The Camas Hot Springs Exchange

National P.T.A. Sets Goal: Over 12,000,000 Members

More American children than ever before are enrolled in school this fall. And more and more of their parents and teachers will be P.T.A. members by the time the National Congress of Parents and Teachers concludes its annual October membership enrollment.

Through the efforts of the millions of parents and teachers already working in P.T.A.'s, children all over the United States are assured the closest kind of home-school cooperation on their behalf. Out of this working together of home and school have come higher educational standards, curriculums geared to the needs of today's world, more adequate school facilities and more effective parent education programs and, of course, good playgrounds, safe sidewalks, driver-training classes, and continuous health programs.

Mrs. James C. Parker, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, president of the National Congress, points to such P.T.A. achievements as "a significant factor" in the growth of the National Congress, which already ranks as the world's largest voluntary organization.

"A membership of more than 12,000,000 is our goal this year," she says, "and we intend to call on all the families we can to enroll new members-whether parents or teachers or other citizens with a real interest in children."

Work for All

The variety of P.T.A. activities, Mrs. Parker believes, "offers all members an opportunity to work on the many problems that involve the welfare and advancement of the nation's children.

Because the P.T.A.'s chief concern is for children, its action on their behalf starts even before they're ready for school.

- A pre-school program emphasizes the child's health, his safety, and his sound emotional development. It may take the form of an immunization project like that undertaken in Tennessee's Washington County, where children started to school this fall protected against diphtheria, smallpox, whooping cough, and polio-because P.T.A. members took the lead in a county-wide fight against communicable disease.

- When a child takes the big step into school, the P.T.A. offers a ready-made meeting place where parents and teachers work together for the child's academic and social development. The Kenosha, Wisconsin, Council of P.T.A.'s, for example, sponsored a summer-long elementary school clinic for children who had difficulty in reading.

- Youngsters who have special problems get attention in another phase of the National Congress' program. Language barriers are being breached for Puerto Rican children attending school in Camden, New Jersey, because local P.T.A.'s sparked a move to hire a Spanish instructor who works with these children in their daily English classes.

Teens Get Attention

- Teen-agers are helped, too, by P.T.A. programs designed to spur their development into responsible citizens. In Evanston, Illinois, high school students can look forward to receiving sound advice on future vocations, thanks to a P.T.A. guidance program that culminates in a day-long career conference.

- Because of its interest in children, the P.T.A. also offers adults many chances for constructive community work that will benefit children.

Through the years, the National Congress consistently supported kindergartens, promoted hot lunch programs in schools, alerted the public to violations of child labor statutes, improved the standards of treatment for juvenile offenders, and backed programs to focus attention on the urgent needs of the public schools.

"The more members we enroll," Mrs. Parker points out, "the more opportunities the National Congress will have to work for the well-being of all the nation's children."

Standing beside the P.T.A. oak tree emblem, Mrs. James C. Parker, president of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, prepares to sow symbolic acorns in an effort to reach the goal of more than twelve million P.T.A. memberships. She urges P.T.A. members to "call on all" during membership enrollment month.