680 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1914. 
all, it establishes in school practice one of the more recent educational 
discoveries—the necessity of leadership in play from imfancy to 
maturity and the educational superiority of leadership in play to 
instruction in work. It bridges the gap between play and work. 
Therefore the play school may be defined as an outdoor school 
and play center combined; where the teacher’s interest is centered 
in the children and their activities, not merely in subjects of study; 
where the educational efforts, including the moral and social, are put 
on a basis of practical living experience radiating into the whole 
environment; and where children are considered both as free active 
agents and as immature social creatures requiring aid, social control, 
and discipline. Instead of teaching subjects it organizes activities 
out of which subjects develop, as they have in racial history. The 
activities organized are the natural, more or less distinct, phases of 
the child’s complete lfe. The usual school subjects develop as 
phases of these activities. 
In spite of the inclusiveness of this ideal the play school plan as 
presented is not considered an invulnerable or perfected solution of 
the elementary school problem. No school scheme can be perfect 
so long as something is to be learned about child nature, or so long 
as society progresses, and no individual can present a perfect solu- 
tion. That is a race problem. But the plan seems to meet in gen- 
eral the fundamental test of flexibility for progress with every 
advance in knowledge of child nature, education, or social need. 
Again, the plan is not presented in a spirit of antagonism toward the 
public school, but just the reverse. The widespread discontent with 
the public school is recognized, and my idea of the cause of this dis- 
content is expressed. The plan proposes a step in organization and 
method that will make modern ideals and tendencies consistent and 
efficient in educational results and that will command the sympathy 
and support of the more progressive and intelligent parents and 
teachers. This sympathy and support are essential if the public 
school is to fulfill its functions. 
The play school is not even presented as something entirely new. 
The scheme of organization and interpretation of activities are new, 
at least in form; and the extent of application of the idea of leader- 
ship and the degree of fusion of the functions of the child’s play 
center and the school are new in emphasis. Yet the educational 
efficiency of the activities has been demonstrated in numerous 
schools, in modern playgrounds, and in boys’ and girls’ organizations. 
The whole idea has been approximated in many private efforts and 
in a few public schools. The convergence toward a fusion of the 
school and play center is seen, on the one hand, in the tendency of 
the school to organize the play life of the child, well illustrated at 
Gary, Ind., and, on the other hand, in the tendency of the best year- 
