Perhaps the problem of our public school system of education which has not yet been solved is the vast possibility of the directed play life of our boys.  It is well known by students of boy life that the character of the boy is very largely determined by the informal education which comes from his part in sports and play.  In some cities the public school has sought to give partial direction to the play life of the boy through public school athletic leagues, but even these leagues touch but a small part of the boy life of any community.  Besides the injection of industrial and vocational training in large quantity in public school curricula, more thought and place will have to be given to the expression of the boy life in play than is now provided for.

In addition to this, the home and the church must render a united cooperation to make the school life of the boy what it ought to be.  The Parents’ and Teachers’ Association in the public school is doing much to bring this about between the home and the school, and it may be that a Teachers’ Association, consisting of officials and teachers of the public school and the officials and teachers of the Sunday school, might bring about a closer cooperation in the secular and religious education of the boyhood of the community.  Both these associations, if fostered, would certainly tend to create a wholesome school atmosphere, which would render a tremendous service in safeguarding the moral life of the boy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON PUBLIC SCHOOL

Baldwin.—­Industrial-social Education ($1.50).

Bloomfield.—­Vocational Guidance of Youth (.60).

Brown.—­The American High School ($1.40).

Crocker,—­Religious Freedom in American Education ($1.00).

—­Religious Education (.65).

III

THE CHURCH AND THE BOY

If the foregoing facts considering the home and school life are absolutely true, and the consensus of opinion of the students of boy life would have it so, it means that the church has a larger opportunity than formerly supposed to influence the boy life of the community.

The investigator into the life of boyhood has revealed to us the fact that a boy’s life is not only fourfold—­physical, social, mental and spiritual—­but is also unified in its process of development.  If this be so, there must be a common center for the boy’s life, and neither the home nor the school can, because of social or economic or political conditions, become this center.  The only remaining place where the boy’s life can be unified is the church.