt was made to give well- rounded field-work experience. It was felt that in this initial course better results could be secured by beginning with case problems already faced by the students and giving them some guidance in working out a solution of these cases. That the course was of value seems evident from the fact that the students are planning to attend a similar training course next summer. By influencing the Orange County board to employ a full-time superintendent of public wel- fare, the school has already made a beginning in the development of a program which will bring about this coming year an increasing number of community activities in the territory adjacent to Chapel Hill in which the students can participate. The course taken by the Red Cross students was to cover a period of twelve weeks and was intended to prepare them for work in Red Cross chapters where their first and most urgent problem would be the building up of an organization capable of meeting the social and health needs of the small town and open country. The emphasis upon their field work was accordingly placed on ac- quaintance with community situations and the organization of 94 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK community forces. After consultation with the county school superintendents of both counties, it was decided to make use of the school census as the method of introduction to the communities. Both superintendents wrote letters of introduction and endorsement to the chairmen of the school boards in the districts chosen. Friday and Saturday of each week were given over to field work. The students, by two's, went to the school districts assigned them and visited as many homes as time permitted, usually walking from house to house, securing the information for the school census by questions, and all kinds of family and community information by observation and friendly conversation. The districts differed in area but each included between one hundred and one hundred and fifty families. A very careful system of weekly reports and con- ferences with the field-work supervisors was of great help in check- ing up the work of the students and in enabhng them to appreciate the significance of the conditions they found. As their acquaintance grew the students were asked to visit homes and to attend parties and meetings. It was a natural step for local leaders to ask the students, who they had discovered were interested in their problems, to help in community enterprises. The recreational training the students had had through play dem- onstrations early in their course was often the easiest part of their training to use. A community meeting in one neighborhood, two young people's parties in another — one of them an occasion when a society of one church entertained that of the rival church as a step toward church co-operation — furnished opportunities for recrea- tional leadership. A boy in one of the communities said that the young people wanted a glee club. The student promised to help, provided he could get the group together. The glee club that started in this way included nearly thirty boys and girls and con- tinued to meet after the student leader left the community. Baby clinics in which the students assisted the Red Cross nurse were held in two communities. A community picnic was revived at one place and a speaker secilred from the University. The EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK 95 students encouraged the interest they found in community fairs and met with fair committees in three communities. Partly, at least, as a result of the students' efforts four fairs were held in Orange County — the number required to obtain the truck demonstration of home conveniences furnished by a state department. Their experience with the school census gave the students a wide though casual acquaintance in the districts visited and enabled them to know the local leaders and factions, which was of value to them in planning for community activities. They also had re- vealed to them through their ojficial visits many family problems that needed attention. In some instances, the students investigated family situations and worked out tentative plans of treatment, but in most cases lack of time made this impracticable. In addition to their official reports to the school boards, the students submitted carefully written summaries of the work done and of the conditions found in famihes and communities. These records will be studied by the next class of students who will be guided by these facts in their attempts to carry on the work that has been begun. That students can do this work in such a way as to win public approval seems indicated by the fact that several of the communities re- quested the School of Public Welfare to have students again as- signed to them for field work. Two of the students also accepted paid positions in Durham County, one as Red Cross executive secre- tary and the other as county attendance oflScer. In this summer training course the field-work emphasis was upon the gathering of information about the communities visited. Little attempt was made to go beyond the preKminary steps that must be taken before community work can be developed. It, therefore, did not make available to the students the wide training needed by social workers. But even in the most favored circumstances this cannot be done in a short summer course. When students are required to become familiar with the technique of community work, as well as that of family case work, it is useless to expect them to cover the whole ground in less than one year. Later experience 96 EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL WORK may prove that a much longer time than this is necessary to give students the training they need for organization and executive work in small communities together with a technical knowledge of the methods of family case work. One of the serious problems in training courses of this kind is that of transportation. If students must cover a wide territory where street cars are not available, some other means of transpor- tation must be provided. To hire conveyances is too expensive and reliance upon the conveyances of friends or co-operating organi- zations makes systematic field work impossible. The best solution would seem to be for the school of social work to add to its equip- ment one or more automobiles which under certain conditions can be used by the students. A practical plan of operation which would be financially burdensome to neither the students nor the school would be to charge a sufficient mileage to cover depreciation and operating expenses. Since the students who later accept positions in county work will find an automobile an indispensable part of their equipment, the operation and care of a car might be made a requirement of the training course. Unless arrangements can be made to give students easy and quick access to rural communities and adjacent small towns, it will usually be found impracticable to offer courses that require field work outside the city in which the school is located. The rural training courses thus far given have demonstrated that there is plenty of field work to be done in small towns and the open country. It is clear that the rural field furnishes all sorts of problems which have as much educational value as do those found in the city. More experience will be needed to prove whether it is entirely practicable in a rural situation to give satisfactory training in family case work. The point of chief significance that has thus far been established is the practical value in a training course of experience in studying social fife under simple conditions and in participating in the development of rural community activities. INDEX Abbott, Edith, 74 Administration of Social Work, Instruc- tion in, 46-51 American Red Cross, 49, 89; editing case records, 55, 56; Home Service Insti- tutes, 64; training courses, 26 Apprenticeship system, 6, 53 Association for Community Organiza- tion, 49 Association of Training Schools for Pro- fessional Social Work, 27, 35 Ayres, Philip W., 11, 21 Berea College, 27, 89 Boston Associated Charities, 6, 7 Boston School for Social Work, 13, 18, 20, 32,87 Brackett, Jeffrey R., 14 Bryn Mawr College, 27, 36 Cahfornia, University of, 27 Carnegie Institute of Technology, 27, 36 Case books in social work. Need of, 56 Case method of instruction, 52-59 Case records: abstracts of, 56; prepara- tion for classroom use, 55 Charities Review, 10 Charity Organization Society, 4, 7, 8 Chicago Commons, 14 Chicago School of Civics and Philan- thropy, 14, 15, 18, 33, 74 Chicago, University of, 14, 19, 22, 27, 36 Cincinnati Associated Charities, 21 Clinical instructors, QuaUfications of, 84, 8S Colorado, University of, 27 Columbia University, 17, 18 Community case records, 56, 57 Community as a social-work laboratory, 76 Community work: nature of, 80; place in the curriculum, 80 Converse College, 27 Co-operative plan of training, 61 Cornell University, 27 Courses of instruction, Organization of, 46 Curriculum of New York School of Social Work, 43 Dawes, Anna, 7 Devine, E. T., 2, 13, 18 Ellwood, C. A., 15 Engineering schools: field work in, 60, 61; instruction in, 41 Field work: correlation with classroom instruction, 65; definition of, 62; in universities, 28, 29; Smith College plan, 65, 66; supervision of, 59, 60; time required for, 83 ; under control of professional school, 62 Frankfurter, Felix, 23 Glenn, Mrs, John M., 7 Graduate schools of social work, 36 Hagerty, J. E., 22 Hartford Theological Seminary, School of Sociology in, 22 Harvard Law School, 52 Harvard University, 18, 27 Henderson, C. R., 22 Home Service training courses, 26, 64 Indiana University, 27 Intellectual studies, Emphasis on, 45, 46 Iowa State College of Agriculture, 27 Iowa, University of, 27 97 98 INDEX Johns Hopkins University, 27 Kentucky, University of, 27 Law schools: case instruction in, 52, 53; field-work training, 61 Lee, Porter R., 16, 54 Massachusetts State College of Agri- culture, 76, 86, 87 McGill University, 27 Medical schools: arrangement of cur- riculum, 69; clinical instruction, 60; standards of admission, 30 Minnesota, University of, 27, 36 Missouri School of Social Economy, 15, 16, 19, 34 Missouri, University of, 15, 27 Morse, Frances R., 10 National Conference of Charities and Correction, 7, 9 Nebraska, University of, 27 New Jersey State College of Agriculture, 27 New York Charity Organization Society, 10, II, 12, 13 New York School of Social Work, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 34, 43, 44, 50 North Carolina, University of, 27, 76 Ohio State University, 22, 23, 27, 36, 48 Oklahoma, University of, 27 Oregon, University of, 27 Pennsylvania School for Social Service, 16, 17, 35, 75 Personal qualifications for social workers, 39,40 Philadelphia Society for Organizing Charity, 16 Pittsburgh, University of, 27, 36 Practical work, Danger of undue emphasis on, 46 Preprofessional courses. Importance of, 31 Prerequisite courses, 38 Pritchett, Henry S., 84 Professional courses, Distinguishing char- acteristics of, 43 Queen, Stuart A., 17 Research courses, 44 Richmond, Mary E., i, 9, 10, 55 Richmond School of Social Work and PubHc Health, 17, 19, 34, 35 Riley, Thomas J., 15 Rural social work, 86 ff . Rural training: at Berea College, 89-92; at University of North Carolina, 92-96; problems connected with, 96 Russell Sage Foundation, 14, 19, 55 Schools of education. Practice work in, 61 Simmons College, 18 Smith College, 27, 36, 65 Social agencies, their influence on methods of training, 59 Social science as a foundation for social- work training, 36-39 Social- work clinic: its value, 78, 79; types of activities, 79-82 Social work laboratory: activities of, 72, 73; compared with medical laboratory, 71 Sociologists' attitude toward social-work training, 25 Sociology, its relation to social-work training, 21 Springfield Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, 86 St. Louis Provident Association, 15 Standards of admission to professional schools, 32-36 Syracuse University, 27 Taylor, Graham, 14 Technical courses of instruction, 41-51 INDEX 99 Technique, Instruction in, 48, 49 Texas School of Civics and Philanthropy, 17 Texas, University of, 27 Toronto, University of, 27, 36 Tulane University, 27 Undergraduate instruction in social work, 36, 50 United Charities of Chicago, 7 University participation in social-work training. Need for, 23-25 University training centers, 63 University training courses, Character- istics of, 27-29 Virginia, University of, 27 Vocational courses. Nature of, 44, 45 Washington, University of, 27 Watson, Frank D., 17 Western Reserve University, 27, 36 West Virginia, University of, 27 William and Mary College, 19 Wisconsin, University of, 21, 27 1 Oo 3 « HOME USE CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT MAIN LIBRARY This book is due on tlie last date stamped below. 1-month loans may be renewed by calling 642-3405. 6-month loans may be recharged by bringing books to Circulation Desk. Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date. ALL BOOKS ARE SUBJECT TO RECALL 7 DAYS AFTER DATE CHECKED OUT. nCT 2 1 1975 ■ t KC^CIft, MAR 26 76 LD21 — A-40w-12,'74 (S2700l>) General Library University of California Berkeley U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES ^^jmsT^ (m^ ')i£££ .-"-•"Me*. h--i -^^^Z n^M^^d-^ %:M' > V ^-.'-